A few days in Long Beach

The day after the Chile vs. USA match

we headed down to Long Beach for a few days.

The official reason for the trip

was to attend the annual

Bishop's Colloquy

for our church's synod, 

but I have to admit that the warm weather, 

sunshine, visiting with friends,

and staying at a nice hotel were definite

highlights of our LB experience.

The colloquy was great, too, though.

The keynote speaker was 

Mark Hanson, 

the presiding bishop of the ELCA, 

and it was great to hear him speak

in such a small setting.

I enjoyed meeting Bishop Hanson, 

but I just adored his wife, 

& ended up talking to her for a couple of hours.

What an amazing lady.

Then, while Z was in some

(less-than-interesting) sessions, I took a stroll

over to the harbor for some photos.

Beautiful! It was difficult to return to 

the dense, winter fog in the valley

after all that sunshine.