A Road Trip

On Sunday the 10th of January, a good friend of Lizzie was having a show in Apple Valley, she asked me if I wanted to go, and Lulu and I said  yes!

Apple Valley is near the town of Victorville about 1 1/2 hour drive from home, on the way to Vegas. We decided to go a little farther to Barstow and stop at the Calico Ghost town.

I had been there a couple of times and really there was not much to it. In 1881 silver was discovered and Calico became one of the riches mines in the State it produced $86 million in silver and another $45 million in Borax, at its peak it had a population of 1,200 people, with 22 saloons and a red light district. Around 1907 when the price of silver dropped, Calico became a ghost town . Nowadays thanks to Mr Walter Knott (founder of Knottsberry Farm) Calico once again is alive and well with many building restored and is not a Regional Historic Place. It has changed a lot since I first visited.

The School

Old Fire Truck (restored)

It was a fun visit. After Calico we drove back to Victorville and stopped on the way to see "Elmer's Bottle Ranch", a forest of over 200 bottle trees on Route 66.  https://californiathroughmylens.com/elmers-bottletree-ranch

It was interesting!

We then went on to Apple Valley where we stayed at the Hilltop Tavern and Inn, which was also the venue for the show we came to see. We stayed in room 10 and rested for a while, later we went to have dinner at the restaurant and watched the show.

The Inn

CalAmity band and line dancing

Lizzie's friend Cathryn is the leader of CalAmity a band of 5 women. Her mother (81) and her aunt  (in her 70's) were there too. It was fun because they were drinking beer and wine and they got up to dance, they asked some guys to dance too.  It was inspirational! :)

Then we went back to the room and went to sleep. I want to mention that Lulu was a very well behaved dog the whole trip, I think she enjoyed the road trip as much as we did. we did :)

View from our room

Thanks Lizzie for a fun trip!

December Recap

December was a good month. It was a good month to end 2019, here's how it went...

Sandy came December 12, we went to San Diego the 13th and 14th. I celebrated my 76th birthday with my daughters!!! It was such a fun time!

We did the #Decemberreflections in Instagram, I enjoyed it.
Lizzie and I had a very nice Christmas, with lots of great gifts :)

Lizzie and I  visited with my in laws in Burbanks, it was nice to see Mary, Dewey, Bettie, Lee, David, Iris, Alexander, Cristina, Rick, Jameson and the baby.

We went to several places for lunch/dinner: Bizarra Capital (meh), Reventaco, Ruth's Chris (GREAT!) La Huasteca, Avila's El Ranchito, Black Angus..we ended 2019 by going to La Huasteca again , I had two great Mango Margaritas.
Jennifer came to visit, so did Norbert. I talked to my sister Nuria, she called me on my birthday (so did Mia but I didn't hear the phone when she called) Talked to Sandy on Mondays and texted with Tristan.
I enjoy living with Lizzie!! :)
I went to the podiatrist  on the 31st
It rained a lot and it was pretty cold for Southern California.
It was a good month :)

MOVIES I MATCHED IN DECEMBER

BOOKS I READ IN DECEMBER

Christmas morning (2)

I just finished writing a long post, and when I was trying to add pictures the whole thing dissapeared. :(

I wrote about the fun I had opening my Christmas gifts and  happy that Santa knew I like shiny bright things for my garden!
I got several solar things, and today Lizzie and I placed them in the garden. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow. They were all solar and really nice.

One I placed in the front  are where the white fence is, others around the fountain, the hummingbirds hangings are next to the hummingbird feeder :)

I also got many other things, a Barça cap, a robe, some brush crayons (I really need to start painting) and much more!!

I'm looking forward to go to my chocolate cooking class in Newport Beach. That'll be fun!

Lulu got some toys and she was happy!

THANK YOU SANTA

Merry Christmas, Bon Nadal, Feliz Navidad, Bon Jul

An Adventure

Some of my happy times are watching the sunset and the beach. I wanted to see one more sunset at the beach before 2020, and since it was still my birthday week Lizzie and I decided to combine them on the 21st

We left home a little past 3, there was quite a bit of traffic in some areas of Beach Blvd, as usual. I had asked N for the beach pass, and we arrived at the beach around 4:20.

I told Lizzie I wanted to get my feet wet too, so I took a beach towel to clean and dry my feet afterwards. We parked the car and walked on the sand towards the shore.

Big surprise!!! we reached the end? of the sand, and there was like a 4 feet ledge of heavy packed sand all the length of the beach, the sand had been pushed by the high tides, and it was now low tide.We looked over the ledge and tried to decide how to get down to the shore. I am now sorry I didn't take a picture to show how far down to the shore it was. L started first so she could help me down, she started slowly but the sand being sandy and shifty started sliding down and she fell on her butt, but she made it OK, then it was my turn. I've never been very sporty, and now at 76 even less so. I tried a few times but the sand kept shifting and it look so far down to the water. Finally I sort of slid down and it got so it was hard to stop and  kept on going till I was almost by the water.

