I have cooked this a couple of times. I have helped cook it a couple of more. I have eaten my own body weight of it.

I love this recipe for the vinegar and sugar notes and nostalgia. I have never found anything better in a store. There are some distant seconds in the deli section.

Grandma Bruce’s German Potato Salad.

This is not health food.

Let me translate that for you block letter newbies.

Transcription Follows

German Potato Salad

=====================

Boil and Slice Potatoes (Approxmately 10)

1/2 Dozen Eggs (Boiled and Sliced)

Chop Onion (1 or 2)

Salt potatoes

1/2 pound of Bacon (cooked and chopped)

Lift Bacon out of pan, layer potatoes

Keep 2- 6 tbsp fat stir in 1 tbsp flour.

In 2 cup measure

1/2 – 1 c sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

Fill cup with H2O

Add salt & pepper

Add above to flour bacon dripping

Cook until thick, pour over pot, onion, eggs, bacon

Let sit stirring occasionally to mix.

========================

My Notes

What kind of potatoes? Idaho?

Is there really bacon grease? Yes. It is delicious.

Imagine you have spent twenty years churning out 7 children and you need to feed them all potatoes. That is what I call inspiration. Use the potatoes you have. Improvise.

I used pre-cooked bacon from Costco this time. I chopped it up and put in a pot with the flour, vinegar, sugar, water. It makes a roux. (Flour in liquid to thicken is Cajun for Roux.)

I poured that over the potatoes and onions in layers.

I stirred it real good. It’s perfect.

Since I didn’t have a tray of bacon leavings to lay the potato slices in. I am calling this heart healthy.

Forgot about the eggs until everything else was done.

Stirred them in

It’s even better.

How to boil potatoes.

Cover potatoes with water in a large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cook for 15 – 25 minutes depending on size and consistency. Check with a fork for desired consistency. Bigger potatoes take longer.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs.

Place eggs in pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Turn off burner. Set a time for 10 minutes. When time expires. Put them in an ice bath or remove them from the hot water.

If you have developed a passing interest in the birds around you, download the Merlin app. https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ It will listen for birds and tell you what it hears.

Thus Began My Decent into madness.

This is an ongoing story. I will update as we go. Bottom line… I upgraded from iPhone Birdnet app to dedicated bird listening sessions. The iPhone works great for intermittent use. I couldn’t figure out how to keep the iPhone’s running consistently. I had a lot of long streaks were it ran well. I got tired of having them shutdown or reset which requires a reset.

I will try and contain my remarks to seeing, identifying and learning about birds.

Right Now – I Still Love Merlin – since 2020ish

Merlin is an IOS app that will listen to birds around you and identify them. You can also add photos and Merlin will try to identify them. It’s my first choice, go to for birds.

Right Now – I Still Like iBird Ultimate – since 2009ish

iBird is an app that you can use to identify birds. It’s more like a bird book, but it has sounds and pictures and location information. It’s pretty handy. If you are looking at a White, Long-Legged-Like bird in Puerto Morelos, MX it can narrow the options to the five types of White, Long-Legged-Like birds you might see in that place at that time of the year and enough information to tell which is which.

It has gotten out of hand quickly.

I found out that there are two apps that listen constantly and report to a worldwide database. This is useful because now I have a better sense of the kind of birds around me. Also scientist have access to a much richer set of data that provides information on migration, population, range, science stuff. My constant listening stations are adding to that database. Super Nerdy.

Right Now – I love Birdweather PUC – Since 20251225

I got a Birdweather PUC for Christmas. A Birdweather PUC is a small weatherproof computer with a microphone that sits outside and listens for birds. It shares that geolocation data with a worldwide database of other bird listening stations. It’s citizen science! The PUC is installed out at the island. It has been working great. You can see the hot bird action here… https://app.birdweather.com/stations/19476

The downside is that it is not inexpensive.

Right Now – I love – Birdnet Pi – since 20260111

I built my own listening station. I ordered a Raspberry Pi 4B from Amazon. I got the Vilros basic package. Raspberry Pi is a single board computer that is designed for education, tinkering, learning. They are small, pretty easy to setup and flexible.

Let me rephrase that… It’s pretty simple, if you have built a computer and installed an OS and have extra computer accessories lying around, comfortable with the command line, Linux, open source software or are willing to learn.

The upside is that you get to do all that work and save some money. The Raspberry Pi with Birdnet and a mic and USB soundcard will cost around $150 about 1/2 the price of a Birdnet PUC, but only if you have an extra monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

Vilros Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Basic Starter Kit with Fan Cooled Heavy Duty Aluminum Alloy Case – https://a.co/d/8uEFasy

Here is a link to the guide I used. https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2025/08/20/build-your-own-birdnet-pi-bird-song-listening-device/

How To

Assemble hardware

Use a working computer to download and install Raspberry Pi Imager

Use Raspberry Pi Imager to install an Operating Sytem on a 64GB MicroSD flash drive. (Use the one in the “other” column for the Raspberry Pi 4B.)

