Last Day in CA - Day Trip

Today was spent as a leisurely day. Just doing some laundry, packing and the afternoon in Malibu. A few of the other Officers and I, took a trip down to Malibu for lunch and a little sight-seeing.

I've included some pictures of our trip. The first picture is the drive down along highway 101. You can see the cliffs and ocean. I was a pretty scenic drive. There were a lot of surfers out. We weren't the only ones who decided to take advantage of the beautiful day.
















We stopped along the highway in Malibu to have lunch at a place called Geoffrey's. Supposedly, a lot of celebrities like to go there. We didn't see any while we were there, but it was a wonderful place nonetheless. The food was great, but the view was even better.
























After quite a long lunch, we traveled further south through Malibu and onto Santa Monica. We didn't stop though. It was getting later in the afternoon and we still had to get back to prepare for our trip early in the morning.

That's all for now. The next update should come
sometime after I report into FT Riley, KS.

Take care.

Last Day of Processing

If any of you have been following along, you'll have noticed that I keep adding new content each time I post. With all of the 'white space' that we've had, I've tried to take the opportunity to improve the look and feel of this site. Hope you like it.... Please let me know if I'm over doing it at any time.

Anywho, I've figured out how to add images. I think that I know how to add video, but that might come later. The image you see in this post is the building where I've been staying this past week. I'm on the third floor. I was too slow to get the picture, but when I first arrived, there was a sign on the door (the red door you can see in the picture) which said "1st Floor secured for HAZMAT ABATEMENT". I found this a little disconcerting ;) It turned out to be nothing, they were just being cautious while removing carpeting on that floor.

Well, this is our last day here in Port Hueneme, CA. Interestingly enough, we have absolutely nothing to do. I understand that this is the day where they finish up any stragglers who aren't quite finished with processing. The other 99% of us are left with a free day. A couple of us are thinking about going to L.A. for the day. We'll see. We all have laundry and packing to do first.

We are flying out tomorrow morning to our various training locations throughout the country. I'm flying to FT Riley, KS. We are all meeting at 03:00 for our transportation to LAX. Many of us are flying out around 08:00 and it's about 1 1/2 hours to LAX. I know, it seems a bit odd that we have all day today to ourselves only to have to get up at "OH MY GOD IT'S EARLY" for a flight the next morning. I've been in the Navy for almost 18 years, so I'm used to this type of scheduling. I intend to just enjoy the time while I have it to myself.

I met up with the same group of Officers last night as I did the previous night. We went to my classmate's house for a cookout. It was a pretty good time. My friend has a great house in Ventura that they just moved into. It was nice to get off base and enjoy time with friends. My only regret is that my wife and daughter couldn't be there. Naturally, I took my camera and played the 'proud Papa'. I showed off the pictures of my family. It was nice to share and reflect on my family. I miss them very much.

Fortunately, I'm been able to speak with my wife fairly frequently while I've been here. Ella, my daughter, seems to be adjusting. She has a little bit of 'stranger anxiety', but I expect that she'll adapt fairly well soon. I'm very glad that my wife was able to fly home to her family. I'm sure that the familiar environment and support will help her. Plus, it gives her the opportunity to meet up with some friends that she hasn't seen in quite a while. That is the one difficult part of living in another country is that it is hard to maintain connections. It's one of the reasons that I am writing in this forum.

I have to get going now. Laundry to do and I'll probably go for a short run. Keep checking in....