This Good Thing Must Come to an End

Our final day of the road trip was spent doing a few things we hadn't had a chance to do earlier. Our chosen breakfast establishment was Brekkies by Chomp. On the way, Matt and Joe stopped and ordered some Aebleskiver one of the things still on our to-do list. These warm round pancake balls are bigger than a donut hole but smaller than a muffin. They are denser than a typical American pancake and covered in powdered sugar and raspberry sauce. The five of us shared three while we waited in line at Brekkies. Breakfast was good, but because we were seated outside, we fought with a bee who kept buzzing around our table. Eventually, it landed in my syrup cup and I promptly covered it with my receipt so that it couldn't escape. Our friend's death was tragically sweet.

After breakfast, we drove to Solvang Bakery where I purchased some bread and pastries. I saw a flour sack towel that made me laugh out loud and on impulse I purchased it. It still makes me smile as I think of the imprinted saying.

     "I hate it when I mean to buy seedless grapes but instead I accidentally get...         well you know...oreos."

It was time to say goodbye to Little Denmark and head back to Santa Barbara. We decided to walk down Stearn's Wharf since we only had about 90 minutes before it was time to hit the road again. I would have liked to have visited the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center, but sadly, there wasn't enough time. We did get to look at the local artists selling their masterpieces along the sidewalk. There were a lot of interesting and not-so-interesting works of art.

Before we left Santa Barbara, we made a quick trip to the very first Motel 6. In 1962, two contractors opened the very first one in Santa Barbara and it is still there. Our Trolley guide told us about it and we knew we had to go by and take a photo. After all, Motel 6 was always Matt's motel of choice in our early years of marriage. The original cost of a night's stay was you guessed it, $6.00 a night. Our guide told us that over the July 4th weekend, there was a two-night minimum stay and people paid over $800 for those two nights. That's incredible. At that rate, they better leave more than just the light on for me!

Our last stop was back to Newbury Park. We arrived a little before 2:00 p.m. and the plan was to go to a late lunch with Marc and family. Marc arrived home right after us from an ocean swim. He is training for an Ironman Triathalon in October. We tried several restaurants but either the restaurant was almost closing (The Waffle Experience), the wait was too long (Lazy Dog and Bandits) or it was just closed (Red Robin). So we ended up at Little Calf Creamery for some salads and sandwiches. The nice thing about this place was that it also sells ice cream, shakes, and malts!

Back at the house, we played a few games. Jackie convinced even Matt to play who is notoriously NOT a game person. It was a fun time relaxing and laughing together. Around 6:00 pm, we were back in the car for the final leg of the journey home.

Matt drove home which gave me time to rest a little, peruse my newly purchased Subpar Parks book and catch up on some podcasts. One of the podcasts we listened to was Alpha-Bytes. Zach and his friend Raysan started this podcast a few years ago.

We listened to "P is for Phineas" about their adopted dog. It was nice to hear Zach's voice while we drove. He might not have been able to be with us in person, but listening to his voice on the podcast, made me happy. It felt like he joined us on the trip in a small way.

We arrived back in San Diego and dropped off Joe around 9:15 pm. Both Joe and I had to get up for work the next morning, so I was glad to get home before the crack of dawn. Although it was a short little trip, I am happy with what we were able to see and do. There were some educational parts to it, some goofy things, a good amount of relaxing, and a few more stories and private jokes were born. All in all a nice time. 

To view more photos from our trip: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157808878566300&type=3

Waffles, Birds and Rembrandt

 In true road trip fashion, Saturday was a busy day of unique and educational activities. We started the day with breakfast at The Belgian Cafe. I had french toast, Matt had chicken fried steak and eggs and the boys each had waffles. We also tried the cafe's Danish sausage. The food was good, the service was quick, and music from the 70s and 80s played in the background. Matt was a happy camper.

After breakfast, we visited the Hans Christian Andersen Museum which was on the second floor of a bookstore. The little museum was interesting, and the bookstore was a place you could easily spend the day. I purchased a Han Christian Andersen Fairy Tales book and also a book on the National Parks called Subpar Parks. The second book is a funny book about the worst reviews the parks have received on social media. It will be an enjoyable read and it has interesting facts and tips about each park.

