Hi Kids!

What I'm realizing very quickly is that distances between places are an awfully lot bigger than at home, at least they seem that way. California when compared to teeny, tiny Massachusetts seems so large it should be two states (as someone said whose name escapes me) instead of one.

So we left the sunny southern California bliss that was Santa Barbara and traveled to the more northern California flavored location of Carmel-by-the-Sea. We traded our palm trees for evergreens, but I really feel more at home here. Carmel reminds me of New England and more specifically Cape Cod in a way. I love the smell of the evergreens and the community reminds me a bit of some of the older areas on the Cape…narrow streets and cottages all neatly (and tightly) in rows. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a resort getaway for the well to do just south of San Francisco and Monterey. It's perched on a hillside right next to the ocean, the whole town feels as if it's leaning towards the beach, the main streets sloping, almost pointing directly to the water. It's an wonderful mix of pretentious relaxation and casual opulence. There is an abundance of art and craft galleries, and when I say an abundance I don't mean " Oh my, what a lovely half dozen art galleries" I mean they are everywhere, shop after shop, street after street…my gosh, major museums don't have this much art in them! It would take you weeks to look at all the paintings here.Sad that we only had the afternoon to see this place. Yet another town I could get used to hanging around in for a while.

The theater is located in what is called the Sunset Center, a group of buildings used as a community center and theater. There is a doctor's conference going on at the same time we're here, and we were getting a lot of strange looks from them as we stumbled out of our tour bus in our jammies and casuals. Disney is also shooting a movie here, don't know what it is, but all their trucks and "star" trailers were in the lot next door. The theater and some of the surrounding buildings were done in a sort of gothic/French style, so much so that the interior of the theater looks like you're in a church! I don't know how practical that was but it sure looks different. The show actually sounded pretty nice here I have to say, some theaters you either get a lot of echo or the sound just seems to go out and disappear, but this place sounded great! The local crew was great and they had a wonderful spread of food and treats for us, I'm getting so spoiled. Thanks Carmel!!Now it's on to Thousand Oaks for a week that starts with two days off…Sweet!

Be back soon

Glenn

ps Oh, by the way, a quick hotel note. We stayed at the "Svendsgaard's Inn" and in the morning, when I opened my door there was a cooler pack with the morning's paper and inside were all sorts of breakfast eats…bagel, muffin, fruit, yogurt, cereal…