LA to Moro

Time to leave the big city and head up the coast. UCLA is the first stop so that Elizabeth can look at the film grad school there and get a feel for the university. We are already preparing for graduate school. Given that this particular course only admits 42 students per year, to is a good time to start preparations. They are looking for a specific set of skills, experiences and references and E can make the choice of spending the next 3 years building a portfolio that will get her in.

Good thing for blackberry because Platform had a snap management meeting that I was able to call in while sitting in the shade of a tree on campus. Business should operate on a campus model because that is the right environment to exercise our brains.

Liz and Julie had to look at stores, so we stopped off in Santa Monica. While the girls shopped, Jonathan and I went to the beach and pier. At this point, the beach is extremely wide and, with the action on the pier, I can see why the area is so popular. Santa Monica is also far more Canadian city like - organized and structured, than LA. I would never want to live in LA, but Santa Monica would be OK.

Next stop, and LA legend - Ventura beach. Liz wanted to look at boys, and Jon wanted to swim. Vetura is also home to one of the most active busking locations in the world. We were not disappointed. The nut cakes were everywhere. One guy even had a full sized acoustic piano on the boardwalk. He played like a concert pianist but looked like a hobo. We even saw the alternative life style guys with leather and stud g strings, muscles and tatoos, but no chain saw jugglers. After a brief lunch, to fulfill Liz’s guy watching requirements (and to fill our stomachs), we hit the beach. The surf was up because of storm remnants and everyone was on their boards. Jon had a blast smashing through waves and body surfing. He is getting the hang of it and he had his first undertow experience. We had a tough time getting him out of the water but it was getting late and there was the 4 hour drive up the coast to Moro. 4 hours without rush hour. leaving at 5 pm from Ventura beach, we finally made it to Moro at 10:30. Moro has a beautiful harbour and a huge monolith in the sea, but there was a big storm the night before (with lightning - which is very rare in LA) and the place was socked in with fog.