Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Thoughts From Last Year: Getting it Right

Thoughts From Last Year: Getting it Right: "From the Word: For because you did not do it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him abo...

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

One Relaxing Vacation

Recently Dan and I took a road trip that we will never forget.  But before I get into that I have to say thank you to the people who made this road trip possible.  Last summer was my 60th birthday and my husband and DIL got together and gave me the most wonderful birthday party.


The top picture is the beautiful setting of the party and the bottom is of my DIL and the Lady who hosted the Tea party in the park.  Believe me she did a wonderful job.

We had strawberry lemonade and and water with fruit in beautiful dispensers, yummy small sandwiches, cake and all set at beautifully dressed tables.  Click the link at the words Tea Party above and see her beautiful work at the many Tea's she has hosted.

I could not believe how many wonderful people came to my party and the gifts they gave me were wonderful too.  I enjoyed every one.  Part of my gifts were in the form of cash so I could take a cruise.  Unfortunately the cruise I wanted to take, and the one they intended for me, was no longer offered.  It was one I had been talking about for 17 years, one I had kept the brochure about for nearly 5 years before I tossed it.  But things change and that cruise was not offered as it was 17 years ago.

So what do you do when the cruise you want to take isn't available and your can't find one that tickles you the way that one did?  Or when the love of your life is not keen to fly?  Well you do the next best thing.  You road trip in your state.  I love road tripping so this was not a hard decision to make AT ALL!  And all the wonderful attendees at my party last year made it all possible.

So thank you because Dan and I enjoyed ourselves so much and we didn't worry if our budget was being blown we just did what we chose and enjoyed every minute.  Now we are not big on doing things like balloon rides or bungee jumping.  We don't go to amusement parks much but we love museums and tours of historic place.  We love to relax and walk.  We don't buy a lot but we love to look.  So that is what we did.  We went for a few tours and saw a Mission.  We spent three days in a sleepy town and enjoyed daily walks and rides.  We ate awesome food. We did what we wanted and can't wait to go back and do it all again sometime.

So below are just a few of the 150 pictures we took on our trip.


We left our home early in the morning so we could get here at Kettleman Ranch, at Bravo Farms about lunch time, and we made it.  The problem was that the restaurant with the tri tip sandwiches I wanted to try was closed for Easter Sunday.  But we just walked across the street with about 50 other people and had lunch at Jack in the Box.  While the lunch was less than expected, the day, the beautiful blue sky and lovely farm land on either side of the road was wonderful and had been all day on our travels.  A few of the shops were open so we had fun walking around them and stretching our legs and then we were off to Sacramento.

The drive to Sacramento on the 5 Interstate is beautiful.  It is hard to see the exact beauty of the road side from this picture but it is lovely the whole way up.
The really sad thing along this road is all the signs that say it's not a crime to grow food, and the ones that tell how many farms are no longer in business because other areas won't share water.  Or the signs that speak out against the fines for using water.  It is terrible.  I don't know who to write to but I think they should have water to grow food.  Still the landscape is lovely and we enjoyed the ride very much.

By the time we made it to Sacramento we were tired of sitting and hungry.  It didn't take us long at all to find our hotel once we pulled into town.  I had prayed before we left that our rooms would be free of germs even if they looked kind of old and maybe not so clean. God answered that prayer and I was very happy with every room.  One room did have a strange smell of cleaning supplies in the shower that was off putting, but otherwise every room was clean and comfortable.

We had dinner at the best P. F. Chang's I have been to.  They were on a corner and there were windows spanning two entire street corner walls.  We could see the busy, tree lined street from every seat in the house.  They played jazz (my favorite) and the waiter was really nice.  They messed up our order and just brought out everything anyway so we had lots of left overs.  It was a really romantic setting with the jazz, the windows and the tree lined street.  Which made it an unexpected bonus.

After dinner we drove around to kind of scope the area out since we have never been there before.  We found the street that drives toward the capital and it is so beautiful to see the Capital building lit up at night.  We didn't get a picture but I can still see it in my mind.  Then we made our way back to our room.  We realized that we were so close that we could walk to the capital building, take our tour and get back before we had to check out of our room.  So the next morning that is what we did.  The shot below is what we saw all lighted up the night before.  Beautiful in daylight or night light.

