Monday, September 28, 2009

The Puffer!

Ali Puffer and I worked together with Readak last year. She has this cute New Hampshire accent. She LOVES to try to talk like me. I don't know why :) She's in San Jose for the month teaching at Bellermine for Readak. I hope I get to see her a lot. We hung out at Santa Row one night and here's our only picture. We did treat ourselves after dinner to some Pinkberry. It's ok, it's frozen yogurt, so it's healthy!

Us!

Santa Barbara Part Deux

Johnny came to Santa Barbara for a "work trip." However, I feel like he never worked. I kid, I kid, he'll get mad at me for saying that. He did work. I'd say collectively, 4 hours. So, we hung out in Santa Barbara and Solvang, CA and wine country. It was a nice couple of days.

My favorite picture of the weekend! Vus or Ban? What is it?


On the way to Solvang, CA.


Solvang, CA - Cute little Danish town.


Foxen Winery. It's a shack! I loved it. Sidways, the movie, was filmed here.


Being the nerd that I am, I knew Neverland Ranch was near Santa Barbara. So, we wikipedia'd the addres and it was only several miles from where we were one day. We went. Nothing to get excited about. You can't see jack from the road. Just this gate.


A sweet farewell from a fan to MJ...

Capitola, CA Camp Trip

Mary & Fred (who live next door, or as some would say, 20 feet from me) had their son, daughter in law and friend come visit a couple of weeks ago. I know, I know, that goes to show how slow I am at updating this :(

So, we had a glorious time. We all went to see The Killers (see below) and even went to Capitola to cook out with Amber, Jason & Sage. They were camping and we went to just eat. Turns out, it does rain in California, but only on Sundays and only that nasty misty rain. It rained our cook out, out, but Jason & Fred prevailed! We all crammed into the Shasta while they made our dinner. It was a fun night, memorable.

Us on the beach in Capitola, CA.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I Never Really Gave Up on Breaking Out of this Two Star Town

Several friends and myself ventured to Moutain View (to Shoreline Ampitheatre tonight to see one of my favorite bands - The Killers. I would seriously say Hot Fuss is one of my favorite albums of all time. I have played that CD into the ground to where it doesn't play anymore. (so sad) They did play all of my favorites. So, $20 was the cost of my lawn ticket. $20 well spent.

This is my favorite song... yes, they played it. Unfortunately, none of us took in cameras. I doubt my camera could have captured it all anyway. I will see this band again one day!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

San Diego and Back to Morgan Hill

On Thursday I took a later ferry from Catalina to Long Beach. From LB I drove 3 hours to San Diego. I love San Diego! It is honestly one of my favorite cities in the US. I met up with my pal, Jack. I met him when I was living in DC last fall. He lives in Little Italy. It is a great part of town! When I arrived we walked down by the water for a while, caught up, chatted, then went to dinner at a nice Italian place. We then walked over to Extraordinary Desserts. It was exactly that! I was in shock when I walked up to it. Desserts were huge and ornate and beautiful. We split a Four Berry Cobbler. The next day we went to Balboa Park and walked around. We then sat up on his rooftop pool, which was super nice. Then, we went to Coronado Beach and hung out with some of his friends. It was a great day. We then went to eat dinner at a brewery near by. I left out early Saturday to make it all the way back up the coast. I had a ticket reserved for me at the Hearst Castle. Speaking of ... WOW. If you're ever near San Simeon (where it's located), tour it. If you're a history nerd like myelf, you'd enjoy it. So, I left in time to hit HWY 1 at sunset, which was amazing. I made it back to Coyote Valley around 10PM.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip! I'd do it again! I now want to go from San Fran up to Portland. I hear that's even a better trip.

San Diego!


Heaven in the form of a Four Berry Cobbler from Extraordinary Desserts. :)


Day at Coronado with Jack and friends.


Coming into Morro Bay, CA.


I saw this beach on my way down the coast and stopped on my way back up. Morro Bay. It was unbelievably beautiful.


Porch overlooking Pacific from Hearst Castle.


