Preparing for this event has been quite a unique challenge for Randy & I over the last few months!!! We Juggled moving- just after getting home from doing our East Coast mini music tour, renewing my passport- which I was not sure if I had to really do that, so I called the Japanese embassy with my concerns. they were EXTREMELY helpful, friendly and happy to assist me; I ended up getting a new passport just to be sure and I'm sooo glad, it's really cool looking...

...anyway...

I'm REALLY EXCITED, can you tell?!?

Where was I...Oh yes...juggling... writing new songs, drawing commissions, more deadlines, and every day life, on top of preparing everything for Japan...including trying to learn Japanese!

I went to Barnes & Noble to look into books about Chiba, Japan which is where we will be spending most of our time. I ended up getting the "Japanese For Dummies" audio cds which have been so much fun & really good for learning important basic words & phrases. It also comes with a mini dictionary. I've ben having a BLAST trying to learn Japanese, whenever I find the time! This is only the beginning for me...I am TOTALLY in LOVE with the language and want to learn more! I'm sure going to Japan will only enhance my passion to learn more about the culture, and what better way than to experience it, hands on! I've been sharing what I've been learning with the artists. As one put it, we'll all "Cramming"...HAI!

I must say the community of artists traveling on this journey are soooo incredible! Inspiring, focused, open, inventive, creative, unique, sharing and caring, communicative, adventurous!!! This has been such an amazing experience for me already. I can only imagine what it's going to be like in Japan! We have already formed a tight, positive community amongst ourselves, so taking this positive energy as a group to Japan...WOW!

These experiences have been such important lessons for me in every way, which I feel is preparation for what's to come!

PeAce LovE & ArT nOt War
Denise Vasquez

I enjoy places like this, it brings back my mis-spent youth even though it is based in a different culture (how many Canadians have ordered an Egg Cream or a lime phosphate?) But I like the juke boxes with a coin operated outlet in every booth so you can choose your favourites by Elvis, Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens (sob) I also like the old Schwinn baloon tired bicycle above the front door - just like the one my American cousins used to ride before they discovered the rest of the world was using gears rather than pushing their bikes up hills. The burgers and drinks served at The Busy Bee are excellent: fresh ingredients, well prepared, the servers quick and helpful, the building bright and clean. I'll be back. (photos from axiepics on Flickr)

Today i made the trip from Los Angeles along the coastal highway up to Carpinteria and Santa Barbara..
The traffic was good fun leaving LA but once out of the city the landscape appeared to be just great! The ocean to my left and the mountains on my left....
Making a stop in Ventura on the way, a great little area where we got a good look in the op shops and enjoyed some great coffee!

So, our road trip is from San Francisco to Los Angeles via Highway 1, along California's beautiful coastline.

We collected our car at half six on Tuesday, but before I go on a bit of back story is needed. Because we was waiting for Rachel's credit card to arrive we were booking beds in the hostel one night at a time. Unfortunatly this meant we had to keep moving rooms as the hostel was busy and had to juggle things about to fit us in. Tuesday morning we dutifully packed our bags again and moved rooms. The only one they had available was a double bed in a dorm (I know its a bit dodgy but we had nowhere else to sleep). We went in to put our bags away and immediately upon opening the door were hit with the smell of weed. It was strong and it was nasty. There were two girls that looked spaced out laying on the bottom bunk, which we were told was ours, who didnt even respond when we said hi. We stashed our bags in the underbed lockers and left the room. We didnt quite know what to do, we knew there was no way we could sleep in that room, the few minutes we were in there had been  enough to give me a headache but we also knew that the hostel was fully booked and had no other rooms available. We decided to head to the car rental place and see if we could get away with using a debit card to hire the car. Low and behold we could (wish we tried two days before!) and had the approval check done in five minutes. We decided to leave that afternoon rather than wait a night and start out in the morning. We went back to the hostel and I spoke them about the room they had put us in smelling of weed. There was three members of staff at the desk as I was relating everything and got very mixed responses from them. The manager looked shocked, the dopey guy laughed and one of the other women amitted she had smelt it when she walked past the room earlier. I apologised for any inconvenience but said we felt we couldnt sleep in the room and that we had been offered a bed at a friends house for the night (a small lie but neccessary). We got our money back for that night, collected our bags and headed back to the rental office, with a stop at walgreens to pick up a map of the Californian coast.