The walk was so wonderful.  We crossed paths by many of the electric trains that go around the city.  I would have loved to of rode one but I didn't have a destination, so we didn't do it.  But each train seems to have a different bell for alerting stops depending on the way they are traveling.  Meaning North-South, or East-West.  I was really surprised because the town was not busy.  I would have thought that an important place like that would be busier than LA.

Walking around the outside of the building is impressive and so it the inside.  Oh and we had the most wonderful tour guide, so if you go anytime soon ask when Alan is doing the tour.  I wish I had gotten his picture.  What a load of information he has.  We learned so much about CA that we didn't know and what we learned there we were able to connect when we went though the Santa Barbara Mission a few days later.  The Capital building inside is so lovely.  I wish I could show you all the pictures we took.


This is just three of the pictures we took.  I so wish they had turned out better.  The colors in each area and rooms were soft and beautiful.  This dome is much lovelier in reality than in this picture.   We really enjoyed our tour and I would gladly go again.  We enjoyed our walk back to the hotel after our tour too.  We decided since we really didn't know the city we would go on in our journey.  So we packed up and headed down the highway.

I have to say we really don't enjoy the San Francisco and surrounding area.  The few times we have been there we have not liked what we have seen.  I won't describe, but I view it close to Sodom and Gomorrah.  Which is too bad because Dan has family there that we adore.  He has a wonderful Uncle and three cousins. We LOVE them but we don't love that area.  So sadly we didn't stop.  We went around it and kept right on going.  (We truly feel terrible about this.)




Above is the love of my life at the Hearst Castle gift shop, the towers over the main building that we toured in the Castle, and the bottom picture is a view from one of the patios of the Castle overlooking the outdoor pool which is in repair mode right now.  The grounds and hills behind are the back yard of the Castle.  It is a very impressive place and I highly recommend you visit.  We really enjoyed the views, the rooms, and the history very much.  Even the history here was enhanced by what we had learned at the Capital tour.

We had spent the night a bit down the road so after the Castle tour we headed out down the road to Solvang.  Along the way we stopped a few places hoping to shop.  There is a cute little, very little, shopping area with old buildings about a 1/4 of a mile long just down the road from where we had spent the night.  We looked at a few of the antique/thrift shops there for things for my Spring Tea table.  I didn't find what I needed there but I loved looking.

Then we made it to Solvang.  We had a great hotel and wonderful free breakfast.  We loved walking around the city and going to all the many thrift and antique shops.  We went to a farmers market there and got the sweetest tomatoes I have ever eaten.  We relaxed and we enjoyed ourselves so much.  Santa Barbara is only 38 miles away so we stayed at our Solvang hotel, paying less than half what we would have paid for a 2 star hotel in Santa Barbara, then just drove there one day to tour the amazing Mission.


The mission was a wealth of information.  The Indians that lived around the mission were very intelligent people.  I am not telling you this because I was surprised but because others are sometimes surprised.  They were skilled in many things and taught the Catholic Priests and those who lived at this mission.  They in turn were taught music, and things they didn't know, by the Priest. Something that does amaze me though is all the beautiful things I saw that people used to do so well by hand.  This score was written by hand.

Well after three days in Solvang we didn't want to leave but we decided to go.  So we made it down the coast, first taking the 1 hwy. then coming to our senses and taking the 101 to LA.  Below are some pictures of the Elephant seals we saw and the beach we stopped at to eat lunch.  I got a bowl full of shells and rocks. I didn't see any signs saying don't take the shells so I took some.


The last picture is just before Santa Monica.  It was a beautiful ride along the coast and we got to see it day after day.  We did much more than I have put here but we relaxed a lot too.

One last note of something fun we did.  If you grew up in CA. in the 70's you probably remember Dr. Demento.  He used to play a song that sang the streets in LA., Pico and Supulvida were the two main streets in the song.  I had never been to that corner so I was delighted when that was our destination.  Our last dinner out on the road was on that corner at La Salsa.  BTW best tortilla soup I have ever had.

We tried to spend all the money we had available, plus what we usually spend for our anniversary, and then some but we just couldn't.  So we have enough to take another road trip later in the year, and I think we will.

Thank you all again for my 60th birthday gift.  I loved you all just for coming to my party.  Believe me that was more than enough.  But to have this bonus I will never forget, well thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I love you all.  I enjoy completely every gift I received be it $1.00 or more, gift card, jewelry, or my awesome fun bird feeder.  That birthday just keeps on giving and I can't be more thankful.  God bless you all.

James 1:17 Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.