Once that is complete run a command line to install Birdnet Pi. I used this version.
https://github.com/Nachtzuster/BirdNET-Pi

This will install all the Birdnet Pi software.

Hook up a monitor, keyboard, mouse, MOST Important… a rinkydink USB soundcard and a microphone. Put the microphone outside. Run the wire back to the Raspberry Pi which is now a Birdnet Pi.

You won’t believe what happens next…

I have never seen this before. The computer will boot up to a command prompt. It’s working. You can access the Birdnet Pi from another computer using a web browser and the IP address of your Birdnet Pi. (The IP address is on the screen of the BirdNet Pi).

Type in the 192.169.xxx.xxx number on the Birdnet screen on another computer on the same network. and Voila!

It looks like this…

You can adjust the settings. Register with Birdweather.

My Birdnet Pi is visible here… https://app.birdweather.com/stations/21970

Right Now – I don’t love Birdnet app on IOS

This sounds weird because Birdnet supports the PUC and the Birdnet Pi. I am using the Birdnet infrastructure to learn about birds, but the iPhone app is my second favorite for listening to birds and my third favorite listening station.

I upgraded from iPhone Birdnet app to dedicated bird listening sessions. The iPhone works great for intermittent use. I couldn’t figure out how to keep the iPhone’s running consistently. I had a lot of long streaks were it ran well. I got tired of having them shutdown or reset which requires a reset.

Birdnet – https://birdnet.cornell.edu/api2/live

It will listen anytime it is running and share that information with geo-tags to a database on the web. Mind Blown.

Here is the old station at Bruce Casa as seen via Birdweather.

https://app.birdweather.com/stations/12974 – The station was discontinued.

Notice that the link I have shared is from a different web page.

Right Now – I don’t love Birdweather app on IOS

https://www.birdweather.com/

Birdweather is built on the same platform. They have a fancier app and a smart microphone that you can buy to monitor birds around the clock. You don’t need the smart microphone! The functionality is the same. The User Interface on Birdweather much prettier.

I had horrible success keeping an old iPhone running to keep the listening station live.

It works great for short term listening. It works great for checking out your installed stations.

Here is the app in action

A Note

The start up screen on Birdweather is confusing. They really want to help you setup your new PUC. You have to click on the phone icon to get to the app.

Here is how I had the iPhone setup

https://app.birdweather.com/stations/12974

I have an iPhoneXR in the backyard listening to birds. It is plugged in and sits in the shade in a waterproof pouch.

I turned the screen on because I am a visual storyteller. It usually sits in the shade with the screen off and listens.

We are sitting here, thinking about later dinner. So I said “Let’s Do This”.

Ingredients:

• A 16 ounce package of thicker pasta. Liguine, Thick Spaghetti, what

• Pecarino Romano – 8 ounces

• Fresh Ground Pepper

Instructions

• Boil Water in a non-stick post

• Hand Shred Pecorino Romano

• Grind Pepper

• When the water is boiling, add the pasta and set a timer. Follow the instructions on the package. You want the pasta to be a little firmer, al dente. So keep it on the short side and check.

It’s about to get exciting!

• Strain the pasta and retain the water.

• Lower the heat on the stove.

• Leave the pasta in the pot.

• Add the ground pepper, maybe a little more than normal

• Pour the cheese on top of the pasta.

• Add a cup of pasta water

• Pan in one hand, spoon in the other…

• Stir, stir, stir, stir.

• We are trying to combine the cheese and pasta.

• Add another spoonful or two of water.

• Stir, stir, stir, stir

• Thoroughly coat the pasta with the cheese and pasta water mixture. Stir out the clumps of cheese with heat and effort. Don’t let it get runny.

• Serve

We literally reached the end of the road. We’ll get back to that in a minute.

The Olympics

The Olympics have been in the background the whole trip. Mrs JonTheBruce has been watching on her phone. We turn it on in the hotel. It was on at least one TV everywhere we went. I couldn’t tell you what happened in the news. She streamed the closing ceremony on the phone while I finished up touring the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

The Olympics were amazing. My favorite joke is Summer Ozembics. Them semi-glutides are changing lives.

Back to France, the Assassin Creed guy running across the roof tops of Paris.

I was outraged by the Feast of Bacchus tableau. Not because it looked like the Last Supper. The true crime was the DJ equipment wasn’t EVEN PLUGGED in. The metal band with the flame throwers were fierce.

So very, very French. They do not care about your opinions. They are French. Their politicians bring paramours to state dinners instead of trying to GRINDR their way through political conventions.

