Top down, top up

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Back at my desk this morning - first time in long trousers and a tie for almost a month. We managed to stay awake until 9 pm last night, but I was awake again at 3:30 am this morning - jet-lag and the time difference do funny things to you. I've been in the office for several hours already - but don't think I'll still be here at 5 pm tonight!

The day has started on a very sad note - not only did we hear about the deaths of famous songwriters Jerry Leiber (Hound Dog etc) and Nick Ashford (half of Ashford & Simpson), but, much more close to home, my pal Syd's wife Barbara died yesterday. She'd been in hospital in a coma after they discovered an inoperable brain tumour a few weeks ago. They'd been married for over 50 years.

Moving on, here's one of the "missing" videos of the convertible:

End of hols

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I'm sitting here at LAX in the BA lounge, waiting for our return flight to the UK. Very nice here - and, of course, everything's free.

We went back to the Rusty Pelican last night for dinner - we had gone there almost 18 months ago for Jo's birthday - and it was very nice. I did remember to take an end-of-term team photo outside our apartment last night before we went out:

Dinner on Saturday was a whole lot better experience than Friday night, when we'd walked all round Corona del Mar looking for a restaurant that would take the 6 of us - the best we could get was a 75 minute wait - it was all a bit much for poor wee Braeden, who fell asleep and had to be carried back to the car by his Dad.

Braeden has been a little bit under the weather all week - nothing bad, just not his usual boisterous self. Cade, on the other hand, has been on a high - especially when he's out in the waves, as we were again yesterday at Huntington Beach - aka Surf City USA.

This morning, the Lesinas were up and gone by 3:45 am. We tried to have a lie in, but didn't really succeed. We had a leisurely morning, packing, then taking a slow drive up to LAX on the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped for coffee at Joe's Crab Shack at a marina at the south end of Long Beach. There I demonstrated the roof coming up on our convertible:

As you'll notice, it was filmed by Jo - note accidental artistic addition.

Whoops - flight has now been called - upload speed slow in lounge - will have to do later - sorry!

Surfing USA

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Our room has a giant bath - Braeden made good use of it the other day:

We had dinner at the Steelhead brewpub in Irvine on Monday:

Yesterday on the beach:

Now for the videos:

From Grants Pass to Newport Coast

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, it's been a few days since I've managed to find the time to update my blog. Things are a bit more hectic down here in Southern California - although the resort is as lovely as we all remember it.

Of course, prior to that, Jo and I had spent all day Saturday in Medford after the Lesinas dropped us off at our hotel. We shopped a bit, drank a bit, ate a bit, walked a fair deal and managed a quick swim in the pool. Lunch was again at our favourite pizza pub, Kaleidoscope and we sat in the outdoors area, with the misters working full blast to keep us all cool - you can see them in this photo:

Our flight to LA was early Sunday morning, but it was just a short stroll from our hotel to the terminal building and everything went well and we got to LAX in good time. We tried to find Lost/Found Property - we call it the former, the Americans the latter - and I suspect their terminology is technically more correct - but failed. Jo had managed to leave her coat in the airport terminal when we were there 2 weeks ago. This is the replacement coat for the one she did the identical thing with in Australia earlier this year! It seems this coat is fated to be lost forever.

Our hire car is a Sebring convertible - and it has a wonderful action to get the hood down - just press a button and it all happens - magical! We drove down the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down and the wind blowing our hair - well, Jo's anyway! We arrived at our resort early and the Lesinas pulled up an hour or so later, having broken the back of the journey on Saturday.

On Monday morning, Scott, Cade and I went to have 9 holes of golf at the lovely little course at Aliso Creek - it's cut in a canyon and there's trouble all round - including rattlesnakes! Cade hit a career best drive off  the first tee - much better than Scott and I.

Monday afternoon was down to the beach - and everyone got in to the ocean. Cade and Braeden had skim boards, but they seemed to bore of them fairly quickly. Here's the Lesinas:

A lovely day - and Tuesday was better, but it was an early-ish start for the short drive to the original Disneyland resort. There are 2 theme parks there - Magic Kingdom and California Adventure - we did them both in a mammoth day. Cade and Braeden enjoyed the zip slide in the latter, as evidenced by this short video:

Naturally, Wednesday was a quieter day, but it was back to golf and beach again on Thursday - more photos and videos to follow.

