Despite the fact that we have two kids starting college in August, and a backlog of loan sharks  gambling medical bills to pay, plus the fact that we really don’t make nearly as much as we spend, and even though we are on a tightly enforced budget – we went ahead with our trip to California.

Notice the confident “OK baby, we gonna have some  beer,   wine,   booze,  fun now” look on my face, and the “How much is this gonna cost me  OK, whatever she said” look on Downtown Dad’s face.

Five days of sand and surf, and hills and highway.  Five days of relaxation, and visiting with old and new friends.  Five days away from the kids,   Five days of …. well, if I told you all of what it was five days of, then you wouldn’t need to read the rest of the posts would you?

Starting tomorrow, watch for posts where I regale you with the hilarious antics of two Midwesterners, one of them an expat Cali girl, traipsing around Southern California in search of adventure, family, friends, reunions, closure, beaches, and beer.