The closing ceremonies were also great. The “Golden Voyager” descending into a dystopian future to resurrect the rings? JRR Tolkien couldn’t have dreamed that thing up. I hope the crowd in Paris didn’t have to watch the whole Tom Cruise running thing.

I googled feverishly to find out where the events in LA were taking place. They were all pre-recorded. The whole thing was very Hollywood. The beach locations were mis-attributed. The palms trees were from a prop house. Tom Cruise didn’t time travel. The Hollywood sign with Olympic Rings was computer generated. So no cool pictures. I call Shenanigans!

Things that actually happened

We had breakfast at the hotel. They had an amazing Pecan roll “Suzanne style” which means “with bacon”. I want everything Suzanne style. Steak and Eggs was also great. Mrs. JTB had another poached egg. She casually mentioned how fun it would be if I would learn how to make them. I looked it up. I make no promises.

I ended up going to Marshall’s cause I am fancy like that. I bought a piece of luggage which was less expensive than the overweight bag fee. I actually intended to buy a piece that cost ten times as much as the overweight bag fee, but a company that rhymes with RIMOWA didn’t answer their phone the five times I attempted to call during business hours.

We had time to spare. We drove over to the Santa Monica Pier. An Uber driver had mentioned that it was pretty nice. It was pretty nice. There are several signs mentioning that Route 66 ends at the Santa Monica pier. We took a picture. We watched buskers. The beach is gorgeous stretching off into the distance where is meets picturesque mountains. Lunch was at Big Dean’s Ocean Front Cafe. “Mmm-mmmm. That is a tasty burger”. Great location.

The flight home

Here are our travel tips from this vacation.

Timing is everything

Save big money by visiting Olympic Host cities a couple of years ahead of the Olympics.  The crowds are going to be ridiculous during the games. The tourism wave of people after will be worse. The croissants as big as your head will be the next Soup Nazi. The line will be around the block for years. Luckily, we left within an hour of the Olympic flag actually landing in Los Angeles. We saved enough to pay for our car in remote parking.

Driving Tips

I am perfectly adjusted and not a control freak at all. Mrs. JTB could drive whenever she wants. She works, maybe a nap, sometimes she breathes in a specific way so I know we are about to get t-boned by a cement truck.  One time this trip, she figured out what the GPS was telling us before I did. Another time, she didn’t breathe or point out when I really needed help. I didn’t mention it to her. This facade I keep up of invulnerability is composed of the thinnest marzipan layer. 

Of Checked Bags and Rental Cars

We also have been splitting up dealing with the car and luggage at departure and arrival. This is legitimately a great deal. One of us hangs out for baggage claim the other jumps on the shuttle to grab the car or rental car place.

Got so many keys they think I’m Airport Parking

A long time ago the lady at the airport parking lot insisted we take a membership card. I recommend it strongly. I didn’t do anything. Mrs JTB actually took the card and signed up and handles the reservations. We had enough parking points to earn free parking for a whole trip. Which is nice.

Pointer about points

Another thing I haven’t really dived into is credit cards. This has been a change we made in the last year. We spent enough time hanging out with Dave Ramsey that I didn’t use a credit card for about 15 years. Mrs JTB had one for work.

An old friend is a card points wizard. We had dinner with him and got some basic strategy. It’s working out pretty well. We don’t carry balances.

We did use Amex travel for a couple of hotels and another card for another. The Amex perks are crazy. On property credit to spend on anything that isn’t the mini bar, room upgrades, late, late check out. A nice welcome note from the manager. It’s deluxe. The trick is to find hotels that are offering a lower rate for points than cash. The elevated level of service makes it worthwhile at full price too.

Both of our cards have a not insignificant annual fee. But there are perks like free streaming like Disney+ or Paramount, Clear and TSA-pre check, Global Entry, membership, Walmart+ membership, $15 a month Uber credit that 100% offset the annual cost of the card for us. Do your own math.

The trick is that we are often walking into a hotel lobby asking who “owns” the reservations. We have separate accounts and this detail is the absolute last thing we think about in the process of getting to the hotel.

We also have an airline credit card. It isn’t as much fun. I think we paid for the flight to Vegas with the introductory offer and accumulated points. A lot of meh.

Woke up pretty early. We had breakfast at the hotel. I ordered a breakfast sandwich that had chicken sausage or something. It was not a highlight. Mrs. JonTheBruce saved the day by ordering a side of bacon with her breakfast which was perfect. 

We didn’t have a plan for the day. I was looking at my Google Maps list of places. The Rose Bowl Flea Market wasn’t too far away. It was the second Sunday of the month. We headed that way. 

We were not prepared for the crowds, the vendors, the heat and the asphalt. It was hot and crowded. 

