2004 Tour home

Hello, It's me Rob. That's right, Rob. I'm Tired of people asking me how Batman is. I'm Tired of people looking at me and Saying "Robin like the bird?" And I'm tired of people Thinking" isn't that a girls name?" I will allow certain people to call me Robin (listed below) but otherwise I am Rob.

List of people who may call me Robin:

1. Marnie Jones (My mother)
2. Cullen McLarty
3. Jeevon Durkee
4. Felix Thieme
5. Larry DuBois
6. Ken Larsen
7. Tony Hawk
8. Howard Dean
9. Daniel Pinkwater
10. J.K. Rowling
11. Nick Ferraro

March 8

Our main event today was a visit to Universal Studios. It was all glitst and fun, and experiences of safe "danger." A tour of the "studio," by tram including no actors, some cheap thrills for the tourists and fun stories. I found it fun to see New York Street, which, with different dressings, can also be Chicago or any other large American city.

I'll leave it to Rob to describe his experiences of the theme park:

Anyway, this week we went to Universal Studios. I had a lot of fun with the FX stages, where I was chosen to remotely controll a werewolf called fluffy. (Photo of Rob and Fluffy) We saw how they did the dinosaurs in Jurassic park, and a guy, who was tied up, disappeared. A bunch of us got to do special sounds for the soundtrack of a movie (Photo of Rob's Sounds).We traveled through time in an 8 Passenger DeLorean (the Back to the Future ride). We got sneezed on by Shrek (Shrek 4-D), got Splashed by dinosaurs (Jurassic Park), got breathed on by King Kong (his breath smelled like bananas) (Photo of King Kong) during the studio tour (which also included a mummy's tomb and Jaws), were nearly deafened by the horribly mediocre Spider-man Rocks Show, AND enjoyed the stunts and pyro of Water-world, including a man being caught on fire, a hole being blasted in a wall, a tower collapsing, and a plane flying through the set toward the audience (Photo of Waterworld).
- Rob

On the way there, we had started to listen to Hillary Clinton's LIVING HISTORY on CD. She was born 5 months before me and in her recounting of her family history and her evolution through her teens and the 1960s, so much was brought back to me. The recounting of Kent State brought tears.

By the time she was in middle school, she was already politically active. With a staunchly republican dad and a closeted democratic mom, Hillary and some friends ventured out to do political action even on the sly. She went to hear Martin Luther King.

Hillary went to Wellesley and later to Yale Law School. We listened past the point when she met Bill Clinton, her life as first lady of Arkansas and then the campaign and first days of the White House. I asked Robin how he felt about her and the book. He said he felt she was very human. I agree with him. She is reading her own book. As busy as she is as senator, she took time to read her own story.

March 9

The Queen Mary (see photos). Even on highways, the trip to Long Beach took over an hour, but the "grande dame" of the cruise ships was worth it. Built in 1936, she is just over 1000 feet long, has 12 decks and is decorated throughout in the art deco style. Part of it has become a hotel.

When we arrived, we were both famished and so found the restaurant on the upper deck. When satiated, we started wandering the various decks and displays of furnishings and photos of famous people who had graced her decks - Fred Astaire and Clark Gable, as the most recognizable by these 2004 eyes.

Rob will tell of the most spell-binding part: the Ghosts and Legends tour:

We went to the VERY haunted Queen Mary, which included a chilling ghost tour (the ghosts we saw were fake though) through the bowels of the ship. We also ate at an Art Deco style resturaunt and, the highlight of the trip (for me anyway) an actual contact with the nether realm! I leaned over a map in the chart room, then something poked me, ever so softly, in the small of the back! Ghosts? Poltergiests? Publicity stunt? Prank? Paranoia? U make the call! - Robbo Marx

Down and back, we heard Hillary's recounting of the Whitewater investigations and how the right wing perpetuated this scandal against the Clintons and their agenda. Also, how their family kept having deaths and other challenges. Nothing was ever found against the Clintons, but there were people they had trusted who turned out not to be trustworthy. After the couple hours of listening, we were both feeling a bit overwhelmed.

We cooked brats on the baby Weber and settled in for a movie: "Catch Me If You Can," with Leo DeCaprio as an imposter Pan Am pilot, then doctor, then lawyer and Tom Hanks as his pursuer. Based on a true story, the young man actually passed the bar exam and was caught when he was 19! A great and facinating story with a surprise ending.

March 10

We got to the CBS Studios around 1:15pm for the 2pm show, or that is what we were told. We still had to wait around outside on benches for quite a while and got a pep talk about applause. Finally we went inside. There was a group of young women who had jackets which said "Philips." What I figured was a group from a school turned out to be the US Women's Soccer Team.

Wayne Brady is an African American comic who was easy with his humor and obviously much loved by the CBS staff. He had three guests on and because we don't watch a lot of TV, we didn't know any of them. The last was an open-faced African American young man who had experienced a spinal injury on his motorcycle, but had an upbeat attitude about it-almost too upbeat. Meantime, we were all encouraged to be "over the top" with our applause-yes there really is an applause sign which flicks on at appropriate moments. A few t-shirts were thrown to those most rambuncious audience members. (no photos allowed)

Rob: My favorite part was a film clip which showed a funny old lady who walked around a star-studded event handing out cookies. Sean Austen, my mom's hero because he played "Sam" in the Lord of the Rings, Alec Baldwin, Ben Stein, and a lot of women whose names I can't remember, grabbed up the cookies. One woman said, "I need a cookie. I need another cookie. On second thought, I need three cookies." Apparently they were star-worthy cookies.

