Pining for the Fjords

Where were we?  Oh, that's right!  In Part 1 of our story, Chris and I flew to Florida for Christmas, arriving in Orlando around dinnertime on Christmas Eve, where we were greeted very raucously by various and sundry family members. On Christmas day, I woke up a bit earlier than Chris, due to my natural propensity to not sleep well the first night in a new place, and I killed time in the hotel bathroom surfing the internet and reading until he arose.  We showered, got ready, finished up some very last minute gift wrapping, and hopped in the car to head over to Granddad's house. The living room, all decorated up with the tree and our airport signs from the night before. Sign close-up! We said good morning to everyone and jumped into the fray to help finishing readying our traditional holiday morning meal of breakfast casserole, homemade biscuits, and country ham.  As always, it was delicious, and after breakfast was cleared, Uncle Jim and Granddad ha

For 2016's actual Christmas, we were really pleased to be able to join my Mom's side of the family by flying back to Florida (the greater Tampa and Orlando areas) for a few days.  We headed out early in the morning on Christmas Eve, bound for LAX (all of the complaints about LAX are totally legit, by the way.  Getting in and out of there is a nightmare, and the food and whatnot in the terminals is just so-so - granted, we were spoiled in Phoenix by the exceptional airport food there - but it often ends up being the least expensive airport by a few hundred dollars each way, and when you're buying two cross-country tickets for the most expensive travel time of the year, every little bit helps). We didn't know how long the lines would be at the airport, but thankfully, they were all short, and we had our bags dropped off and our selves through security relatively quickly.  Since we knew this might be the case, we brought some snacks to serve as a cold breakfast on the pl

As part of our holiday experiences, I also passed my 37th birthday (gasp! egads! I'm old!), and we kept up our somewhat annual tradition of celebrating by doing something nerdy/scienc-y and fun.  This year, we headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific in nearby Long Beach Harbor. Not my picture. Thanks, internets! Before we headed down that way, we enjoyed a holiday/birthday brunch with Dad and Risa at our house, as they were on their way out of town to Paso Robles for Christmas.  We swapped gifts with one another, and they also did me the solid of delivering Chris' Christmas present from me - a new stand up paddleboard!  He's been wanting one for quite some time, and the Black Friday deals combined with Dad's employee discount at West Marine made it decently affordable.  We had a great time hanging out with them for the morning, and after bidding each other adieu, we each headed off on our respective voyages. When I ran the Long Beach Marathon in October

As I mention about this time each annum, the time period between Thanksgiving and New Year's is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I love exploring all of the holiday offerings around our local area.  Since this was our first Christmas in Long Beach, I was more than ready to see what new experiences we could discover and enjoy. A few months back, I (politely, hopefully) very strongly hinted to Dad and Risa that we'd be interested in experiencing the annual Long Beach lighted boat parade; it just so happens that the club they belong to, the Shoreline Yacht Club, organizes the event, so I figured we had the perfect "in."  While they told us that they don't decorate their own boat anymore, they were happy to find spots for all of us (including Risa's sister, Trink, who was in town) on the boat of another club member who would be participating. On the appointed evening, we met everyone in the harbor area and hopped aboard our designated vessel, a rathe