It really is the most amazing assortment of stuff. We didn’t buy anything. I could load up a moving van with the stuff I saw. Great mid century furniture. One of kind weird stuff. Tons of cool prints.

We headed back towards the hotel. The area around the Rose Bowl is gorgeous. The homes are beautiful. The lawns and trees and flowers are all top notch. 

Hit the Walgreens for first aid. Our feet have taken a beating this week. 

We found the nicer part of downtown LA and found a cute little Mexican place for lunch.

The Taco Bell Cantina is a little hole in the wall place. Very inside LA. People don’t talk about it much. Lunch was good. We got Cantina special items. The bill was $60, which seems about right for Taco Bell with alcohol. It was tasty. I accidentally got a yard glass of pina colada with tequila. I also accidentally drank the whole thing. 

We checked out the mall. Headed back to the hotel. 

We had a brief nap. The geared up for a concert. 

We Ubered to BMO Stadium. BMO is next door to the LA Olympic Coliseum. So we checked that out on the way into the concert. It was pretty exciting because we had watched the closing ceremonies at the Olympics on Mrs. JTB’s phone and it was featured.

We got into the venue as the opening act was ending. Our seats might have been amazing for a soccer match, but the mixing board was tented and we could not see SHIT. Mrs. JTB watch the feature while I went to talk to the office. Unlike Pink (who owes me big time for the crap tickets I paid for price for despite the fact that it was obstructed. I am still not bitter, I moved on, lol)

Back to the start of that sentence… Unlike Pink, the ticket office checked my seat location and gave me tickets for unobstructed seats. We were in 117. We moved to 111. Six sections closer to the stage. Great seats. The Pretenders were amazing. Chrissie Hynde is still belting out hits. 

The next band started promptly around 8pm. They were fantastic. They had played LA two nights before so the set list was totally tweaked from the start. It was pretty awesome. Spoiler Alert. The band was the Foo Fighters. Yes, they played “Everlong” and set off fire works last for Mrs. JTB’s birthday. (I don’t mess around)

They also were joined on stage by Dave Grohl’s daughter for a song. Shane Hawkins, son of Taylor Hawkins, also played a song with the band. He can wail on the drums. Dave didn’t get a turn behind the drum set either night. Dave had pretty good success as a drummer. It’s a fun change up when he takes a turn.

Los Angeles is a little grittier than every place else was have been on this trip. A lot of the crowd was standing the whole time. 

Allow me to wade into the deep end here. Both shows had a much more diverse audience than I have ever seen in the Midwest. The women sitting in front of us were huge fans. Here is where I am going to stick my foot in it… I don’t know the right words. The show was better because the crowds was better. I would say maybe they were Latina, or LatinX or Chicano or something, but the whole crowd was bunch of different kinds of people who just love the Foo Fighters. In moments like this, I get a glimpse of our greater humanity. I feel a little sheltered and provincial , but I was also thrilled to be a part of it. 

Music transcends. 

I had read a New York Times story about a Kid Rock music festival in South Carolina. Before Kid Rock came on stage with his strippers dancing on poles festooned with American flags. One of the organizers had everyone bow their heads for a prayer. 

The Foo Fighters are better in every way. They play for everyone who finds their music. 

The exit from the stadium was a circus. Bootleg t-shirt hawkers were outnumbered by hundred(s) of vendors selling $5 hotdogs from tiny carts. I didn’t see anything but hotdogs. No sausages. No tacos. No burritos. A phalanx of people selling hot dogs. I cannot understand why this is a thing. 

We grabbed a very expensive taxi out of the taxi line back to the hotel.

I saw vendors at the Flea market side by side selling fruit. The carts are all the same. They all sell the same thing. Side by Side. 

What is the possible motive for the lack of diversity and differentiation? I guess I will find out this fall in Finance 6500.

I lied. I actually bought a bottle of water and a bracelet from two cute, little entrepreneurs on my way out of the Rose Bowl. 

We packed our bags and left Hotel del Coronado. It was hard to leave but we left with a plan of attack. I wanted to check out the border with Mexico where it sticks out into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, Border Field State Park was closed. Fortunately, Monument Road was open all the way to the park. The border fence gallops over the perilous hills that separate Imperial Beach, California from Tijuana, Mexico. The Tijuana river is actually on the US side of the border when it enters the Pacific. We drove over it and got a sold whiff of why environmentalist in the USA are campaigning for a river clean up on the other side of the border. It’s rough. I have heard the Tijuana river described as an open sewer. I heard a news report this morning that decried the efforts to encourage a clean up as eco-elitism. 

We turned and headed North. I was hoping to check out Roy Choi’s Kogi in San Deigo. They didn’t open until later. We had our first In and Out burger. It was great. 

