Monterey Day

(Son of a gun.  This was supposed to post like two weeks ago!  Here it is, much later than what it originally should have been.  Oops.)

If you maybe follow my photography blog (soon this one and that one will be combined), then you know that the weekend before Easter I went to Monterey and Carmel to take senior pictures for a friend of the family.  We had a fun time.  But while I was taking Katy's pictures, I was also snapping some of what was going on around me.  Hope you enjoy!

The end.

Ah, my life...

Herr I am, laying in my kind size bed at the MGM in Las Vegas. I'm here until Wednesday for WPPI (wedding and portrait photography international) convention. Good times, overwhelming, and very informative.

So this is going to be real short, since I'm laying in bed.

Last Thursday I started to type out a post about the ordeal with Riley and the energency vet clinic for 48 hours, and her near death, and her revival back to life and quick healing (and my empty pocketbook). Then I went home to find that she had gotten loose.

Talk about heart dropping. At least while she was at the vet I knew where she was, then all the sudden I didn't. Fear, worry, scared were a few of the emotions that I felt. Despite all of our efforts, I was encouraged to still go to Vegas since I did all I could at home. So I did, still filled with fear, worry, scared.

Then, yesterday morning Kaitlin called me practically in tears. Riley wad home. She found her way and let herself in through the back gate (left propped open) and doggy door. Praise God! So back on meds she went. And all seems well, with exception of the few hitch hiking fleas.

I was able to relax. And get worryless rest. Ahhhhhh...

Now I can't wait for her to jump into my arms when I get home.


- Posted from my iPhone, please excuse any typos.

A is for Apple Hill!

Slowly, bear with me, I'll get caught up on what has been going on in my life. 

Like this, about a month ago a group of friends and I went to Apple Hill for the day.  There were 4, 7, 10 of us and it was a great time.

Can you guess what's in Apple Hill?  Yep, apples. 

e started off going to one of the apple farms, which was also very commercialized.  But that's ok.  After a quick lunch, walked around, ...

checked out the trout pond, ...

sampled some homemade fudge (yum!), enjoyed the shining sun, ...

some bought apples.

It was time to move on.  To the good stuff.  To the fermented stuff.  And, no, I'm not talking apple jack.  I'm talking Jack Russell Brewery.  The stipulation for getting to borrow my mom's car, I had to bring them back beer.  And I did.

I had the hard ginger pear cider.  It was good.  We enjoyed their outdoor seating and the wonderful weather. Then we moved on to a winery.  It was ok.  They had a tasting fee which was a big ridiculous.  But the scenery was pretty.  Here's a group shot (thank you handy dandy camera remote).

Had some other fun with the camera.  Like play paparazzi with Mitch...

Then he got right up in my face about it!

Such a lovely fall day...

filled with friends, old and new.  Hi Amie!

After dinner (picture of Amie was at a pub for dinner), we drove home.  I hung out with Chris and Mitch after everyone parted ways.  From about 9:30 to midnight.  Just talking.  It was nice.

It was a nice day.

The end.

Go Wolf Pack!

A few weekends after I went to the ranch, I went to Reno.  This trip was with Devon and George to go to Devon's brother's college football game at University Nevada-Reno.
See, Reno.  "The Biggest Little City in the World".  Maybe that's an overstatement, biggest little city in the world.  But still, Reno is like Las Vegas not on steroids.  Vegas = steroids.  Reno = unsteroids.

We pulled into Reno sometime around 9pm Friday evening.  Dumped our stuff off at the hotel then headed down to scope out the gambling scene.  And you know what, there was a gambling scene.  Smoking included.  I forgot about it being legal to smoke in the casino.  Gross!  Just so you know, at one point I was up $15 from where I started.  Then the "what-if, maybe" kicked in and I kept going.  I ended up leaving down $40.  Oops. 

Saturday afternoon was the football game.  First we had breakfast.  Then I bought a Wolf Pack long sleeve hoodie.  Had to fit in you know.  Collin Kaepernick, #10, starting quarterback, future NFL star!

