trinacriabob

Pacific beaches are cold by Atlantic standards. The current on the West Coast comes down from Alaska. Same with Chile and Peru. That upward flowing Pacific current, which I think is called the Humboldt Current, makes Pacific South American beaches cold and the waves can be daunting. I've lived in Atlanta. I never made it to Myrtle Beach. I guess it's o.k. Virginia Beach seems to be well liked, too. For beaches, I went to the Florida Panhandle. I can only speak for Florida's Panhandle, meaning Pensacola, Destin, Panama City, and Fort Walton. They call it the "Redneck Riviera." Even the locals call it that and they're okay with it. If you vacation there, it will mostly be Southerners and Midwesterners. Easterners and Canadians typically don't go there. As for Florida's Atlantic coast, if you go too far down, you get into the hubbub of South Florida and its higher prices. Around Daytona and the Space Coast, it's very tacky. That sort of leaves you the beaches of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and possibly even Delaware. I still default to the Panhandle. If not, I would opt to sit on the sand and swim in the warm waters of Italy, Spain, Portugal, or Greece. End of story.

I had opted for a mid size. I like to get a full size when the rates are clustered closely together. As it turns out, they were really, really low on cars. I could have gotten a Jetta. The state it was licensed to was "exotic" and far away, so I passed on it ... that way I could throw my stuff in the trunk and not think about it much. I took the Focus because it was a known quantity, though not as bad as what this unit turned out to be like! I should have taken the Jetta. They've gotten larger and probably ride similarly to a Passat, which isn't all that bad.

Sorry, but I found that a little humorous. The West Coast can be sensory overload, too! Wow, has anyone had the experience of giving back a rental car and then getting into their own decade old daily driver and feel like they're on "cloud nine?" I recently turned in a rented Ford Focus with 36,000 miles on it that didn't ride well (alignment or balancing issues, at the very least) and that much talked about automatic transmission shudder was in evidence, like clockwork, at every 1 - 2 shift. I was wondering if the transmission in the car would fail while in my tenure. It didn't. I sighed when I got out of it, got my belongings, and headed to board the plane.

Good luck on your new position. I hope you find it rewarding and enjoyable. Your articles are always informative, nicely laid out, and have a smooth flow about them ... just like an excellent car should be!

Saw a 1995 or 1996 Buick Regal GS coupe in metallic gold (meh) and with the rear trunk lid luggage treatment (not good). What I thought was interesting was the transition from hood ornament to the Buick medallion laid flat, Euro style. It was in near perfect condition. Amazing that this was a 23+ year old car. I sort of liked my hood ornament on that car but I don't think they work well with the GS trim. The medallion made more sense.

Sightings - 3 "cherry" last model (2009-2010?) Mercury Milans in 3 days 1 - silver - Premier - no engine badge, hence a 4 banger - next to me on the freeway - a beautiful black Belgian Sheepdog was occupying the passenger seat 2 - burgundy - Premier - no engine badge, hence a 4 banger - Florida license plates, on a major street, and in perfect condition 3 - silver or champagne (couldn't tell) - Premier - V6 engine badge - in a historic town's small downtown - an elderly Italian looking gentleman at the wheel who either didn't have his power seat set high enough or needed to put a few extra pillows under his seat

And, except for some critical roads, the roads up there are not plowed since snow in the metro Seattle area is an infrequent occurrence. Ditto for the Portland (OR) area.

Uhm, no. Not when they're playing my hometown team! I also watched them beat Atlanta, a place I lived for a couple of years while in my 20s, and I believe the Falcons had never won a Super Bowl and were last there in 1999. The Falcons appeared to have the upper hand. They then lost it in the craziest of overtime upsets. I left during the overtime and found out that everything changed while I had stepped into a store to get some groceries. That was demoralizing. Someone else's turn. Like Los Angeles's turn. The only thing I know for certain is that I will be eating pizza tomorrow night.

