So I never did make it to Latin on Friday. I ended up going to Torrey Pines State Park and exploring a bit. Took the Broken Hill trail down to flat rock, then back up via beach trail. I don't go there too often, since California State Parks forbid dogs, but Tanner wasn't with me and it seemed a good place to get away. Broken Hill trail is very secluded, itself; I only saw two hikers, and the chapparel is high enough for much of the way to almost obscure the golf course to the south. Of course, it could not block the sights and sounds of the military maneuvers going on overhead, just what I wanted to see while coming to terms with Wellstone's death. Maybe its because I was more stationarily located in the East County during the Gulf War, but I don't remember military transport planes and fighter jets and helicopters being such a common sight back then. Some days I see one or two, some days I see three or four an hour, or more. Last September 10th, I saw a huge transport plane flying right over the aquarium, very low, with several fighter jet escorts. From my vantage point in the ticket booth, I just barely saw it, looked like a commercial aircraft with a military escort, was rather frightening. They now say 1/4 million reservists might be called up for Iraq. Meanwhile, it appears we've left Afghanistan to fend for itself (subscription required for the article). Sigh...