 

The Wolf Pack won!  70 to 45, or was it 35.  Regardless, they beat Idaho.  Collin ran in 4 or 5 of the touchdowns.  See that poof of smoke?  Yea, that cannon would go off everytime Nevada scored.  You'd think I would have gotten used to it.  But no, everytime I jumped. (Picture of Collin making touchdown.)

 

Post game photo ops.  Devon and myself.  We were waiting for Collin to come out of the locker room.

 

George and Devon.  Such a cute picture if I say so myself.

 

After the game we had pizza and wings at Collin's courtesy of Devon's parents.  Then we went back to the hotel/casino to see if we/I could win some of my money back.  No such luck. Oh well, $40 towards a weekend of entertainment isn't too shabby.

We left for home around 9:30/10ish the next morning and were home by 1:30ish.  All in all a good weekend away. 

For more pictures go here.

Weekend Away

A couple weeks ago (ok, who am I kidding?, it was like a month ago), I took a weekend out-of-house and went with my parents and Paige to visit Aunt Kate, the ranch, and other family.  I'm gonna make this brief, but full of pictures.  Because, well, it was awhile ago and I gotta get caught up somehow.

Here's a view of the ranch homestead from, well, up on a hill on another part of the property.  That little cluster of buildings toward the bottom of the picture, that's the town of Santa Margarita.  I love the ranch.  I love the history of the ranch.  Not only that it's part of California Mission's history, but also the family history.

While driving around gates have to be opened and closed.  Since dad was the only male in the truck he got suckered into official gate opener and closer volunteered to handle the job.  He's so studly!  I love my dad!

The owners of the ranch haven't allowed deer hunting on the property for the last 3 years.  Which is great because we saw a lot of bucks while we were out the drive.  I like to tell people I shot a buck while I was there.  Get it, with a camera!  Hardy har har.

Maybe one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

This weekend was "all about Paige".  You see, we have family that has a vineyard and they were harvesting this particular weekend.  And since Paige is studying wine (growing, making, partaking) in college, mom and Kate arranged a "learning weekend" (aka an excuse to visit the ranch and family, and assist in partaking of wine in large quantities).

And then there's my adorable 11th cousin, Reagan.  Daughter of my 8th cousin, Michelle.  I can never remember how the cousin to the inth degree system works, especially on my mom's side.  But isn't she a doll!

Grapes at the vineyard.  Pozo Valley Wine.  It's good stuff.  Go to their tasting room, try it and buy it.  Or just take my word and order a bottle of Zin and a bottle of Cab.  Their blend is really good too.  As is their late harvest Zin.  Heck, just get a bottle of each!

While Debbie was driving us around their property in Pozo we saw a black bear.  Which is funny, because that's what Aunt Kate was trying to find at the ranch while driving us around.  Oh well, we still saw one.  She was happy.  We were happy.  Not sure if the bear was happy.

So here's a good story.  My mom had a cassette tape (remember those, pre-CD?) of my grandparents interviewing Uncle Guy and Aunt Grace.  But the tape broke.  So, my handy dad figured out how to splice it back together, then he put it on a CD to share.  The CD player wasn't loud enough, so Aunt Kate put it on in the truck and turned the volume up.  It brought tears to my eyes to hear Grammy and Bompy's voices again.  What a sight though, there was at least 10 people gathered around the truck listening, including 2 of my cousins (these I know are 1st cousins!) who never met their maternal grandparents.

A beautiful sunset from Pozo.

Back on the ranch...  Seriously, I wanted to get some pictures of some of the cool stuff my Aunt has around her house.  Like this old sign of another ranch, the Chimineas, that my grand grampy Claude owned.

The guy not in plaid, that was my great grampy Claude, Aunt Kate and my Bompy's dad.  I never knew him.  But from all the stories I've heard, he sounds like a great guy.

One of the original Disneyland train cars.  No joke.  The owners of the ranch (no one I'm related to) bought it.  Why?  I don't know.  Kicks and giggles and to say you own the original Disneyland train.

Under the wood exterior of this massive barn is a barn made of rocks that dates back to when the California Missions were built.  In fact, it's along the mission trail between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Miguel (I think it's San Miguel).

Aunt Kate's daughter-in-law, Bonnie, shares a building with Pozo Valley Wines for her catering business and little gift shop.  She is a phenomenal cook!  Very talented!

