Deep Sea Fishing - Marina Del Rey

Got a travelzoo deal for a 1/2 day Deep Sea Fishing trip in Marina Del Rey. I was a little worried that it would be too crowded to be a comfortable fishing trip, but there were only about 30 people on a 90 person boat, so my first deep sea fishing trip was looking good.

About an hour before getting to Marina Del Rey, I took my motion sickness pill and thought I'd be ready to go....well, I wasn't. Maybe halfway to our first fishing spot, there goes breakfast. I'll spare you the details. But motion sickness is a crazy thing, you feel completely helpless haha. (On the way home, we saw this kid sitting with his head down....I feel ya kid).

Anyway, we started fishing, and I was a little woozy, but I figured this was my first time deep sea fishing, can't just sit around. Hooked up some live anchovies and dropped a line in. 30 seconds later, got my first bite, and here came my first fish. A couple fishing spots in, I started to lose the motion sickness a bit, and caught a couple more.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good trip. I caught 3, and Sophy caught 4 (She got the biggest one). All Rock Fish, or Pacific Snapper, or Rock Cod, apparently they're pretty much one in the same. I'd like to think I would have caught more, but considering I felt like there was an earthquake the whole time, my excuse is that I couldn't feel the fish nibble very well. Okay, maybe I'm just getting the hang of this deep sea fishing thing, cause it's definitely a different feel. Maybe next time.

Nojoqui Falls and Solvang

Took a day trip to Solvang with my family yesterday.

On the way there, we stopped at this place called Nojoqui Falls. It's right off the 101, just before Buellton if you're heading north. It's a short 10 minute hike to the waterfall, and I guess it's a pretty well kept secret because there's barely anyone there. Unfortunately, it was too far into the season to see much of a drip from the "waterfall," but regardless, it's a really nice walk, and a really nice place. Just pick a better part of the year to stop by.

 

Stopped by Ostrichland to see some ostrich and emus. I stayed at the car with the dogs, but Sophy and everyone else went into the feed these huge things.

Next stop was Solvang, which was extremely busy. Parking was quite difficult, but it's a neat little place to walk around for a bit. Lots of boutique shops and plenty of dogs walking around to greet Sheldon and Lui.

Had lunch at Greenhouse Restaurant which actually sits in a greenhouse. I had the Nordic combination which came with Danish Sausage and Swedish meatballs, not bad.

The best part of Solvang of course, is the pastries and sweets. Tried a Raspberry Danish and an Apple Streudel from Mortensen's Bakery, went to Arne's Aebleskiver for some aebleskivers, and finally to Olsen's Bakery for a bucket of cookies and this Cinnamon crisp thing. These aebleskivers are a Danish desert which is a fluffier version of pancake, and rolled into a ball.

Cars Land at Disney's CA Adventure

Got to go to the Cars Land preview for annual passholders, and I was really impressed with their attention to detail in making Cars Land. The rides were fun, especially the Radiator Springs car ride, but I don't know how much of an attraction getter the whole thing is. Perhaps if you're a big Cars fan, then you may be more interested in the place. Overall though, I think it was really well done, and my pictures probably can't capture how nice it all looks. Here's some pictures of Cars Land and the three rides.

We were let in through the side entrance right next to the Radiator Springs ride.

Radiator Springs Racers 

 

The actual ride goes through some scenes inside and then to the racing portion outside. The inside is done really well, and the racing portion is pretty fun. It's like the test track ride at Epcot. One word of warning, I think this ride is gonna break down as much as Indiana Jones haha.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

They compare this ride to the teacups at Disneyland. My motion sickness is pretty bad, but I actually did okay on this. The ride kind of throws you around as if you were in the towed car of a tow truck. The cool part is how the ride works on these tracks. Too hard to describe.

Luigi's Tires


These "tires" hover over what's basically a huge air hockey surface. You have to lean in whichever direction you want to go in. Sounds boring right? Actually it's quite fun. Trying to grab these humongous beach balls flying around in the air. Good ride.

Some pictures from "Route 66"

The Cozy Cone Motel had a variety of snacks. They had churros with chocolate sauce, chili, pretzels with cheese, I forget what else. What we tried was Chicken Verde. It was chicken in some green sauce kept in a pretzel like bread cone. Interesting.

Didn't try this place, but they had stuff like steak loin, more dinner type stuff.

A couple Disney shops here.

That was Cars Land. If you're interested, here's some pictures from the new entrance, or the Buena Vista Street.

And finally, one of the best new additions to CA Adventure, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. If you like dessert, the best option is the Warm Brownie Sundae. No picture of it, just try it.

New bike, it's here!

After weeks and weeks of waiting, my new Specialized Sirrus has arrived. Sophy got her bike maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, but for whatever reason, I had to wait for mine.

Took Lui out for his first bike trip. The first stretch down the block wasn't so good, but after that, he started listening to my commands more, and actually kept up quite well. Way to go Lui.

Who wants to go bike riding?

And thanks again Ellen for the free bike.

Cherry Picking

When I was younger, I would often go cherry picking with my family every June, but I can't even remember the last time I went. The one thing I do remember was that every time I went cherry picking, I ended up with a stomach ache from all the cherries I ate.

Today, we went Cherry Picking in Leona Valley at 2 orchards. The first one had maybe 5 types of different cherries, while the second had just 2 types, but they were much bigger and sweeter.

Turns out I'm quite the picky cherry picker because my family each had two or three times the amount of cherries I had at any given time.

Anyway, still ended up taking home about 7 pounds of cherries.