March 11

For a great and wonderful contrast, we were off to Watts to see the magnificent towers. (Photos of Watts Towers). Robin didn't want to take the tour, but I insisted. Neither of us was disappointed. Our guide had only us to guide and was very expressive in her praise of her subject, Simon Rodia, a man who had moved to the U.S. from Italy and built the towers as part of his home over the course of 33 years (1921-54). He was a tile artisan, who had "dropped out" for about eight years, when no one knew where he was, including his first wife. When he resurfaced, he came with a common-law wife and a new vision of himself and his mission.

He bought this peculiar triangular piece of land where he made his own home and these wonderful towers out of reinforced concrete and found "stuff." (See Detail Photos) in his spare time. There is everything from broken imported tiles to 7UP and Milk of Magnesia bottle fragments, stones, melted glass and even a boot. He was also an ordained evangelical minister and there is a baptismal designed in to the wall. A lot of the edifice had to do with memories of his childhood.

Over time, a quagmire of bureaucratic argument raged about what to do with the towers after the artist basically gave the property to a neighbor and moved away. It almost became a taco stand, at one point. Finally, the city decided they would have to test the safety of the towers by trying to pull them over. Only a single seashell fell off and the towers were left standing. A visitor center was built and covered with tile art generated by local kids. Inside, there is a performance hall and art gallery.

Next, we were off to Hollywood and the Automotive Museum. (Photos of Auto Museum). The photos are of full-size "Hot Wheels," a real old woody(drool!), some hotrods and the original Batmobile. There was a convention of hi-res videographers which made the second floor like a trade fair and put some of the rolling sculpture out of reach.

I love folk art and other wild shows of creativity and gladly took home two books on rolling art. Terrific stuff!

March 12

I was hired to play in a small shop in El Segundo by Meadow Monioz, whom I had met at the Body Mind and Spirit show in Seattle, about a year ago. The Faery Mother Store was on a little side street. Meadow's custom-made potions and lotions were to the left and her mom's props for her theme birthday parties on the back wall and right. Princess costumes for the prepubescent and lots of gift baskets, smaller feather boas made up the lion's share of the goods in mom's side.

I was ready to play at 5pm, but the first customers didn't come till 5:30 and the evening was a free-flowing 2-3 at a time affair. Quite a few of the people were drawn in from the bar across the street-much to the surprise of Meadow, who expected her more "New Age" friends. Incredibly, in between their butt-breaks, they were moved to tears-several of them and all seemed very pleased with the music-especially that from the harp.

Robin had enjoyed Meadow's kids, Amber, 10 and brendan, 5 during the concert and the three romped with Lucky in the back yard and later in the RV while I received a wonderful facial from Meadow- some "sister time" which was nourishing to both of us single moms. (Photos of Meadow & Kids)

We headed out after midnight to the RV park in Long Beach and couldn't find it from the directions. We ended up on the docks-a spooky place after midnight, with its amber glow, then too far north on the 710. Around 1am, I stopped at a casino where the security guards made me a map from the internet. You never know where you will find goodwill!

March 13

This marks one month on our journey. This month was pre-ordained as mostly vacation. After all the madness of the couple of months before our departure, that was an essential. California is a familiar friend, from my time here in the 1970s and our half dozen tours and visits here in the past decade. I always suspect that there are deeper layers, but then we can "do" the state later, as it is close to home and so much that is new calls us on.

The other day, I asked Rob what he thought of Hollywood. He thought for a moment and then answered, "Hollywood is kinda like dentures-not quite the original, real thing. It seems like there was something here before that we can't see now." Ya, something like that.

In mid afternoon, we arrived in Newport Beach and pulled in to a wonderful site overlooking the lagoon, where there are boats, kayaks and windsurfers for rent, but the place was just closing. Rob finally got to try out his new skateboard on the nearly deserted bike path. We tried the pool and relished the jacuzzi.

March 14

Here at the "Ritz" of RV parks, Rob met a new friend, Ray(9), in the pool. They were in the pool for hours and then Ray came over to play video games. The weather was rather cool and overcast and we really didn't feel moved to windsurf. Ray is here with his dad from L.A.

I have been feeling concerned that we need to develop some way to seek out and learn about this country in a way that could be called "school." We are making plans to "study" the presidents and two very interesting ones have their libraries and museums in this state: Reagan and Nixon. They should be quite a contrast to each other-if not politically, then stylistically.

March 15

The day was dedicated to getting to and exploring Sea World. We have been there before, but that didn't make getting around it any less confusing. The highpoint was the new "4-D" The HAUNTED LIGHTHOUSE, complete with glasses and images which seem to be right in your face. AND, the special effects of occasional water squirts(representing various splashes and emissions of bodily fluids) and airblasts (rats running past your shins). It was similar to the Shrek Show at Universal but with a different story.

We both agreed that it seemed Sea World had gotten less exciting, that the intensity had lessened. We missed most of the shows, but did sit through the Shamu show. I am always of two minds about this, believing that humans really shouldn't be keeping orcas in captivity. The one male's bent dorsal fin is a constant reminder. But, it is fun and awe-inspiring to see them. (Photos of Sea World.)

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