The forecast was 87 degrees, so after some time perusing many books, we decided to get the outdoors activity taken care of before it was too hot outside. Joe had found the perfect place for us to visit just two miles outside of town. It was OstrichLand USA. We purchased food and fed ostriches and emus. There were many to look at and feed, but you could tell that they were getting full from all of the people feeding them. There were warnings of ostriches grabbing the bowls out of visitors' hands and I watched one aggressive bird try very hard to do just that to a lady. You could purchase an ostrich egg for $50 which was about the same as 18-24 chicken eggs. That would be some big omelet!

We headed back to Solvang and completed the self-guided tour of the Santa Ines Mission. There was a small museum with paintings, tools, and assorted religious artifacts. We were able to see some of the original arches of the building and some flooring from the first seminary in California.

Next, we visited the Elverhoj Museum of History & Art. It was located in a residential part of the town and had been handcrafted in the 1950s by a local artist and his wife. It was built in the style of an 18th-century Danish farmhouse and later turned into a museum when the heirs wanted a more modern home. The museum has lots of interesting information about the history of Solvang and Danish culture. It also has a really nice exhibit of 21 small etchings made by Rembrandt and an exhibit documenting the work of the people of Denmark to rescue 95% of their Jewish population during WWII when the country was invaded.

Elverhoj Museum

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering through shops and looking for an unusual gift for David's friend, DeRon. Poor guy. This has become an unsolicited tradition for DeRon. I also found a Christmas ornament to mark our time in Solvang and of course, there were occasional stops for ice cream, fudge, and beef jerky.

Dinner was at Tower Pizza which was on the ground floor of a cool round castle-looking tower and then we played some board games in the boys' hotel room. One was an "Apples to Apples" type game that David bought at the bookstore called "Prepare to Die" based on the movie Princess Bride. The day came to an end with Matt and David trying out the pool and jacuzzi and me falling fast asleep.

It's a South Facing Beach

 It has been a long hard year and I needed a road trip to rejuvenate. Zach is in Frankfurt and COVID restrictions didn't allow me to plan a trip to Germany yet. Joe is working and saving his vacation time for other upcoming trips, and I am busy moving into a new school building and hiring staff, so this trip would need to be another mini-trip. Since Zach isn't able to join us, we gained a new passenger in Matt.

We left San Diego around 6:00 p.m. with a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Our destination was Marc and Jackie's house. Marc is Matt's youngest brother and he and Jackie live in Newbury Park just north of Thousand Oaks. We made good time and arrived around 9:30 p.m, greeted with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Joe and David played games with their cousin Alex and his wife Cata while the rest of us visited for a while. It was late for me, so after joining in a few rounds of a new game, I was off to bed.

On Friday morning, Marc treated us to his special Lemon Ricotta Zucchini pancakes which were very yummy. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries and Jackie's homemade zucchini muffins as well. We were on the road to Santa Barbara by 10:00 am but will return to Newbury Park on our journey home.

The drive to Santa Barbara was uneventful. Matt drove so that I could join a work meeting from the backseat of the car. The reception wasn't great as we drove along the coast, and eventually, my phone dropped me from the meeting. That was okay though because we had arrived. We took a tour on the Santa Barbara Trolley and for the next 90 minutes saw the sites and learned about Santa Barbara and Montecito the neighboring community. We learned that there are a number of celebrities including Carol Burnett, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges, and dozens more that have homes and spend at least part of their time in Montecito. Our goal was to decide what places to return to after the tour was over. Our tour guide was full of interesting facts and had even lived in San Diego. He let us know that Santa Barbara is a south-facing beach which can be confusing to those of us who always think that the ocean is what you see when you look west.

We had a list of things to do, so when the tour was over, we headed to State Street to find a place to eat. We settled on Joe's Cafe,

established in 1928. The food was decent and our waitress was nice. The service was a little slow, but it gave us time to relax and enjoy each other's company. My stomach did not agree with my meal and our time in Santa Barbara was cut short. It was less than an hour to Solvang where we would be staying the next two nights.

After checking into our hotel, Hotel Corque, my stomach had started to feel a bit better. We walked around the town trying to get acclimated to the layout. As is common in most small towns, nearly all of the shops were closed by 5:00 p.m. The guys picked up dinner at Don Nachos and brought it back to our hotel rooms. They ate their dinner on the patio outside our room. My friend, Wendy had recommended the Danish waffle, so I purchased one and shared it with the boys. It is a sweet flakey pastry filled with creme and a raspberry jam. Very rich and delicious. I also bought a creme puff and saved it for the morning.

