Sun.-Tues., Dec. 21-23, 2025
Let the Christmas gift giving in the desert begin at last!
We were up at a decent hour on Sunday and headed out for a light breakfast before arriving at Andrew and Jill's home to start opening presents.
Another view of the Silverton's
fine Christmas tree on the way to
the Blueberry II
Our light breakfast spot
This is a big fast-food chain located
primarily in the South
We fell in love with Bojangles on our
recent trip to watch the Florida State
at Clemson game in South Carolina
There are three locations for Bojangles in the greater Las Vegas Valley but none in the entire State of California.
More the pity . . .
Their steak biscuit and Bo Rounds
hit the spot for me
Their biscuits are simply melt in your mouth deliciousness!
Laurie was stunned at how good
the Bojangles food was today
On to Casa Contreras to hand out Laurie's always interesting Christmas stockings stuffed with interesting and at times bizarre gifts.
Max, Jill, Andrew and Savannah in
rapt attention with their new treasures
Savannah, Emma and Kevin in a
similar state of gift excitement
Lots of smiles all around. Laurie's creative gift ideas were a hit again this year.
The Millenium Falcon made of
ginger bread was a joy to watch
the kids make today
As is the norm on our desert visits, the rest of the day was spent noshing on sandwiches from Capriotti's and watching the fast paced, head spinning NFL Red Zone on Andrew's BIG screen TV.
In the evening, we headed back to the Silverton just in time to catch their nightly show in their massive aquarium tank in the Casino's entry hall.
The ray's face is interesting
A profile worthy of a Barrymore
The star of the aquacade was easily
this acrobatic mermaid
Mary would have been over the moon to see this mermaid's act.
On Monday morning, we headed back to their home one more time before hitting the road back to Camarillo.
We arrived after the family had had their early gift exchange as Andrew and Jill were off to New York City on Tuesday for a few days to enjoy a white Christmas in the Big Apple, hopefully.
Kevin is now a full head
taller than his Grandma Lo
Andrew and Kevin in
matching Christmas outfits
One more photo before
we hit the road
We left after a must too short visit.
After a little more than two hours on I15 South, we stopped at Eddie World in glorious Yermo a part of the greater Barstow megalopolis for a leg stretching, a restroom and some shopping.
Eddie World's new Penny Policy
Sounds fair to me.
As we drove on, I was able to convince Laurie to stop in Boron for just a few minutes.
I wanted to check out the progress of
Boron H.S.'s new stadium construction
Michael and I had attended the Chowchilla Union H.S.-Boron H.S. football game here 13+ weeks ago on September 19th.
It was Boron's fourth game of the season and their last home game of 2025 due to the start of their new stadium's construction the following Monday.
This start date meant that Bobcats would play their entire league schedule and all playoff games on the road!
I was curious to see what the new "SoFi Stadium of the Mojave Desert" was looking like after over three months of labor.
Uh . . .
. . . that's it after all this time?
I thought that they would be much farther along by this point but, then again, I'm not in the construction business.
As we approached Los Angeles
County, this solar corona appeared
Was it a precursor to the epic Atmospheric River storm that was due to hit SoCal in the next few days?
Speaking of which . . .
The prediction is that this storm will
bring six inches of rain to Camarillo
Nearby Ojai in the Topa Topa Mountains is looking at over 11 inches of rain from this storm.
Not good.
Merry Christmas SoCal!
On Tuesday I accepted the offer from Debi Murphy to go with her to watch her grandson Holtz's Camarillo H.S. Scorpions (11-0) Frosh basketball game against Channel Islands H.S. Raiders (0-6).
It figured to be a real barn burner.
C.I. in blue only had an eight man
team with limited basketball skills
At the end of the First Quarter, Camarillo led 24-2.
Despite a furious Raiders' scoring flurry, the Scorpions still led at the half, 47-7.
The Scorpions have 13 players
who all play equal amounts of
time and are all equally GOOD!
At the end of the Third Quarter, Camarillo's lead was up to 75-10.
We were all on the edge of our seats.
Thankfully, the Mercy Rule kicked in to start the Fourth Quarter meaning that the teams were playing using a running clock.
The game was finally over,
RIVETING . . .
At least it kept all of us off of the mean streets of Camarillo for an hour.
On to the net . . .
My life's story
All three will all be needed to . . .
. . . view Trump's latest boondoggle!
Christmas is now only two days away, weather permitting.
