Star Craven TR #2 Corporate networking aka Golf in the USA

[Meggsy]

I saw this place advertised on a billboard some 30 miles out so with my 3 trusty sidekicks all sleeping I made an executive decision to take a lunch break and have a driver change. It also happened to be near on exactly halfway to San Diego. There was little else around in these parts besides the occasional gas station fast food places. There also appeared to be some sort of military base / depot across the road.
Peggy Sue's 50's Diner : Small, 1950's style diner with American classics such as meatloaf & chicken-fried steak on the menu.
35654 Yermo Rd, Yermo, CA 92398, USA
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We had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated and they more or less direct you into their touristy/tacky curio shop whilst you wait.
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Righto in we go for a feed.
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TBC :

Looks like a used car lot for a Corvette dealership

 

[craven morehead]

Looks like a used car lot for a Corvette dealership

Haha sure did @Meggsy might thoughts exactly, must have been something going on!

 

[craven morehead]

Ha ha. Have eaten there! I once did some geo work near Barstow, where Peggy's is marginal to. We were walking around a prospect out in the semi desert, where we came across some human remains (bones), in remains of clothes and called the cops. Spent the rest of the day waiting for them to arrive, investigate the area, being interviewed etc. Never did find out what the story was.

Also, have a look at your route (I15 I assume) from Barstow to San Diego on Google Earth, satellite view. That straight line striking NW-SE immediately north of San Bernardino that you drove across is the San Andreas fault.

Wow @RooFlyer I had no idea and yes it was definitely I15.

 

[JohnK]

So this is inside the gas station and you can just see in the far right of picture there is a room with about 30 slot machines in it .. who wouldn't want to win their fuel money back ??

Awful. I have nightmares about losing all my money while on holidays and I have done that more than once.

 

[craven morehead]

Awful. I have nightmares about losing all my money while on holidays and I have done that more than once.

That's no good mate !

 

[craven morehead]

Checked out of the Embassy Suites and headed about 500m down the road to do a tour of the USS Midway. Spent about 2 hours here and would like to have spent another hour but we had to meet an ex-pat mate up in Newport Beach after lunch. I really enjoyed the talk conducted by volunteers on how they arrest the planes on landing and would liked to have had a chance to catch the talk on how they launch the aircraft.
The aircraft carrier went into service in 1945 and was decommissioned in 1992.



Below deck


Up on top was a real mix of aircraft from over the years





TBC:

 

[craven morehead]

USS Midway cont:









Up on the bridge

Across the bay the nuclear powered USS Carl Vinson was in port. One of the guides said that it was only 70 feet longer than the Midway.

A great way to spend a few hours on a glorious day.

 

[craven morehead]

Time to duck up to Newport Beach Boat Show and see a mate who is a broker/skipper for luxury boats on our way up to LA.
This is one of the boats he is attempting to sell at this show. I think from memory there was 4 bedrooms on this thing!





A little bit of money floating around "no pun intended" the place today. It was nice to see how the other half live.


A couple of nice SUV's.



Going to head up to check out Venice Beach before it gets too late

 

[craven morehead]

Made it to Venice Beach by about 4pm. Just enough time to walk around for an hour and have a quick beer while taking in the sites.

Different type of doctors!

A rather well built fellow spruiking for tips. He was actually telling people not to take photos if they didn't tip him.







The lads enjoying a quick beer ! The place was packed.


Happy to say I've been there and done that but wouldn't bust a gut to return.

 

[craven morehead]

Time to head off to our digs for the night at the Hilton LAX as two of the boys were flying out at 8.00am. Welcome to early evening LA traffic !




This sure is different to my norm. My town only has 2 Stop signs and the nearest traffic lights are an hour away
Made it safely and then dropped the rental vehicle back after unloading luggage and golf bags as it was not far at all.


