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August 1, 2004
Riding Around America: Sunny California
I'm staying with my godmother Sherri and her husband Bruce here in Oxnard, CA and yesterday was jam packed with beautiful scenery and a castle. We headed north up the coast early in the morning and went to Hearst Castle, home of William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper publisher and politician back in the early 1900s. I had been to the castle as a child but had forgotten how beautiful it is. We took a tour, the only way to see the castle, but it almost felt like we were wandering through on our own because the tour guide spoke softly and had so many cheesy jokes that even I was groaning. It was difficult to hear what he said but Sherri and Bruce took up the slack by telling me all the interesting stuff they had heard on previous tours.
After the castle, and an excellent lunch of "tri-tip", the meat cut of choice here in CA, we headed back to Oxnard looking at some beautiful scenery along the way. The day had started cloudy and chilly but in the afternoon the weather was nearly perfect. Blue skies and temperatures in the 70s. The great weather made for some beautiful scenes along the coast and in the mountains. I'll be seeing more of that scenery on Thursday because my train to Portland goes through the same area.
Today we went out for lunch in Ventura and walked around downtown, then caught the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" a whacky MTV production about a very strange high school kid. It was just plain weird.
This evening we had some excellent steak which was cooked outside on the grill and I got to know Homer better. Not the author or the Simpson but the dog. I used to cringe at the thought of getting slobered on by a dog but I've gotten over it now and am having a good time playing with Sherri and Bruce's pet, "Homer-dog", as they call him.
The rest of the evening was very laid back and tomorrow will be also. On Tuesday Sherri and I are taking a boat out to the Channel Islands, a national park offshore. The weather report is predicting strong winds and the trip can be pretty hairy, according to Sherri and my mom, so I'll get the chance to figure out if I get seasick in choppy seas. And of course, you'll be able to read a full account right here.
Posted on August 1, 2004 at 11:22 PM