California vacation - part 1

Our California vacation started out to a rocky start. As I mentioned on my pre-vacation post, we weren't flying out of Tallahassee until 4:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated the time we would arrive in Grover Beach. I had hoped we would get there around 1:00 a.m. California time - which would be 4:00 a.m. our time (yes, I miscalculated the time difference in the pre-vacation post!) Well, it didn't quite end up like that. Of course we were extremely delayed leaving out of Atlanta. Why was I even surprised?!? It is to be expected. It is Atlanta after all. Needless to say, by the time we finally arrived at my aunt's condo in Grover Beach and got in bed, it was well after 3:00 a.m. their time (aka, 6:00 a.m. Florida time). We were exhausted!

We did sleep until 10ish, but even that wasn't enough. But when you have limited time in a location and a lot of people to see, you have to get a move on. So we headed to San Luis Obispo, met up with my parents, dropped off the rental car, and then went out to see where my grandma was buried. Here is a photo of me and mom at grandma and grandpa's grave.


There was this house on the way to my grandparents' house that had boots lined up along their fence. It was such a cool photo op!!!

The sign above my grandparents' garage:


Beautiful flowers growing around the garage:


My grandpa's old '65 mustang. I really wanted to buy it and bring it home and rebuild it. But to haul it across the country would have cost a small fortune. :-( So I'll have to settle for the memories of it.


My always had grandparents' so many different types of fruit in their backyard: limes, loquats, oranges, grapefruits, pears! It was so much fun to grab fresh fruit off the trees.

A sentimental moment and some family.

My grandparents' house.


That night we still hadn't adjusted to the time change, so we headed back to the condo early and went to bed. It was glorious!

The next morning we were meeting my parents at The Apple Farm for breakfast. As we pull into the restaurant, I look over and recognize a cute little blue car. "Wow!" I thought, "it looks like a smurf . . ." Well, lo and behold, when we walked into the restaurant there was Kara and Ben!!! They had driven all the way down from Monterrey to surprise Jeremy and me! OMG!!! It was such a wonderful surprise! I had been a tad disappointed because it had looked like I wasn't going to the opportunity to meet up with Kara. And then next summer she is heading to China. So I was sad thinking that I wouldn't get to see her until possibly 2011 when we attempt to go to China to visit. So I was estatic when I realized she had come down to visit for the day!!

Mom and dad:


Jeremy and me:

Kara and me:


Kara and Ben:


And the four of us (it was REALLY bright out!):


After breakfast, Kara, Ben, Jeremy, and I headed out on our own. We went to Morro Bay and walked along the street looking at all the shops. Ben attempted to climb Morro Rock, as you can see from one of the photos below. And then we sat and chilled with a beer. It was a great afternoon. Then we headed back to my grandparent's house for the BBQ. It was about that time we realized that we (ok, more like Kara, Ben, and Jeremy) got really burned from our Morro Bay adventures. Whoops!

Ben trying to "climb" Morro Rock:

The boys. I just love this series of them.

An old woodie (hehe) all refurbished.

A fun (and yummy) candy store!

Morro Rock and the surrounding bay is so beautiful!

That night my uncle and some of the cousins bar-b-qued and we all ate outside on grandma and grandpa's old deck. At the end of the night I had an emotional breakdown. Kara and Ben had left to drive back home of course and then I realized as we were driving away from the house, that this was the last time I would get to see that house. My mom, uncle, and aunt were actually in negotiations at that time with a possible buyer. It happened so fast. All my life I had hoped that they wouldn't sell the house when my grandma and grandpa passed. I somehow hoped that I'd find a way to be able to purchase it from the rest of the family. The location is perfect and I have always wanted to live in California. There was always this little voice in the back of my head saying "this is the way to own land!" But unfortunately, we don't have that kind of money. And no one asked us anyway. So I realized that I would never again get to see the house that I spent so many of my childhood summers. It was a sad night.

The next morning we got on the train and headed down to L.A. But I'll save that post for another day.