Mrs. JonTheBruce was anxious to take me to the rodeo in LA. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. She had been on her phone the whole drive researching. the last time we went to a rodeo in Cody, Wyoming. It was fun, but LA has all kinds of cool things to do and see. I was surprised that cowboy hats and calf roping was high on her to do list in Los Angeles. 

We got to Rodeo Drive and I couldn’t even figure it where the arena was. Mrs JonTheBruce told me to never mind looking for the arena and the horses. She suggested we pop into one of the vendor stalls and see what they were selling. 

It’s pretty nice. Most of these vendors have free water if you want to sit while the misses peruses their wares. We walked all the way up and down that darn street and didn’t see nary a bull fighter or a bronco buckin’. I did see a stallion emblem stuck on a fancy yellow car. So I recon the cowboy must be doing pretty well if he can get by without a pickup truck. 

They even had a booth for the Olympic Games in France, if you can believe that. This fellow Lauren has some cowboy gear in the back of his shop. The front has all kinds of outfits just like you seen on the TV Olympics. 

I didn’t see any last day of the Olympics 75% off signs any where in the store. Not my business how the guy runs his store, but I wouldn’t hold onto inventory until the next Olympics because that is four years away. 

There was only one store on that whole street with a saddle for sale. 

I do believe Mrs. JonTheBruce took me into most of them. The one thing I saw that I wanted wasn’t in stock. They had a lot stuff. 

The weather in LA is nice but much warmer than San Diego. We went to check into our hotel. The fashion district is home to Proper Downtown LA. Downtown LA is not effortless and casual. It is exciting and urban. There are a lot of exciting and excitable people on the street, in the street, near the street. We drove past what I can only describe as a sidewalk flea market a block long. It reminded me of Escape from LA or Escape from New York. Kurt Russell was no where to be found. 

I chose surface streets for most of the drive because the highway was bumper to bumper and slow. 

The hotel was crazy busy when we arrived. The tiny lobby was chocked full. Jenny at the desk was amazing and found the time to give us the lay of the land with style. 

I looked at my Google Maps saved list. One restaurant that was close by has been on my list for years. It had been on my list for so long, I forgot why it was there in the first place. AND it was closing in an hour. We raced over to eat. 

Broken Mouth is Hawaiian Asian Fusion. It’s part of a food hall with a Thai restaurant, a closed vegan restaurant and a Pizza Hut Wing place. The location is not great. 

The food is amazing. We ordered all the things. Mrs. JTB also ordered a Tom Yum from the Thai place. 

It was all excellent. The Spam Wusubi was transcendent. Just amazing. The Kim chi purple rice, the potato salad, the fresh Kim chi pickles, beef, chicken and shrimp were all amazing. I would recommended the chicken if you are looking for a starting point. 

We buzzed back to the Proper. I think it has three restaurants. We hit the Dahlia martini bar. 

Mrs. JTB had a tequila based martini. I had the Stillwater which Esquire describes as one of the best in America. They were both excellent. A lot of our adventures in drinking lead back to a chilled shot of very nice tequila. It’s hard to beat that as a first position and as a fall back. Drinking new things mostly expands the list of things we would not do again. 

We also checked out the roof top restaurant. It looks awesome. It also has the pool at the back of the restaurant. People were swimming in the pool next to people having fancy dinner. There were even two people in the pool having fancy dinner. The views of downtown LA are exceptional. 

The people watching in LA is awesome. We headed back to our room early and interrupted the turn down service guy. First turn down service we have encountered on this trip. It was a nice touch. The hotel manager also left wine and snacks and a hand written note for Mrs. JTB. All were nice touches.  

Went to bed earlier. Big day tomorow.

We had breakfast at the Pendry again. The Smore’s French toast was amazing. We hung out for lunch poolside. Packed our bags and departed. We toured Balboa park. Mrs. JonTheBruce looked everywhere for a Rocky Balboa statue. There were none. 

We had thought about going to the zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo had been taken over from immigrants from CHINA just like you hear about in political ads. The Chinese are stealing zoo jobs that should rightly belong to American grizzlies or black bears. The zoo was PACKED to the gills due to Pandamonium. The Pandas were on exhibit for the first time on August 8th.

We headed over to the Hotel Del Coronado. You may remember the hotel Del Coronado from the film “Some like it hot” or remember the time President Harrison visited. Coronado was founded by a guy from Evansville, Indiana back in the 1800s. Anyone who has survived a summer visit to Evansville can understand why Coronado has so much appeal. The weather is amazing. Ocean Breezes. Sweeping scenery. 

One of the added bonuses is the military aircraft. We saw Apache helicopters, Marine Ospreys and fighter jets. It’s like Top Gun. 

There were even smaller planes flying in tight formations. We saw the USS Gridley battleship in the distance. I have visited Norfolk and the Florida Pan Handle. I think there is more military air traffic here. Especially, the photos. The airport is very close by so the planes are low and slow on final approach. You can almost see them land from a lounge chair on the beach. 