So myself and 1 other bloke will have all of tomorrow to fill in as we don't fly out till about 23.20 on QF16 LAX-BNE

 

[craven morehead]

Next morning saw the boys off about 6.00am and then went back to bed for a bit before getting up and packing. Also went through the usual process of making sure all my clubs and golf shoes were as clean as possible. I've only ever been hassled once by some over zealous customs fellow who wanted to soak my shoes in disinfectant for 20 minutes ( a Y flight back from NZ, never been troubled flying in J ) Check out wasn't until 12.00pm but we went downstairs about 11.00am and put our gear in storage. We then caught a taxi up to Santa Monica cost US$50 won't do that again. Walked around for half an hour or so after arriving and then headed to the Pier.









This guy was awesome and obviously expecting a big day (maybe from experience) with his tip jar / trash can which honestly was about a third full when walked over and threw a few bucks in. Watched him for a bit and just enjoyed the excellent weather. Now to find some lunch !

 

[craven morehead]

My mate who is a real foodie and wine lover thought he might like to try Bubba Gump's which surprised me a little. I've been to the one at The Peak in HKG and wasn't overly fussed. Thankfully as it turned out there was a 40 minute wait to be seated.
We then checked out this place :


As it turned out there was also a wait to get in here. What next? Someone earlier had tipped us into The Lobster. He said it was excellent if we didn't mind spending the moolah last day on tour and all, what the hell !! So we headed back up the walkway to check it out.


My appetizer : Peruvian Scallops : Leche de tigre, avocado & crushed canch. Just excellent.
My main : Braised New Zealand Salmon with Pumpkin seed dukkah, brown butter celery root, brussell sprouts, raisin verjus & caper oil : YUM

Our view for lunch :



A great place with excellent food. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I think with my food, one beer and two glasses of good Pinot Noir and a tip I was up for around US$110. Oh well the next food stop will most likely be the OW J Lounge at LAX Mentally starting to wind down but still need to try and do a bit of quick shopping for the kids. Basketball gear is all the rage at home currently. Caught an Uber back to Dicks Sporting Goods 3/4 of the way back to Hilton ... only US$23

 

[craven morehead]

Time to start the journey home by jumping on the shuttle :




Through the security and off to the lounge


Caught up with our friends who had spent the last 3 days at Laguna Beach with their daughter









The lounge in my opinion was so so. Food offering was basic as was the Champagne. The Shiraz they were serving was 19 Crimes (available at Dan Murphys' for around $12 ) they had 16 showers suites but this night only 7 were available with a 20-30 minute wait ! I had planned to shower here but had left my run too late with the current wait time. Little did I know the flight would get away an hour late. Time for a few more G&T's I guess



Finally boarding was called around midnight. Settled into 15B on the upper deck. I'm thinking this will most likely be my last flight on the old 744 unless I can snooker an elusive J seat back to JNB. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy quite a few flights on the upper deck and a couple in F (old) with BA on the Jumbo and only had to settle for Y once (shudder).


Had a fantastic steward & hostess and I commended them both personally and by name in a post flight survey. Was half cut by the time food came out and forgot to take photos but went for the Roast pork belly with ginger noodles and cucumber kimchi. It was quite enjoyable. I then managed 5 hours (very good for me) sleep on the way home.



Made it home safely !! Time to head over to the Dom J Lounge for a shower and freshen up ready for the reality check which will be flying home on the torturous Dash 8 back to EMD. Sort of puts a dampener on such awesome trips but on the other hand it makes me appreciate what I have been able to achieve travel-wise since joining AFF. So that's a wind up for TR#2 for me. I hope you at the very least enjoyed some of the magnificent golf courses and desert scenery along the way. A big thanks to those that took the time to read and respond with positive comments. Regards CM

.

