Best Thanksgiving Time in California With Everyone, pt. 3

Okay, let's get back on track and wrap up the Thanksgiving reporting.

Friday night was a night of suffering and terrible noises for the Barnes family as a mysterious flu or something seized half of our party (and, by a few days later, would strike all but Ellie and myself.) Saturday morning, most of the healthy portion of the family that wasn't cleaning up stuff found ourselves on the beach. So, here's me and Owen...

And just Owen...

And Mom and Ellie.

Owen and I were good helpers and went and bought some donuts...that's what sick people like, right? Donuts?

On the way to and from, saw some things. Doesn't this fabulous beach home look like it could use one more floor or something? In the back? Look at it, see what I mean?



Something important about the beach house is there's this great mural in the owner's unit.


And another thing you'll find in the owner's unit are my cousin Robert's old Choose Your Own Adventure books. They're what makes coming to the beach fun.

This is the beach house, by the way. And it used to be blue. I don't know when it changed color.
Also, it has a brand new bathroom now, but I didn't get a picture of it. Too full of sick people.



Before leaving, I took the healthy people entertained with a scenic drive which included a visit to the outside of the Newport Beach Temple (remember when the family visited the NPBT open house?).
While some of the sick people drove home to Grandma's, we took Dad and Emily to the airport.

Look, the that thing is being remodeled. So much complicated scaffolding!

"Hello there, my name is Brigham. Come with me and I'll teach you about how good they've got it in Los Angeles."

LA is full of places like Super Taco on Santa Monica boulevard where they serve Mexican Food more awesome than 99% of what you'll find in New York City like there's nothing to it at all. This is their torta de tinga. I suppose it loses a few points for authenticity because it comes out of a panini press but...

The levels of deliciousness found in this sandwich are unreal. The first time I had this sandwich last year it put me in a panic, I experienced sheer terror over how good it tasted. Not a lot of food can do that to you.

Also off the charts? The tacos at Super Taco, here we've got three al pastor and a chorizo and a carnitas and a carne asada.

Beautiful salsas...

And Mom did well in ordering their taquitos.

My first few trips to Super Taco were touched on in this post from 2007.

Before finishing our drive back to San Marino we visited the apartments my greatgrandparents bought when they were working all the time at the LA temple. We shall explore this amazing time capsule the next time I blog about my California trip!

Best "Let's Go, Show Me Something Now"

This man is all business.


What must be said about FNL S03E09--this season is getting better and better, and it was pretty great to start:

1) First episode in ages with a lot of football in it and it was good and important.
2) Before tonight, I don't think I've ever yelled "Punch him!" at a TV show. It would have been so awesome had it happened.
3) Half way through the episode I started to like Lyla for the first time since the series began, 4/6 of the way through I was back to not thinking much of her, but at 8/8ths, she was more on my good side than ever before.

Best Guys, I'm So Awesome

Do you know what I did tonight?
Played Dungeons and Dragons.
The real way, for probably the first time in (at least) 17 years.
With a DM and three more guys in my party.
We were trying to solve an income tax mystery, I'm not kidding.
And during our battle with ambushing bandits I never got to fight at all because I kept having to mount or dismount my horse, tie it to a bush so it wouldn't wander off, draw my sword, equip my shield, untie my horse, sheathe my sword, get back on my horse to try to catch up with the fight because the bandits ran off through the woods while I was tying up my horse, etc. etc.
AND we met a bard named Genevieve!
AND we went to an inn called the Friendly Flagon instead of the Singing Griffon.
I wonder how different our adventure would have been if we had stayed at the other inn?
Oh! And my character was a level three fighter named Fred (I wanted to be a half-orc barbarian called Ace "Xyn" Margolies, but Kyle the DM said the campaign wasn't ready for that type of character yet). Fred had a +1 long sword and a suit of full plate armor.

Best Two Things That Cannot Wait

Got to post these before work...

1) The first episode of the second season of Flight of the Concords will premiere at Funny or Die on December 17th (then on HBO on January 7th or something like that)

2) First picture of Riggins as Gambit in the new Wolverine movie. I think his hair got him the job.

Best Thanksgiving Time in California With Everyone, pt. 2

Big news guys! My flight out of Las Vegas has been delayed another hour and a half. A lot more of you should be logged onto your gchats, or not being invisible, at least.

Let's talk Newport Beach.

It probably wasn't that late when we got there, but it was dark, and that's the same as being late. We gathered as a family in the living room and read Choose Your Own Adventure books. As a family.



Next morning the sun was up and it was time for family beach time, together. As a family.









And then it was lunchtime. We were having hot dogs, but I took control of the guacamole-making operation.






After lunch some of us totally fell asleep, some of us boogie boarded.








Beach time ended. It was time to walk by the other beach houses and go to the Spaghetti Factory. Because, when you're in Newport, that's totally what you have to do.




When I said that you have to go to the Spaghetti Factory when you're in Newport I wasn't being jokey, I was telling the truth. For as long as my family has been packing so much stuff into the car to spend just a day or two at the beach, we've been dinnering at the Spaghetti Factory. And it had been many years since our last family trip to the beach, so a sense of nostalgia and propriety too strong to deny had us there right when the doors were opening, seating party of 10 or more after party of 10 or more.


I got confused right before it was time for me to order and wound up with a dinner that was a little crazy--as far as spaghetti goes.

Tried to recreate a little bit of this picture from the Concord Spaghetti Factory in 2006.

This Blake, looking good but feeling bad (in a few hours about half of our group would be throwing up. The reason for this mass sickening still hasn't been discovered...and don't blame the spaghetti, Blake felt bad before we got there)

Me, imitating Blake, photographed by Blake.

Spumoni ice cream. That's what it's all about.

On the way back to the beach house I saw this dog on a stool.

Ok, I don't care how late my flight ends up being, you're not getting another post tonight.

And please, just log into gchat for a little bit, I'm suffering here in the LV.