not a vacation

although this, admittedly, is the rather fine view from my hotel room in San Pedro.  I have to get up at some ungodly hour to catch a boat to Catalina Island, and rather than get up even earlier, I decided to spend the night down here - it's very quiet, even allowing for planes heading in and out of LAX, occasionally, and Cabrillo State Beach feels like the back of beyond,

and not remotely like Los Angeles.

Oh, wait a minute - I spy cameras, and a sound boom ...

In any case, it was a particularly enjoyable drive down here (I came down S. Normandie, not the 10 - almost a straight shot from USC) because I was listening to Ohtani's stellar Dodgers game all the way.