We collected our car, a mumsy little silver crystler at half six and were on our way. Rachel was very nervous, it was the first time she had driven an automatic, sitting in the left seat and on the wrong side of the road! I have to say she did great and that evening we stopped at Santa Cruz. The next day we were up bright and early. Ourr motel was only a couple of blocks from the beach so we decided to take any early morning stroll. It was a lovely sandy beach, a quaint little boardwalk, complete with rides and funfair running the length of it.Even though it was fairly early there were plenty of people taking advantage of living so close to it. Dog walkers, joggers, surfers and families were strewn about, indulging in the good weather.

After the beach we headed out to  place Rachel had found online. A weird and wacky attraction called the Mystery Spot. It bills itself as the hub of strange occurances. We arrived early and paid our five dollars, there seems to be a lot of interest in the place as we had quite a bit of company. There were 15 people in all on our tour with tours happening every half hour. Our guide was a tall skinny dude who had a very annoying way of talking. He told us about the history of the mystery spot, that a developer wanted to buy a strip of flat land from loggers as he wanted to build a house but the loggers insisted he bought a whole section. He sent surveyors up to check it out and they found that when in the area of the mystery spot their compasses were affected, swinging as much as 180 degrees. He then led us up a very steep hill, citing that it is supposedly harder than normal to climb and that when stood still we leaned further than normal. Further 'proof' came from a slanted house that was built on a flat piece of land but slid to its current spot on the side of the hill, reported to be the centre of the mystery spot. He also laid a piece of wood out, showed us a spirit level to prove that it was laying almost level then rolled a snooker ball back along it towards the lower end. We all watched as the ball slowed down then reversed it course and rolled uphill right off the other end of the plank. It was a good gimick and worth the five bucks we paid to be wowed.

We then got back in the car and headed on. The majority of our journey was right next to the coast, with amazing sea views and sights that just took your breath away. Soaring cliffs rising out of the sea, huge waves crashing against the many sandy beaches and inlets, towering bridges spanning gaping chasms and sky scraping mountains that has seen the world go by. We were awestruck all day, each bend in the road revealing a new wonder to gawp at. We stopped at Monterery around midday, finding a motel near the piers. We wandered down, via a walk on the beach to the pier, which happened to be called old fishermans wharf. There were many places offering boat tours out of the bay to watch sea otters, sea lions and whales. It just so happened we didnt need to take one aas we managed to see two out of the three from the pier. We spotted a lone sea otter pottering around in the water just below us. He would disappear beneath the water for several minutes then emerge grasping something and chewing on it with obvious relish, drifting about on his back looking very relaxing and oblivious to the admirers gathered about cooing over him. We also managed to see a large group of sea lions. They were gathered about the dock on an ajoining pier, we were so close that if they had come up to the edge we could of reached out and stroked them. It was very exciting to us to see such a powerful animal so close yet it still be completely free and wild.

Thursday we drove down a 17 mile section of Highway 1 which is protected. We had to pay ten dollars to gain access (its also home to very rich people) and drove along rugged coastlines, stopping frequently to spot wildlife. We saw seals that had come ashore to pup, though its a little early to see any pups, sea otters playing amongst the kelp beds, hundreds of birds and even more sea lions basking on rocks. We also saw the lone cypress, a widely known image so Im told. One tree, deciding to grown out on a precarious ledge, surviving against the battering wind and sea for over 350 years has become pebble beach's symbol and trademark.

That afternoon we spend most of the day driving, heading for San Simeon, a well know area for Elephant seals. We arrived at an area where a lot of cars had pulled over and we quickly saw why. Along the beach, scattered and in groups were elephant seals, and there were people walking amongst them. We got out the car and went down, amazed that people were allowed to get so close. There were about two dozen seals in all, most of them mediums sized, with one huge male sleeping by himself a little way off. Everywhere there were people posing and taking pictures. It all seemed wrong to me, they were way too close to the seals, one guy even tried touching them. Girls standing near them for pictures squealed every time the seal moved and parents were allowing their kids to stand so close to the seals to get a good shot that if it wanted to, the seal could take a chunk out of their leg. Rachel and I kept a respectful distance, staying away from the awake seals, going round to the back of the sleeping ones and having one quick picture each while staying a healthy distance away. We then retreated back and took further photos from a distance. I didnt like the vibe at all, the intrusion feel very wrong and actually upset me. I know I was there too and had a photo taken, I can only say we did our best to be respectful to the seals health by trying to ensure that they were not stressed or affected by our prescence. Sadly, no one else seemed bothered about respecting them.