GP update

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So what have we done since Monday? Wish I could remember - that's why I take photographs - otherwise I really wouldn't have a clue at times. It seems easier to remember 40 + years ago than 4 days ago.

I think Tuesday was just another day of rest - we didn't go anywhere. I arranged golf at Grants Pass on Wednesday afternoon - played with a Glaswegian from Vancouver and his son. He left Scotland when he was 8 and has only been back once - mind you, his family came from Castlemilk and the Gorbals and the shock of going there put him off returning! He flattered me somewhat when we were swapping tales of injuries - his back, my knees - and moaning about the effect it was having on our golf. I added that age wasn't helping and he said to me - "we're about the same age, aren't we? I'll be 50 next birthday". Treasure that one, Ian!

Jo and I drove down to Medford in the morning and did some shopping - Harry and David's (http://www.harryanddavid.com/gifts/store/home___) had to be done after all! In the evening, when the Lesinas went off to football conditioning, Jo and I took Holly for a walk round the local park - well, mostly Jo, actually:

I stayed at Delsie Drive on Thursday and looked after the boys as Jo and Lucy went for a long walk, then a bit of shopping. Scott was home early and we ate before the boys went to football. Afterwards, Scott lit the fire at the back of the garden and we had toasted marshmallows and 'Smores (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%27more) - lovely!:

I'd seen some tins of locally brewed beer in Harry and David's and thought Scott might like them:

Fearless Scottish Ale!

Scott's off work today (Friday) and we'd originally planned to take Cade golfing again - after Scott had the car oil changed. He thought it would take an hour or so and left the house at 7 am, but it's almost 11 am now and he's still not back, so he's obviously had some problems. Perhaps we won't have time for golf after all.

We're going to watch the boys train tonight and tomorrow the Lesinas head off on the long drive to Southern California. They'll drop us off in Medford and we'll spend the day and night there then fly off on Sunday morning and meet them at Newport Coast.

Spooky or what?

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Most of you will have seen the family photo I posted on Facebook last week, but what I didn't say was that my camera took two shots at the same time - I was encouraged to post the other one to the blog:

Should Scott and I be worried about our ghostly apparitions here?

Weekend travels

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

To see what we were up to this weekend, probably best to check two of my other blogs first of all - http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.com/ and http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.com/.

Scott was off work today and so we took a short trip down to Ashland and visited the usual places, including a walk through Lithia park and a paddle in the creek there:

On the way home, we slowed down to let a group of bikers from Washington overtake us:

More Grants Pass musings

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, blow me - it's Friday night already and that's a week of our holiday gone. Scott, Lucy and the boys are at football training/conditioning every midweek night just now, so Jo and I are sitting here updating our respective blogs.

Tomorrow we head north to Eugene/Springfield for the Blues and Brews festival - http://www.wvbbf.org/ - we're staying overnight, so should be fun.

Lucy's been on holiday the last couple of days and from now until we travel back, but Scott still has to work - apart from this coming Monday, when we may golf again. He, Vic and I took part in a Scramble competition - just 9 holes - on Tuesday evening at Applegate. It was fun, but we were rubbish.

I tried Scott's bike the other day and, this morning, there were a few early morning clouds, so I thought I'd take the chance to head out again before the sun broke through properly and it got too hot. I rode downtown and went round a few book shops, then headed back through the parks, across the river:

While I was downtown, I came across this place:

Look closely!

There was also this:

Going back in time, yesterday was a lazy day at the Lesina ranch, which afforded me time to finish the latest John Grisham (The Confession) - it only took me just over 2 days. I've always liked his style, but, after a while, it becomes a little predictable. I hadn't read one of his books for a couple of years, so I thought I would try again, but perhaps it was a mistake. I'm now on to Gerald Seymour's The Dealer and the Dead.

Wednesday was, of course, Cade's 11th birthday proper and, with Jo and I in charge of proceedings, we headed south to the Family Fun Center in Medford. There were a few twists and turns but we got there in the end. Blink of an eye and $100 was gone - amazing! The go-karts were fun - Cade on his own, now that he's tall enough, and me with Braeden. I managed to lose my phone on the first ride - temporary panic, but soon resolved.

