Retired Nomads - Part 2 : Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California - January 19

This is the start of another segment, so we pick up the ones doing the world cruise RT from LA vs FL. One year we met with friends we met on the Mediterranean cruise and the last time we met up with friends we met on the Baltic cruise. This time, my son Scott and my DIL Sonya are meeting us! They drove from Mesa, AZ to spend a few hours with us.

We hadn't seen Scott since my Dad passed in 2018. They had planned to visit us in 2020 in Florida before Covid hit. So, that was postponed.

We got off the ship and met them a bit after 8:00 in the morning. We had to go through immigration which was painless, and we were outside in the "cold" LA morning. (around 50*) It did warm up to 60* later in the day, but still cool. Scott drives a truck at home but decided to rent a car that would be easier to get in and out of. However, when he got to the rental place, they only had a Ford Mustang convertible which was a nice ride, but not easy to get in and out. He was enjoying the control & speed of the car.

They had an Airbnb in Long Beach, and we went there and hung out and gabbed after shopping at Target & Walmart for a few items.

We had a nice lunch at Belmont Brewery Company. We sat and talked there for a while and then walked a short distance on the pier before it was time to go back to the ship. All aboard was 2:15 so it was a short day. Very fun to see them for what little time we had together.

lunch at Belmont Brewing Company

Fig, Bacon, goat cheese, arugala & white sauce flatbread

Carne Asada Flatbread

Charred Brussel Sprouts

we took a short walk on Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier

Queen Mary in the distance

Bufflehead

Sonya, Scott, me

back on the ship - photos from the balcony

Greg had made reservations for the Bayou Cafe which is their steakhouse on the ship. We had let our tablemates know we wouldn't be at dinner so other people could be seated in our spots. Roy & Rondi are still not able to make dinner.

sausage & grits appetizer

seafood gumbo yaya

Flambeaux Grilled Jumbo Prawns

Porterhouse

Fried Peach Pie

chocolate & PeanutButter bar with honey roasted peanuts - to go

The food was really good. They used to have a Ribeye, which is our favorite cut, but the porterhouse was quite tasty. The Fried Peach pie used to be much better. It was served in a small skillet and the peaches actually fried and served with a scoop of ice cream, but this was in a crust around half a barely baked peach. We split that and opted to have the other dessert to go. While a nice presentation it "ruined" the dessert by smashing it and much of it stuck to the foil. Still tasty what was left of it.

We made the early show which was a "welcome aboard" comedian Michael Joiner. He was pretty funny. We went to the evening trivia which was like jeopardy, and we sucked.

It is a minor irritation, but many of us started the world cruise in Florida and have been on the ship for 2 weeks and the patter and the entertainers all say it's day 1 of your world cruise. We've had this issue before, and people must have complained as all of a sudden it listed both day counts depending on where you boarded.

Here are some sunrise photos from a couple of mornings ago: