We made it ALLLL the way! Day 6

Long Beach, CA - the birthplace of Larry Underriner.   So, 54 years later, Larry returns to his birthplace for the first time since he left at the age of 3 months.

 

 

Larry's First home!!

St. Mary's Hospital where he came into the world!

While the neighborhood has changed quite a bit in 54 years,the emotion of returning to it still held a surreal feeling for Larry when he arrived.

 So, we were on the road again, from Indian Wells to Long Beach then headed to Manhattan Beach to get our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. 

   

Of course we had to get our feet in there just so we could say we went all of the way!

We then continued up Route 1 along the coast through Venice, Santa Monica, and Brentwood.

We encountered our first experience with LA traffic as we sat for two hours and moved .2 of a mile. It was quite an experience until Cindy's cousin Pat came to the rescue via cell phone and told us how to get out of it. We think we would probably still be there if it wasn't for her!

Sparks Shout Out from Santa Monica!

Santa Monica Beach

 

And, there was no way we were going to drive across the country and not get a chance to visit Cindy's favorite aunt, Dot, and her cousin Pat in Studio City.  Had an awesome dinner at The Napa Grill in LA with Dot and Pat and we were given a HUGE surprise.  Cindy's cousin Sandy, who has been her "partner in crime" in tennis since the age of 8, had flown to LA from Eastern Shore, MD to surprise Cindy by coming to attend the Nationals and cheer on the Sparks.  To say the least, Cindy was reduced to a blubbering puddlle!!!

It was an awsome day that will be etched in our memories forever - seeing so many places that we truly thought that we might never see. 

Now, it is time to settle down to some serious tennis.   Stayed tuned for day-to-day coverage of the Sparks progress. GOOOOO SPARKS!!!!!!!!!!!