Saturday in paradise

BILL AND TERRY COOKING GOURMET BURGERS WITH THE INCREDIBLE SUNSET IN THE BACKGROUND

SUE AND TERRY FIXING DIN DIN

AN AMAZING SUNSET

BILL AND BOB CATCHING A FEW RAYS

OUR PLACE IS ABOUT IN THE MIDDLE OVERLOOKING WATER

SUE, ENJOYING THE WATER WHILE ON OUR WALKABOUT

THE BEACH IN FRONT OF OUR ABODE
(stairway down is a block north of us)

Slept in this morning. What a nice thing to do on holidays! After Brekkie, we Travelled to the outlying shopping centres to find a few missing items and thank goodness for the navigator! On and Off Freeways the whole way. This must be the way everyone travels here because you can't go anywhere without going on, off, on, off, on and off this system. Nerve wracking, but we managed to pull through with little yelling and maiming. Sue and I found a Coldwater Creek store where we managed to do a decent amount of damage. Good thing we were on a high because we had to go back home using the freeway maze again. The girls ventured down to the beach and did a walk about along our street to the steep stairs down to the water, along the beach collecting lots of small sea stuff and then up into the neighbourhood again. What a nice journey!! Enjoyed a very peaceful, beautiful evening, partaking in a glass of vino (diet pepsi of course for the old stick in the mud, me), and so enjoyed watching the fellas cook our goumet burgers (a big yummy!!!), over what turned out to be a controlled open fire, enjoying the beautiful sunset. My gosh, are we blessed or what?! Tomorrow, if we feel up to rising to the occasion we might meander down to LaJolla using the side road system! There are a few markets happening, so will take pics of that. Have wonderful evening all and check in tomorrow for the continueing saga of Bill, Deb, Sue and Terry's big Adventure....

End of another grand day...

Well, after being woken up this morning at 5:30 by this very strange 'baying' sound, and finding out that my cell phone has decided that a beep just wasn't working well enough for low battery notification, we actually had a leisurely morning. Already posted some pics of our great place here. Bill actually got brown today. I know, I have to be nice!!!!! We decided the only thing we were going to do today was take a short drive of 20 miles or so to the Imax theatre in Del Mar. We ended up having to route through 3 freeways and lord knows how many off roads to get there. Our quick drive by to see where the theatre was, didn't quite work out as planned, so instead of re=routing and going back home, we decided to grab a bite and hit the theatre today while we were already there. We saw Avitar in 3D Imax. OMG what an incredible experience. It was absolutely awesome!!! Tomorrow is definitely going to be a relax day with maybe a walk to Moonlight beach. We shall see.....
XXOO

forgot this one!

day 8, Friday Jan. 29/2010

havn't figured out yet how to eliminate a picture so there are two the same. double the enjoyment! This is the view from our patio.

what a wonderful view to wake up to!!!! We are enjoying the sunshine on the deck, watching the surfers right out front and we had company next door with a pup that sat on his own deck chair the whole morning. He is still there. He obviously loves it here too! After washing the truck (of course), Bill relaxed on the deck enjoying the water happenings. Looking up he discovered a huge blimp passing overhead. Hard to discern the size, but it was really BIG. We have a nice quiet day planned with nothing more strenuous that going grocery shopping. yeah! a bbq tonight. Such a treat for us condo dwellers. Hugs to everyone and will update more as the day progresses.. Enjoy our view.....

Day 7, our SUNNY destination in Encinatis, CA.

I can't believe we have SUN today. What a beauty! We had an incredible drive down the coast again, through LA, which actually worked out better than we thought. We went with out gut instincts and just kept to the coast and it was beautiful there. We visited the mission at San Luis Obispo, as we were heading out of town. Beautiful mission and I will post a couple of pics. It was so sureal to walk around this great building in the sunshine. Enjoyed the experience. We travelled south to pay a visit to all the famous beaches....where we ended up at Huntington beach and had a wonderful meal on the pier there at Duke's. Good grub! we walked the pier and watched all the surfers trying their luck on the big waves coming it. Lots of fishermen too, which was fun to listen to them cabitz back and forth between themselves. Had a visit from a very friendly pelican too. This picture is for Rowan and Shea from Papa and Nana banana. After enjoying the sun for awhile strolling the pier, we headed south to San Juan Capistrano and of course once again visited the famous mission there. It was a lot larger than I expected. Lots of incredible history and lots of people trying to keep it's heritage in tact. We arrived at our destination in Encinitas, California (just north of San Diego), about 6 P.M. and got to see the final rays of the sun before it sank below the sea. My gosh, what a beautiful sunset right off our waterfront deck. We are blessed to have such a lovely place to hang our hats for 8 whole (hopefully sunny) days! Will take pics tomorrow in the sun and post them for all to drool over! I told a few of my friends that i would send a grand old California Hello...so to Sandy, who is ready to rip out her highspeed, we wish you a very speedy reconnect...and to Sally and Bryan, a continued restful holiday sunning on the beaches of Maui, and to my friend Linda who is blessed to always live in the sunshine, a week filled with fun things to keep her busy, and of course huggable thoughts all around!!! Also to all the grandkids from Nana Deb, Papa Bill and Papa Terry and Nana Banana Sue, a great big California squeeze!

extra fun pics

this one is for all the grandkids

Day 6. Monterey to San Luis Obispo

yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is a SUNNY day. First day of total sunshine and we are all happy campers.