We then carried on a short way to where the bulk of the seal colony lay. This part way properly cordoned off and every was kept off the beach, content to observe from the bluffs. The beach was packed with newly weaned pups, old enough to be left by their mothers but still teaching themselves to swim. They all looked very confused, shuffling from one seal to another, as if searching for their mother. Aroung the corner we found a huge gathering of bulls, large crusty looking males that had obviously decided they were going to stay apart from the noisy pups.

Today we have spent the day driving down to Santa Barbara, stopping at various beaches to sun ourselves and are spending the night in ventura before starting the final leg into LA tomorrow

At Point Mugu, in Ventura County, the route turns inland following a roadway lined with eucalyptus trees and leading to Oxnard. We had a very early morning start, so stopped for a coffee break at Carrows in Oxnard. (Carrows is one of those quintessential California coffee shops.) Just north of Oxnard is Ventura.

The city of Ventura is the gateway to California's Channel Islands. Most of the northern islands are part of Channel Islands National Park. The park headquarters, at Ventura Harbor Village, has interpretive displays about the islands and their flora, fauna, aquatic life, and ecosystem. (The Channel Islands themselves can be reached by private boats or through park tours. There are beaches and hiking trails on the islands.)

At Ventura, we met US Higway 101 and the two highways merged to continue north to Santa Barbara. The joint highway returns to the coast where offshore oil rigs intermix with sandy beaches.

Headed for home today!

Yesterday was the first time I went to a concert at the Majestic Ventura Theater, not only was the concert amazing, but so was the venue. It is a small place; so, wherever you are situated you will be close to the band. The Majestic was started as a movie theater in the 1920s and built in the Mission Style; the seats have all been taken out. The old chandeliers as well as the ceiling are quite a sight. This place certainly creates a special ambience compared to other venues. The main part of the theater is divided into 3 sections. We stayed in the upper one because we could see the band really well from there and we were not far from the bar either. =) It was great because I did not have a tall person or someone’s head in front of me. There is also a balcony, which is the only seated part of the theater. So, if you like having a bird’s eye view of the concert this is the place to be. And what a view it is, you can see perfectly well onto the stage and you're able to appreciate the decorations inside the theater even more. The security guys are dead fast, they will appear out of nowhere when someone tries to climb on stage. During a recent Morrissey concert they even took the singer off stage, since there were more fans on stage, that were trying to hug him, than band members. Depending on what band, you want to see; the price varies of course, just like any other venue. That is why I put average for the cost. If you are in the Ventura or Santa Barbara area I would suggest you’d check out the Ventura Theater since it saves you from driving to LA. The venue is well worth checking out.

...apparently there are plenty of needles to be put in my arm before I travel to Peru. No worries though, I'm excited about my first time (ever!) outside of the United States of America.

Music, reading material, and other distractors like siblings are good for long trips.

    What makes Ventura worth 5 Stars? I live there, for one...
But (honestly), the beauty of this seaside town is really quite an experience! Less than 70 miles from Los Angeles, anybody in the are should definitely stop by!
    Ventura is a real treat, whether one comes to experience the Strawberry Festival, or to see the county fair, which features fun attractions and popular bands every year. The majority of the city is just a short walk from the Pacific, and with the warm and sunny California climate, any day is a wonderful day to surf, or to simply enjoy the ocean’s breeze. And without taking a step in another direction, the beautiful Southern California mountains can be seen outlining the sky, making a fun, leisurely outing of a hike for those who desire it, and a spectacular view on top of “Two Tree Mountain” or atop another area common known as “The cross”.
    Agriculture is a large portion of the county’s renown, and food of many types can be found in Ventura, whether it is a spicy Mexican dish (English is the only language necessary to know in the area, although some Spanish may help), an order of sushi, or a more formal dinner at a spot such as the Sidecar Restaurant.
    Whatever you come to Ventura for, a delightful experience awaits you, and who knows, maybe Ventura will be life-changing for you too.