Category Archives: Travel

I Won’t be Needing my Passport…

The wedding in Cancun has been cancelled. The young couple decided they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if even one guest got sick. They are seeing if they can put together a ceremony in New York this weekend…

The airlines are being generous with changing tickets. We’ll see how the resort handles their and our losses. So far we will only have to forfeit one night of our deposit. It would be nice to get a full refund….

Our hearts go out to not only our Jenna and Justin but to the country of Mexico and to all who will suffer loss because of this epidemic.

Update: The wedding has been moved to a hotel in Orlando Florida for this Saturday. Lots of phone calls and scrambling and changes of flights and the event will be happening. :0) Unfortuanately Dear and I will not be able to transfer our tickets for Florida but our son and DIL are going to be able to swing it!

Should I stay or should I go…

So this is part of the beautiful resort in Cancun we are suppose to be at this weekend for our niece’s wedding…Cancun, Mexico. We are praying and consulting before making a final decision on whether we will be cancelling our travel plans. We are praying for the young couple who have to make the decision to carry on with the plans or cancel the event that has been planned for so long. Praying for wisdom and comfort in the decisions and praying about disappointments and concerns…

Also praying that the State Department and CDC get good information and give out good advice in regards to the Swine Flu and travel.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Target Birds on Holiday!

We’re joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for a fun little adventure called Target Birds on Holiday! Here’s our story that began in Norwalk, California a suburb of Los Angeles.

 

Well I found out just because the plane has Alaska written on it doesn’t mean all these big aluminum birds fly to Alaska. Our plane took us to Seattle, Washington.

Sheesh, she finally took us out of the box and here we are at the doorstep of our new home. Ellen b. advised us we would not be returning with her to California on Sunday but that we would be staying here with her two kids Dan and Katie and keeping an eye on the house while they are off hither and yon…

She took us on a little tour of the grounds of our new home. Yikes, I just realized she hasn’t named me yet! She named my friend here next to me Jack Sparrow. Such a strong name with adventurous possibilities. Oh I hope she doesn’t intend to name me Salty! How lame would that be! Well she says she’s still considering what to name me…

 

Hmmm…nice digs but that apple tree can sure use some pruning! Hard to land on branches growing straight up to heaven!

Now here’s a pretty bush to have a rest in. Hey lady! I still don’t have a name!!

We’re inside now looking out. She sure has some nice big windows and big trees around here. She informs me that we will have many more high perch possibilities here than at the condo in California. The only trees around that place are the palm variety…

So she says since we are on holiday we should get a little reading in. Reading is an activity humans enjoy when they are trying to relax and escape the everyday mundane world. I wasn’t too excited about sitting and listening to her read outloud but this story is so exciting! This Redwall book by Brian Jacques is all about animals and they talk and they hunt and they cook and travel and “save the day”! I love this book and the best thing about it is that there are Sparrows in it and she finally found the name she’s giving me!! In this book the sparrows are called Sparra and she thinks that the best name for me is Sparra Queen Warbeak! Can you believe how strong and cool that name is? Queen Warbeak…I just want to keep saying it out loud!  She says that Jack Sparrow and I will have the responsibility of protecting her home while she’s away. We will keep those pesky crows from moving in and thinking this is their territory. We’ll report to her any strange things that might be happening around the house while she’s in Cali. Even though she’s old, this is one cool lady that saved us from that Target shelf!

Boy I just hope the rest of our Target bird friends are having a good adventure and have found a good home. Hope they ended up with some good names, too. Oh and I must apologize for Jack Sparrow and his lack of words. He just likes to leave all the talking to me, Queen Warbeak!

Thank you Susan human lady over at Between Naps on the Porch for thinking of this great idea to liberate us birds from the Target shelf! I bet if you click on her name later this evening or tomorrow you’ll see more of our friends on Holiday!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Welcome Spring!

 

Ellen b. has been busy running here and there with her daughter Katie while she is visiting us in Southern California from Seattle. On Saturday we will be on the road for several hours to attend a wedding of Katie’s good friend in San Bernardino County. We are meeting my brother and SIL in Redlands for lunch before the 3:00 wedding. I attended the University of Redlands for my freshman year and I hope we can get in a quick drive by to see what the campus looks like today. I attended there in 1968-69. Wow 40 years ago!! I’m not participating in any of my regular weekly memes until Katie leaves because I do not have time to return comments and that really makes me feel bad.

