Day 3-We go Hardcore Utah

I woke up refreshed having had a good solid nights sleep. I must say the pull out couch beds the Desert Pearl Inn offers is a very very comfy sleep. I was well prepared for that intruding middle medal bar that always sticks in the lower lumbar region but this bed had none of that...Dustin crawled up with me and went to sleep immediately so I wasn’t the only one who shared the same thoughts evidently.

I woke up and hit the market for luncheon meat. Was very happy to see the Sol Market was very reasonably priced...as a matter of fact must of the places in Utah are very fairly priced. I was semi prepared for the maui style price markup but as so far I have seen none of it.

I picked up some ham, turkey, and Monterey jack along with a few other odds and ends courtesy of the bargain bin that featured some butter scotch pudding and powdered wasabi which I found curious but then again-wasabi in Utah is probably about as popular as the guy wearing the rainbow afro wig wearing the full sized “the end is near” sign in downtown St Lake. I got a kick that I saw Salted Nut Rolls in the candy section-long having been one of my guilty pleasures when Im in Nebraska.

We made the free tram to the park and made our way all the way to the top of the hill to see the legendary stretch of Zion known as the Narrows. Basically you walk up the middle of the river and the farther you walk the taller and narrower the canyon walls become. We walked to the end and the mouth where the narrows begins having made the 45 minute trek in 90 degree not quite at midday heat. There were several others making the trek as well so it was a slight relief to know that we weren’t in No Mans Land.

Taking off my shoes and socks I stepped foot into the Virgin River only to find it was ice cold...I am talking a foot numbing style of cold where the muscles in your foot start to ache within seconds of stepping foot in the water. I put my socks in the backpack, put my shoes on and just walked into the river with my shoes. I figured it was hot enough where the shoes would dry quickly and also allowed me a bit more mobility as I did the Virgin River Hop Skip and Jump over various rocks and boulders. I heard later that the hike through the narrows could take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on your pace. I will make this trek at a later date once Dustin gets past his “Im Tired, Carry Me” stage.

Alex, Alex, and Alex take in the view.



We made our way back and while the Kids made no attempt to disguise their wish to head back to the Inn for lunch and pool time Tomoko and I wanted to make one more stop at the Weeping Rock. It was an easy 15 minute or so hike from the shuttle stop albeit almost entirely uphill. At the top the Weeping Rock was just that-an Overhead of Rock that had water dropping through it.


The overhang had carved a staging area below that hikers were standing under. Along with the cool water feeling good on my head, it sounded like it was raining-not a waterfall or babbling brook sound but a sound just like a soft gentle rain. The semi cavern was well shaded and I couldn’t help but think had I a nice cot there would be no better place for an afternoon nap then this. Alex completly soaked his Angels hat while Dustin did his best to lean as far over the wall as possible to reach one of the thicker streams in spite of the fact there were plenty of drips well within arms reach and even well before the retaining wall. I think he was doing it just to scare Tomoko.

A picture I snapped during my "Ansel Adams period" which lasted about 5 minutes.




We made it back to the Van and back to the Inn and had a late lunch. I really wanted to take a nap but it wasnt to be. We finished lunch and I took the kids to the pool with tomoko joining me later in the jacuzzi which was set up perfectly as I could clearly watch Alex and Dustin as they splashed around in the pool. Whoever designed the pool area deserves a mega thumbs up. As a matter of fact I should use this space to throw mega props to the Desert Pearl Inn....everything was top notch. The pool was right in front of our back door and the river was only a 2 minute walk from the front door. The kids said they wanted to play in the river so making our way into the water and once again feeling the ice cold Virgin River water; it was a short trip to say the least.

Old Man River....the virgin river that is.



We stayed in the river less then 10 minutes and went back to the room for a brief rest. The brief rest turned into 4 hours of doing nothing and I loved every moment of it as we all went to sleep early.

Utah Trip Day 2-We actually do Something

The drive features a whole lotta this.



