McHenry to San Dimas

My best friend from my hometown of McHenry, Illinois came for a visit at the end of the summer.  We had a wonderful time, and she loved California.

Carol and I had reconnected before our 50th class reunion, even though we had not seen each other in years.  During 6th grade through high school, we had been good friends, and even lived in the same neighborhood.

I took her to some of my favorite places.....here she is at the Dana Point Harbor near the Ocean Institute.

We also visited Doheny State Beach in Dana Point.  Ocean waves and smells are among her favorite things.

We had to go to The Brig Restaurant....I never fail to eat there when I visit Dana Point.

A little ways from Dana Point is the world famous town of San Juan Capistrano.  

Within the town is Mission San Juan Capistrano.  Carol had never seen a California Mission, and she loved it.  We both took lots of pictures and enjoyed our Catholic heritage on display.

Despite the California drought, the Mission had lots of gardens to enjoy....from Cacti to Bouganvillia.

The lily pond was spectacular on that day.

Back in Dana Point, we went to the actual "Point".  She thought that the edge of the point looked like the face of a Native American.

The harbor was picturesque and serene.

Back home I took Carol to Big Tree Park.  This fig tree was planted in 1880, and came from Australia.  It's huge!

I think we like trees......here she is under an ancient olive tree at a place called Graber's Olives where they had two lovely gift shops.

We also visited Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Park, and her favorite exhibit were the Joshua Trees.

Duane and I had to take Carol to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Casa del Rey.  What is California without Mexican restaurants?

Another favorite of ours is the Golden Spur.  We didn't go hungry on this vacation!

And what is a blog without a baby!  Carol got to meet my son Adam, his wife Melissa, and baby Bronson.

On our final day, my plumeria bloomed, just for Carol.

So sad to see her leave and go back to McHenry.

But, my favorite part of the time we spent was when she gave me this cross that she had purchased from the Mission.......and she has its twin!  I love you Carol!

Grandma Time

Heather and I made plans to spend the day together.  It's always fun to plan some type of activity for the kids, so I suggested we go to see The Big Tree in Glendora.  I did a blog about this spot a while ago.  Duane noticed this tree when he was working at Glendora Community Hospital, and it is indeed a treasure.
 

 

The tree is a historical landmark.

 

The kids had a blast climbing all over its massive roots.

 

                                                

The tree was planted in 1880 and is a fig tree from Australia.
                                                   

 

There is a gazebo and huge planters also on the property.

 

 

I really enjoyed sharing this beautiful tree with the kids.

 

 

After lunch we wanted to continue our investigating, and found Rubel Castle, also in Glendora.

 

 

It's an old structure, very castle-like that Mr. Rubel built himself out of bottles, pieces of metal, rocks, and quite frankly.....junk!

 

 

You have to make an appointment for a tour, but we were able to see some of the architecture from the outside walls.

 

 

 

The bell/clock tower was very interesting....the clock has animal symbols rather than numbers.

 

Heather pointed this out to the children.

 

I think she enjoyed it as much as the kids.

 

 

 

What a treat our little field trip was!  We have plans to go again to some other points of interest near home!

 

 

 

 

La Jolla

After our excursion to Santa Barbara, we just had to get back to the beach.  For one thing, it's about a 30 degree difference in temperature.  We've been having it way too hot in San Dimas, while the beach communities are pretty much 70's.

 

We chose the La Jolla Cove Suites hotel.  It is right across the street from the beach, and we had a very nice balcony where we could enjoy all the activities going on.

 

 

 

Here are a couple of views from our room.  Check out the sea gull on our railing in the 2nd picture.

 

 

After some lovely traffic jams on our way down to La Jolla, we were finally able to relax with a nice bottle of Cabernet and dinner at a vintage restaurant near the hotel.  It's called Brockton Villa, and it used to be someone's house that was built in 1894.

 

 

It was still light enough outside to take in some of the views of the cove.  We saw sea lions, caves and beach goers.

 

 

In the park we happened upon these two huge yucca trees that have probably been there as long as the restaurant we just left.

 

 

The park is very nice by beach standards and has sidewalks along the water, and even a grassy area.

 

 

Here's another view of our hotel from the water's edge.  On the roof they have a continental breakfast each day.  What a panoramic view!

 

 

The next day we did a walking tour of the town and came upon this pub called Hennessey's where we shared a hamburger sampler of 4 different hamburger flavors.  Yum!  One thing they don't lack in this town are restaurants of all types.

 

 

On our walking tour we loved the look of this gorgeous restaurant.  We were up on Prospect Street looking out toward the ocean, and down at some of the tables.  The CrabCatcher was going to be our destination restaurant for dinner.

 

 

We were lucky enough to get the best table in the house which had a huge picture window overlooking the cove.  The meal was scrumptious, and afterwards we couldn't wait to explore what we saw through the window.

 

 

What we found was a huge cave that people ride through on kayaks.

 

 

You could walk right out where you would be right on top of the cave, and of course my fearless husband did this despite the sign.

 

 

We walked along toward the hotel and saw more spectacular scenery.....including these pelicans resting on the cliff.

 

 

The Pacific Coast has beautiful sunsets.  Unfortunately on our last night it was quite cloudy, but we still were able to capture some of it.  Can't wait until next time!