Puzzling with friends and leaving San Diego (again and again and again)

Warning!  Photo heavy!  I've also learned to use a new collage program so it's also experiment time for me.  Bear with me as I attempt this. (edit: I do not like CollageFactory Free, if you have a better program for Mac, please let me know.)

This is a new post for me. One of puzzles and travel. Today we landed in Los Angeles and met with a dear friend Marti Reis.  George has known her longer than I, but when we first met I adored her as much as he did.  She is an ever smiling and laughing woman with the greatest personality.  

Marti had come out to Florida for a few days visit back in December before we left on this epic journey and we had planned to see her the first time we were in LA.  Sadly, she was not in town that day so it was a miss.  Imagine our joy when we heard the trip had been rerouted and we were heading back to LA.  We now could meet up with our friend. 

We emailed back and forth for a bit and I gave her the EXACT address that we would be at.  This was a good thing because we would have never been picked up.  The ship was at a dock that usually doesn’t take in cruise ships.  Marti had told us she was never in that part of the port before.  We were really docked in the middle of nowhere.  I felt sorry for people who expected to be able to walk off the boat like we did last time.  There was none of that today. I hope they were able to find taxi's and escape the pier area.

We got through immigration very quickly and called our friend to say we would be ready at 9.  She was already waiting for us outside!  She expected traffic but there was none so she arrived early.  Wonderful!  We grabbed jackets and a backpack to put a few puzzles in that we were to collect from her home and off we went.

We drove over two very large bridges on the way to her home in Garden Grove.  I have a fear of bridges.  George had to rub my cheeks to calm me.  Marti is a fast driver, she got us there in no time at all.  I counted a lane change of 8 at one time.  EEK!  But we were just fine. They drive a bit faster here than I do back home.  I’m sure she was going nuts with how I keep to the speed limit when she visited us in Florida. 

Along the way I saw a place called bald mountain.  It was just barely tipped with snow. Such a contrast to the 90 degree weather we were to have by mid day. This trip there was no pollution, the skies were clear.  What I noticed was the brownness of it all.  I'm sure I'll offend many, but California is not a pretty place. I don't get the allure.  

We drove past the aquarium that Marti volunteers at and eventually we made it to her home in Garden Grove.

Wow!  That is all I can say.  We had arrived in Xanadu. We entered through the garage and along the side was a wall filled with boxed RGee puzzles.  I have never seen so many of his works.  But no time to stop and look.  

We went into the house and were shown the "good" puzzles, I was given a bag of IPP puzzles to go through and then she paused us and took us into a back room where she grabbed a bag and just started tossing puzzles into it for us to take home.  

She took us into another room to show us all of her Origami and her first 1000 paper cranes.

I think this is her real passion.  I know she loves puzzles, but the origami! We saw her lovely furniture that has an origami mouse and a cat marquetries into it. Sadly I didn’t get a photo of that, but I did get photos of some tables she has tangrams in. 

She took us into her bedroom where she has a wall filled with single player multi level logic games.  I even found a few that I don’t have so of course I photographed them and purchased them when we got back on the ship.  There is still one, Cart Before the Horse, by Mindware that I was unable to find. One for me to keep looking for I guess. If you know where to find one, please let me know.

We went back out and she showed us the front door.  This is fantastic, there is a tangram on the bottom, and a stained glass one on the window. 

Next she showed us her extension room! OMG! She has a bigger puzzling room than we have.  I’d have to guess it is around 1000 square feet of space.  The custom cabinets to the back are filled with more wonderful puzzles.  My photographs just don't do it justice. Again she opened a drawer, grabbed a bag and started filling it.  Her generosity by this point is just incredible.  

This room is also amazing in that she has many framed Origami works inside.  These have all been done by her.  She is a lady of many talents. (I can't even write let alone create some of these works she's done.)

We then went out into the garage where she opened some side cabinets and some bags and said, "take all you want". I went mad.  I told her I felt like a kid in a candy shop. These are RGee Folk Toys-older puzzling games that we all grew up with. I filled 3 bags in that section alone.  When I told her I was done, she told me I wasn’t and opened up a few drawers and told me to go through those as well.  Guess what?  I filled 3 more bags!

We took a break for lunch and went to Los Sanchez Mexican restaurant.  She told us to order one plate for the two of us and George and I shared some soft shell tacos while Marti ordered nachos.  These dishes were massive!  We all could have just ordered one plate and shared it and still had food left over.  

Back to her house where we looked at her puzzle JEWLERY!  I now know of a few more pieces I need to hunt down.  

As I was taking some final photos of the puzzles in her "good cabinet" 

I showed George a set of puzzles made by Kathy Bass and sold by Mr. Puzzle Australia years ago that I had not purchased. These puzzles are billed as the poor man's Berrocal's Marti grabbed all 5 pieces, put them into small bags and tossed them in our bag!   

