Vacation Day 2 - Big Basin

I wasn't expecting this part of the trip at all, seeing as how it was so far off the path, but D & D planned to take me to see the Redwoods.  I am so thankful that they did, because I would probably never see them otherwise.

The first thing we saw when we got out of the car, was a great big woodpecker.  Debbie is an avid birdwatcher, and this was a major score!  She later said that she would never forget the day she saw a woodpecker, for me, I will never forget Debbie seeing her first woodpecker!

Amphitheater made of trees...

A downed tree here is a major happening...  Legend is that one of the first residents built his entire house from one tree!

It just happened to be Earth Day, so we attempted to hug one.  Question: How many sisters does it take to hug a Redwood?

Many of the trees were burned out inside, and yet still living and growing - how is that possible?

Looking up at the sky from inside a burned out tree...

Dana, our host and chauffeur, was such a trooper - barely recovered from chemo, and yet he kept up with us all...

 Opal Creek:

 After hiking all over creation, we found the one sunny spot in the entire park and had a picnic lunch.
Without the wind, it was actually almost warm...

 On the way back, Ruth was saying how disappointed she was that we didn't see bigfoot - then we ran across this place.  So sad that it was closed...

Further down the road, we stopped at a place called Elkhorn Slough - it's kind of an inlet from the ocean.  Seals like to come here and rest because it is safe from sharks, whales, and any other preditors.  There were a lot of them hanging out here that day.  We were able to get pretty close...

Ruth wanted to pet one so badly - she reached down and touched one, and he turned and snapped at her!  Scared her a little...

Lots and lots of seals...                                                                                            

All the way down the boat ramp...

Everywhere we went, we looked for sea otters - and we did see them, but never got close enough for a good shot...

 Next, we found a big farmer's market and stopped for a snack...

By then, most of us needed a nap.  (It's a 4 hour drive.)

Fun day!

Monterey Getaway Day 1

My sister has been talking about taking me to Monterrey for years, and finally this year she said that we were going to make it happen.  However, the closer it got, the more questionable it became.

There has been so much going on in our families - cancer, heart problems, family drama, that I wondered right up to the last minute if it was going to actually happen.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was even up to it.  But my one sister furnished the plane ticket, and the other took care of the hotel room, so how was I supposed to say no to that?

My brother in law (the cancer victim) got the all clear from his doctor, so it seemed the trip was on...

My older sister flew down from Utah, and had a layover in Vegas, so I joined her at the airport there, and we went on to Reno together to meet my other sister.  It was Easter Sunday, so we joined the family Easter egg hunt & dinner party :-)

Debbie's family is a fun bunch - and dinner was amazing!  They smoked a turkey and a ham, and had a mashed potato dish with a pecan crust - who knew mashed potatoes could taste like candy?  Bacon wrapped green beans... and I don't even remember the rest.  Anyway, it was a feast.

We hit the road early the next morning...

Monday:

After living in a place that only grows rocks and dirt, seeing a place where vegetation just springs up spontaneously everywhere was an amazing sight - everything was so GREEN!

We arrived in Monterey about 4:30, and checked in to our hotel.  I couldn't believe all the flowers everywhere!

Ruth's and my room was down on the lower level in the back...

It felt kind of secluded there, and would have been pretty peaceful if the bungalow above us had not had a room full of children who jumped off the beds and ran around all night...

This was the view from our room:

And this giant calla lilly was right outside our door - I have never seen one this size before, it was gorgeous!

We were there early enough that we went for a drive around Pacific Grove to the Point Pinos Lighthouse.  Such a cute place!  It was small, and the tour only took a few minutes...

I decided that I need to take up a collection and buy it for myself - it's the perfect size for me...

And this is where I would spend most of my days - in this little lookout room with the big window sill.  The perfect place to sit and read and watch the ocean...

It was windy and pretty chilly there...

 
We waved good-bye to the lighthouse, and drove down to the beach...

The beach squirrels were pretty brazen...

Lots of wildlife...

The goose came and posed for us :-)

We kept losing Ruth - she would go wandering off by herself all the time...
But in her wandering she found something interesting - a marker at the site where John Denver crashed his plane years ago...

From there we drove down to cannery row to find a place for dinner.  Bubba Gump!

There's even a Forest Gump bench out front - who could resist?

Scene from Cannery Row...

Can never get enough of the ocean.

April Visitors

This month, the girls came to spend a weekend.  The 15th is Melissa's birthday, so we feel honored that she chose to come and spend her time off celebrating with us.

As far as company goes, the girls were pretty easy - they had very few expectations (and it's a good thing, because nothing we planned went through.)

Friday: We had planned some crafty things to make for the grand-girls for Easter, so we went to Walmart to gather a few supplies, then -  I had been seeing ads for a craft show & sale on the internet for months, and it just happened to be for that weekend.  Melissa was excited to go check it out, so we ventured down there...

When we got to the building where the show was supposed to be - it was deserted.  There were no cars, no signs, nothing - only a homeless guy sleeping on the front steps.  (At least I hope he was asleep...  "shudder")  I was so mortified - but we decided since we were down that way, that we would go visit dad at his store and see the baby chicks & bunnies.  There were lots of clearance racks there with all kinds of cute clothes, so the girls had a hay-day trying on and picking out lots of fun stuff.
 (I even scored a few!) 

After that, we stopped a Michaels to pick up a few odds & ends that we didn't find at Walmart, and ended up getting distracted with all the fun stuff that was on sale and having a good ol' time.
Melissa makes beautiful jewelry, and that stuff was all on sale...

After that, we were ready to crash - so back home to make home made tacos and watch chick flicks.

This weekend was yard sale weekend in our community (you are only allowed to have them on specified days here - which are only twice a year.)  We drove around picking out the best ones, and shopped away - we all scored some pretty fun things.  :-)  After that, the girls and their dad went to the casino for the new Captain America movie.  I opted to stay home and keep the dog company.
I am not a fan of super hero flicks, and when there is someone else who will go with hubby and relieve me of that duty, I'm all for that!  (They all enjoyed it immensely, and I saved 25 bucks!)

Sunday morning, we settled in to make our crafts for the girlies.  We all worked on the yarn-wrapped egg thingys, and it looked like they were going to turn out quite cute - until they started to dry.  Then the balloons started to shrink and the mod-podged yarn wrapped around them started to collapse in on itself...

Result:  Epic Fail.

We had a tough time deciding whether to cut them open and retrieve the prizes that were tucked inside the balloons, or to give them to the girls like they are, because they're really quite hilarious...
Melissa will have to decide that later on - I sent them home as-is.

...At least the peep s'mores kits worked out:

We were going to go to Sizzler for Melissa's birthday brunch, but I insisted Wayland look up where it was, (he has a bad habbit of going off half informed, then getting lost and having to go back home to get directions - it drives me crazy!)  ...So we did look up the location - only to find out that the place is permanently closed.  Plan B: they went down and picked up Kentucky fried and we had dinner here and watched the Hobbit.

We've done an awful lot of this this weekend - chillaxing on the couch.  The girls and I have watched almost the whole series of Ugly Betty this weekend...

...Along with puppy, who wasn't able to relax the whole time they were here, because last time they came down, they left him and he had to stay with me for several days...  (he has separation anxiety)

My resident ghost, who has been AWOL for a while, introduced himself to the girls by opening and closing doors, and stomping around while they tried to sleep...

Even though not much worked out as we'd hoped, we still had a good visit and spent some quality time.  We love our girls so much!

The house is so empty when company leaves...
:-(