Spring Break

It's Spring Break week!

I was happy to have tea with Christina - with her working nearly full time, we don't see each other often enough. It was great catching up at a new tea room on Main Street in Newhall.

In the evening, I had dinner with Christina, Tiffany, Liz and Melissa.

Meanwhile, Stace has caught the cold that went around our family, and was sick enough to need to stay home! Very unusual.

Thankfully he recovered enough to be able to attend the Stereophonics show he and Jim had tickets for, also at the Wiltern.

We spent part of a day on a tour of New York Film Academy, an acting conservatory and college she's considering for the future.

It was a great afternoon, followed by some shopping in a part of Burbank with a lot of vintage stores - and Porto's! - an L.A. favorite Cuban bakery. I picked up goods for dinner and a nice coffee.

 NYFA had an amazing library with film scripts and movies - you can take out a script, and there were hundreds, and watch the film after reading through the script. Great way to see how things come together, and what changes are made.

Violet got a pair of pants she'll wear to Ren Faire at a thrift store in Burbank. The girls are spending this week getting their outfits ready - while watching shows, they're creating their own chain mail jewelry.

On Thursday, Colleen and I got together with the girls and went thrifting. We ended up going to a few stores, and also to San Fernando Coffee Co. 

Stace and I got out to see Cats, the Musical, at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Our friend Jill was one of the lead cats. 

We also went to the Cowboy Festival for a couple of hours, getting our favorite peach cobbler and watching a bit of music.

I also went through some of the stuff that had been under Violet's bed, and discovered my collection of cloth diapers. The ones that were in good shape, I was able to send to a mama who covered the shipping cost. Hopefully they can get some more use.

Stace got the cat treats out, and, surprise, found himself popular.

JT and Jim and the kids stopped by on their way home from Yosemite on their spring break. Callie had fun with Winston.

Summerland Getaway, Part 3

 

We woke up to a beautiful Friday morning, and took a walk down to the beach with our coffee and tea while the girls slept in. I'm showing off my 20-year-old travel cup, with art made by my teenaged sister. Still enjoy using it!

See how it's now a rocky shore? We were there for high tide, and perhaps we'd caught low tide Wednesday evening.

Stace and I had taken a nice walk Thursday morning, too,  but it was drizzly and cold, so we didn't go to the beach but rather checked out the shops in town and got a coffee.

We went back down to the beach after having breakfast and checking out of our place. This is me and Cora, for those wondering.

We discovered that the beach park, at the other end, had games to play! Ping pong and bocce ball, with all the equipment in a bag hanging off the ping pong table. There was a lovely pergola, along with barbecues, benches and a nature trail through a wooded area down to the shore. Wow! What a park!

We had thoughts of going to the Santa Barbara Zoo, and had parked the car, but I checked the weather and it called for rain. Not worth paying $25 per ticket for a rainy zoo trip, so we left, and it then started pouring!

We ended up making our way south, and had lunch at Padaro Beach Grill, a favorite stop near Carpinteria.

Then, we headed home. It was a great little getaway.

Summerland Getaway, Part 2

The weather on the second day of our trip wasn't brilliant, a bit rainy and cool, so we avoided the beach and instead went into Santa Barbara. We went to the Natural History Museum for the first time, and enjoyed the various exhibits.

On a nature trail around the museum grounds, we learned about animatronic dinosaurs. 

What a nature trail, with a real and gorgeous creek! If we'd lived in Santa Barbara, we would definitely have been members when the kids were young.

There were exhibits on local history, native peoples, sea life, birds and mammals.

We stopped at a well-loved, highly regarded taco place for a late lunch, and ate well. We then walked around the 1782 Santa Barbara Presidio, the first complex of buildings in the city in

 

There's always time for boba - especially when the kids would have rather skipped the family trip. (In the end, she said it was a good few days away, thankfully.)

We walked around the wharf. The views are amazing.

And, we happened to be around town for the weekly "free Thursday evening" entry at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. This was another museum I'd never been to, but with an artist in the family, and free entry, it seemed worth an hour of our time.