Shall we end with a flower?  Sure, let's end with a flower.  'Cause flowers are happy and pretty and colorful.

Hope you enjoyed the not so brief recap of my weekend from a month ago.  It was such a good, refreshing time.  I always look forward to going down to the ranch, it just feels like home.  Plus it's only 15 minutes from San Luis Obispo (my ol' stompin' ground). 

For the complete album of pictures go here.

To Florida and Back, part 3

Last installment of the Florida trip...

September 10th:

Magic Kingdom day.  What can I say?  Maybe I'm bias, but Disneyland is way better.  We got there early, like an hour before the gates open.  As you can tell, there aren't many cars driving into the parking lot that early.

We rode just about every ride, some we rode twice.  I like Disneyland better.  But, to my disadvantage, the 2 parks are laid out identically.  So I knew my way around.  And so concludes Disney World.

We went to The Wine Room, which was the one thing that I absolutely wanted to, had to do while we were in Orlando.  It was so cool!  Chris and I want to open a place like it.  Hey, one, or two, can dream!  Dinner was at Dennis' sisters house.  She made an excellent Puerta Rican Stew.  I'm waiting for the recipe.  We were back at his parent's house around 10pm.

September 11th:  Last full day on the Tampa side.  We drove around some with the 'rents then they turned us loose.  We drove to the closest beach the GPS would take us to...

Insert "Picnic Beach".  In the industrial area of Tampa Bay.  I stepped in the water.  It felt like the temp of a bathtub.  So much warmer than it's west coast counterpart.

We went home where Dennis had to take a conference call for work.  Then we went to dinner at a Latin market.  My eyes were not as big as my stomach and I ended up splitting a stuffed bell pepper (still heavy and rich) with Dennis.  I was full.  We beat the storm home, just in time for the power to be out for an hour.  And in time to see the crack of lightening and hear the thunder roar while the rain came down.  Loved it, except there was no cool breeze, still just hot air.  It let up.  We went to a Super Wal-Mart.  Dennis got his hair cut.  We bought ice cream.  It was good.

September 12th:  Back to Orlando for one more night of vacation.  Early lunch with the parents, sister, and nephew.  Then the 'rents left to drive home.

(Please note, this will be the last picture you will ever see of Dennis on here again.  I promise.  More on that sometime later.)

We dropped Jeannette off at work, drove around downtown Orlando, picked up Jeannette, had dinner at Urban Flats (very good flat bread pizzas!), then went back to her house for one more night of Guitar Hero.

September 13th:  Off to the airport at 6:30am.  Flight left at 8:30am.  Slept half of the 5 1/2 hour flight.  Landed in Seattle at 11am.  Accidentally went out of the security area so had to go back through the security gate.  Oops.  Had lunch.  Waited til 1pm for my flight to Sacramento to boarded.  By 3:10pm I was back in lovely, non-humid California.  Chris and Colleen picked me up at 4pm, and I was home sweet home just shy of 6pm.

And so concludes my Florida vacation.  Maybe you noticed the lack of emotion during the trip posts, maybe that was because there was a lack of emotion during the trip.  Not from me, from my travel partner.  And so the story goes.

Any questions?

To Florida and Back, part 2

I'm back!

Monday, September 7th:  Meet the parents day.  They picked us up late morning.  Greetings all around.  Then we hit the road to make the drive from Orlando to Tampa (area).  It was a nice car ride, getting to see more of the state and getting to know D's parents.  We got to the house, dropped our stuff in our rooms, and they wanted to rest so we drove around and did some lay of the land sight seeing and shopping.  Found a dollar store, found a Panera, found a mall, found our way home.  Dinner was great, as was watching Dennis catch up, share stories and laugh with his parents.  We cleaned up and hung out.  I think it was Monday that we went bowling too.  Maybe it was Tuesday.  I can't remember.

Tuesday, September 8th:  Decided that this was the day we were going to find the jet boat tour thing.  Fast boat, maybe get wet, see some water and coastline.  But no, we could not find the place.  There was no address online and the only way the phone number was any help was if you already had reservations.  So we went to St. Petersburgh instead, to the pier, where we had lunch and went on a dolphin cruise.  Where we saw things like this...

 and this...

and I even did this...

