Impromptu drive down the coast ends up in horse track gambling fiasco

Actually, it was nothing like that, honestly officer. Seriously, this last Sunday we drove down the coast to Del Mar to visit with Greg and Megan. We had a beautiful scenic drive down the 101 through some real small towns. After getting to the Shockro's house we walked from their house over to the Del Mar Track. They live in a very cool area, two short blocks to the ocean and maybe a quarter mile from the horse track.

It was the day of the Pacific Classic. The track was packed with men in white suits and women with big hats. Totally reminiscent of Nashville's Steeplechase.

Chelle and Megan putting on their best "LA Face" for the camera.

I didn't wear a white suit, but I did wear a funny hat.

The Del Mar track is beautiful. You can see the some big body of water just over the tops of the building. I had been to Alamitos Track before, but this is much better. Apparently Bing Crosby was instrumental in this thing's success.



The horses lined up for us to take a look, so we could be better prepared to bet on who was going to run faster. Chelle and I prefer to pick our winners on much stricter guidelines. We go by the name of the horse and the color of the jocky's outfit. If we like both, we have a winner!

We always have a great time with the Shockro clan. We are certainly more blessed than we deserve to be.

Police Activity

I don't know how I missed posting this. We had such a great time, maybe it was because I didn't take my camera and forgot that I had these photos in one of my Blackberry. That's the trouble with working for a phone company and having more cellphone/PDAs than shoes.... then again, that's also my favorite part of the job.

Anyway, back on June 23rd. Our friends Aaron and Olyvia picked Chelle and I up and we went to Dodger Stadium to see the Foo Fighters and The Police in concert.

Here we are in the concession line. Beers are $52 and wine in a plastic cup is $57 (not really, but it's something close to that.)

I used to have the pleasure of working with Aaron at Sprint Nextel. Even though we no longer agree on the best cellphone transmission protocal, we can still be friends. Wow, we really are quite mature aren't we. For the record, AT&T Mobility's HSDPA is far better than Sprint's Ev-DO. I put that in there just to get Arron's goat. Actually, I'm not sure if he has a goat, I think he just has sheep.

As you can see we had front row seats ;-)

I wished I had seen the Police in their heyday, or at least later in the tour. They were a bit loose and they sounded like a band of three individuals trying to remember their parts. I heard they really got their groove back later in the tour. It was still great to see them, I've been a fan since I was in 6th grade.

Double Date

Friday night my buddy Sean and I treated our lady friends to a little romance. We started off at Bay Shore Boat Rentals at the Alomitas Harbor. We rented a Duffy Electric Boat and cruised around our old neighborhood, Naples Island.



The weather was beautiful and sun was just begining to set during our hour long cruise.




Chelle and I have been friends with Sean for some time, but this was our first time meeting Karin. We've already told Sean that we like her better than him and we will remain her friend if they stop seeing each other. Of course we were kidding, or were we? Let's hope we don't have to find out.



We packed a couple bottles of wine along with our finest plastic.




Captain Crowe at the helm. I learned everything I know from Captain Butch.



After the boating, we dined at Tantalum. I didn't take any photos there, so you'll have to imagine how cool it is (or hit the link).
Later we ended our night at Morry's wine shop and Nico's backroom back on Naples Island.

A Visit from the Costers



Saturday the 14th, we had the pleasure of a visit from my cousin Chris, his wife Mary and their son Jackson. It was so terrific to see each other especially because it had been a very long time since we had hung out and Chelle had never had the pleasure of meeting Mary.
They arrived Saturday evening and we spent the night on the patio catching up.




Sunday morning we ate lunch at Dukes in Huntington Beach. The weather was a bit overcast, but pleasant and not too terribly hot. The Costers can handle hot though, they live in Phoenix.



We hung out on the beach while Jackson played in the surf. He looks like a pro surfer in the making.
Huntington Beach was preparing for the US Open Surf Competition that starts on Friday the 20th of July (today). It was a good thing we got there when we did. I am pretty sure that this weekend that beach will be super crowded and there wont be a place to sit.




