California Dreamin'...again

I grew up in coastal southern California, and lived in the same house as far back as I can remember. Well, except for when I lived in the garage, that is.

After we kids were all raised, my parents sold that house and moved to Texas. Even though I never moved as a child, I never felt like any certain place was "home". Till now. I love the area we live in now. Not necessarily this house, though it's a perfectly fine home for our needs at this time, but I love the people, the mountains and streams, the proximity to things I need (airports etc), and can finally imagine staying in one place indefinitely. It's a good feeling, though I suspect it has a little bit more to do with finally being happy and at peace on the inside than the actual dwelling, but still, location does matter.

Growing up I guess I had my hands full just coping with my daily existence, because I never really stopped to look around and notice the area I lived in. I didn't have any special sense of appreciation for the beauty that surrounded me in California. Never noticed the vast variety of vegetation, or the unique architecture of the buildings. I didn't appreciate the mildness of the climate, nor did I appreciate the topography...the mountains, oceans, valleys, hills, rivers in such close proximity. I think I focused mostly on the discrepancy between those who have and those who don't. There's a lot of that everywhere, but it's especially apparent in some areas.

I wasn't well traveled back then, so I suppose lack of point of reference for comparison can be partly blamed. That and the understandably myopic perspective of childhood. But thanks to my employment, we've been able to visit fairly often through the past few years, and every time I go, I'm kind of in awe that I lived there for so long without really seeing it. California is lovin' beautiful!

We just spent the past week there. A friend offered to let the kids and I use his RV for the week to go beach camping. It sounded like a great adventure, so we set out to do it. Alas, because the campgrounds are all chock-full-o-people who did something called planning in advance, there were no more reservations to be had. Undaunted, we decided to use the RV anyway, sans hookups. It was akin to a great fort for Bunch & Gator. They loved just being in it.

My kids have a fairy godmother in their lives, and we parked the RV in her gated parking lot. Alicia is one of my oldest, truest friends, and she has adopted my kids as a kind of surrogate niece and nephew I think. She spoils them shamelessly. It's like they have a Sugar Auntie or something. She has nearly single-handedly filled their childhoods with magic and awe. They adore her...and with good reason. You won't encounter many people in this world as great-hearted as Alicia.

This trip included eating at Mc Donalds ("they have breakfast at Mc Donalds?" was the astounding insight of Wednesday morning. Ages 8 and 11, and they still had no idea! Score one for me!) A trip to the tide pools at Corona Del Mar...which I love. A night at the movies with Auntie to see Wall-E, compliments of Alicia. A day at Disneyland and California Adventure on the 53rd birthday of Disneyland...again with their fairy god mother. A wedding reception for the son of some dear friends...I used to babysit him! The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach with The Auntie Who Knows It Like The Back Of Her Hand. A ride on the Aquabus through the harbor and past the Queen Mary. A ride on a city bus (more novel to my punks that a jet plane. I know. They're warped.) The mandatory visit to The Golden Spoon...my favorite yogurt shop. An old-time candy shoppe where we watched the original, far superior Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while enjoying some treats. And missing our flight home.

Yes. Missing our flight. For our last night we decided to sleep in the RV at the airport, since that's where the owner parks it, and since our flight was so early. There are a number of things that happened which resulted in us missing the flight...by mere moments. They shut the aircraft door just as we got to the departure gate. If any one of the various time sinks hadn't happened, then we'd have made it. So there's no one thing to blame, but it was a good lesson for the three of us and hopefully we've learned it. Since all the flights for the next 3 days were sold out, we decided to do the only thing that would get us home, and that was rent a one-way car and drive to San Diego, where we'd be able to fly out and get home only 12 hours later than originally planned.

So we did. Thank you airport for free Wi-Fi. Thank you Expedia.com for the reasonable instant-online rental rate ($42.00 one way plus tax and gas). Thank you California for having a lovely coastline to drive down. Thanks Newport Beach and La Jolla for having beautiful temples we could stop and and see for the first time, since our luggage with all our church clothes actually made the flight that we missed, and neither kid wanted to attend in their play clothes. Thanks to all the people who helped us on our way. We had a great trip and it was wonderful to see our friends and Auntie.

Tide pools at Little Corona

Beach day fun

Riding the Aqua bus through the harbor...another 1st

The Queen Mary was at one time the largest ship in the world.

Auntie's favorite tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Leafy Sea Dragon

Gator & Bunch with their fairy god mother and Momma BlueThis is the entrance to California Adventure.
I can't believe I got this shot with no one else in it!
It was unbelievably crowded that day!

A visit to the La Jolla LDS Temple. So beautiful!