We then drove around Santa Barbara looking for a good spot to watch the sunset, but failed.

Summerland Getaway, Part 1

We took advantage of the girls' week off school and went up to Santa Barbara County for a couple of nights. 

We drove up Wednesday, picking Stace up from work on our way. 

In this photo, we're enjoying our dinner at a beach park. We apparently struggle to take selfies, but we have fun.
 

We stayed in a very cool two-bedroom basement apartment in Summerland, a tiny town between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. This was the view from the yard! Yes, that's the ocean beyond the trees. Being ocean-view also meant being freeway-close, and we could hear it, but a large fountain outside our unit helped. We'd definitely stay here again! The lady who lives in the main house even has three cats, so we felt right at home.

Our first day in town had the best weather, and we spent some time at the beach in the evening. We could walk to the beach from our rental! 

Here, Cora and Stace are playing a game they created, that involved trying to hit a larger rock with smaller rocks.

Cora's collection of sea glass - you can tell it's Cora, because of the many hair bands around her wrist. She wears hair bands like bracelets.

Violet's sea glass

The beautiful California coastline

We left the beach to go south to Carp to get dinner, Thai food and Thai tea, and then took it back to the beach park.

Violet ordered a "young coconut juice" and didn't expect to get a coconut with a straw! It was not yummy like coconut milk. Oh well, cool experience.

Easter Break

The girls are now on Spring Break, and this year, the first weekend of break included Easter Sunday.

Melanie and Nick are on a trip with Ellie, so instead of making a big meal, we decided to eat out at Route 66. This is where we had our rehearsal dinner more than 20 years ago. 

Here, the girls are opening their Easter goodies from Grandma.

Violet brought her iPad with her to draw while we waited. 

On our way home, we stopped at a boba place that normally would be way out of our way. Whoa, it was pricey, but I guess we can consider it part of our Easter treats. The drinks were pretty and tasty.

I managed to do a tiny bit of seasonal decorating and figured out some basket fun for the girls.

The weather was rainy off and on, so we didn't get to church in person, but watched online. I was able to get in a quick canyon walk during a rain break, and it was beautiful!

On Saturday, we had dinner at Rigo and Colleen's, and after dinner, we took a walk around Val Verde. In a field, a resident has quite a collection of old cars!

Lazy mornings on days off school are the best...especially with a kitty sleeping on your legs...

...or in your arms.

Zabriskie Point and Snowy Sierras

We decided to pack up and check out Tuesday morning, as we were unsure if the power would be restored in the town we were in. 

So, we then changed plans, and went to Zabriskie Point for a little walk and some photos, instead of a longer trip to Ubehebe Crater we'd considered.

This was another place with such intriguing scenery.

 

Set up shot, but looks cool.

We said goodbye to Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty and began our drive home. We took the slightly longer way, due west to Lone Pine, because I wanted to see the snowy Sierra Nevada after the walloping it got this year.

It was gorgeous! And, Lone Pine gave us a chance to gas up and get food, whereas the more direct route home is pretty desolate the whole way.

So, a three-day trip, full of interesting sights and memories created.

Death Valley: Mosaic Canyon

Since my first trip to Death Valley National Park nearly 20 years ago, I've had it in the back of my mind to return with Stace. Even if you're not a desert-lover, the landscapes are so interesting, I feel like it's a place every Californian should see once.

This Spring Break, we made it happen. We left Sunday afternoon and made the four-hour drive, arriving around dinner time to our hotel in Stovepipe Wells, within the park.

We could see the famous sand dunes from our room, so when it was dark, Stace, Violet and I went to check out the stars there. No photos because of the darkness!

In the morning, we took a short drive to Mosaic Canyon for a quick hike. This is one of those interesting locations! The walls in some spots feel like polished marble.

Cora, who no longer likes hiking or being outside, had a great time. I was so happy to watch her climbing rocks with her sister again, like they used to.

Cora especially loved exploring any caves she came across.

On our way back, one bit of polished stone we'd clambered up seemed more like a slide on the way down. We all had fun sliding down.

It was really beautiful, and perfect hiking weather.

Required Album Cover shot.