We woke up in our 16 dollar a night room at Buffalo Bills and I realized that I probably had 4 hours of sleep. Between the air conditioning starting and stopping with the frequency of an illegal aliens leaf blower and the dry desert air which sucks any detectable amount of moisture from your skin it was not one of my better evenings. I took solace in the fact that Tomoko also slept poorly....what can I say there is without a doubt comfort in the equal sharing of misery when it comes to your spouse.

I hit the casino with my legendary blue coffee cup on the guise I would bring some back for Tomoko while at the same time using my free 5 dollar play for joining the Buffalo Bills playuers club. They had a promo where all new members to the club would get a free spin and land $5 to 1 Million dollars. Would you believe out of all the prizes between $5 and a million I got the 5 bucks? What are the odds that of all of the different ways to win I ended up with the minimum prize? I blew threw that in about 20 minutes and found humor how the 1cent slot used to be the oddball slot at Slots O Fun but now the 1cent slot actually meant betting 15 to 30 cents a pop per spin. The marketing genius of Vegas never ceases to amaze.

We left Stateline and hit up the Vegas Costco for gas and supplies. It was a thing of beauty as a gallon of gas was $2.77 and the water and juice was not only tax free but CRV free as well. We went to the Utah Costco as well to find gas was 10 cents more and a 3% sales tax....which still trumps CAs 8% monstrosity for Sales tax.

Along the way we saw the coolest building in Vegas....Melting Building Art.


While in Utah we saw a sign for Dinosaur Tracks Museum and upon offering the query to the Costco worker found it was a 5 minute drive away. Being I passed up a bevy of early man sights, museums, Zyzzx road, the house of mud, and the ball of twine I figured this is something we should check out.

We found the museum and Tomoko was tempted to drive off when she saw they were charging admission. It was less then 20 for the 4 of us and I didnt want to drive away having the kids wondering what they had missed.

Me with a Dinosaur track.


It was amazing as well to see huge footprints dating back 200million years ago. They even had fossils that had dinosaur skin where some gigantosomethingsauraus had leaned on a mound of mud and left a very distinct impression of its skin pattern. It probably wasnt worth the price of admission and Tomoko and I both commented on how we probably enjoyed it more the the kids did. The real highlight came when an elderly volunteer for the museum started chatting me up mentioning he was originally from Northridge. I asked him how he liked Utah as to which he point he did the old “look both ways to make sure no one was in ear shot” and leans over and says “It would be so bad if not for all these damn LDSers. Its a cult I tell you...a goddamn cult.”
I would be a liar if I didnt think it somewhat odd to see them in Costco wearing the standard dress and a hairdo that makes Marie Osmond look like Amy Winehouse. For the record-the Utah Costco has no alcohol and did have a roughly 20% of its patrons wearing the LDS clothes and hairstyles. For the ladies it meant a 50s era buffont and a little house on the prarie dress in pastel colors- and while it may sound politically incorrect the clothes and hair made them also seem slightly stricken with Downs Syndrome. I wish I was being cunning and clever but honestly that was very much the impression I got where I could not determine who was a normal LDS vs the oddball LDSer. For the men it meant a blue button up long sleeve shirt and a hair cut that would have made Moe Howard proud. I coudnt but help but think of the movie “Kingpin.” It was not until we sat down to a chicken bake and hot dog that I realized Tomoko was probably the only asian in a 10 mile radius.

Driving from St George to Zion Alex said “You know Dad they think a big meteor hit the earth and that killed the Dinosaurs. Is that right?” To which I replied “they did it to themselves.”
He looked a bit a puzzled so I elaborated on my ruse, “some scientists speculate that most dinosaurs relative sedantry lifestyle along with their heavy pro red meat diet led to cardiovascular disease. Some were also rumored to be heavy smokers who spent hours on end playing video games.” By this time Alex knew I was pulling his leg and I was once again happy my oldest son was pretty smart for his age and didnt need to spend the next half hour explaining the joke and/or the truth.

