Today (again) we got up early, 6:30 AM, with the recently re-set alarm system. The sun was out and it looked to be another great day. With all our morning activities completed we took the kids for one more walk, set the A/C, checked their water and closed the bedroom door.
That done, we got in the car and headed for Long Beach for a visit with our friends, Joe and Marsha Ganem. Florida Ave W has been getting a workout lately as it is our gateway to points west and north. By 9:15 AM we were on the I-215 headed north to the Ramona Expy exit where we could pick up Cajalco Rd for the cross country run past Lake Mathews over to I-15 North.
We only needed to be on I-15 for a few miles so we could get on the CA-91 freeway over to the CA-55 freeway, finally getting on the CA-22 freeway to Long Beach. Eventually CA-22 became 7th Ave and ran right into LB. With a turn towards the bay on Alamita Ave and right onto Ocean Blvd we pulled into Joe's Condo, offloaded the bikes and parked the car.We went up to Joe and Marsha's place for a visit the, taking all the bikes outside we mounted up and headed for the bike path along the beach. The route took us past the Long Beach Aquarium which Tina and I visited four years ago, past the restaurants and onto the trail. Long Beach is working hard to become a bicycle friendly city and they are putting a lot of money into facilities, marking on-street bike paths and generally making it easier to get around by bike.
We ended up on 2nd Street in Belmont Shores where we stopped for lunch at the "Open Sesame Mediteranean Grill" (http://www.opensesamegrill.com/. Joe ordred up a couple of really scrumptious appetizers, Fried potatoes, sauteed with cilantro, garlic, roasted chili and lemon juice and Kibi, A shell of extra lean ground beef and bulgar (crushed wheat) filled with a sauteed mixture of roasted pine nuts, onion, ground beef and special herbs. Served with wild cucumber pickles, tomato, lettuce and a yogurt sauce.
Tina and Marsha ordered Chicken Tawook which is skewered cubes of marinated, charbroiled chicken breast, served with hummus, garlic sauce and pita ;with agreek type salad. I hat the Chicken Shwarma, tender marinated chicken breast and thigh cooked on an upright spit then thinly sliced, served with hummus, garlic sauce, wild cucumber pickles and pita, also with a small salad. Joe had Kafta, skewers of ground top sirloin and lamb mixed with parsley, onion and spices, charbroiled and served on a bed of basmati rice with a side of baba ghannouj and salad.
Everything was wonderful and we sat around with a demitasse of turkish coffee for another half hour talking about family and such. Then it was back on the bikes and following a meandering route through small quiet streets we toured several small communities for a really nice return to home base where we repaired to a poolside table with iced tea and discussed the state of the world, US politics and business.
But eventually we had to leave, so we loaded the bikes up, said our good-bye's and headed back home. The return trip was about half an hour longer due to traffic, so we arrived at the coach around 5:30 PM to greet a very happy pair of puppies. Amazingly they had been very good and even though we'd been gone over eight and a half hours, they'd managed to hold everything until we got home. GOOD Kids!!
After taking the dogs out for a long walk we headed over to Wendys for a burger then spent the rest of the evening taking it easy.
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