Pancake Talk

This morning was a bit of a late start, but as agreed the night before at the Pickled Parrot, I would go for pancakes at Bill's place at the end of the beach walk. Lots of construction in the area, though it was a neat location close to the water. At the suggestion of the waitress, I ordered their Tropical Pancakes. As seen in the picture above it was a big plate that couldn't be finished. They were fluffy and light, and topped with bananas, pineapple and coconut.

The highlight of the morning was the talk with the owner Bill. He is a restaurateur from the Midwest who moved here six months ago, after buying some property and opening a breakfast place. But more on him later.

The first discussion was with and about a life time Placentia resident, a fisherman, who looks and acts    like a stereotypical man of the sea. During hurricane Iris in 2001, he decided to weather the storm in his family home, a small wooden frame structure no more the 50 feet from the shore. He locked himself in one of the rooms, refusing to evacuate as ordered by the government. The time it took for the storm to pass was a terrifying one, and he thought his number had been called. The wind screamed, he heard all kinds of thrashing and crashing, and the storm surge had the house waist deep in water. When things finally calmed, he opened the door and the rest of the house was gone, as was most of the adjacent buildings. Utter devastation, but he had survived. Wow I said, "I guess you picked the right room".  He laughed and said he "hadn't thought of it that way before, but yes, I guess I did."

Now Bill, the owner. Very interesting story. As a young man of twenty he was in the honor guard for President Johnson, before getting called to duty in Vietnam. He landed and shortly there after his father died, allowing a return to bury him, before going back to Nam. About six months in he hit a trip wire while out on patrol, and became the victim of a booby trap grenade. That took him out of the  country, and he returned home. He worked as a military courier in Washington for some time, walking around in his words " in a suit and carrying a gun".  Exactly two years to the day after he buried his father, his mother died. Over the next decades he had: numerous surgeries to repair wounds, two homes burn down and a restaurant burn down. What a great attitude on life " if it doesn't kill me, I can survive anything life throws at me".

This trip is filled with talks to interesting people, with interesting stories and most importantly, great outlook on the world.