In case you don't know about Catalina Island, here's a map:
At one time the entire island was owned by William Wrigley Jr. of chewing gum fame. He had a vision of protecting the island for future enjoyment, the Catalina Conservancy follow thru on this mission.
There is no cruise ship dock, so the ship anchored out and we used a tender from the island to get to shore. We had perfect weather and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for 2 days.
'Tendering' in to shore
The waterfront was chock-a-block full of appealing eateries and shops
Beautiful views of Catalina Island
The second day we signed up at the Catalina Conservancy to see the botanical gardens and the Wrigley memorial. A nice walk and some good views. Once again, it was a gorgeous day.
A Dragon Tree
Walking up to the Wrigley Memorial
Avalon Bay with the Casino to the left and our Ship anchored out
A view of the Odyssey from our lunch spot at Descanso Bay
Jim's old high school buddy, Ron Kennedy, lives in Carlsbad, California - just about an hour north of San Diego. He made arrangements to come visit us when we were at port AND take us on a tour of the Navy Base there. He is retired now, but he was a navy man for many years, he commanded the USS Pearl Harbor. He was also the navigator on the Spiegel Grove, a ship that is now an artificial reef in the Keys. Jim and I dove on that ship!
Then we went to a delicious lunch in Old Town.
Anyway, it was special to get to see the Navy Base that is off limits to most folks.
The same class of ship as the one Ron commanded - The Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52)
We were in San Diego for 2 days, so we had time to do some shopping. I needed a new Apple Watch and iPhone, Jim needed a new computer. Guess what? There's an Apple Store in town. They fixed us both up.
We sailed away from San Diego on a gorgeous evening, sitting outside for our dinner with new friends Wayne and Donna.
As I write this, it is actually may 19 (I pre-dated the post) and we're sitting in the airport in Dusseldorf Germany. I am so far behind on the blog that I have to do a quick recap now so I can pick up with our current travels.
California
After the FMA rally in Yuma, we traveled to Laguna woods California where we were booked to drop a Google photos seminar for the computer club.
Crossing the California state line and we were still in the desert. Major sand dunes in this area. Then we started climbing, and soon we saw green. What a welcome sight! After many years of drought, California has had record rainfall. We're we're so glad to be out of the desert.
Ron and Ruth
First stop was to visit Ron and Ruth who live in Carlsbad. That's in between San Diego and Los Angeles. We stayed at the same elks Lodge where we've been before in Oceanside. We left early to give us time to set the ocean before meeting them for dinner.
Took a nice walk on the pier and met a character. She insisted on trailing our picture so we also took hers. Conversation revealed that she belongs to a writer's group with a blog called summerlin writers workshop. Cool.
We met up with Ron and Ruth at a local restaurant and had a great time catching up. Ron is still surfing! And Ruth is painting her beautiful artwork. We saw them last in LBI for a high school reunion of Jim's.
The next day we drove in the other direction to meet up with Andy and Diane who moved to California from Colorado about a year ago. We met up with them and their daughter, Elizabeth in San Juan Capistrano. It was an afternoon date. We went to a playground so Elizabeth could practice her ninja warrior moves, then we walked around the town.
On the drive back, we found a funky, wonderful, place to stop for dinner-nomads canteen in San Clemente.
When Google Photos first came out, I knew I wanted to become expert in it. I specialize in helping people manage their digital photos. I had been using, and teaching, Picasa (Google’s free photo management software) for over 10 years – and I loved it. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of other people were using Picasa and loving it because I taught them. But, the writing was on the wall that change was inevitable. Picasa was built for the world of digital cameras and computers – it only used the web occasionally, just for sharing your best photos. The world of photos was migrating to smartphones and web, no computer necessary.
There are plenty of people today who take lots of photos with their phones and don’t even have a computer! Google understands this trend more than anyone. Google doesn’t just see the future, they invent it! So when they announced Google Photos as a brand new product, re-engineered from scratch, to handle all of today's digital photo needs – I wanted in! I immediately started using it in May 2015. Then I jumped in on the user help forums. I wanted to become expert in this product because I knew it was going to be good. I started reading everything I could find, and then answering people’s questions in the forum. It didn’t take long before the Google community manager for Photos noticed and invited me to join the Top Contributors program. Here is a 2 minute clip from our Button Show Episode 95 where we discuss how to get help on Google products. In this clip, I tell why I became a Top Contributor.
This is a volunteer program. People become Top Contributors because they have a passion for the product, and a passion for helping people learn. Google then gives us perks. The primary perk is recognition of our expert status. The next is open lines of communication to Google and our other product experts. I am on a team that includes people from the Philippines, Germany, Ghana, UK, and of course Mountain View, California – Google Headquarters.