Neptune Pool at Hearst's Castle.


Hearst Castle. San Simeon, CA.


Tired. No make up. Burnt (wore 70 SPF the whole time even). End of trip - what a great one!


Beautiful sunset in Big Sur on way home.

Avalon

Wednesday I left Santa Barbara to make it to Long Beach to board my ferry for Catalina Island. I'd always heard of Catalina, but never known anyone who had been. I thought, "Why not add it to my list?" I'm so glad I did. :) It was fabulous! Amazing! Every adjective you can list.

I made my way by traveling around LA. I hate LA. Have I said that before? No desire to really stop and spend time there. Traffic stinks. It pushed me back later and I was afraid I wouldn't make my ferry. I stopped in Santa Monica before I got to the boat. I admired the old Pier, the beautiful beaches and the clear water. There were surfers and paddle boards everywhere. It was the ultimate California beach town.

After that brief stop, I booked it to Long Beach and parked my car and went off to the Catalina Express ferry. I saw a few dolphins on my way over to the island and surprisingly enough, a blue whale. I just saw it's tail. The kids on the boat were going crazy over it. It may be the closest I get to seeing one.

When we arrived, an hour later, we docked into the cutest little island. Avalon is the main city in Catalina and is 1 sq mile. The main mode of transportation: foot. I had arranged for the hotel to pick me up (free service!) and they did so on a hot rod golf cart! Most people drive golf carts as cars are not really allowed on the island. I got settled in, put on my bathing suit and headed down to the main beach. This little town has so much history (so many old movies filmed here) and you can definitely get that vibe. It was a fun place to be. Once on the main beach I made quick friends with two older couples from Newport Beach. They basically adopted me for the day. :) They were a lot of fun (took most of my pictures) and one of the women just knew I was going to marry her son. (laugh) They vacation in Catalina every year and have done so for 25 yrs now.

My return ferry the next day was to leave at 10AM. After my first hour on the beach, I realized that wasn't going to happen. So I left later and enjoyed a 2nd day on the beach.

I have a feeling I will return to this island one day. I'd love for my friends to enjoy it with me. So much to do (snorkel, diving, kayaking, paddle boarding, etc). It's a very relaxing island. No chain hotels or restaurants, all family owned. It may be one of my new favorite places.

Santa Monica.


Santa Monica Pier.


Harbor overlooking the Casino in Catalina.


Pretty island of Catalina.


Night in Avalon.


My last day in Avalon.

We've been on the run, driving in the sun, looking out for number 1

I thought a good quote from a famous song about CA would get you in the mood to read this. Now, can you guess what this song is? :) (looking out for number 1 means the HWY)

The Pacific Coast Highway spans from the northern most tip of Washington state down to the Mexican border. I did the portion of Carmel down to San Diego.

My first day I stopped along the highway many times to take some pictures. I stopped off at a private beach in Big Sur, (which was amazing). I then drove to Moonstone Beach in Cambria to have lunch. A friend here mentioned it to me and told me to stop there. It was a nice break and I had a great view of the ocean. I then trekked on to Santa Barbara. It's such a beautiful city! Spanish-style houses everywhere, golden sand beaches, sail boats, mountains, it was beautiful. Priceline worked well for me there, so I was happy with my hotel. It was right on the beach. I got out, walked around the town and up and down State Street, which is the main area. They had closed down two blocks and had a farmer's market going on. I ended up having dinner at Brophy's, which is in the Harbor. I sat next to some nice people from LA who were trying to escape the fire for the week. It was a nice stop for the night.

Big Sur area. It was beautiful.


Beautiful. The fog rolls in at night and stays until mid-morning. Seems to be that way in most of CA.


There were breath-taking views along every turn on this highway.


Somwhere along HWY 1.


Santa Barbara Courthouse. It was just lovely!


Santa Barbara Mission. The oldest of the Missions in all of CA. The El Camino Real (it's a highway, an old one) connects all of them together.


Santa Barbara


Santa Barbara Harbor as the moon came out.