A Cruise Down Memory Lane

Wednesday was another excursion day. We drove back to Tustin to spend the day with Noni, a friend from my days as a Marine. On the way to see Noni, we stopped in Orange, so I could meet Michael, a co-worker of mine. The company I work for is a large company, with offices scattered all over the place. Consequently, there are people that I’ve talked with countless times, but never met in person. Michael is one such person. Considering how close I was to his office, there was no way that I’d let an opportunity to meet him slip through my hands. We had lunch at The Block, in a restaurant called Alcatraz, a restaurant loosely themed after the infamous prison. It’s more accurate to say that its décor was San Franciscan. The food was decent and the prices were reasonable. They had a killer India Pale Ale, and the place was quiet when we got there, so Michael and I had a good chance to get to know each other in person.

Since Michael and I are co-workers, talk inevitably turned to work-related topics. I know that Mrs. Evan and the kids were bored, but they were troopers, and patiently gave me a chance to talk with Michael, relatively uninterrupted. By the way, you know how sometimes the person you talk to looks nothing like you expected? Michael said that I didn’t look as he imagined me. I didn’t ask what he thought I’d look like. He, on the other hand, looked almost exactly as I pictured him.

After taking Michael back to the office, it was time for another cruise down Memory Lane, and we headed to Noni’s place. In this instance, I’m saying “Memory Lane” with more than a little irony, because I actually drove on a street with that name on the way to Noni’s place.

Talking with an old friend always brings back memories, especially after not seeing them for a while. I talk to Noni a couple of times per year, but we haven’t had a chance to really sit down and talk for ages. Additionally, I got to see her grandkids. I used to baby sit them when they were young. The last time I saw them, the youngest was five years old…he’s got his own baby now. It was fun seeing what kind of men these young boys had become.

Next, it was off to Irvine, so my older daughter could see where she was born. We took the scenic route, so that Noni and I could reminisce about days gone by. I was greatly saddened to hear that The Ranch House, a place that provided me with years’ worth of memories hazed by a drunken stupor, had been torn down. We also drove by El Toro, Tustin’s sister base in Orange County, which was closed the same time Tustin was.

In no time, we arrived at the Irvine Medical Center, the birth place of my older daughter. The hospital had expanded tremendously, but the main entrance was exactly as I remembered it, and I envisioned myself driving up to the front of the building to pick up my new baby and her mother, filled with the excitement that comes from being a new parent. I took a couple of pictures of my now-teenage “baby” in front of the hospital, and then it was off to the Long Beach aquarium, courtesy of Noni.

I had never been to a large aquarium before, and I had relatively low expectations. In the end, I had a great time. It’s the kids who were a little bored. They wanted action and physical stimulation, and the aquarium was more geared toward intellectual inspiration.

What I think we’ll all remember though, is the journey to and from the aquarium. The city of Long Beach was doing some sort of construction when we got there. As a result, we had a horrible time finding a parking spot and getting to the aquarium. We got stuck in a traffic loop… the aquarium was in sight, but we couldn’t get parked, and we couldn’t get out of the traffic loop. It was kind of like that episode of Star Trek (the Next Generation) where the Enterprise got caught in that time loop and kept blowing up… you know, the one where Data broke the loop by using the number 3.

On the way back, it rained. And rained. And rained. It was a deluge like I hadn’t seen for quite a while, and Noni said that she hadn’t seen rain like this in years. Fortunately, I didn’t have to drive, and the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the van put the kids right to sleep.