Okay, I did tell you about that joke I did with the smudged, illegible name tag and me telling people that I sat behind them in math class, and then making them try to remember my name, just to mess with their heads, but that is as far as I got. I am not going to bore you with pictures of people you don’t know dancing bad dances to bad music that has long since become extinct… wait, have I ever told you that my wife is younger than I am, and so she missed out on the good music of the 70’s and got stuck listening to that 80’s crap when she was in her teen years? The soundtrack of this high school reunion was just plain horrifying. Fortunately, the setting was lovely…
That is the view from the back of the place where it was held. And Big Johnny and Eva… Willie’s parents… were there… because my wife has known Big Johnny for a long time.
Oh, and guess what. This was the first time Willie had ever had a babysitter stay with him and put him to bed before mom and dad got home. Johnny and Eva were worried that Willie would miss them and cry all night… But my daughter Mollie was the sitter… and she has my gift with kids and babies… she is also a certified babysitter with training that includes first aid and CPR. Willie didn’t cry once. He loves his Mollie. Oh, the guy in between Johnny and Eva is Joey, another old friend of my wife, who is also going to be a dad soon…
The reunion was held at the Bali Hai restaurant right on a little island on the San Diego bay.
It had an ugly head on top of the roof, with big white teeth and one eye that glowed red at night… a sort of generic and probably insulting visage of vaguely South Sea Island origin.
But they also had this big wooden head out front that was almost as tall as I am… and I am pretty tall. I love the big wooden head!
So yeah, there was much dancing and feasting on tropically-inspired dishes…
And at one point, I wandered off to have a smoke and saw the sun setting behind a forest of ship’s masts.
I wish I had brought my camera. It isn’t great, but my phone doesn’t like taking good pictures when it starts getting dark.
Although these do sort of capture the mood… and the fuzzy way I was feeling by then… because… hello… free mai tais…
A good time was had by all… and we were all smart about the drinking and driving thing. Johnny and Eva took a cab all the way back to Johnny’s mom’s house… but my wife and I had rented a hotel room right on the little island.
The next morning I did my usual early morning adventure walk… like I do any time I stay someplace new… even if it is only twenty miles from my house…
Because you never know what will happen…
That’s why I call them adventure walks…
Well, here is my adventure for that day. I glanced across the little inlet, just a few dozen yards away, and spotted this huge sea lion just cruising along. I young couple was walking their dog on the dock over there. They saw the sea lion’s head bobbing in the water just a few feet away from them, and thought it would be cute to let the dog look at it.
As soon as the dog stuck his head over the water, the sea lion came roaring out of the water and half way up onto the dock. The people jumped back but not as fast as that dog did… he ran halfway back down the dock before he stopped. And it wasn’t a small dog. It was a Weimaraner. I don’t know if the sea lion was trying to kill the dog or just saying hello… but hey, they don’t call them sea lions for nothing.
I did not get a picture of the actual event. There is that stupid lag between when you push the button and it actually takes the picture. But I did get this shot of the couple as they left. They had to go back and get the dog, and even though the dog is behind that boat, you can see the lady is bent down holding it by the collar, dragging him back by the sea lion.
I added those red arrows to give you an idea of the size of the thing. The one on the right is pointing to his snout… and you can see that he is pushing a little white water in front of him as he followed along behind and beside them.
The arrow on the left is pointing at where his tail ends. Now compare it to the size of the boat in front of the couple. That sea lion was at the very least 7 or 8 feet long.
And I call that a successful adventure walk.
Pouring My Art Out 
Beautiful views from this place! I have a bone to pick with you Art – you are still smoking? Knowing what you know about me & COPD? Bill Hamilton from Dealing with COPD passed away today from COPD. Quit smoking before it kills you too!
I am working on it.
Mine is coming up in a month. I am not going…again. lol
I never graduated… so… but I do need to do a post or two about our unofficial reunion.
You are right that is quite the adventure walk…especially for the dog. That big wooden head is very cool.
I need a big wooden head. I might have to carve one.
I googled it and apparently sea liions will chase and bite dogs but not usually eat them. Although there are a couple of witnessed accounts of sea lions eating dogs. Guess you have to have a taste fpr them. Ha! Yum.
Those things can be scary. I had one come right up to me in the middle of the San Francisco bay… I was in a small inflatable kayak…
“I love the big wooden head!”
That’s what she said. Not.
uh… right
Hey, she didn’t say it, not me.
HA!
My phone hates night shots too, and my camera. I’ve tried the night setting too and still they are rubbish. Must be doing something else wrong, maybe someone can enlighten us
ha… enlighten us about shooting in the dark…
don’t be rude
sorry
These pics are right by where I was gonna stay on my first night in San Diego, I had planned to book Humphreys on the Bay as The Pixies were playing there as they did a room/dinner/gig deal.
Ah well, another time…
dude… you are killing me with regret
😦
I know
Such a small world! A friend of mine had his wedding and reception at the Bali Hai several years ago (and I dj’ed and mc’ed the reception for him).
you d’d all th’t?
I cheated on the dj side of things – they gave me a playlist that I just had to run through an iPod, and make sure the volume levels were good. But, yeah, I did all the MC work – bride and groom introductions, best man and main of honor introductions for their speeches, etc…
you go, dog
Word. And the word is music, and it is good. I know some people think the word is bird, but, they are wrong, because that was part of a song, so, it was actually music, as we’ve already covered.
yup