My iphone camera left a little dot on my forehead in the picture

The sunset over Catalina was beautiful, and I did get my feet wet!

It was pretty chilly

Lizzie holding a big stick left in the surf

The sunset colors were amazing, the water cold but refreshing, we enjoyed it very much, but then we had to get back to the dry beach, which meant climbing up the big wall of sand!

Again Lizzie went first, it took her a while to find some footing as the sand  kept on shifting, but she made it OK. Then it was my turn!

I tried and tried but it was a step up and 3 steps down. We tried holding to each end of the towel and Lizzie would try to get me up, but she kept sliding, the sand shifting. We were the only people at the beach and I had passing thoughts of the tide rising and taking me away!,  finally I started digging on the wall of sand trying to dig deep enough that would hold my foot it was hard work but after several tries I reached the top and Lizzie helped me up. I was covered in wet sand (my pants had got wet when I walked on the water).  We rested a few minutes while I cleaned the sand of my feet and legs and clothes. The sky was bright red and orange and we turned toward the water for one last picture.

That was quite an adventure for me!!!

Afterwards we drove downtown Huntington Beach and had dinner at Avila's El Ranchito.

I had a bowl of chicken soup with rice with avocado, a taco, chips and salsa and a Margarita

I needed that!  ;)

A fun evening 

My 76th Birthday!

WOW 76, hard to believe, but I'm happy to say that this birthday finds me in good health with a very positive outlook in life, and very happy and grateful to my daughters.

My daughters got together to give me a wonderful birthday. Lizzie made reservations at the Wyndham hotel in San Diego for the night of December 14th. She also made reservations to Ruth's Chris Restaurants. Sandy came on Friday from Sacramento and we picked her up at the airport.

We left on Saturday and checked at the hotel, they got an upgrade and our room was a suite with a wonderful view of the San Diego bay and Harbor for Lizzie and me, Sandy got a room with a great view of  the city of San Diego.

Also had a lovely view of the sunset

We had a really spectacular dinner at Ruth's Chris Restaurant,https://www.ruthschris.com/  within walking distance from the hotel. The Restaurant, the service and the food was first class all the way. Best steak ever!

Juicy, tender, great ribeye steak!

 

                                                                                              My beautiful daughters

Yummy creme brulee

After dinner we went back to the hotel and got ready to go aboard the Star of India for a night of poetry (Lizzie started the program with a beautiful poem) and music. Sorry I couldn't post a picture.

https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/star-of-india/

Star of India

It was a really wonderful day and I can't thank my daughters enough for giving me such a great gift to celebrate my birthday. 

Of course Lulu enjoyed the day as well by having a puppachino

On Monday we took Sandy to the airport and she went back to Utah, Thank you Sandy for coming to spend this time with us. I really loved having my girls together for my celebration.

Tuesday the 17th was my proper birthday and Lizzie and I went to La Huasteca for drinks and tacos. Here I was serenaded by the staff and given a cheesecake with berries.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

November recap

November flew by! It was a good month, lots of rain which was needed too.

1. All Saints Day. I put a rose and a candle for Marvin. At night L and I went to Santa Monica to see      Steve Poltz. I enjoyed it very much.
2. It hailed!
3. DST. Days get dark sooner :(  Went to Lakewood Park with L and Lulu
4. N came over, we had Indian dinner.
7. Went to Kohls with L. Late lunch at Tempo in Brea.
8-12  - Working at clearing stuff in the garage and taking lots of things to Goodwill.
13. Brunch at Scotty's in Whittier. Chicken fried steak, eggs, biscuit and gravy.

14. Went to the new taco place in town, it was good.
15.  S, MT and T to Cancun Mexico. I made corned beef/roast beef tacos.
16- L to San Diego. I stayed home. Went to TJ's  to get holiday chocolates.
18. Our financial advisor came over.
19. L's Birthday! @ DISNEYLAND & California Adventures! Had a great time, walked 7.4 miles.
      Wen to Happy Hour to New Moon.

20. Rain
21. Black Angus for L's birthday dinner. Was amazing.
23-24  L to Sand Diego, met with friends.
26.  Went to La Huasteca for Happy Hour/Taco Tuesday. Very good! Got a free Chambord Margarita          yummy!

28. Thanksgiving. N didn't come, he wasn't feeling well and it was too rainy. L and I went to 20/60.           Not a traditional meal. S and family canceled the Pocatello trip because of big snow.
29.  L and I to Anthony's for a color and cut for me, and a cut for L (BD present) Had tapas dinner at         Phlight. Very good.

30. Last day of November. Library, got some good books and it made me happy.

MOVIES I'VE WATCHED IN NOVEMBER

BOOKS I'VE READ IN NOVEMBER