Driving to the town I recognized how this small town in Utah reminded me a lot of the area near Joshua Tree. I saw some of the cutest, quaintest little homes and thought what it may have been like to live there. As much as a cute little cottage in the middle of nowhere was appealing I couldnt help but think apart from setting up a fantastic garden and getting a motorbike to explore the numerous trails this would probably be one hell of a boring existence.

We arrived at our stop, the Desert Pearl Inn. It had received great reviews online reviews and even driving through the town I imagines this as being very similar to what Sedona may look like. Having never been to Sedona It was all speculative of course and the topic was brought up with Tomoko and I both discussing how we would like to go to Sedona and see if the whole “power vortex” thing was all it was cracked up to be. Alex overheard this and fortunately the Desert Pearl was a minute away which spared me the 30 minute discussion on Power Vortexes with Alex.

As exhausted as we were from the drive it was 4 oclock and we knew we had to get moving if we were to get a sneak peak of Zion and its offerings. We unloaded and while the kids begged us to hit the pool we promised to do it at the end of the day and with that saw us riding the free shuttle to the park gate. As a matter of fact there is a free shuttle for the entire town as well as a shuttle inside the park. Seeing the behemouth plateaus and mountains my first impression was one of wishing we could have stayed 3 nights instead of two. After a short chat with the park ranger he suggested the emerald pool trails would be a good starting point. We made the first pool in pretty good time and while it wasn’t Chings Pond on Maui it was still nice hearing and seeing the drops from the rocks above forming a small pool. Alex took off his Angels Hat and put under the drops and tried to put the water on his head. It was close to 100 degrees so I said nothing but did find a nice trickle of water from the rocks above to fill the cup of my hand and throw the water on him and Dustin.

Being there was still plenty of light we trekked on for the Middle Pool which was really a puddle. From below I envisioned an oasis but once we arrived it was a thin shallow trickle no more no less. A sign in the area said the upper pool was only .03 miles away so we figured why not. Only trouble was this .03 miles featured lots of verticals and lots of stone hopping whereas the first 2 pools were wide smooth sandy stretches. Then Dustin decided he was not going to hike anymore that day so myself and tomoko alternated giving him piggy back rides. Good times.

We arrived at the top pool and it was the best of the bunch, cooler and larger then the others it was deep enough to swim in ,though no one was, with most hikers electing to wade and splash around. One of the other hikers caught a small frog which was a hit with the kids and while I am no frog expert this variety of frog had a very loud croak and at first actually thought it some type of mountain goat. We took in the huge cavern the view so full of vistas it actually kind of looked like a 360 circle view type lens. With the blue sky and white puffy clouds jogging over them at a leisurely pace I didn’t want to leave. Then I heard a commotion and turned to see Alex and Dustin engaging in a wet sand/mud throwing fight at the most grandest of the emerald pools. It was a sign that it was time to leave.

Me and the Kids at the Upper Emerald Pool...shortly before the mud fight began.



The trip down was noticeable in that the as we went back down to the Zion Lodge our trip originated from, there was a good 15 degree difference in temperature. While the 3rd pool felt like a nice 80 degrees- reaching the bleached sand trailhead felt everybit like Corona in July. I was glad we had our first hike in our back pocket and looked forward to a cool shower, cool air conditioning, and a cold beer...yes there is a theme there.

One of the numerous waterfalls, pools, and streams that dot all several of the trails.


Taking the free shuttle back we went through the camp ground area of Zion and I took one look and said-I have to camp here once in my life. There can be no better campsite setting then the rugged mountain vistas and cool water of the Virgin River that flows through the park. It looked like any campsite you have even been to but I couldnt imagine how quiet it must be at night and how many stars there must be. I always love a good night trail hike(or Quest as we used to call it) and once again I could not imagine a better locale for a night quest then this. Tomoko and I did a pinky shake and vowed that we would camp here one day.

We made it back to the hotel and tomoko prepared a microwave lasagna we bought at Costco and I ran to the store for some salad fixin’s and a bottle of wine. Surprisingly-the local Utah Market was very fairly priced across the board. I always tend to think there is going to be a bit of the "gouge factor" but there was none of that here. I picked up my stuff, made it back in time to crack open the wine and settle in for a good nights rest that was sorely overdue.

