Check out of work late, turn left, hit Rt. 50, step on it, try not to slip and slide in the rain. Stop for some fast food in Easton: 20 minutes later I'm on the road again and ready to eat. I have a target: The Foonbunker. A bulls eye: a tall, cold Blue Sapphire filled G&T. I don't want to piss around with small towns and stoplights this evening: it's pedal to the metal all the way down on Rt. 50. I pull in to the parking lot just minutes after the the Duke Dune Daddy and his Duchess. We are all smiles and hugs -- it's been a long time. Foonie shows up his new car with deluxe, firm leather seats. It's the real sh*t, but does NOT sport a DVD video system or GPS navigation... guess *I* am stuck with driving us down to GuidoPalooza next year. We drink a little (a couple of heavy blue sapphires for me!), talk a little AS (alt.surfing) story and I relate first hand my recent Costa Rica trip. Shared the Neal, Kirk and Rod pics over the next few days. Mrs. Foon likes the villa. Mr. and Mrs. Foon may join us next year. Saturday morning The day begins with some hot Costa Rican cafe expresso and hot milk (the 1% just doesn't compare to the whole milk but add lot's of sugar and it thickens up!), followed shortly thereafter with some bagels and bacon. It is fogged-in and misty -- good thing the Surfrider Foundation clean-up was ppd. until tomorrow. We check out a few of the local breakers before making the plunge. The Inlet areas looks much better and less crowded than the infamous mid-town peaks:
Time to stretch and flex... we bump up to around 10th St. to make a quick stop at Malibu's Surf Shop and then walk the OC boardwalk in search of some energizing grub: nachos and draught beer (Killians and Guinness).
This near-beach experience exhausted and parched us. Time for some nachos and brews at the Brass Balls Cafe! After walking off our afternoon snack we stopped by the Shoreline Boardshop. The rumor is true - the largest bodyboarding store on the East Coast is going out of business. Foon scored a solid BB traveling bag, the same BZ padded, multi-board bag that Dan King and my son own. The boy is now ready for some travel... Cape Cod, California, Florida, North Carolina, France, Hawaii... Saturday evening The late afternoon merges into early evening as we continue to celebrate World Surf Day on the Foonbunker Balcony. In between rounds of gin concoctions I show more Costa Rica pics; Foon and I toast our first alt.surfing encounter of four years ago; and discussion wanders between work, retirement plans, and travel plans. We all learn that Mrs. Foon will be in Paris, France for business at about the same time my wife and I had penciled in the beginning of our planned trip to Brittany, France (NW France), including the first couple of days in Paris. Maybe we'll share a few days exploring Paris before we all venture to France's wild west coast. To tell you the truth I believe Foon just can't stand the thought of me racking up all those Close Encounters water points, overcoming his slight lead and leaving him in the dust, What the hell... I can't imagine a better way to crack three digits! We continue the evening feasting
on steak and seafood, wandering about in conversation, and finally settling
in for an entertaining and informative video back at the Bunker, "The
Funk Brothers."
Midtown and uptown cleaned up later in the day too but only a few polarbears ventured out at any of the breaks we checked. Rod and I will be picking up garbage at the Northside Park cleanup sponsored by Surfrider at 125th st, from 10-12 on Sunday. For anyone interested Shoreline Bodyboard shop is selling out of everything and closing it's doors. Big discounts on everything- $30 for all fins and steep cuts in boards/ accessories. I got a heavy duty travel bag for $70 and now all I have to figure out is where to go. We're going back sunday for more beach stuff - chairs, umbrellas, coolers, sandals, shades all rock bottom. -Foon
Sunday morning - World Surf Day Weekend Continues - Surfrider Foundation/Ocean City, MD/Clean-Up It was during the Earth Day wetlands clean-up four years ago that I met Foondoggy, a character that I had come to know via the usenet newsgroup, alt.surfing. Turns out he was something of a "local." Back in those "good 'ol days Earth Day frequently coincided with alt.surfing's World Surf Day, a day when the worldwide community of alt.surfing strived to share stoke on the same "day" in the water and then celebrate there experiences with the rest of their community on AS. So Foon suggested I come down for the Surfrider activity and then join in for lunch at the Foonbunker... and hopefully score some surf. Little did I realize at that time that it would mark the beginning of a long and close relationship.
Sunday afternoon - A Mrs. Foon Lunch Time to pop some advil... those bags of loot sure were heavy! Mrs. Foon made up some sandwiches for the two over-da-hill boys as we enjoyed a bright, warm and sunny afternoon on the Foonbuncker porch. Thanks for sharing! |
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