We left early from Monterey and took in the 17 mile drive. A beautiful way to start the day. We stopped at Pebble Beach Lodge. Bob loved it here. He would have stayed but the cost for a round of golf was beyond his means. We ended that particular adventue with a tour around the back coastal road of Carmel. Beautiful homes and a wonderful area. On the way down to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle we stopped and took in the row after row of Elephant seals. Smelly if you got too close! Good reason to stand back and take it all in. We went on a great tour of the castle seeing one of the guest houses, the main house grand room, inside and outside pools and the dining room. What a surreal building. Makes you think back to imagine everything you have seen from the nouveau rich of the 1920's.

We drove an hour and ended up in San Luis Obispo. Pretty place too. Another great food stop at Tahoe Joe's. Sue called it 'Camp Howdie Doodie'. Very rustic, but good food.

Well, we end up at our destination in Encinitas tomorrow. Can't wait, especially now the weather has decided to bless us with sunshine!

Day 5, Petaluma to Monterey

Well, rain, rain and more rain....

Drove to Monterey in torrential rains but who can be down driving over the Golden Gate Bridge!

Terry marked that one off his bucket list by driving over the bridge....and a fine job he did too as the road to that point was very 'busy' with turn after turn. We stayed in a great 'grand' room at the Best Western downtown Monterey. Meandered down to Cannery Row and went to the world famous Monterey Aquarium. Wow! Wonderfull sights! After wandering around there and down the row, we headed to Fisherman's wharf for dinner. Best meal yet at Delmonico's. We walked up the street to the street market. Lots of veggies. Crafters must not want to set up in the rain! Great nuts though!

Bob had a great time in the Humbolt Redwoods! He got a little shrivly in the rain though....but he pulled through.

Terry and Sue converse on some very tough decisions.....whole wheat or sourdough!

Day 4 Eureka, Ca. to Petaluma, Ca

Well, I didn't think the weather could actually get any worse. It has been a horrendous day for rain. We decided to get all the benefit we could from the coastal highway, so took the NO. 1 all the way. Talk about a windy wonderful experience. Feel for the guys though, who had to white knuckle it the whole way. I think they secretly enjoyed the experience! We saw the Humbolt redwood forest and finally found the 'glass beach' which happened to be at Fort Bragg. All the beaches are glass pieces from a hundred years ago. We had lunch in Mendacino and then on to what we thought would be Napa. By the time we got to the turn off (and stopping along the way at a winery all ready), we made the executive decision to give Terry a rest driving in the rain, and we turned in for the night just north of San Francisco in Pentaluma, Cal. Our nose took us to the Sheraton which is of course beautiful. Can't wait to put my feet up and just enjoy what is left of the evening. Going to have a very busy day tomorrow in Monterey. Can't wait as that is one of our fave places. Well, off to beddy bye, so will talk tommorrow.......

wow, what a wet day, but still so much fun in the rain!

A truly sureal visual

Day 1 of the big adventure starts.....

Deb, Bill, Sue and Terry "and Bob" enjoying the ferry ride to Tsawassen on Day 1., Jan. 22/2010

Big Adventure by Sue, Terry, Deb and Bill," and Bob", to Encinitas, California, 2010

Well, the big adventure started off with great weather heading south for 2 whole day!
We arrived in Anacortes in record time and us girls actually got a chance to go shopping downtown until we went to Bill and Geri's for a fabulous Italian dinner. Had a wonderful evening with them catching up on all the fun happenings lately.
trip!

Day 2 was also a decent day weather wise, and we landed in Florence where we stayed in a nice hotel on the river. We had dinner in a great little bistro in Old Florence and then managed to drop a few pennies off for the Oregonians in the casino!

Day 3 was again in torrential rain and more wind, but we managed to see the famous sand dunes between drops, and then with Bill doing a marvelous job of driving the coast highway in the wind and rain, we saw huge herds of elk, incredible redwoods, and awe inspiring surf. Tonight we are in a beautiful best western hotel right on the water in Eureka, California. Of course we had more wonderful food, this time at Marie Calendars. OMG it is wonderful to chill out and put or feet up for a few hours and let the stomachs deflate!

Having so much fun and never laughed so much in a very long time. Good food, good places to see and great friends! We have it all.

Will be back tomorrow with new chapters of our adventure. .... .... ....