Vegas, Zion, Bryce Canyon Vacation Recap; Day 1-We have liftoff.

June has found me in between jobs and a pre-planned trip to Utah has now become an open ended vacation. I have vowed that I will blog daily about the trip from start to finish unlike the blogging of my maui trip which ended on Day 3 of 7 with the heading “Day 3; I am beaten senseless by the local Shaman.” But new lap top in tow and all of the tools of trade by my side I pledge this time to follow this through.

We left OC only 45 minutes late of our schedule and a trip on the toll road to the 91 saw only mild traffic congestion which by 91 standards may as well have been wide open driving. Making matters better yet; the 15 freeway saw absoulutely no traffic at all which mean the trip has started on a very positive note. As a matter of fact the free flowing traffic actually put us ahead of schedule which meant a mind numbing 30 minutes to kill at the outlet center which I always enjoy, since the prices at the outlet center always seem to be no better then the prices locally which always begets the question-if the prices are the same why battle the 100 degree heat? It also served as a great reminder on why I love my wife with the comment of “I just dont like shopping.” I always knew I had a great lady on my hands but having managed to find the one japanese girl who doesnt like shopping is really the gift that keeps on giving-if only she had ultra wealthy parents she would have been the girl of my dreams.

The real highlight of the opening salvo of our trip was our visit to the legendary Barstow Del Taco. I had heard good things for years but never managed to make the trip either opting for something in Baker or not making it past Big Boy or Tommys off of Linwood Ave. But family in Tow I was eager to see if there was truth to the matter and whether or not the 4.5 Yelp rating was warranted. Yelpers are typically brutal in the harshness of their reviews so to see positive reviews for a fast food place was an eye opener. RinkRat has swore to me about this place for years so I was certainly looking forward to seeing what was in store.

From the outside it looked no different then you cookie cutter Del Taco on anycorner of anytown USA. Even inside it looked the same sans every table sporting condiments packets and napkin dispensers. I could mention how the person taking the order also spoke perfect english, and actually suggested I upgrade the chili fries to the deluxe model since it was only 20 cents more-in 40 plus years of So Cal living I think this is the first time I have ever been upsold by a fast food worker. We settled on a couple of combo meals so the kids could get some fries and a couple of drinks. We ended up with some big fat soft tacos, the aforementioned chili fries, and a couple of bean and cheese burritos. And while the prices were a bit higher then your local Del Taco it was very apparent the portion sizes and the preparation of the food were far different then the Del Tacos I was used to. The Cheese actually seemed like real chedder cheese...as a matter of fact I noticed it was a different size grade then the thin sliced cheese I was accustomed to. The size of the chicken chunks as well as the freshness of the fat taco soft shell/pita was a far cry from what I was accustomed to....it was kind of like of ordering a 99 Cent double Cheeseburger from McDonalds and being served a double double Animal Style. All in all I can agree with the hoopla in spite of the somewhat higher prices. Even the bean and cheese burritos were better with an over abundance of cheese and the temperature of the beans melting the cheese into a 1/2bean 1/2 cheese gooey mess of goodness. I even got 3 year old Dustin to take a couple of bites which speaks volumes.

We made our way back into the minivan and as we approached Baker I encouraged the kids to play the “Guess the Temperature” game on the worlds biggest thermometer. The excitement soon proved anti-climatic as we neared the thermometer it either wasnt functioning or the angle of the sun made getting any type of accurate reading impossible. I will go on record as saying there was something wrong it-Ive been past this thing hundreds of times and dont ever recall it being as dim or faint as it was today. Explaining to the kids why the thermometer didnt work after getting them hyped was like a less brutal version of explaining that Santa Claus had been murdered on Christmas Eve. I had the wife bust out some Capri Suns and Otter Pops from the cooler and the matter was soon resolved.

