California and a 3 day holiday.

As you can see, my blogging has slowed somewhat on this trip. It has been difficult at times to keep it up due to long journeys in the van taking up lots of free time and creating a seriously weary drummer. I'm aware that this is a bit of a weak excuse though so here's a full update since last time.

It was a joyous moment when we crossed the California state line and knew that our journey down from Yakima was nearly done. I'm sure it was amusing for the staff at our hotel to see 9 jubilant travellers emerge from our van and practically kiss the ground under their feet. 

The travelling was far from over though and the next day we travelled down to Capistrano to perform at The Coach House to a large and enthusiastic crowd. The venue itself was as you'd imagine: fairly isolated from most things except the freeway; imagine Bob's Country Bunker from The Blues Brothers but with a good crowd. Immediately after the show we travelled 120 miles north to a hotel for a brief overnight rest stop and proceeded towards San Francisco the next morning. Our show that night was at Cafe Du Nord-a great underground venue in the Upper Market district. It was a great show again and same as the night before, we travelled about 120 miles (this time South) to a rest stop before returning to LA the next day for our show at the infamous Roxy Theatre, known for apparently being John Belushi's final hang out and slightly more positively, having been host to near enough any band you can think of. For example, Neil Young was the first artist to play there and was closely followed by the original Genesis line up. The show was great and I had a surprise meeting with a family friend (whom I had never met) who presented me with some photos of my Grandparents and my (very young) Dad-thankyou Robert Snively. 

The Roxy Theatre show marked the beginning of what I'm calling a 3 day holiday.  Me and the Tour Manager, Dan, had made all the necessary arrangements for a surf safari, spending as much time on the Pacific Coast Highway as possible. I'm told that as a first surf experience it was about the best anyone could hope for; riding at Manhattan beach in California, not too many surfers at our spot and to top it all off, a pod of wild dolphins playing within 30 feet of us. To top it all off, we met a group of friends out here to watch The LA Angels beat The Texas Rangers at the Friday night baseball and as if to top it all off, Friday nights are fireworks nights at Angels games and we were treated to a spectacular show; $9 well spent!

We surfed again the next day and were too worn out and sunburnt to do anything with the evening-despite it being a 'holiday' we forced ourselves to meet at 8am each day. On the final day (yesterday) we decided to give surfing a break and instead check out Huntingdon Beach where some of the best surfers in the area can be seen ruling the waves and jostling for the best positions on the pier break. Walking through Huntingdon we were treated the sights and sounds of surf paradise: live surf-rock, surfer girls, long boards and the searing California sun. We finished the day in style driving up to Paradise Beach, Malibu for dinner, feasting shamelessly on vast amounts of seafood. Please let me know, did we do California right?

That's it for now, San Diego tonight and then New York tomorrow. What a tour, what a life. New favourite film/artist Robert Smithson, check out the film Spiral Jetty-the perfect post-surf relaxation material. More soon...