34°3'N 118°5'W

Greeting from SoCal (I just really like saying that). My flight went very well, probably because I got to the airport so early, and I had an excellent time watching our progress on my personal T.V. screen. I was fascinated that we went up through Canada (I'm guessing to catch the jet stream), over Lake Michigan (and I'm pretty sure over Glen Arbor, Farrells), through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and finally California. I had my head glued to the window when I wasn't sleeping, watching little islands of light that were cities drift by at 550 mph from 38,000 feet in the air. Tomorrow, I will watch a totally different scene unfold below me on my 8.5 hour flight to Tahiti.

Hannah picked me up from Long Beach and on Saturday she showed me California. Did you know there are PALM TREES in California? (I did. It was just cool to actually see them.) We went to Venice Beach in the morning, walking the boardwalk and looking at everything: the people, the jewelry, the houses. I hear the cool people buy rings on Venice Beach, so I bought a couple. Also saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I was wearing my Chacos for the second time. The first time I wore them into the Atlantic, the second time in the Pacific. I think it bodes well for my adventures. We went to lunch at In-N-Out Burger, another California must-do, then went for a hike in Hannah's backyard. They have lime, lemon, and pomegranate trees, and though it isn't pomegranate season, there were still some on the tree, so we picked one and ate it as we hiked. Not to rub it in further, but the weather was (and is) perfect. Mid 70s, sunny, and breezy. We went to dinner at Native, a vegan restaurant that serves bacon, burgers, and cheese all made out of non-animal products. It was quite delicious and the chocolate cupcakes had about 3 three inches of frosting on top. Win. We ate these while watching Indiana Jones and doing laundry. I was lucky enough to do my last load for 7 weeks.

This morning we ate french toast sitting on the deck and looking out over the mountains in the backyard. This is after I had to sit on my duffle bag in order to close it, which is something I thought only happened in movies. Now Hannah is halfway around the world, in Europe with Inbar whom I got to skype with today. Spent the afternoon poolside at the hotel with Michelle, soaking up some sun and swimming. We went to Subway for dinner. Which required 'walking' across 8 lanes of traffic. Sound familiar, Linda, Kat, and Mrs. Scheiber? Now it's early to bed to store up sleep because I'm pretty sure we won't be sleeping much on the boat.

Speaking of, I'm operating on the assumption I won't have any access to Internet or phone for seven weeks, so I'm going to write blog posts while at sea, then update this when I get to the states. Be prepared to read a novel...hey, it'll make good summer reading, right? However, if you're really, really curious, this website will be updated by me and my classmates almost daily: Robert C. Seaman's Blog

One last sunset in Woods Hole

S-239 and C-239

Our flight path

The first thing you see on Venice Beach

Chacos and the Pacific

Venice Beach rings

Sun warmed pomegranate

Hannah's backyard