We made our way to the 1st stop at Buffalo Bills. I dont really care too much about gambling, especially that of the trashy variety that is the Buffalo Bills staple but given the room was $16 bucks I figured it was an easy option and the log rides and other kiddie attractions would give the kids something to do in the evening. We let them do a couple of rides and walk around a bit. The place was deserted to what I was used to and the amount of smoke in the casino was about 1/2 of the normal amount which meant that it only took 45 minutes to acquire Black Lung Disease as opposed to the normal time of 15 minutes. All of the food shops were closed as well which is certainly a sign of the economic times. Overall I didnt care-I wasn’t gambling, wasnt drinking, and only used the casino as a neon version of Motel 6.

The Room itself was surprisingly nice. It was much much cleaner then I had expected and the bathroom was a far cry from the vegas trip I stayed at the Four Queens or even the Tropicana back in the Frozen Fury Pre-Season Hockey Games of years past pre-wife pre-kids. I literally had expected the worse and while the carpet has certainly seen better days for $16 bucks I wasn’t expecting crushed velvet.

I was hoping to get a good sleep as tomorrow would see us driving through Nevada, a blip of Arizona, towards Springdale Arizona. It would only be about 4 or 5 hours in real time but counting the amount of pee breaks, “Im Bored” comments, begging for snacks, arguing, bickering, motiong sickness-I would say the over/under would be more like 6 hours or the entire DVD Box Set of Planet Earth(the UK version, not the Sigourney Weaver version.) Was almost enough to have me seeking an online divorce the first moment I was able to pull into a wifi hot spot.

And alas as I finish typing this I am lucky to catch a weather report and good news is on the way! Tomorrows high is only expected to hit 105 degrees! I guess I should have brought a parka and stocking cap. The first day come and gone though has me summating with a so far so good attitude....I have yet to have a Clark Griswold style emotional outburst, I still have money in my wallet, ice and a few cold ichibans still in the cooler. This beats me old record of my trip to Walt Disney World which saw me penniless and using an asian travelers cell phones to call American Express Customer Service line begging for a raise in my credit limits-all before reaching El Segundo.....much less LAX. To be fair though-downtown Linwood seemed like a natural shortcut and the locals in town seemed friendly enough in spite of the name of the favorite band they all had tattooed on their back-I have never heard of the pop act known as the “19th St Crazy Boyz”, but I am pretty sure they must be the hispanic version of the Jonas brothers only instead of joe, nick, and paul there is Lil’ Chewie, Wolfie & Joker. Anyhow tomorrow sees us hitting up Zion National Monument and should also be the first blog entry with some pics.

Day Late, Dollar Short Movie Reviews; Downey, Burton, Gilliam & Strange Animals

Had a chance to redbox a couple of movies in recent weeks and now have a few moments for another edition of the day late dollar short movie reviews.



Movies like this always reminds me of the sage words on an ex girlfriends sister. Whenever asked about a recent movie she saw would always respond with "ehh, it was ok" in about as neutral tone as one could ever find. It used to amuse me that no movie was ever great or outright sucked. Years later, I debated whether she was brilliant or the wisdom of her words was mere coincidence. When someone says a movie is great the hopes and expectations get built to a point where reality can never live up to expectations. On the other side of the ledger-when you say a movie sucked big time; actually seeing the movie and finding some redeeming qualities can raise the bar. With that in mind and based on some reviews for Holmes maybe I expected less and received more.


Sherlock Holmes- As of right now Robert Downey Jr can do no wrong...this guy is on one heck of an amazing roll. When was the last time an actor has been in so many big name movies and done well in such a short period of time? Between Sherlock Holmes, Ironman, Tropic Thunder, The Soloist-this guy is hollywood gold.

That said I really enjoyed this movie in spite of the fact the hollywood-ization of one of literatures most beloved characters was off the chart. While I admittedly have never read one, count ‘em not a one, of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books I cant help but think that not a one of the featured Sherlock Holmes participating in mixed Martial Arts Events and being adept at applying a rear naked choke hold that would make George St Pierre Proud. Same with Watson, I always envisioned him as a portly cherubic side kick-not a tall lanky stud who also happened to me a 5 time junior welterweight boxing champion. That Said-

This was an entertaining movie and Guy Ritchie was a very good choice to direct the film. I am sure there some purists are bemoaning Ritchie’s mainstream work, but he is very good and adept at setting mood and feel and using this time period is a perfect choice for him to show his wares.