 

[rock86]

Time to start the journey home by jumping on the shuttle :
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Through the security and off to the lounge View attachment 127588
Caught up with our friends who had spent the last 3 days at Laguna Beach with their daughter
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The lounge in my opinion was so so. Food offering was basic as was the Champagne. The Shiraz they were serving was 19 Crimes (available at Dan Murphys' for around $12 ) they had 16 showers suites but this night only 7 were available with a 20-30 minute wait ! I had planned to shower here but had left my run too late with the current wait time. Little did I know the flight would get away an hour late. Time for a few more G&T's I guess
View attachment 127597
Finally boarding was called around midnight. Settled into 15B on the upper deck. I'm thinking this will most likely be my last flight on the old 744 unless I can snooker an elusive J seat back to JNB. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy quite a few flights on the upper deck and a couple in F (old) with BA on the Jumbo and only had to settle for Y once (shudder).View attachment 127593 Had a fantastic steward & hostess and I commended them both personally and by name in a post flight survey. Was half cut by the time food came out and forgot to take photos but went for the Roast pork belly with ginger noodles and cucumber kimchi. It was quite enjoyable. I then managed 5 hours (very good for me) sleep on the way home. View attachment 127595 Made it home safely !! Time to head over to the Dom J Lounge for a shower and freshen up ready for the reality check which will be flying home on the torturous Dash 8 back to EMD. Sort of puts a dampener on such awesome trips but on the other hand it makes me appreciate what I have been able to achieve travel-wise since joining AFF. So that's a wind up for TR#2 for me. I hope you at the very least enjoyed some of the magnificent golf courses and desert scenery along the way. A big thanks to those that took the time to read and respond with positive comments. Regards CM

.

Awesome trip report, and some absolutely magnificent golf courses played!!

 

[Meggsy]

Time to start the journey home by jumping on the shuttle :

View attachment 127584
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Through the security and off to the lounge
View attachment 127588

Caught up with our friends who had spent the last 3 days at Laguna Beach with their daughter

View attachment 127589

View attachment 127590

View attachment 127591

View attachment 127592

The lounge in my opinion was so so. Food offering was basic as was the Champagne. The Shiraz they were serving was 19 Crimes (available at Dan Murphys' for around $12 ) they had 16 showers suites but this night only 7 were available with a 20-30 minute wait ! I had planned to shower here but had left my run too late with the current wait time. Little did I know the flight would get away an hour late. Time for a few more G&T's I guess

View attachment 127597

Finally boarding was called around midnight. Settled into 15B on the upper deck. I'm thinking this will most likely be my last flight on the old 744 unless I can snooker an elusive J seat back to JNB. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy quite a few flights on the upper deck and a couple in F (old) with BA on the Jumbo and only had to settle for Y once (shudder).

View attachment 127593
Had a fantastic steward & hostess and I commended them both personally and by name in a post flight survey. Was half cut by the time food came out and forgot to take photos but went for the Roast pork belly with ginger noodles and cucumber kimchi. It was quite enjoyable. I then managed 5 hours (very good for me) sleep on the way home.

View attachment 127595

Made it home safely !! Time to head over to the Dom J Lounge for a shower and freshen up ready for the reality check which will be flying home on the torturous Dash 8 back to EMD. Sort of puts a dampener on such awesome trips but on the other hand it makes me appreciate what I have been able to achieve travel-wise since joining AFF. So that's a wind up for TR#2 for me. I hope you at the very least enjoyed some of the magnificent golf courses and desert scenery along the way. A big thanks to those that took the time to read and respond with positive comments. Regards CM

.

Thanks for this trip report CM. you have inspired me to add some golf days to my travels abroad and given some top shelf options to loook at.

 

[drron]

A really good TR.I enjoyed the golf days with you.Just a pity that I really aren't up to it now.

 

[NoName]

Great trip report! Loved it!

 

[JohnK]

Thanks for the trip report @craven morehead. Golf courses looked great. Hope you had heaps of birdies and pars to make trip more memorable.

 

[RB]

Great report. I also hope to get up to Emerald some time & get amongst the Red Claw

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the TR. Even as a non-golf player it was still fascinating.