We had dinner at the Laundry restaurant. I wish I could regale you with stories about the afternoon. I heard from sources that I tool a five hour nap after we checked in.  The french fries were excellent at every meal. EXCELLENT. I could skip everything else and just eat french fries here. The rest of the food was also great. 

I went back to the hotel room and finished my nap. Woke up at 9am.

Mrs JonTheBruce had done some significant research and signed us  up for the Beach Club day pass. 

We had breakfast at the Windsor Cottage. Allegedly, Queen Elizabeth’s uncle canoodled with his divorcee’ girlfriend at the cottage. I don’t know if this is exactly true. I do think Coronado is great enough to abdicate the crown.

Mrs. JTB headed over to the beach. I headed over to Jamie O’Brien’s Surf School. I did a group lesson. I got in a group with siblings. I was FOURTY years old than the next participant. I bet I had fifteen years on the next oldest guy. It was awesome. 

The waves were bigger than they had any right to be. I got a lung full of water on one wave. The look on the faces of the parents watching their kids while I was wrenching was priceless. I had a great time. I pulled a muscle or something. I don’t know if it was a wave or the coughing. The parents and kids at surf school were also awesome.

We hung out on at the beach. Watched airplanes and boats. I always feel better about my tax dollars when I see American Military Might. 

Lunch was back at the Windsor Cottage. I drank my body weight in Diet Coke. There were snacks in the afternoon. We freshened up for dinner. Had S’mores at the Beach Club, then went to dinner. 

The Serea Coastal Cuisine is a Michelin star quality restaurant experience. I would recommend it for couples. If you decide to bring children, please do not also take the opportunity to tell them you are moving them away from friends and family right before the start of the school year. This was the mistake of a father at a table across from us. I know this because we got to enjoy a middle schoolers screaming fit at learning this news. I recommended a chicken wing restaurant if you are going to ruin your children’s lives. This has worked extremely well for Mrs. JTB and I. Your child’s life may be ruined, but there is also chicken wings. It balances out. Unfortunately, Serea Modern Coastal Kitchen doesn’t have chicken wings on the menu. The mistake the father made is obvious.

The food was amazing. We got Greek Salad, Greek Fries, Tuna Tatare, and a whole fish.

Hotel Del Coronado is like high end clamping, with air conditioning and indoor sleeping. The bonhomie is palpable. 

Hotel Del is also lousy with kids. You couldn’t swing a fake service dog on a leash and not hit at least three kids running around like feral corgis. Some of them are adorable.  There was one tween girl on a beach cruiser bicycle who looked like she was headed to a Ralph Lauren photo shoot. Another bunch playing on the beach with sun bleached hair and looking like being tan was still a thing. All the teen boys look like Llamas, which I am given to understand is the height of fashion.

The beach is also lousy with dogs. You couldn’t swing a child without hitting at least three dogs running around like teething toddlers. most of the dogs are handsome and well mannered which is nice because they are every where even in spaces specifically prohibiting dogs.

There are fire pits on all the first floor rooms and on the beach. S’mores and wood smoke fill the evening air. 

It’s really quite magical. 

Everybody has been really nice.

It was a recovery day. Like a back to back marathon. We woke up at the crack of 9am. Had breakfast at the hotel. We went to check out the local Costco because it was MrsJonTheBruce’s birthday and I needed some shoes. She got a sweet flannel shirt which saved us a ton of money on expensive souvenirs.

We headed back to the hotel. There were roadies in the lobby. The Foo Fighters were setting up for a show around the corner at Petco Park.

I borrowed a skateboard from the hotel and we went to check out the Gas Lamp District. There are a ton of stores and restaurants. At night they close the streets so  5th Street becomes a huge pedestrian mall. Parts of it were closed today, which was nice because my skateboard skills are RUSTY. The board is a giant cruiser board, so my stance was awkward. I didn’t die.

We went and checked out the merch tent at Foo Fighters. Totally, exploded the Costco savings. Mrs. JonTheBruce had a super cute ensemble before the day was done. There was a line for pre-show merch. I stowed the board in my backpack. It was not a good setup. I managed not to decapitate anyone with the skateboard. 

Sweet, sweet merch loaded up, we lunched at the Blind Burro. We got over served with Birthday tequila shots. Walked and skated back towards the hotel. There was a Birkenstock store around the corner so I got a pair of Tevas. And then we HAD to pop into Quiksilver for shorts and t-shirts and Mrs JTB got a pair of flip flops. Popped over to the nail saloon for a touch up, because somebody broke a nail holding my stupid skateboard. I was able to skate down four blocks of 5th street and not die.

There was a nap.

