I have spent the last week enjoying the great hospitality of my brother Brendan and his wife Barbara at their Newport Beach home. Photo of Brendan and Barbara and Erin and Tommy attached. I've had a bit of a culture fest, visiting the Getty Museum and the Huntington Museum. Both have some great exhibits. I particularly enjoyed the paintings. You do wonder about some people - while in one of the portrait galleries at the Getty, I overheard one woman disappointedl...

I had a four hour layover in Portland before my departure for LA on the Coast Starlight train, so decided to explore a little. No disrespect to Portlandians but I cannot recommend it as a holiday destination. Not a lot to see but I did discover that it is known for its large number of microbrewries. I sought out a tavern to QA some of the local beer but nobody would serve me - I wondered if my reputation as a bar room brawler had preceeded me but it was probably...