Then we were done.  Drove home.  Picked up ice cream for dessert.  Dinner.  Either a movie or bowling.  Can't remember.

Wednesday, September 9th:  Guess what we did.  We did the dolphin cruise again!  Crazy, I know!  But this day went brought the parents with us because it's something Dennis thought they'd enjoy.  So we started the day going to their favorite Italian bakery, then the cruise where there was a ton more dolphin activity, stopped at Ruby Tuesday for an early dinner then home.

I honestly can't remember what we did that night.  I think just watched TV then hit the hay.

And with that, that's what I'm gonna do.  Hit the hay.

to be continued...

To Florida and Back, part 1

Ok.  Since the internet is working...for now...I'm gonna make this short and quick.  Let me know if you'd like me to elaborate on anything.

Wednesday, September 2nd:
I worked almost a full day at work.  Mom, dad, and Kaitlin drove me to the airport in Sacramento (they then went to IKEA).  Leg 1:  SMF to SEA where I'd stay the night near the airport in Seattle and meet up with Dennis in the morning before heading to Orlando.  Hotel in Seattle...interesting...  Hey, what can I say?  It was cheap and had a free shuttle service.  Unfortunately for me, there was a couple on the other side of the wall that went at it like rabbits late into the night.  Lovely.

Thursday, September 3rd:
Got to airport around 6:45am.  Dennis was already there, his flight landed early.  Checking baggage and going through security took forever.  Finally got through.  Meet up.  Found drugs coffee.  Waited at the terminal.  Watched bird.

Yep.  It was on the plane with us.

A 6 hour flight later and extra loop around Orlando we finally landed.  Dennis' sister was waiting to pick us up.  Oh, but did you know that when there is lightening all ground crew goes for cover for 5 minutes?  With each new flash the time starts over...45 minutes later we were finally let of the plane.  Grabbed my bag and headed out into the first taste of humidity.  Headed to Jeannette and Russell's house, aka hotel #1, for 4 nights.  Dinner, catching up (or listening in for me), relaxing, bed.

Friday, September 4th:

As you can see we got to Epcot early...empty parking lot...  But early was really only like 10ish, which really isn't too early.  Unless you're on California time, then it's 7ish, which is early.  For me.

Here I am in Italy.  Or Disney's version of Italy.  It was hot.  It was humid.  We were miserable.  And we used Disney for their air conditioning.

Flied lice anyone?

After we had had enough of Epcot, we drove around.  We tried to find an orchid garden place, but they were closed.  Maybe for good, the place looked kinda sketchy.  Then we drove around some more.  Got a little lost.  Thank goodness for Carmen Garmin (thanks Kaitlin!).  Friday night ritual in hotel #1 is guitar hero while Jeannette is at work.  So we I partook of that tradition and rocked out!

Saturday, September 5th:
Slave labor Earn your keep day.  Russell needed help moving some furniture.  So Dennis helped.  Then I had to show them all up and prove that women do have muscles.  After exhausting ourselves, it was time to get a move on.  Where to you ask?

Oh, The Holy Land Experience of course.  Words cannot express my emotion.  Ok, actually they can.  It's a joke.  Don't go there.  Don't waste your money.  The website makes it look like a large theme park (based on the Bible), but in reality it's small and on the side of the freeway.  After that lovely experience, we went to a mall.  A huge mall.  A mall that I'd never be able to afford to shop in.  And then we left.  I think is was this evening that we went out for dinner to Houlihans.  I can't remember though.

Sunday, September 6th:
Sunday we puttzed around with Jeannette.  We went to Prime Outlets that put any other Prime Outlet to shame.  Cartier.  Dooney and Burke.  Coach.  Burton and Northface...in Florida?  After using the outlets for their air conditioning we went on a quick trip to IKEA.  Yep, that's right, IKEA.  Then...well, I don't remember.  We eventually made it back to hotel #1.  Maybe more guitar hero?  I know sleep happened.

to be continued...

'Cause I'm tired and I can continue a story if I want to.

Night all!