Wont go into trivial things like plot and amusing anecdotes; but for a few hours of fun and interest Sherlock Holmes did well to hold my interest and I would not mind at all if this became a series of films as Downey and Law played well off of each other and had good chemistry. As a matter of fact-I would much rather see and trust the continuing quality of a Sherlock Holmes Series of Films then anything coming out of the Indiana Jones or Star Wars Series. And once again when we speak of conjecture my waxing poetic and lamenting of hollywood bastardization of fictional characters is purely speculatory as I have never read any of the works of Conan Doyle-nor Carroll which leads me to.......

Alice in Wonderland



I will preface this with the widespread announcement and proclimation that I am by no means a fan of Tim Burton. The 1st Batman film is widely overrated and would haven been a monumental bust if not for the casting of Jack Nicholson. Batman 2 made Batman 1 look like the Godfather and probably my choice for worst movie of all time being that at least “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and “Troll2“ have comedic value. Edward Scissorhands has not aged well at all and the Planet of the Apes remake was saved by the fact it didnt reach the horrid scale of the Rollerball remake. Dont even get me started on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That said I enjoyed his work in Ed Wood, Big Fish, and Peewees Big Adventure so please dont start a facebook page of “Hipcheck hates Tim Burton” as did enjoy some of his movies.

As for this flick....I can pencil then is as one of Burtons movies I liked. Ironic that this was the one Disney film that bored my kids but the wife and I enjoyed. I had never heard of Mia Wasikowska before this flick but she is beautiful and charming, Depp is as bizarre and extravagant as can be, visually the film is stunning, and my only regret is that I wasn’t able to catch this at the Imax, in 3D, after taking one semi large inhalation of something of the high quality hallucinogenic variety. Watching this movie made we want to re-explore the works of Lewis Carroll much the same way as Holmes made me want to read at least one Sherlock Holmes book. Considering I fancy myself an amateur writer does never having read anything by the two aforementioned authors besmirch the most basic and low level of my credentials? I must ponder this fact.

Burton’s characters are always so over the top that it borders on the grotesque. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. But the one character in this film that was perfectly cast was Leo Bill as Hamish-the prim English Lord Alice is set to marry. He did more in 10 minutes to stereotype English Upper Class Twits then Monty Python did in 20 years. Seriously funny stuff from this guy. The shape of his nose alone is worthy of mention almost more so then Helena Bonham-Carters head.




As with Holmes I wont get into plot and what not but this is one of Burton’s Better Works in that he controls himself enough to keep it inline without going into bizarro world territory. Thats not to say going into bizarro world territory is always a bad thing but Burton tends to go to the well one too often with unsatisfactory resorts. Once again I do not mind going mad on film-but for that genre I prefer Terry Gilliam over Burton.

I would be remiss as well if I did not mention the work and revitalization of Crispin Glover’s career. While I do not think he will go down in history as the world’s greatest actor; he has done enough quality work where he can be known for his body of work as opposed to the guy known for his erratic borderline emotionally disturbed Letterman appearance. Odd to think 20 or so years later and without having any inside info whatsoever I would almost trust Glovers opinion and morale compass over that of Letterman. The March of Time in conjunction with age and opinion truly creates strange animals.

First Ribs of the Summer

Picked up some Farmer John Spare Ribs from Smart n Final and figured I would post the results here. I was mid way through making a new batch of dry rub or what my wife refers to as the "annual cleaning of the spice cabinet" when upon completion-she actually found the bag of last years dry rub. And with that a new tradition was born; the merging of last years rub into this years rub. Much like using the strain of yeast over and over again for bread-my rub will be continually be changing, evolving, and mixing the old and new into a mesh of collangual flavoring. And yes, I will admit that I just made up the word "collangual" so no need to bust out the thesaurus.

