Takin' it easy, crusin' the coast and hangin' out

After an evening of fun at Bali Hai, the next day was very low key. Big Tiki Dude managed to talk a few of us into getting breakfast at the Broken Yolk in Pacific Beach. Although loud, the food was good and we were seated instantly upon arriving despite the full house. Grog, Swampfire, Atomic Kitty, Kirby, Big Tiki Dude and I enjoyed a nice breakfast and interesting conversation. It was very interesting and cool listening to each other as we talked about art, our careers and the the highs and lows of trying to make a living in a creative field. I passed around a paper napkin and had everyone scribble a doodle on it.


After Breakfast we said so long to Big Tiki Dude and Swamp Fire and headed back to Humphrey's. The rest of us stopped by Trader Mort's Liquor store to take a look inside and get a few shots of the tikis that decorate the place. Grog, Suzy and Kirby dropped me off and hit the road. I tracked down Tiki Chris
and Tiki Racer by the poolside. We chatted a bit, I took a few more pics and then split back to Encinitas to drop off the van I had borrowed and too hang out with Sean, Erica and Kai one last time before headin' north. The next morning Chris and Steve picked me up and we started our trek north. We stopped at Tiki Farm too meet up with the always gracious Makedamug who gave us a nice tour of the warehouse and magoomba along with a short history of the Farm and a preview of upcoming projects. We picked up several mugs said our good byes and then charged down to Little Lost Tiki's art studio for an art jam/ Tiki Frat party. LLT hooked Tiki Racer and I up with art supplies and technique tips. We all got creative while Chris snapped some pics. A bit later Squid had stopped by and so did Big Tiki Dude and Jon Paul with some rum and snacks. It wasn't long before we were all laughin' and havin' a good ol time drinkin', creatin' art and makin' up names for Jon Paul to use as a handle on Tiki Central, most of which should not be repeated.

A few hours of mindless fun later we hit the road again. Tiki Racer kept a lid on his drinkin' and safely drove us another couple hours North to Ventura where we crashed my Mom's house. The following morning we fueled up at a local breakfast nook then pounded miles to Santa Cruz and made very good time. After we arrived at my Mom's other house up North we relaxed a bit with her and my Sis, then went out for some ono grinds at The Aloha Island Grille. As luck would have it a few of my friends from The Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz were having a small ukulele jambalamba. We ate our tasty hawaiian dinners, chatted a bit and listened to the uke players croon before poppin' over to Hula's in downtown Santa Cruz for a few Mai Tais, Zombies and more tiki vibes. A few drinks later we ended the evening.

We all woke up the next morning pretty early and said our goodbyes. Tiki Racer, who is now a good friend and all around groovy mate, is headin' back to jolly old England on Thursday and passed along to me some of his nifty Tiki London prints, a Mahiki menu that he designed and one of his crazy cool Zombie Mugs. Chris is stayin' in the states for a few more days so I will be hookin' back up with him during the 7th annual San Francisco Tiki Crawl. Which will be streamed live during the crawl for those of you who can't make it to the Bay area this weekend. Boy oh boy is this gonna be great!

Here are some of my pics and I am sure Tiki Chris will have some of his pics posted when he has some free time.