SUMMER 2002
Angie's Visit
Laurie
and Angie have birthdays just one day apart, so Angie came out to LA from
Pittsburgh to celebrate. The two of us went on a road trip together, up the
PCH all the way to San Francisco. Along the way we stopped in Santa Barbara
to walk the pier, at the Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach for Clam Chowder, camped
at San Simeon, toured Hearst Castle, hiked among the Redwoods at Big Sur,
and stayed in a beautiful youth hostel at a lighthouse at Point Montara.
In San Francisco, we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Chinatown, took the old streetcar to Fisherman's Wharf, shopped & observed the sea lions and stopped on the way back in Litty Italy for yummy cioppino. That night, it was karaoke at The Mint! We stayed & sang until they kicked us out, and had some trouble getting back into the hotel garage so early in the morning.
On the drive back to LA along the 101, we stopped near San Jose at Mirassou winery for a tour & tasting, and made another stop to see the mission in San Luis Obispo. Since we had stopped to watch the sun set every night of our trip, we stopped again at Pismo Beach, and while we observed the sunset, we also watched a sea otter eating his dinner and swimming along with the surfers.
It was the perfect road trip in every way! After we returned, Eric threw a birthday party for us. I took Angie to Rodeo Drive (to window shop) and Eric took Angie to see Hollywood & Santa Monica while I was working.
On the Set...
Eric
decided it was time to dip his big toe into the filmmaking pool. A string
of "B" movies took the bait. Eric leant his services as a Production
Assistant to 3 movies over the summer. Evil in the Bayou concerns
voodoo and the black arts, set in Lousianna in the heart of Cajun Country.
Blood Dancers is a combination of Interview with a Vampire
and Showgirls. And lastly, Dead Season (directed by Ron
Ford, writer of The Fear), is a suspense-thriller which features
Eric in a small role as a resort town cop (pictured above with cinematographer
Jeff Leroy). Eric enjoyed working on these pictures very much, and looks
forward to larger acting roles in the future. Look for these films to
be available on video early next year.
4th of July Beach Party
One
of the best perks of living in LA is living so close to the beach! The whole
gang got together for a cook-out at Will Rogers State Beach on July 4th. The
sun was hot but the water was cool, and we played a few games of volleyball
when the "serious" volleyball players took a break.
There
had been warnings of more possible terrorist attacks, but we had plenty of
fun burying Eric in the sand, listening to Jack play guitar, and grilling
our dinner up in the parking lot after the lifeguard chastized us for having
our grill on the beach. We stayed into the night and watched the fireworks
displays all along the coast from this perfect vantage point.
We could see the displays in Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, closeby in the
Palisades, and in Malibu.
Then it was back to Lisa's for coffee and/or more drinks (to rehydrate, of course).
Yosemite
On Labor Day weekend, Laurie took Friday off from work, and we left on Thursday night to spend 3 days in Yosemite National Park. We stopped in Fresno Thursday night, and drove the rest of the way on Friday morning. It was a fabulous trip!
Happy Trails to Jack & Camille
Our
friends Jack & Camille moved back to Pittsburgh in August, where Camille
will begin teaching and studying at University of Pittsburgh. Their "bon
voyage" party was bittersweet for us: 
we wish them well, but we will miss them terribly.
We were entertained by Jack and several of his talented friends on the guitar, harmonica, and percussion as we reminisced with old friends, and got to know some new friends, including another couple from Pittsburgh!