Hope that Spring is showing much promise to you all! Blessings…

 

It’s An Edmonds Kind of Day…

 

What an absolutely glorious day in the Pacific Northwest. This shot is taken in Edmonds, Washington looking out over the Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula.

 

I was in Edmonds on Friday morning for my yearly exam. So why am I showing you this collage with our good friends and traveling companions Bob, Jan, Dave and Jody? Jan is not only my Northwest walking buddy along with Jody but she’s my doctor’s nurse. Whenever I go to the doctor’s office she greats me and weighs me (curses), takes my blood pressure and settles me in the exam room. Dave is my doctor and he’s married to my other Northwest walking buddy Jody. We’ve been friends since 1984. We met Dave and Jody at our church in Ventura, California while Dave was completing his residency at the County Hospital there. Dave delivered our daughter Katie 23 years ago in Ventura, Ca. He is still my doctor. We met Bob and Jan on a bicycling trip in the wine country in 1986. After we moved to Seattle in 1988 we attended church with Dave, Jody, Jan, and Bob. Bob was our pastor for 19 years. Oh and Dave and Bob are brothers. So when I went for my doctor appointment I got to see my friends. What a privilege it is to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. Saturday the 3 walking buddies will meet at 9:00 am for our 6 mile walk on the Burke Gilman Trail. When I lived in the Seattle area we would meet to do this walk most every Saturday rain or shine or even snow sometimes.

 

After I was done at the doctor’s office I decided to drive down into the “Edmonds Bowl” and see what I could see. And boy did I get an eyeful. There’s Mount Baker that is very close to the Canadian Border. Hi Lovella!

 

It’s always such a great treat to see the snow covered Olympics across the Sound.

 

This is the Edmonds side of the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry run. This ferry takes you across the Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! I’m headed back to Southern California on Sunday…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Leaving on A Jet Plane…

But I know I’m coming back to Southern California a week from Sunday!

 

My plane leaves early Saturday morning from LAX to SeaTac airport. I’m looking forward to some face to face time with my kids. I also get to take care of some yearly obligations with my doctor and the tax man. Thank goodness my favorite hairdresser was able to fit me in and I’ll finally get the cut and color I so desperately need. Now if I could only get a massage from Rebecca I’d be in hog heaven for sure. I don’t know what will happen with my computer time so if you don’t see me around you’ll know why. Have a great weekend everyone…

Happy Birthday to my sister Vera. She was born on LeapYear but we celebrate her birthday every non-leap year on the 28th of February.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Castlerigg Stones in Britain

 

Castlerigg is one of the most beautiful stone circles in Britain, set in a splendid position, in an open field crowned by the Lake District’s mountains, 213m (700ft) above sea level. It is thought to be one of the earliest circles in Britain, and it dates from around 3000 BC.
Thirty-eight stones are placed in an slightly oval shape of 30m (100ft) in diameter; a further 10 small stones are arranged as a rectangular enclosure on the south-east side of the ring: this is a feature unique to Castlerigg, nothing similar being present in other stone circles. The largest stone of the circle, not far from the enclosure, is 2.5m (8ft 3in) high and it weighs about 16 tons: most of the others, much smaller, are 1 to 1.5m (3-5ft) high. At the north of the ring is an entrance marked by two slightly bigger stones, and about 90m (295ft) to the south-west, by a stile at the edge of the field, is a single outlying stone, 0.9m (3ft) high.

We were in this part of England and at this sight in May of 2006. The Lake District was a beautiful place to walk. I’m really itching to get back to Great Britain now that I’ve learned a few things through blogging about taking photographs :0)

To see more Outdoor Wednesday posts visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

California Central Coast Getaway!

After viewing all the photos I took on Dear and my getaway last Sunday and Monday, it’s hard to believe we saw so much in such a short time! This is your only warning…I’m posting a lot of photos here! I will be sharing my photos from the Butterfly Grove next Tuesday.

 

After we spent some time at the Butterfly Grove we zipped over to the sleepy little town of Arroyo Grande which is inland from Pismo Beach. We wanted to do a little antiquing. Since it was Sunday some shops were closed but we got an eye full in two filled to the brim antique stores. There’s a suspension bridge over the river that was fun to cross. Brought out the kid in us!