Top Contributors Meetup
Every year Google recognizes it’s Top Contributors for all products and gives us the biggest perk – a trip to Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA for a meetup. So this is what we were doing in California. Google paid for my flight and 2 nights in a hotel. Jim and I decided to make a week of it, sandwiching the meetup between teaching at a computer club north of San Francisco, and visiting friends south of San Francisco. The main event, for me anyway, was the meetup. The first night was a reception right in the hotel, so Jim got to attend this part, and he’s glad he did! The first person to come up saying, “I know you!” was referring to Jim! It was Michael Daniels who, with Jim, was very active in the Google Hangouts help with Ronnie Bincer.
The only person there that I had ever met in person before was Brenna. She was our host on our first Google visit in 2009, now she is apparently in charge of this whole program. It was great to see her again.
The main event began the next day and I was thrilled to meet the community manager for the Google Photos Top Contributors, Ben. He's kind of our "handler," acting as liaison between us and the product development team. He communicates with us at least weekly ,and sets up a monthly video call with all of us.
Google Photos wasn't the only product represented - there were Top Contributors for Google Hangouts, Google Voice, Google Blogger, Gmail, Calendar, Android, Nexus, Search, Maps, Youtube, and many more! We heard presentations from several "Googlers" - that's what you're called if you work for Google! And, I got to get definitive answers on some Blogger questions and Google Voice questions I had - yes, I am a geek!
They also facilitated several icebreaker activities, and of course meals. I think my favorite part was sitting with Googlers on the product development team for Google Photos - I had some questions of them, but they had even more questions for me! It was also wonderful to get to meet many of my team face-to-face. I not only have team members now, but also some new friends!
Google invited Chris to attend a conference at their headquarters in Mountain View, CA (just south of SF) on Sept 29-30. We would be flying from Florida, so we figured on making a trip out of it. The Golden Gate Computer Society is a computer club just north of SF where we've presented seminars in the past; 2013 and 2014. So we contacted them and set up a Google Photos seminar and a Learn-by-Doing smartphone photography class this time. We had one free day in the San Francisco area first and boy did we luck out with the weather! We rented a car at the airport and drove straight to the waterfront. We walked to Pier 39, grabbed a bite to eat and hopped on a Harbor Cruise.
Days like that on San Francisco Bay are simply unheard of! We were so lucky.
Then we headed north, over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. We found a motel, and got our rest. The seminar was the following evening, so we still had a day to be tourist. We discovered - because of Facebook - that our RVing friends Rusty and Tony, were at home in Sausalito. We love visiting them on their deluxe houseboat! The last time we saw them, they had just bought their RV and hadn't started traveling yet - now they had a couple years under their belts and we had a lot of stories to swap. It was great to catch up! You can see more pics of their place from the last time we were here in 2003.
Then came the seminar and the class with Golden Gate Computer Society:
Then we headed south. We still had one more night before the Google event started and my friend, Arynne recommended taking the coastal route and staying at the Montara Lighthouse Hostel. What?!?! There's a place to stay right on the ocean by San Francisco for less than $300/night?? Oh Yea! We paid $86 for a private room. It wasn't much bigger than the bed, but it had a window overlooking the cliffs and the surf!
I think I stayed in some Hostels in my college days, but I never considered them these days! Yes, they still exist! The delightful young woman at the front desk said they were all over the world, and they all offer private rooms now, not just the dormitories I remember from my younger days. She got my wheels turning, think this might be a good way to visit Australia! And, while we enjoyed our capuccino in the common dining area, we met a fun woman with a drone - she asked Jim's help to get it working. And we learned about the Hostels where she stayed in Northern California that she said were even nicer than this!
Montara Lighthouse is just north of Half Moon Bay. If you've ever visited, you know that their claim to fame is Pumpkins! We're here at the perfect time!
And then we met my old California friends Arynne, and Lanz for lunch at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. It's a tough life, but someone's got to do it!
After the FMCA rally in Pomona, we wanted to take Lynne to some nice campground before she had to fly back to Oregon. We picked Malibu Beach RV park. The short drive turned out to be pretty long thru all that traffic and I was wondering if this had been a bad idea after all.
Then we got there!
What a view! Looking out our back window over the Pacific Ocean.
A very nice last night together.
We could just walk down the hill to a fresh seafood restaurant. And, just across the street to take a walk on the beach.
Jim even took this quadcopter video (https://youtu.be/f9vFo6-V5-w) at sunset one evening. Pretty, pretty spot. Not cheap though. I don’t think we’ve ever paid $60 before for a campsite! But, it was worth it. This was our reward for all the work of the last few months.