Our hotel room is lovely. The hotel is newly remodeled and modernized. Joe informed Matt, "We don't normally stay at such nice hotels on our road trips." We will spend the day exploring Solvang and its tasty food. Tomorrow we will return to Santa Barbara before heading back to Marc and Jackie's. Time to get some breakfast!

Friends, Bugs and Disney Dreaming

Our last morning in Big Bear was all about finishing the rest of the food we had so that we didn't have to throw much away. I used the leftover potatoes and corn from the night before along with some onion and tomatoes from taco night so create some fried potatoes. Joe, Zach and I had breakfast burritos and David ate the last two pancakes from a previous breakfast. We packed up our stuff, cleaned the kitchen, and I attended one more short meeting while the trash was taken to a local site.

This is the first road trip with my new car Harvey, a Honda HRV. It is the bigger cousin to my red Fit and you would think we would have had plenty of space. It is surprising how 3 bags of games, a guitar, a Labo kit, and lots of suitcases will fill up the back in no time. It's crazy to remember that nine years ago we took a 14-day trip in the cutest little red car you ever did see with such a small amount of luggage and stuff.

Before leaving Big Bear, we took a quick drive up to Pine Summit, the camp where the two older sons attended AWANA camp for so many summers. It has different owners now and when the time came for David to attend, AWANA had changed their camp to a campground in Idyllwild. All we could do was peer through the closed gate before heading down the mountain and on to the next adventure.

On the way home, we stopped to visit our friends the Eastons who live in Running Springs, about 30 minutes from Big Bear. We were able to visit with the whole family and catch up on what everyone is doing. Wade and Judi have a cool house and are keeping busy with some renovation and doing ministry. Ashleigh and Alexander are working, but we still got to visit with both and see how they have grown into young adults. They have a handful of animals including a dog who doesn't like strangers (so we didn't get to meet him), chickens, ducks, and lizards. Everyone got a good laugh, when they saw my reaction after we were shown the cockroaches they were raising to feed the lizard. Yes, you read that correctly, they raise cockroaches! Not your average little brown roaches, these were big two inch black disgusting things. Just writing about it gives me the heebie jeebies all over again.

It so happens that Downtown Disney had re-opened on the very. same day we were headed home, so we had to take a detour and at least get close to Disneyland. We had our temperatures checked before we entered the security bubble and there were cue lines outside of the stores. World of Disney had the largest

line. Portable hand-washing stations were all over the place and cast members greeted us along the way with a cheery "Welcome Back." We walked the length of Downtown Disney and David and Joe went to the gates ensuring that the parks were still there. We've been a little sad not being able to go to the Happiest Place on Earth in a while. We had an early dinner outside at Earl of Sandwich except Zach who got a tofu pancake wrap at the Asian food truck across the way and then it was time to finish the drive home. 

We were back in San Diego by 6:00 with another road trip in the books. I am grateful that we had the chance to take this little trip. Every year is a gift and with Zach leaving for Germany some time this year and the other two back to work soon, this could be our last one. I remember when my boys were little guys and I would get sad thinking about my babies growing up, but one day I decided that if I could have my sons as friends, that would be pretty awesome. I am glad for the experiences I have with my adult children. I enjoy their company, their conversation, and their perspectives and I am honored to call them my friends and sons.

Go Take a Hike

Gotta stop and read the signs.

The majority of our time up here, I have been feeling a little off. At times a little nauseous from my medication and other times just adjusting to the altitude. Regardless, I wanted to do at least a little hiking (or in my case strolling). I searched for easy trails with views of the lake and found Pedal Path which is a paved path that goes around parts of Big Bear Lake. It is also a path for bike riders.

Zach and David

David

We walked along the path occasionally taking little trails down to the water's edge and walking closer to the lake. I had warned the boys that I might not be able to walk very long since I was feeling tired and not quite right. We walked for about an hour and a half and then got back in the car to drive around the lake.

There were a lot of people (mostly bike riders) on the path and several boats on the water. Big Bear Lake is very pretty with tree lined slopes surrounding it and a blue sky above.

Joe

When we returned to the cabin, I played The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis. This was a great little game that the boys and I played when they were younger. It has challenges that require you to use set theory to get your Zoombinis to Zooombiniville. So many years ago, it was on CD ROM and we played it on our desktop computer. Joe discovered that it had been re-released as an Android app and he installed it on his tablet. It was fun hearing the familiar music and narrator encouraging you through the challenges. I had forgotten how much fun and how educational Zoombinis is. I may try to get this game for my math students to play and learn. 

