Tomorrow (December 1st @ 6:30 a.m.) it will be my birthday.

[misterarman]

There really is nothing to say that really helps.
Sorry for your loss probably is the best one. let's you know someone empathizes with your situation.
I don't think time heals your wound, it's just not as fresh so it doesn't hurt as bad.
Just one of those things that is going to suck forever.
But life goes on and so do you.

 

[Captain O]

There really is nothing to say that really helps.
Sorry for your loss probably is the best one. let's you know someone empathizes with your situation.
I don't think time heals your wound, it's just not as fresh so it doesn't hurt as bad.
Just one of those things that is going to suck forever.
But life goes on and so do you.

I can identify with you. And feel sorrow for the pain that comes from a gaping hole in your soul that will never completely heal.

My condolences.

 

[Captain O]

Happy Birthday Cap.
BTW...You only have a few years on me. I was in a similar place that you are in now, about 15 years ago. What I was doing was just living life day by day, only getting involved in things that were in my established "life style". I had turned into a virtual Clint Eastwood "Get Off My Lawn" type (although I had a '72 Charger, not a Gran Torino). Life had turned into a daily chore, not an opportunity. Frankly, I didn't give a sheete for sheyat.

Then a friend suggested that I find something that was totally outside of that "comfort zone" of mine. We all have to define what that might be for ourselves, but my version involved getting out of "Dodge City" and an extended period in a different place with lots of beaches and coconut trees. That opened the door for me, with a whole new outlook on life better than I could have hoped for.

When 2018 rolls around, I would like to catch the Columbia County Rider the 29 miles south and east on US 30 to Portland's Union Station and ride Amtrak's Coast Starlight to Los Angeles. From there, I want to get on the Surfliner train that puts me in San Diego. From there, I'll get on the local San Diego Trolley to San Ysidro, where I'll catch the Mexicoach to Avenida Revolucion in Downtown Tijuana where I can rent a room at the Hotel Caesar (where the Caesar Salad was introduced to the world on July 4th, 1924 by the chefs employed by Caesar Cardini). On a Sunday afternoon between April and October, I want to take a taxi over to the Plaza de Toros Monumental at Playa de Tijuana (Tijuana Beach) and spend $50.00 or so to watch three Toreros face off with six Toros in 2 1/2 hours.

It sure beats a football game!

 

[Dungannon]

On a Sunday afternoon between April and October, I want to take a taxi over to the Plaza de Toros Monumental at Playa de Tijuana (Tijuana Beach) and spend $50.00 or so to watch three Toreros face off with six Toros in 2 1/2 hours.

Haven't stopped there for the bullfights, but for the last nine years [each January] I've been driving past it on my way to Vicente Guerrero where I'd spend three months volunteering in the cabinet shop at an orphanage. No trip this coming January, as I just had another knee replaced. Take care. Bob

 

[Captain O]

Haven't stopped there for the bullfights, but for the last nine years [each January] I've been driving past it on my way to Vicente Guerrero where I'd spend three months volunteering in the cabinet shop at an orphanage. No trip this coming January, as I just had another knee replaced. Take care. Bob

If you get the opportunity to go to the bullfights, pay the extra cash to get between 1-3 rings up from the sand on "el sombra" (the shady side) of the bullring. If you want to see the life and death struggle between man and beast, it will be your best chance to do so.

 

[Captain O]

Today's "men and women of the wuss" either don't, or can't, understand that the bullfights hearken back to the days of the Roman Gladiators. People think that the American game of football is "tough and mean". Just think about tangling with 1000+ pounds of angry pot roast!

It doesn't get much more primeval, does it?

 

[misterarman]

I can identify with you. And feel sorrow for the pain that comes from a gaping hole in your soul that will never completely heal.

My condolences.

Amen and thank you

 

[misterarman]

Bless you, brother. I understand your pain. (I know that it's still fresh). May your pain ease with time.

Thank you

 

[ob1]

When 2018 rolls around, I would like to catch the Columbia County Rider the 29 miles south and east on US 30 to Portland's Union Station and ride Amtrak's Coast Starlight to Los Angeles. From there, I want to get on the Surfliner train that puts me in San Diego. From there, I'll get on the local San Diego Trolley to San Ysidro, where I'll catch the Mexicoach to Avenida Revolucion in Downtown Tijuana where I can rent a room at the Hotel Caesar (where the Caesar Salad was introduced to the world on July 4th, 1924 by the chefs employed by Caesar Cardini). On a Sunday afternoon between April and October, I want to take a taxi over to the Plaza de Toros Monumental at Playa de Tijuana (Tijuana Beach) and spend $50.00 or so to watch three Toreros face off with six Toros in 2 1/2 hours.

I'm thinking you should take along a good copy of Hemmingway for the trip.

It sure beats a football game!

 

[Captain O]

It takes almost 36 hours to ride Amtrak from Portland to San Diego. If you're thinking of his description of the bullfights, it isn't really needed. I was at the Plaza de Toros Monumental during the summer of 2007. I enjoyed the bullfights a great deal. That's why I want to return.

 

[OutlawHoss]

It takes almost 36 hours to ride Amtrak from Portland to San Diego. If you're thinking of his description of the bullfights, it isn't really needed. I was at the Plaza de Toros Monumental during the summer of 2007. I enjoyed the bullfights a great deal. That's why I want to return.

I've taken that ride a few times, and it is really beautiful. I'd like to take the train around the country sometime too.
I grew up going to TJ and visiting my distant cousins, running fishing charter trips down to Ensenada etc. But that was 30 years ago. Mexico is really beautiful, but not until you're past the border towns in my experience (I'm not a fan of urban areas, regardless of the country).
Still, your travel plans sound great.

 

[Captain O]

If you go to the right places in Tijuana it is quite nice. It is, all told, a Socialist nation/Republic. This is why the people are so poor and the drug lords have flourished. Other than that, there are really great shops that I personally know where ex-pats run the establishments and are decent people. The owner of the Plaza de Toros Monumental and I have shaken hands.

I don't go to the Zona Norte (prostitution district) and I don't go into the bars (Since I never lost anything in them, I don't understand the resin in patronizing such places). Tijuana has a great Amusement Park (family oriented) and great museums (The Tijuana Wax Museum is marvelous).

The old Tijuana Jail, or "La Ocho" on eighth street closed down in October 2010. Today, local offenders are taken to the new jail close to the Otay Mesa border crossing.

The city has changed quite a bit since the forced the Drug Cartels to move their operations to the east.

There's less violent crime in Tijuana than there is in Chicago. (You can believe me when I tell you this). The "city fathers" cannot, and will not, tolerate violence against the American tourists. They can't afford the loss of revenue for the businesses of the city.

It's just that simple.