We went over to the concert at 5ish. Got to see the end of the opener. The Hives are ridiculous. They understand the job perfectly. Very fun and funny. If Cheap Trick and Los Lobos had a baby it would be the Hives. 

The sun had set before the Hives started. The weather was perfect. I think it was 70-72F all night. 

I have had a crazy good luck run of concerts. The next one will probably involve an indoor tornado. 

Here we come to the problem. Mrs. JTB had studied the set list from the previous show. Dave and the boys did “Tribute” on that fine evening, for the first time ever. I have seen the Foo Fighters before. I enjoy their entire catalog. BUT I had extremely HIGH HOPES of seeing them perform “Tribute”. 

Tribute is coming in five songs

Tribute is coming in four songs

Tribute is coming in three songs

Tribute is two songs away

Tribute is one song away

Tribute is not on the set list tonight. 

This is how I know Rock N Roll is of the devil. 

The guy sitting next to me let’s call him “elbows” because I was going to fight if he elbowed me ONE MORE TIME actually fell asleep for like at least an hour. He woke up for the encore.

Gentle Reader – You may have notice that I mentioned earlier that is Mrs JonTheBruce’s birthday. What did we do to celebrate her special day? How lame am I? 

Be assured gentle reader.

I asked the guy’s in the band for a special request for her birthday.

“Maybe if it wasn’t too much of a bother could you guys play “Everlong” last and then I don’t know maybe fireworks?”

It was pretty doubtful. I mean Fireworks at the end of the show require permits and planning. they said they would try their best for her. 

We moseyed back towards the hotel. Grabbed a slice from Gaslamp Pizza. Bed.

Thanks to Frontier this trip got off to an inauspicious start. They moved our flight back several hours. I missed this in the run up to departure.

We ended up arriving in Las Vegas after midnight. This was fortunate because it allowed to the temperature to drop off to a very cozy 102F.

We picked up a rental car and headed to our hotel.

We picked the Fountainbleu in Las Vegas. It opened in December 2023. If you have ever heard my experience at the The Fountainbleu in Miami. You may be wondering what we were thinking. Fountainbleu South Beach during the Winter Music Congress was a long tragic slide into late stage capitalism. South beach was home to Frank Sinatra and Muhammed Ali. The current version is bottle service and crass.

My expectations of Fountainbleu Las Vegas were tempered.

I was delighted by how nice the hotel is. We have stayed all over the strip. Fountainbleu is maybe my favorite hotel. It’s pretty, and clever and classic. The soap smells really good. The restaurants were fantastic. I wish we had more time to check it out.

We had breakfast at Vida. The only miss was a Salted Carmel Iced Macchiato. Who ever made it apparently thought salt was the main ingredient. I tried it and found a chunk of kosher salt on my tongue. It was SALTY.

We had lunch at Bar Ito.

I just realized this as I am typing, but I think Bar Ito is a play on Burrito. The sell sushi hand rolls that are not sliced. It was delightful. We didn’t have time to check out Ito at the top of the hotel. I bet it is amazing. Fresh Japanese sushi. Regardless, my hand rolls were fun. They come in a box. Each roll is wrapped. It was treat to unroll and then roll and devour.

Between a late breakfast and an early lunch, I walked over to Circus Circus. Here again another surprise. It was better than I remembered and a wonderful surprise. The amusement park is very clean and family friendly. There is all kinds of ways to spend time and money.

We pulled out and headed towards California. Don’t ask if I flew into Las Vegas just to drive all the way to Los Angeles in an homage to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I did. Luckily, the weather was on our side. It was only 118F in Baker. We were somewhere on the edge of Barstow when the drag began to take hold. I looked over at Mrs. JonTheBruce and said “I am bored”

Luckily, some dipshit towing a giant trailer tried to move over the left lane and had a tire exploded dramatically.

We got to the Ventura Marriott around 7pm. Immediately headed over to Lure. We smashed Crab cakes, bacon cheddar biscuits, and shared an entree with four sides. The sesame/pepper seared ahi was perfect. I had butchered a similar recipe last week so this was a treat.

We went to bed and slept.

Woke up the next morning bright and early.

We have been binge watching Below Deck (A show about crewing a super yacht) and decided to treat ourselves. We didn’t want to go overboard with our budget so we split the charter with 140 other people.

We decided to go to Channel Islands National Park.

The Pacific Ocean is basically got to be the calmest because of the name right?

Because the Caribbean is just so last weeks news

The med is lousy with Olympic mega yachts.

Also for budgetary reasons we went for a day trip.

We got to enjoy a lavish buffet of bananas, Doritos, Bonine and Dramamine, with flat water.

MrsJonTheBruce got a souvenir bag in case she decided to leave her breakfast on the boat.

I think technically this is not properly termed a motor yacht. It’s called a water taxi. Still very Lux.