Here is a picture of the ribs rubbed and ready to go. There was an exterior strip of meat that I removed and decided to use some Chef Paul Pork seasoning on. You will notice the Chef Pauls is much redder in appearance then my rub-probably due to more paprika and no brown sugar. I will say the Farmer John ribs were the meatiest I have ever used and 2 large racks came to about 12 bucks.



Once prepped I tried my best to do a low and slow at about 200 degrees with indirect heat. I put the ribs on the bottom rack and used the top rack for the rib tips with the Chef Paul.



After that I wrapped in foil and finished the ribs over at my cousins. Have to apologize for the pic quality as I didnt have my normal camera and had to use my phone camera.

All in all a great way to start the season. People loved the ribs, the ribs tips were fantastic, and a good time was had by all.

Fun with Weather Pt2

My OC readers are probably well familiar with the surf spot known as the Wedge but for my international readers let me give a bit of a back story.

The wedge was a normal stretch of beach at one point until someone decided it would be a fine place to dig an enormous harbor. Newport Harbor was born and separating the mouth of the harbor and the regular beach was accomplished by laying out 1/4 mile or so of large boulders referred to as a jetty.

The wedge is known because as waves form and hit the end of the jetty as the wall of water rebounds it creates a much larger wave then what Mother Nature created. Even when other spots are typically 2-3 feet high as far as wave height is concerned the Wedge can be generally counted on to be twice as high. The caveat being the waves at the Wedge break much closer to the shore so while the wave size is impressive it is certainly a surf at your own risk type environment.

Anyhow, a big swell moved into the area and while some areas had 4-6 foot waves this afternoon at the Wedge had some waves I would think close to 15 ft or so. Keep in mind I am no surfer and certainly no expert on measuring wave height. But hopefully the pics and videos speak for themselves. Much like Fun with Weather pt1 these were taken with my camera phone and I apologize for not bringing a real camera.

Enjoy!

On this picture below if you blow it up you can see a bit of a blur on the wave-that was actually the lone surfer out in the ocean. Gives you a pretty good idea about the size of the wave.








Believe it or not these were not the biggest waves I have ever seen at the wedge. If memory serves roughly 10 or so years ago there was another storm that brought in bigger much more powerful waves. The waves crashing the shore were powerful to the point where you could feel the break of the waves under your feet and the crash of the wave sounded like a clap of thunder. Todays wave were not of the ilk, but under these conditions its always a treat to visit the Wedge. Props to my friends at McClain Concepts, an awesome orange county marketing company for helping out!

Day Late Dollar Short Movie Reviews-I bring thee these movies three

Some quick takes from my "Day Late Dollar Short" movie reviews.

Where the Wild Things Are- A very dark depressing movie. It was like Tim Burton without the quirk or Terry Gilliam without the brilliance. After watching I can only imagine the millions of parents who took their kids to the theater expecting a fun lovable kids movie. I can only imagine how many kids left the theater emotionally scarred. There was supposed to be some type of message somewhere along the way however it was fully lost on me. This movie was like a bad acid trip.

Zombieland- Everything it was cracked up to be. Sometimes when multiple people tell you how great a movie is and you finally see it; its only going to be a let down by high expectations-this was not one of them. As others mentioned Woody Harrelson is great. He should have played Brad Pitts role in Inglorious Basturds. As a matter of fact he could have played that same character in Inglorious Basturds and it wouldnt have made a lick of difference if not only to improve it. Bill Murray is always amazing.

Up In the Air- Enjoyed it as well. Clooney is Clooney and the female lead Anna Kendrick was good but I could not get past the fact she looked very much like a younger female version of Tom Cruise.



Jason Reitman really knows how to set a good feel and vibe for his movies that can make an above average idea more compelling then it really is. He really should have directed "Lost in Translation" as then it probably might have been deserving of the acclaim it didn't deserve in its actual form. George Clooney will be deserving of an academy award when he can successfully play the role of a man who isn't charming and is not constantly saying clever things.