Jackson only had two skate boards with him in the car, so of course he needed a new one. Chris is a great dad and spent a lot of time with Jackson helping him to pick out the perfect one.



Another nice surprise was that there was a stage set up and a band was playing cover songs. They actually sounded pretty good. It created a very cool atmosphere.



It wouldn't be a LAcrowe blog if we didn't have a picture of Chelle and I in some sort of embrace. I'm not sure if our readers know this, but we kinda like each other.



Back at the house, Jackson and I swam laps in our olympic sized swimming pool. Ok, it's not quite olympic size, but it works great to cool off and it's fits two floaties to rest on when you need a tan.


Bonus photo: believe me, I'm not a hater but seriously what has happened to our sense of fashion. We all sat in amazement as this guy walked down the beach with his shorts almost to his ankles and we were strangely glad that his t-shirt was made for a giant.

The Fourth Day of July in 2007

Tuesday afternoon, Chelle and I drove over to the Fullerton Amtrack station and boarded the north bound train. It was so much fun to see the sights and not have to be responsible to navigate the route and deal with traffic. I really wish I had thought of this when I was driving to Santa Maria twice a month back in '05. We even scored a table so I was able to set up my portable office and continue working.


Chelle on the train to Santa Barbara


Christian on the train


Downtown LA and the Pacific Ocean as seen from the train


Chelle pretending to be a flight attendant

We ended our north bound excursion in Santa Barbara, where we were picked up by the young Shockro. We also collected Greg's friend and co-worker Vincent and his girlfriend Oeffa (they are a sweet couple from Ireland). We headed over to Brophy Brothers in the Harbor and met up with Megan, Greg's father Mike and his wife Deb. We had a few drinks and got caught up and then went to the hotel to check in and get cleaned up.
At 8:00 we all went to dinner at the Sage and Onion where we met up with Wendy. We nearly had the place to ourselves. It was amazing. Chelle and I ate here with the Greg, Megan, Jennifer and Mike when we went sailing in Memorial Day 2005. The food was as great as ever and everyone really had a fantastic time.


The whole group at the Sage and Onion


Greg and his sister Jennifer - Liz and Jeff

The next morning we met back up at Brophy Bro's for brunch. We were then joined by Jeff Hoskins and his girlfriend Liz. After eating we loaded onto Mike's sailboat. The Harbor was alive with activity. There were people everywhere filling their boarts full of food and beer.
We went out on our first sail and unlike the last time I was on this boat, I didn't get seasick. Yeah! Unfortunately though, Deb, Jen, Oeffa and Vinney all did. I didn't get any pictures during the sail and since so many were fealing ill, we were not out to sea very long. However, back on dry land the festivities continued until the last firework exploded.


Vincent, Greg and Christian


Chelle and Liz - Vincent, Oeffa, Jennifer and Greg


Jennifer and Chelle - Deb, Chelle, Megan and Wendy




M'Belle - My Bella with Megan


Chelle down under


Mike and Deb


Happy Couple

My digital camera started misbehaving so I didn't get any pictures of the fireworks. They were awesome and seeing them from the deck of a sailboat added to the experience. After the fireworks ended, Greg, Megan, Jen, Chelle and I walked the two blocks to our hotel and got in a quick sleep before going back to the Amtrack station in the morning to head home.

Impromptu Sunday Evening in Laguna Beach

Last Sunday Chelle and I were lazying (that's right, it's a new word) around the house when we got a phone call from Mike and Angela. They were headed down to Laguna Beach to hang out and get dinner. We jumped in the car and headed down to meet them. We ate dinner at Las Brisas under the stars, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was so fun.


Wouldn't they make a good picture if they ever get married.


Chelle and I


Angela and Linney


We've been here for over two years and we still feel like we are on vacation.