Official Day 7 (Return trip 1 of 2)

Nothing too exciting to report today. We took a leisurely route from Solvang to Santa Barbara and from there through the tip of LA and back up I-15 to Vegas.
We stopped for lunch in Rancho Cucamonga and gas in Baker.
Once we were 'checked in' in Vegas, we found some food and called it a night.
Here are some extra shots from the week.

Official Day 6

Today was a simple joy. I spent the morning Golfing with Digdug at some simple golf course in Buellton. It was a little 9 hole course but we had fun, I actually got par on 2 holes! Which didn't help my score because I had 10 strokes on two other holes.After an afternoon nap we tripped on down to Gaviota Beach and explored with the kids (much less tar.) The waves were pretty and solid, lots of kelp and sea grass. We even saw some whales playing. That was pretty cool! You can see the whale in the center.

Tomorrow we drive to vegas and thats the beginning of our two-day re-entry. :)
Check out the photo additions to Day 5

Official Day 5 We woke up in Cambria and walked along our favorite Moonstone Beach. GLORIOUS!

Still a little foggy, but beautiful and relaxing. Cam just wanted to play with the sand and rocks...and avoid any pictures. We tried to take a family picture...but she wasn't having it.

We drove back to the condo in Solvang, relaxed a bit and then headed out again to hit some shops. We found a christmas shop with tons of ornaments, so we grabbed a few.
Then later in the evening we went for a hike to Nojoqui Falls.
(Don't ask me how to pronounce it.)
The waterfall was a mere trickle but I think it was still a fun 40 min diversion. It was cool to see a small stream falling from like 50 feet above and disappearing into the moss and trickling out the bottom. Driving back the 5 miles to our Condo we stopped to grab a picture of this guy crossing the road. I've never seen one in the wild this close! it was crazy!
It could've ripped my face off! He was honestly 5 inchs wide....probably would've been 8+ with his legs stretched out!

Official Day 4
We relaxed for the morning, then picked up a rental car and headed north. Peach and Bean and I got a room in Cambria, CA 90 minutes up the coast. We used to come here a lot before we moved back to Utah. We stopped at our favorite campground/tide pools in Montana de Oro.
As always it was beautiful, even though the entire day was foggy and dark. It made the waves much more exciting! We only saw like 3 or 4 starfish. In the past we've seen 30-40 each time. But we usually came to visit in the spring/summer. Bean had fun playing around in and around the rocks. When we first got there, a rogue wave washed over the tide pools and we all raced back inland to escape it... Peach's shoes got soaked.
We finished the drive up to Cambria, walked a few shops before they closed. We ate dinner at Linn's, as we have many times in the past. I had Lamb Chops :>) We picked up some jars of Ollalaberry Jam to try.
It's been a delightful return to an old favorite place. We may have visited the 'beach' on Day 3 but where we went today were our kind of beaches, rocky, fierce, powerful and majestic.

Official Day 3

Well we spent the day relaxing from our drive. We didn't do much other than just a trip to the nearest beach. Refugio. It was great to see our bean enjoying the waves, she just stood waiting for each wave and bracing herself for when it flowed back. She had fun and we had fun watching her.
About 6 minutes into our playing, Peach looked at the bottom of her feet...covered in bits of TAR! mine too! it looked like we were polka-dotted blackfeet. It was so nasty! The tar would not come off no matter what. We ended up buying two bottles of fingernail polish remover to clean ourselves up.
Poor bean's little shoes were trashed. Luckily the polish remover worked for cleaning our feet...but my fingernails still have black lines.
We ended up buying Bean a new pair of shoes in Solvang called WeeSqueak. they are super cute, with every step she squeaks.
Darling!
Like a bell on a cat.
Love it!

Pics from the beach.

Official Day 2

We took off early from Reno, (cause the bean woke up before 6am!) and started driving.
Our first stop was the Jellly Belly Factory. I was in heaven, a beautiful array of millions of beans in every color and flavor!

We toured the factory, of course Cambria was more interested in the tour guides microphone than the fabulous display of bean automation below.

Before our tour we stopped to eat at In-N-Out...something we could never get back home. It was pretty yummy, I grabbed a bumper sticker for our RoofBag to show our support.
We have loved the roofbag, we got 3 duffles that fit perfectly inside it. So at each stop we carry in three long bags instead of forty little bags. We love it!

We started a tripometer when we began, and just as we came over the hill to Pismo Beach, as the ocean burst upon our view and we gloried in its beauty....I checked the tripometer...Exactly 1000 miles on the dot from when we left. That was rad!
Tomorrow we'll rest and explore Solvang...and find me some Wooden shoes! YEah!

"Put your hands together!! and Stomp on the devil's head!.."
-some song on the Sirius radio "Praise" channel

Official Day One
We survived day one. We left homebase around 9:30a and after a quick lunch in Wells, NV we pushed through to arrive in Reno at 5:30 (Reno time.) A relatively uneventful day and much easier than we expected. We finished with a buffet at Circus Circus, a few midway games and that was it. Tomorrow we’ll stop at the Jelly Belly factory and then drive on down to Solvang.

Here we are taking off. I drove the first 3+ hrs.Our travel mates...

Here's the bean and her travel mates. :)
We stopped at a rest stop in Valmy (to clear the air in the car. :-))
Cam decided to join the other two in picking "flowers" but she gave them to their mom instead of us ... silly billy. more tomorrow.

The SUMMER OF US!

Well, we began the 'summer of us' tour tonight in Ogden. You bet! O-town. An old college friend of ours sings a cappella and his group T-minus-5 hosts A Cappella Stock yearly. A great collection of vocal talent. We got a baby sitter for our lil bean and the kids, had dinner at the Athenian (DELICIOUS!!) and then went on to see most of the show.
Tonic Sol Fa was the highlight, their style of vocal instrumenting is fast and catchy. We loved it.
What a way to start our trip.

I'll detail the route and activities tomorrow.

This is Tonic Sol Fa. Peach had a hard time watching them cause their main voice guy was so ove the top flamin' some day I'll do an impression for ya. She loved listening to them, just couldn't watch him. :D
Tomorrow we drive to RENO, the biggest little city...should be fun and games after that. if we survive 7 of us in a van all day.

go team.

I found this funny bit at the bookstore.
They're basically little round rocks
covered with some sparky stuff.
hard to read but it says
"Thew hard on the Groud, only."