I saw a new Regal sport wagon alongside me today. It was either charcoal or black. It was ahead of me, beside me, and behind me as traffic flow varied, so I got to check it out. The front end is okay. The side profile is not so okay. The roofline thickens too much toward the rear and this is accentuated by the chrome molding that follows that sweep backward. The rear is rather nondescript but I do like the way the rectangular dual exhaust outlets are slotted flush with the rear bumper. I think I like the sedan better but I definitely like the rakish look of the last model better. Sayonara, January 2019.

Ah yes, Canadians and their reputation. They generally think Americans are obnoxious, which is fine with me. Actually, I don't think that a Quebecois would have been as calm as this Anglophone Canadian was. And especially if the Quebecois hailed from a more remote redneck lumber area such as Chicoutimi or Jonquiere. There's something to this. The bears may have been here and seen him before. The mother bear isn't exactly huge. Or, this guy could have been a tank, and animals who hunt and have some power can size up the situation (i.e. mountain lions). I believe the pecking order in terms of how dangerous bears are is: polar ... grizzly ... brown ... black. Polar bears are relentless. Not a theory I'd want to test. Just based on what I('ve) read.

Wow. My old car ... all pumped up. This model ran from 1988 to 1996, but the grille tells me it's an earlier model year While it wasn't my favorite car I've owned, it was the most reliable. Unbelievably reliable. My last car ... different color, though THE inimitable model year of Impala, bar none ...

Irma Bunt does not really qualify as a Bond girl. LOL. She portrayed (Telly Savalas's) Blofeld's henchwoman in this flick. She was very Germanic and sort of scary .... on various levels. We had a field day with her accent and her lines. Ah, yes. Nutella. I was raised on it. When you're a kid and you can eat just about anything without putting on a pound. Sometimes just slathered onto those round Kaiser type rolls you'd get at an Italian bakery.

I was going to wait until I ordered and consumed some chocolate cake today. In the midst of Sunday shopping, I made some time to do just that and have a cup of coffee with it. I'm hoping a slice of chocolate truffle pie counts. Delicious! One of the highlights of that movie was the Irma Bunt character. Not in a good way, but still a highlight of that movie … a most unique villain(ess) within the 007 series of films. My friends and I had a field day with her.

Random association can be a weird thing. With snow throwers or snow blowers, I reflexively think of one of the best 007 flicks in the series - "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (OHMSS) ... and this scene, courtesy of YouTube. (rated PG +, yikes) Possibly the best movie in the James Bond collection. Might have had the best musical score - the cuts without lyrics, that is. High school and college friends and I used to recite many of the great one liners. Their lack of political correctness was pretty damn funny. MOVING ON, Sunday is National Chocolate Cake Day. Plan accordingly.

Sounds like you've got a couple of kids you're proud of. That's quite an accomplishment.

What new thing did you learn today? The internet is a big compendium of positives and negatives. Here's a big positive - the DIY stuff.

How much does this sled cost? I like all the storage, especially all the hidden areas. He mentions "perfect for hoarders!" Not a great vehicle if you're right handed - you sit on the wrong side to begin with and have to shift with your left hand. You'd think this would be marketed with an automatic. Then, when he sets off down the road, I thought, "Whoa, he's driving down the wrong side of the street."

Random thought ... of the non-automotive variety: I cannot believe how many thick and inconsiderate people there are out there when it comes to recycling. I'm talking about places like IKEA, where they have separate bins for paper, plastic bottles/cans, and trash. - There are used, smeared food paper wrappers in the paper bin, as well as plastic water bottles - There is paper in the plastic bottles/cans bin - There are MANY perfectly recyclable plastic bottles in the trash bin

I'm picking out all the big opera windowed coupes! During the '70s in SoCal, I knew a black woman named Velma who bought herself a new '78 Coupe de Ville 425 V8 in the extra cost (get this) Cerise Firemist Metallic, essentially a metallic pink champagne color, with the maroon landau roof and a maroon leather interior ... and with wire wheels and the normal width whitewall tires. In its day, shiny and fresh from the showroom floor, this thing made quite a statement. The closest I've been to a long trek in a car like that was a ride from SoCal to Las Vegas in a friend's aunt's Riv coupe (RWD and based on the LeSabre chassis) with its 403 V8 silently humming across the Mojave Desert at 70 to 75 mph. Hers was tri-color light metallic blue and the seats were cloth, much nicer to get in and out of in the desert heat.