And then it was time to return to the ship.  When we arrived, we had a total of 9 bags of puzzles and a calendar in a tube.  

We said our goodbyes and with great difficulty made our way back to the room.  One man asked me if I wanted help. I declined as I was balanced "like the hump on a camel". 

After we returned to the cabin, we decided to put all of the puzzles in the corner and just leave them there until we hit Florida where we will take them home along with our Scuba gear.  

We had dinner on the ship with Rod and Merry and as always it was a pleasant evening. We were discussing past events and giving out advice so this evening I gave him a wooden nickel that we had found. 

We retired to our room to finally sleep a long sleep. I managed to stay asleep until after 8 am.

We lazed around in bed because we really didn’t have a lot to do in San Diego.  George got up and charged my scooter as we were to return it to the shop at noon, but first had an errand to run.  At 11 we scooted to Ralph’s to purchase some granola bars for our upcoming dive trips (it gets cold and we want to fill our tummies a bit to warm up.) and then we went to Office Depot to pick up a couple of USB’s so we could transfer some photographs for the people doing the documentary on us. 

At noon as planned we were at Pedego to exchange the defective scooter. I know there was a problem with it as I only rode it 2 miles total and had 100% battery when I started.  When we handed it back in, the battery was at 60%.  For this reason alone I am glad we returned to San Diego.  The owner of the shop was amazing and didn’t bat an eye.  He just charged me the difference and handed over the new scooter.  George and I now have the same make and model and should have more fun than we did before.  I highly recommend this company if you want to purchase one of these. 

While we were there, we saw two of the crew members go into the shop.  I hope they were able to purchase what they wanted.  These things really are great for getting around and since they fold up so nicely, it’s super easy to just slide them under the bed.  

I made a few phone calls and set up a dive trip in Cabo for 3 of us on the ship.  This should be fun. Cold but fun.  The girl who owns the shop told me the water was 60 degrees today!  I’m glad I brought my thick skin with me.

When we returned, we had lunch on deck as usual.  Today there was a rather friendly seagull who entertained the crew.  Sadly, it didn't want to take a selfie with our waiter.

We then went to the room to shift furniture around and put the puzzles Marti had given us under the bed.  We really don’t like the piles of stuff laying around so while we were doing that, we took advantage of the empty bed and laid out all of the puzzles and did a count.  Marti is by far the largest donor of puzzles to date. She gave us a whopping number of puzzle along with a few vintage catalogues and a big bag full of puzzles to give away to people on the ship.  It will take me forever to write up all of the "donated by Marti Reiss" labels.  We offer a very heartfelt thank you. You have a holiday spot in Florida for the rest of your life.  

And that is how this becomes puzzling. The majority of what Marti gave us is from RGee.  When we acquired the Hordern Dalgety Collection it was decidedly Eurocentric.  George and I have been trying to add many American designers and builders to the collection, but this is like manna from heaven.  With the majority of those puzzles being RGee puzzles, and her promise to hold the rest until we return next year to pick them up, we have in one fell swoop added an important part of Americana to the collection.  George and I have decide that there is one attic room that will be dedicated to his works.  Don’t think this to be an afterthought place, it is not. The attic is carpeted, well lit, air conditioned, easily accessible and just perfect for this sort of collection. It will be well loved in Puzzle Palace.

As we left San Diego for what I hope is the last time (no one wants to live in Groundhog's Day) we were given the pleasure of a race. I think the bigger boat won.

Dinner was in the Grand dining room again and I’ve become fat on this cruise.  Tonight I stuck with a bowl of soup and a salad.  I think I will need to do this for a while to get rid of these few pounds I have put on.  It was Super Bowl night and the dining room was empty. As our meal progressed, it filled up with tables for two. (I'm guessing by that time the game had ended.) The crew were a bit punch happy and the room seemed to be filled with laughter. It was a welcome change.

We saw Carolyn and Paul having dinner and George went over and asked Paul if he could give Carolyn a diamond ring.  He was taken aback, but said ok. George handed one over to the amusement of all.

We went to bed to a very calm sea.  The only waves one can see are those kicked up by the boat as we glide through the water. The photo here is one I took when we hit open waters. Isn’t the ocean just so vast?  It’s remarkable.  Every time I look out the window I am in awe.

Tuesday is a sea day before we hit Cabo.  We will be celebrating our fourth honeymoon.  As it is our anniversary, we shall be the laziest of lazy people.  Room service for lunch and dinner in Toscana are the only things on the docket for the entire day.  

We woke today to a few emails that we didn’t want to read.  We are having some issues with getting some puzzles and may just end up collecting a bunch more when we arrive in Europe.  No big deal.  We have a system now.  The seas are calm but the best news is that we have left San Diego for the third time!  If I do not return there again for a few years it won’t bother me.  Now back to that honeymoon stuff…

Until next time, Happy Puzzling and Smooth seas.