Angels Flight

Just got in from L.A. after spending 10 fabulous days with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Sara.

I'm exhausted, hungry, and ready for another vacation, but I guess I'd better show up for work tomorrow morning.

I had such a blast this time out. We spend three days in San Diego, which I had never seen before, and I managed to see not one, but two dolphins swimming in the water as I did my morning walk.

That may be no big deal for the locals, but for a guy from Brooklyn it was something to see.

I surely did love those morning walks in San Diego. I could hear sea lions off in the distance and watch the pelicans swoop in low over the water for the breakfast. And I enjoyed walking straight toward the beautiful morning sun--I could feel the rays of light shining right through me.

On they way down to San Diego, we stopped at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, which I was so-so about--until I actually saw the place. It's such a beautiful location and I got a chance to meet the rector and have a very nice chat with him.

We went to the San Diego Zoo, which was fabulous. Of course we had to take the Sky-Fari, a cable car ride that goes over the entire facility. Sara tool a picture of me riding this thing--the Scare-Fari, I like to call it, but I declined to take a look at it.

After the zoo, we want to Balboa Park, a 1,200-acre urban cultural park in San Diego, that is home to, among other things, a model train museum. We had a great time there, I can assure you.

Once back in L.A., I went on a tour of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Griffith Observatory, a place of learning, but also a location where scenes from "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Terminator" were filmed.

I took a tour of the Queen Mary, which was impressive as hell, especially when you think of all the famous people who once walked her decks and sailed across the ocean aboard her--people like Frank Sinatra, Buster Keaton, Liberace, and Winston Churchill to name a few.

During World War II, the Queen Mary was transformed into a troop ship and two of my uncles rode aboard her on their way to fight in Europe.

And speaking of film, I finally saw the famous Bradbury Building, a beautiful old building where so many films and TV shows were shot, including "Blade Runner" with Harrison Ford, which I believe was the first time I actually saw the place. It was a thrill finally seeing this building, which was built in 1893, live and it person.

I thought I'd be the only nut wanting to make a pilgrimage to the Bradbury, but tourists were buzzing in and out of the place like it was Grand Central Station.

Naturally I had to take another hell ride in the form of Angels Flight in Bunker Hill, an incredibly steep cable car, which is billed as the "Shortest Railway in the World," but you could never prove that me by.

There was the usual terror of plane flight, where I promise God I'll go forth and never sin and again and then swallow a handful to Xanax so I can slip into a coma.

So now I'm back. I've got the usual trepidation about returning to work, I'm bummed that summer is almost over, and I kind of wish I lived in L.A. But I want to use this experience to work toward my goals.

The vacation is only the beginning.