Saw some interesting newer Cadillacs in the last few days: I saw a Cadillac funeral procession car with the amber strobe light on top of its roof. It was not a hearse. It was a black CT6. It looked slick. An XT4 was next to me on the freeway. I like the way they have modified the tail lamps by taking them down along the exterior edges of the rear lift gate and then boomeranging them back toward the center. Nicely done.

The list doesn't surprise me all that much. You've got some expensive Middle Atlantic and New England states, some of the more isolated Midwestern states, and Montana (?). I thought people were moving to Montana. Movie stars and rich Californians were going up there to buy ranches. It's Wyoming they should be moving out of. Ever driven across it? Six or seven states (FL, TX, WA, etc.) have no state income tax. They are definitely picking up residents. If a state doesn't have one kind of tax, they clobber you with another one. While TX does not have a state income tax, it has high property taxes to pay for schools and services. For a $ 200,000 home in The Woodlands (nice suburb of Houston), the property tax is about $ 5,000. Then, some states don't have sales taxes (OR, MT, etc.). Oregon has one of the most steeply ascending income tax situations, essentially taking low(er) income earners toward the top bracket (about 9%) in no time flat. That's what you get when socialists run the place. In California, where the top bracket exceeds 10%, the steps up to that bracket are very well spaced apart and low(er) income earners are far from being levied that overall tax rate. Overall, Florida is a good state when you run the numbers - no personal income tax, their unique homestead exemption, reasonable property taxes, and average sales taxes, but not on groceries and pharma. They also have some sales tax holidays. They probably have the best combo. New Jersey is steep all the way around. I don't think the middle of it feels that crowded. To me, it's just the areas that cluster around NYC and Philly. New Jersey also wins the crown every year for having America's most dangerous city - Camden. Of those, Maine is really nice. It's not that populous. The southern part of the state has the more populous cities and the northern part of the state is pretty much empty. Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are incredible. The view from Cadillac Mountain is unforgettable. It also borders Quebec and there's a huge French-Canadian factor in its history and fabric.

In the U.S., mountains and beaches mean only 5 states. If it's beaches you plan to use (to swim without a wet suit), that means only 2 - California and Hawai'i. If it's beaches you don't plan on using and can settle for just looking at, that would expand the list to Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. I definitely like California's topography and climate. And, when I was a kid, it was laid back and people with broken filters got along just fine. Now, even California suffers from too much political correctness, not to mention exorbitant housing prices, polarization in its demographics, and overpopulation (soon to approach 40 million residents). Florida's beaches are way better than California's for recreational use. (Volusia County's beaches, however, are the ones that give me a little bit of apprehension about swimming.) However, Florida's monotonous pancake flat landscape is what I've got some issues with. I've thought of moving there since the '90s at one time or another and always keep pulling the plug on the idea. I definitely like vacationing there.

It got a L-O-F at the dealer. It's the car's birthday. They also washed it for me, free of charge. This way, I can wax it. I celebrated with food yesterday ... an annual ritual, if you will. I went to the nearby location of a famed Brazilian steakhouse for their Sunday lunch buffet and where the meat/poultry/sausage/lamb keep coming. I went at about 2 p.m. I came home and laid in bed unable to do anything after that sort of a meal. The salad bar is an incredible meal in and of itself ... and that preceded the arrival of the meat/poultry/sausage/lamb.

Happy birthday. I just saw this. Don't answer, but this has me wondering who wears the pants in the household ... in most households, actually. It's always an interesting dynamic.

This site has an "original" GM history or legacy but has morphed, which is a good thing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, of the various GM brands, Pontiac is the one that is most liked and most fondly remembered, given that it's gone and they were idiots to discontinue it. As a kid, Pontiac was definitely my favorite GM brand. Their front fascias were unique in the car business.