We all got thoroughly soaked on the Bumper Boats so I lay out on the grass and let the sun work its magic. We had arranged to meet Scott and Lucy in Applebee's for the birthday tea - and it was very nice. Good surroundings and we all sat at a high, circular table with footrests - lovely. As ever, the staff sang and clapped a birthday celebration as they presented Cade with cake:

So that's me up to date now. There have been a few minor changes at Delsie Drive since we were last here, not least of which is the lovely job Scott and his Dad and pal did on re-painting the entire outside of the house. One or two minor changes at the back as well - watch this video on the blog:

Grants Pass happenings

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The day after the pre birthday party was fairly quiet. Jo and Lucy went to church early on Sunday morning and then we just hung around until late afternoon, when we headed down to Medford for a little bit of birthday shopping, followed by dinner at Kaleidoscope - our favourite pizza pub.

It was back to work this morning for Scott and Lucy, so we were on babysitting duties. We had a little bit of shopping to get as well, but the boys always complain when we have to drag them round in the car, so I said I would do the shopping - and soon - because I wanted to get a little bit of exercise and a quick cycle up to Albertston's before the heat of the day seemed like a good idea.

Scott's bike seemed ready, but when I made it to the shop, I realised it wasn't necessarily the best plan to leave the bike outside without a padlock. I darted round the store and was relieved to find the bike still there when I got out - both from the point of view of it not being nicked, but, more importantly to me at the time, the fact that I didn't have to walk all the way back with all the shopping on my back!

We had lunch and chilled out until the pool beckoned:

I finished my book - Keith Richards' Life - and will now leave it here for Kelly to read when she comes over to see Scott and Lucy next year.

This report comes to you courtesy of my new lightweight laptop and Lucy's new wireless signal, which has much better upload speeds than we get back in Banchory - are you listening, Ross?

Today is the day the painter arrives at Arbor Court - hope Ross helped him out OK - Davie is in his 70's now and it's a long haul down from Fraserburgh every day for him. Ross is also dog-sitting for the next 2 weeks, so he's going to be a full-time carer! (Hopefully some work too!)

USA travel

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Our journey to Oregon was pretty uneventful - although it took a little longer than usual as we had decided to overnight in LA, as the timing of the flights to Medford would have meant a pretty late arrival on Thursday.

The Hilton at LAX was nice and we had a short dip in the pool and some sun-bathing before dinner. We walked along to the adjacent Marriott as their dining room was a bit more attractive than the Hilton's. Jo and I shared a shrimp starter then had salads to follow. It was now 7pm - or 3am in our body clock times - and it was a struggle to stay awake. We had promised ourselves that we would try and adjust to USA time quickly, but failed. As a result, I was up at midnight, then 2am, 3am and finally got up at 4am.

Plenty of time therefore to go through the formalities at the airport and we were on our way to Medford, via Portland. We had lunch and beer in Gustav's  in the delightful surroundings of Portland airport, which is bright and open, unlike many airports.

Scott, Lucy and the boys all came down to meet us at Medford and we drove back to Grants Pass for supper. The boys had football conditioning which gave Jo and I time to unpack and organise ourselves in the trailer. Here's Braeden in his torn top:

On Saturday morning Scott had organised golf for himself, Cade and I at Applegate. Here's Cade on the range:

Note the new Nike golf set he got for his 11th birthday (which is next Wednesday). Cade was pretty good - he hit some nice shots.

In the afternoon, Scott's Mum and Dad, plus Karen's sister, and Scott's sister and her husband and kids all came over for a family party and BBQ - a lovely afternoon.

10th Anniversary!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes - believe it or not, it's Scott and Lucy's 10th Anniversary today - here they were releasing the butterflies at Patrick Creek in 2001:

Have a good one - see you later in the week.

Loch Lomond etc - part II

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

and so to the second part of our weekend - and this time we were a bit more organised - we had a plan! We took the short drive north up the west side of Loch Lomond and parked at Tarbet, then waited for the 11:30 cruise across the loch to Inversnaid. This was a recommended route for walkers, called the West Highland Way Rambler II, which involved what they said was a 7.5 mile walk south to Rowardennan, where we would get picked up again and sail back to Tarbet. Here's Jo on arrival at Inversnaid:

Just a mile along the road we stopped at a little beach - Jo had to brush her hair - and we got invaded by midges!:

Further along, after a bit of a climb, there was a nice viewpoint:

We were a little surprised to come across these 3 wild mountain goats:

Time for lunch - and we found a lovely outlook, which even had a bench:

At the end of the walk, there's a strange modern sculpture:

Nice walk - and it stayed dry. All the stats etc on my hill-walking blog (http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/).