The crew is the captain and three deckhands/stewards. We call them deck stews in yachting. The best of the deck stews is called the snack bar attendant. Years of training in service are required to reach this level of achievement.

MrsJonTheBruce is not a big boat person. We got moved to the back deck with the other seasick prone passengers. It was a better ride, also easier to clean with a hose.

The first stop was to drop off all the happy families at Scorpion Harbor. Once they disembarked, we headed around the corner to Prisoners Harbor. There were seven adults and one of the crew stayed with us to take us on a eco tour.

There was plenty of wild life in the water.

Double crested cormorants,

Brown pelicans.

We stopped to check out a moa moa and a couple of dolphin pods.

We arrived at Scorpion Island. Pretty much everybody got off the boat. So for the next half hour, we got to be the primary charter guests.

There was an Egg yolk jelly fish, maybe a seal.

The Channel Islands are home to a very rare sub-species of Scrub Jay. The Island Scrub Jay is a lifer for many bird enthusiasts. We maybe didn’t realize how important until the lady luggging a giant 200-800 canon lens. (One of those really, really nice ones) almost knocked MrsJonTheBruce and I off the freakin trail to get a look at it.

The extremely rare Island Scrub Jay were abundant on the island. No reason for anyone to get hurt if you want to see them. They basically pose for pictures. They don’t seem to be scared of people. Delightfully, they don’t appreciate having a $10,000 canon lens pointed at them. At one point, we were yelling at the photog because there was a majestic Jay out of her one of sight because she was too close. It flew off right as she spotted it. I really had to reflect on all the people I have personally killed in my pursuit of a bird picture.

Here is the best picture I could get with my iPhone.

The boat met us back at the landing.

The ride back was brisk.

We stopped on the way back to pick up the party people who checked out Scorpion harbor.

The Prisoner Harbor Seven had a gaunt, haunted, quiet countenance. We were no longer match matchy with the family friendly Scorpion visitors. We saw some shit.

We had hiked the prisoner harbor to Del norte vista trail. The NPS marketing team apparently was at work on this one. The trail was more aptly named “Vertical climb in the devils butthole”

There were scenic vistas and such. The degree of difficulty was higher than the signage would indicate. At one point, I couldn’t tell if we were walking on gravel or the sound I was hearing was the sound was MrsJonTheBruce’s knees.

The ride back to the mainland was pretty pleasant. One of us took a pretty good nap. The other had a Modelo and Diet Coke. We rode the upper deck like champions.

We got dinner at Islands. Islands is a regional chain with amazing french fries and a tasty burger. Somebody had more fish.

We headed out to San Diego. We were so dirty from the hike and boat that we may lose the room deposit on the ruined towels.

It was a helluva day.

San Diego looks amazing in the dark. Can’t wait for what tomorrow brings.

There were some enormous trees that needed to be dealt with. The biggest was about six foot across the base and very dead. Another was 4-5 feet across the base and half dead. There was a ring of small trees that had grown around the burnt out hole where another giant tree had died. There were also a couple of 20 footers that weren’t great.

The Spirit of the Forest

The Spirit of the Forest was the name I gave to the six foot across the base and very dead tree. It had a lot of character. Mrs. JonTheBruce thought it was dangerous and needed to go. I loved it. No way it was coming down.

I may have accidentally sped up the demise of this tree. The rope lights were a little low between the Spirit Tree and the Ring Trees. I added three trucker hitches to the wire holding the rope lights and maximum effort to put more tension and raise the wire. This means I used mechanical advantage to put a LOT of pressure on the wire between the trees. The Spirit tree was actually further gone than I realized. The next time I came back, it had given up the ghost and fallen over.

I watched a bunch of Youtube videos. I got a really big chainsaw and broke it down into pieces that were still too large to move. The top was actually hollowed out. It was big enough that I could have climbed into it.

The Dead Fork

The Dead Fork was the big and really tall half dead tree. Despite my extensive youtube chainsaw education, I couldn’t figure out how to drop this tree safely. I actually tried pulling down the dead part with a tow strap. I broke the tow strap. This was a big, scary tree. I finally googled “tree services near me.” I used a tree service to take this one down. They used a Bobcat and a chainsaw and years of experience. They cleaned up all the other debris and ground the stumps, which is nice. Maybe the most satisfying money I have ever spent. I watched them do the whole project. It was a huge relief to get the tree down safely.

The Tree Ring

The Tree Ring was a ring of small trees that had grown around the burnt out hole where another giant tree had died. Several of them were fire damaged. The whole ring was sketchy. Long term, this bunch was going to be a risk. I took it down.

The 20 footers

There were also a couple of 20 footers that weren’t great. Multiple trunks growing out of a single base. These were pulled over with a tow strap. It was Spring time. The ground was pretty soft. They came right up.