April 22 -- with Alice & Peter

We had an uneventful trip to LA today, arriving at Alice & Peter's around 10:30. They live in a gated community in Pacific Pallisades (Santa Monica) in a magnificent house. I remember Alice talking about the "hill" behind her house, but I had no idea that said hill is very large and so steep you could hardly climb up.

We had lunch then went out for a walk, following a trail that starts just outside of the gate up into the hills. There are some magnificent views -- I'll post some pictures online when I get a chance -- and you go from virtual desert conditions as you climb to lush vegetation on the other side as you descend. Alice was having trouble with one shoe so once at the bottom of the hill, Peter and I set off for the house -- which was about 2 miles away at this point -- and picked up Alice and Sandy with the car. We were out for a couple of hours, climbing and then descending. I really noticed the pulling in my calfs, not being used to that much walking.

We went out for dinner to a restaurant by the name of Casablanca -- excellent Mexican food with a difference. It was not traditional Mex, of which Sandy is not a fan, with a varied menu of mostly fish. I had a fish soup/stew -- one of my favorite choices when on the menu.

Back home, we chatted for a while and then turned in. As usual I was getting droopy-eyed around 9:00 but revived myself with some coffee. I must be totally adjusted to Pacific time at this point so my 9 pm habits are kicking in. I suspect that life "on the road" over the next weeks will produce different sleeping habits ... hmmm.

Oh -- prior to and after lunch, I walked Peter through some of the pictures on our webiste of the cottage build. He was interested in the engineering aspects -- they are just about to undertake some major renovations of their upstairs -- one wall going down and room expanding onto a current deck area over the garage.