On Monday, we took the short drive over to Helensburgh, where we thought we would use our National Trust passes and visit one of their properties - The Hill House - designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - but it didn't open until 1:30 pm, so we just had a quick stroll round their gardens:

Apart from the big houses on the hill, Helensburgh didn't look all that impressive to us, for an area that is renowned as key commuter territory for the Glasgow professionals, so we left and drove up past Rhu and Faslane - and the peace camp there - up the eastern shore of Loch Long and back to Arrochar again. We had hoped to find a nice tearoom somewhere, but there was nothing to be seen. We stopped in Arrochar and probably should have gone back to the Village Inn, but we thought we should try somewhere else for tea and coffee, and we spotted Ben Arthur's Bothy, which had an outdoor, shoreside area for drinks etc. It was pretty grotty, but we sat there and admired the views of the Cobbler opposite:

Wrong angle to see it properly, I'm afraid.

Here's another panorama shot of the area:

Then it was back to Cameron House to have lunch with Barry and Helen, after which Jo and I used the superb spa once again:

So that was it.

Loch Lomond etc

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I'm back in my office today, but, if we hadn't been going to USA next Thursday, we could easily have stayed at the Carrick Club a bit longer than the 3 nights we enjoyed this weekend. Thankfully, Barry and Helen have now taken up residence there so our week hasn't gone to waste - hope they're enjoying the spa and the scenery as much as we did. It's certainly one of the nicest resorts we've ever stayed at.

Gary and Luca made good use of it on Saturday night too - and Carole would have loved it - if only she'd known beforehand what was on offer!

Our weekend started off with a very nice lunch break at the Drovers Inn, Memus. It's a bit off the main road, just before you get to Forfar, but it's well worth the trip - especially if the weather's nice, as it was on Friday afternoon. They have a lovely big, grassy garden where the kids can run around to their hearts' content. Jo was reading her book when I got back from the loo:

As we were well inland at this point, sat nav directed us cross country through Blairgowrie etc to Perth. It's a lot slower, but it appears we missed a major log-jam on the Dundee - Perth road, so it probably eased our journey a bit.

Our apartment was in the Mansion House at the Carrick and it had a huge living area, and it overlooked the 16th (I think) green of the Carrick course, which is already looking a lot more mature than when I played there a few years ago, not long after it opened:

 On Saturday morning, we drove over to the east side of the loch, up the narrow loch-side road until it stops at Rowardennan, where we got out the car and noticed the start of one of the trails up Ben Lomond. We hadn't planned anything, so weren't organised - no drinks, no food - but decided to start walking up the hill anyway. We took some detours, and then I remembered to switch on my GPS tracker, after almost an hour of walking. Eventually we got to about 800 feet, where Jo said "no more!", so we headed back down for some lunch. It got a little damp on the way down and Jo's neatly coiffured look took a bit of a beating:

We drove back to Drymen and had lunch in the Clachan Inn - very nice. Our first visit to the spa at the Carrick was later that afternoon, just before Barry, Helen, Dawn and Jordan came to pick us up and take us up to Arrochar for dinner at the Village Inn.

Gary and Luca were in Glasgow watching Partick Thistle beat Celtic in a friendly match, and we'd pre-arranged that they would join us for dinner. The look on Luca's face when he walked in to the restaurant and saw us, was, as the Mastercard advert says, priceless. His Dad hadn't told him he was meeting us there.

After eating, Luca and I crossed the road and went down the steps to the beach, which was covered in mussel beds. Luca just wanted to throw them back in to the sea "to give them a little drink"!:

Luca and Gary stayed with us on Saturday night and drove home in the morning - and that was the end of the first part of our weekend adventure.

The graft results

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

OK - only 3 of you voted on my blog poll - but it was unanimous - you don't think I should go for the skin graft. I was thinking the same myself, but I'll wait for another week until I see the dental surgeon again before deciding for sure.

Our weekend at Slaley Hall was great (details on golf blog) and I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Carrick at Loch Lomond. Barry phoned last night and he's arranged for us all to go out for dinner on Saturday to  http://www.villageinnarrochar.co.uk/.


This week's Graze Box is:

Oh - and well done - there's well over 10,000 viewings of my blog now!


Not much else to say just now - too busy keeping my other blogs going!