 

These guys were making quite a racket and decided they needed to peck at our tennies! The red head decided to peck at Dear’s leg, too.

 

Pismo Beach is known for their clams and the clam symbol is used freely all over town. It was one of our goals to have a bowl of clam chowder at Splash Cafe before we left town! When we saw the line at Splash on Sunday we settled for good barbecue at Mo’s instead and hoped to get into Splash on Monday! Mo does not do Clam Chowda!

 The Pismo Clam

The Pismo Clam is one of the largest types of clams found along the California Coast. The clams can grow up to seven inches, if not interfered with by hungry clammers and sea otters. Legal size is 4 1/2 inches in diameter; and the proper place to clam is south of Grand Avenue (south of Pismo Beach).  Clams take approximately five years to reach legal size; growing about 3/4 of an inch each year. As clams approach ten years of age, they seldom grow more than 1/8 of an inch per year. The largest living Pismo Clam on record is 7 3/8 inches, however the clam shell on display in the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce is 8 inches in diameter.

 

See the line going out the door and around the corner? No worries…on Monday we headed back to Splash and had a bowl of very good chowder for brunch before the crowds arrived!

 

Our room would not be ready for us till 3:30 so we headed up the coast a bit to Shell beach and boy what a treat it was!

 

Beauty overload at it’s best!

 

 

 

We headed back to Pismo to check in but before we did we took a walk on the pier…

 

These two pelicans made my day while they posed for me and my camera! Actually they were hoping to steal the fish that a fisherman had just caught from the pier. It was funny to watch! We checked in, had a wonderful Swedish massage, (after standing and walking all day it felt so good) and then we had a great meal at the hotel restaurant with views of the beach.

 

On Monday morning after our picnic breakfast that was delivered to our room we headed north to Avila beach for an early morning walk.

 

Besides walking out on the pier, we found this biking/walking trail along the river and golf course that we explored.

 

 

We really enjoyed our getaway and would highly recommend this part of the California coast to anyone. If you are wine lovers there are also several wineries that do tastings in this area.

ht: photo of Pismo Clam R.Perry/UCLA Globe

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

An Overnight Getaway!

Dear and my escape to Pismo Beach Sunday and Monday was wonderful. It’s going to take me a few days to get my act together and figure out what day of the week it is, though. Monday holidays always throw me off. I have a lot to share from this part of California and will be doing so over the next week or so. Here are some photos of where we stayed. This first photo is of the Sea Venture Resort.

 

Our room was nice with views of the beach and a private hot tub on the deck. We both had a massage in the late afternoon and then enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant.

 

The view from the restaurant was beautiful and we could hear the waves crashing. We ate well and really enjoyed the whole weekend.

 

It was amazing to sit in the hot tub and look up at the sky full of stars. What wonderful God we have that created such beauty for us to enjoy.

I hope to get around and see what’s been happening while I was gone. Hope your week is going well…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

ABC Wednesday ~ The Los Angeles Zoo

Welcome to ABC Wednesday. We are on the letter Z. Yikes, the end of the Alphabet.

What fun I had meeting my brother, his wife, little Hope, my niece Michelle and her son, Jackson at the Los Angeles Zoo the week of Christmas!

 

My brother was here with his family from Dallas to celebrate Christmas with all of us. Hope will be 1 in January. What a joy to spend time with them all.

 

My niece Michelle and her son Jackson live in the L.A. area and they joined us for the fun.

 

It was a nice cool day at the Zoo and the animals were out and about. The bird is a Kookabura. We were singing the Kookabura song for quite a while after we saw this beauty. But since we are on the letter Z, this song would be more appropriate…

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day.
Plenty of sunshine headed my way.
Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay

Mister bluebird on my shoulder
It’s the truth, it’s actual.
Everything is satisfactual.

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
Wonderful feelin’.
Wonderful day.

Lyrics by Ray Gilbert and Allie Wrubel.

 

 

Since we are on the letter Z, I couldn’t ignore the Zebras!

 

This photo is of my brother Leonard and me pushing the strollers at the zoo.

For more ABC Wednesday posts on the Letter Z visit the ABC Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.