worth coming back for

These little ones have such a huge place in our hearts - we missed them alot while we were away.

I've taken their picture on this arbor bench for the last three years. It's getting to be a tight fit; fortunately they don't look like they mind squishing together.

We are blessed!!!!!

San Francisco...

...open those Golden Gates. Or at the very least lift the fog so we can see them! Seriously, we drove on the Golden Gate bridge, paid the toll and everything, and did not see it!!! The big pic on the collage is what we saw as we drove into San Francisco area - fog rolling in off the ocean & it literally pulled itself over the city like a big quilt. And stayed there. We were there for 1 1/2 days & it was cold, windy & foggy the whole time. But fun.
The drive along the coast was beautiful - the redwoods magnificent - the coastline ever-changing, always breath-taking! It's hard to take pictures while driving, but you get the (blurry) idea.
So, back to SF... we met Ron & Viv there, stayed at a very cool hotel across from pier 39 & spent our time walking, exploring, and eating yummy food. We actually walked from our hotel to the Coit Tower - the picture on the right side (with me in the corner) shows the tower as it looks from Pier 39. Ya, it was pretty far - uphill both ways!!! Then we walked through a large portion of the Asian part of the city - crowded with alot of markets selling unusual (to me) products. Oh, the smells. We had thought of eating there, but changed our minds.
We kept looking for the elusive G G bridge, never did see the whole thing. The fog lifted enough so we could see the span, but not the arches.
After SF, we drove to hot Bakersfield for a couple of days at my bro & sis/law's place; then we all converged in Pismo for a week.

And so concludes my epic about our summer vacation. Now it's been two weeks back at work - I'm ready for another holiday! Good thing it's a long weekend.

Oregon coast

Rick & I planned our trip down to Pismo on the basis of dividing the days into equal driving hours, knowing that we wanted to have time in San Fransisco as well as somewhere on the Oregon coast about half way to SF. After studying the map & internet (what a wonderful resource!) we settled on a place called Coos Bay. The pictures showed that it was right on the water, so we booked two nights there, with high expectations.
When we drove into Coos Bay, I gotta say, I was ready to cancel the hotel & drive on. It looked like a dumpy little industrial town; NOT on the ocean, but rather on an inlet of the ocean. I said to Rick, " What in the world are we going to do here for a whole day" (or something like that:) )
But we decided to check in for the night anyway, and while we did, I asked the receptionist whether there was anything to do in Coos Bay. Well, she looked at me like I had just grown horns - all insulted (but very friendly) - and proceeded to explain that not 10 minutes down the road we would be on the actual coast where we could enjoy a whole list of attractions. Which she listed quite proudly. So, we decided to stay two nights & do some exploring.
I have to say, that next day on the Oregon coast was one of my favorites of the whole vacation. We spent alot of the morning at Cape Arago, watching hundreds of harbour seals & sea lions (oh, the noise - it was unbelievable) & also trying to capture a whale (on camera). We saw alot of blowhole spray, so I just kept shooting & actually caught some parts of it.
We found a beautiful, almost deserted beach, probably because it was a little overcast. I just wanted to lay in the sand, watch the waves roll in & read. So that's what we did. I started in jeans & sweatshirt & after awhile it cleared up & got hot, thus the swimsuit shot.
We also had some entertainment show up. There was a group of kids trying to surf, not very good, but fun to watch. A professional kite flyer - maybe not professional, but pretty intense. And then Oregon's finest took a guy down on the road just behind where we were lying. Not sure what he did, but it was weird, in a quiet sort of way. You just never know what's going on a few feet away when you're sheltered by reeds & engrossed in the magnificence of the ocean.
Another phenomenon we enjoyed that day were the sand dunes - ALOT of sand, beautiful white rolling hills of sand. I was really quite impressed - never seen that before!
Add to all this a couple of yummy dinners; one Thai, one Mexican & we would definitely go back. Who knew? Sometimes you get lucky!

Hearst Castle

This was something I've wanted to see for years & we finally got a chance. The castle has been donated by the Hearst family to the state of California, so it's a huge, expensive tourist attraction, but we paid our money, rode the bus up the 5 mile winding road & followed the informative (bossy) tour guide around. The thing I was most interested in seeing was the pool - I didn't know there were two pools, I had only ever seen pictures of the outdoor one. We had been told NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING; so when I leaned against the pillar for the pool picture (really, I didn't mean any harm!) I got in a bit of trouble. Oh well, it was worth it.

Then the indoor pool - wow, talk about ostentatious! HUGE & completely mosaic (1 inch square tiles) & shimmering with gold. Ya, real gold! The whole thing is 10 feet deep - total opulence. All I wanted to do was jump in, but I thought I'd probably just get in trouble again.

The grounds were magnificent; the view, breathtaking. Have I mentioned lately how much I love palm trees? It was so nice to get my fix for a week or so. I think I look right at home sitting on that patio, don't you?

The whole experience was so interesting, but it was really hard to believe that people actually lived there. There was just nothing homey about it. Different time, different mentality, I guess. Anyhow, it was very cool, & we were glad we went!