Newport Beach, Laguna Beach (Montage Resort) and Yorba Linda (Nixon Library and Museum)

A "watering hole" near the foot of Balboa Pier in Newport Beach.

The bike path and sandy beach are usually empty during the early hours on workdays

Montage Resort in Laguna Beach

Very few beach goer on a perfect day!

A pictorial layout of the library and museum

Hallway leading to the replica of the East Room at the While House in Washington D.C.

A docent giving the visitors a brief explanation of the display

Inside the house where Richard Nixon was born

The little tub in the picture was the family bathtub (there was no indoor plumbing in the house)

San Diego and Carlsbad, April 2008

We went to San Diego for an overnight stay at the Hyatt Hotel near the harbor. We got a nice room with a view and access to their Regency Room where they offer breakfast in the morning, all day snack, and alcoholic drinks and cold cuts in the evening all for free as part of the room deal. Our rate was heavily discounted because my wife's niece works at their Hyatt office in New York; otherwise, I'll probably be paying an arm and a leg for our stay LOL. In a place where street parking is easily available, the hotel charges $20/day if you want to park at their garage. This is cheap compared to cities like Chicago and New York. I paid more than $40/day for parking my rental car at a Chicago hotel and this was like 6 years ago. The car I rented at the airport cost me only $28/day! Talk about daylight robbery! LOL.

On our way back, we decided to stop at a Carlsbad outlet to buy some stuff and to check out the flower garden nearby. You can see the garden from a distance but to get "up close and personal", you have to shell out $7 (senior rate); more, if you are under 62. Nothing is free any more. I will not be surprised if in the years to come, we will be paying for the air we breathe.


Gaslamp area of San Diego - it's beautiful at night when all those lamps are on

View from our room on the 32nd floor

Aircraft carrier Midway, now out of commissioned and a current tourist attraction

One of the cruise ships going to the Mexican Riviera

A homeless guy sleeping in a nearby park. I ran into many of them while taking an early morning walk along the harbor. The local police try to drive them away from the areas frequented by tourists but they are not always successful. They don't bother anybody, they just want a place to hang out and sleep.

A section of Armstrong flower garden

A close up view of the flowers

Las Vegas and the Society of Seven

This is the last week that Lani Misalucha and the Society of Seven with guest star, Martin Nievera will be performing in Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. My wife and her college buddy wanted to see them before they leave on a tour. I said, "What the heck, let's drive to Vegas, see the show, spend some time feeding the slot machines, sleep in a decent hotel and head back to Orange County the next day." That is exactly what we did!

Photography was not allowed inside the showroom but after the show, the performers usually go outside and sign authographs, have their picture taken with the fans, sell their dvds and what nots. I was told by a friend that in the Philippines, the "stars" do not mingle with the fans, as well as they do here, for fear that things can get out of hand. I do not know this for a fact. However, here, the fans are well-behaved - they line up and wait patiently for their turns, "walang singitan at tulakan." LOL.

More pics from Central Europe

We took this train ride inside a small park in Frankfurt, Germany thinking that it was a good way to see the entire park in a jiffy. We did not know that halfway through we were to get off and be required to pay again to get back to where we started! What a rip-off LOL.

This is the first McDonald place I saw that charges a fee to go to the toilet!

A couple of furnaces in a crematorium at Auschwitz, Poland where the Nazi burned the corpses of thousands of Jews.

A lone bird checking out the empty tables

A group of German girls started waving when they saw me aimed my camera in their direction.

An accident at the autobahn - a high speed road in Germany where there is no speed limit.