In the afternoon, we played several rounds of some goofy games that Zach brought. One was Unstable Unicorns and the other called Trash Pandas. Trash Pandas is really about raccoons digging through and stashing trash. It's amazing the different themes people use to create games.

I was determined to eat dinner early since the past two nights we didn't eat until after 8:00 p.m. We had grilled chicken and lots of carbs! David prepared macaroni and cheese and Zach heated up some baked beans on the one burner while I threw some baby red potatoes and corn on the cob on the grill. There were also some raw veggies and leftover lettuce and tomato from our tacos the night before for a salad.

We ended the night watching Hairspray, the musical. We considered watching Hamilton, but it was going to be too long for me to stay awake. I'm not sure what else the boys did, because I was fast asleep soon after my head hit the pillow.

This morning we will be packing up after breakfast, but we still have a few more stops on this little mini-road trip before the fun ends.

Heights, Speed and Greed

We woke up to a kitchen of ants. So after de-anting the place and a cup of tea, I made breakfast. Zach was the first to discover that only one burner on the stove worked. So feeling like I was on a cooking show (like Cutthroat Kitchen) that had surprise challenges, I got to work making pancakes and then scrambled eggs. Joe cooked some vegetarian sausage in the microwave and we were ready for breakfast.

After my Zoom meeting, we headed to The Alpine Slide, Big Bear's family recreation center. First we did Soaring Eagle, a ride that simulates a Zip Line (sort of), for the not so courageous. We were taken backwards about 500 feet to an elevation of 100 feet and then released to return to the base platform. 

Next was the original Alpine Slide. Joe and Zach used to attend Awana camp nearby every summer and this was a popular excursion for the campers. We took a chairlift to the top of the mountain/hill, grabbed a bobsled and then rode down a winding track to the bottom. You could control the speed and there were two tracks, one for the slowpokes (like me) and the other for the speed lovers.

Our final activity was miniature golf. Both David and Joe got a hole in one, but David had the lowest score (one below par), Mr. Horvath would be pleased to see that David's golfing experience with Pro Kids paid off.

After a few hours of fun, we headed to the Village to do some shopping. I bought a Christmas ornament and then waited in the air conditioned car while the others shopped. David found a gift for his friend DeRon and Joe bought some bear salt and pepper shakers.

I was feeling a little light-headed adjusting to the high altitude so I took a short nap when we got home. After the nap, I joined the boys in a rousing game of Monopoly using their Switches. They were busy buying up properties, but I wasn't landing on any properties to buy. When there were only a handful of properties left, the boys were willing to trade a few properties. I focused on the cheap side of the board and quickly built hotels. Every time the boys came around Go, I would say "Welcome to my neighborhood" as I collected money from them. Joe was the first to go bankrupt and he sold his property to Zach for $1. David was next. During the game, I was slowly making dinner using the one working burner. We finally stopped to eat our tacos and burritos and then Zach and I finished the game. It didn't take long for Zach who had 3/4 of the properties to drain me of my capital and I was forced to succumb to bankruptcy as well. All in all, it was a four hour game and I was ready for bed!

A Quick Trip to Big Bear

It has been two years since my sons and I have taken a road trip. It feels like forever. Last summer I was busy moving our school into a new building and there just wasn't time to get away for even a few days. I had been looking forward to planning a trip this summer, but then COVID-19 and a broken wrist became the priority and it seemed my hopes for a road trip were being shelved.

It was during one of my physical therapy appointments, that the Big Bear seed was planted. My physical therapist told me about a recent trip to Big Bear which reminded me that a longtime friend owned a cabin in Big Bear. The idea began to germinate as some of the restrictions were being lifted and I posed the question to my boys, "Anyone up for a mini-road trip to Big Bear?" All three responded affirmatively. I am always grateful that they are willing to join me on my adventures.

So we donned our face masks and here we are in Big Bear for four days of relaxation, hopefully, a little hiking, and just enjoying each others' company.

We left San Diego around 1:00 and after a stop at Taco Bell's drive-thru in Barstow, we headed up the mountain to arrive in Big Bear before 5:00. We are staying at Gretel's Log Cabin a mile or so from The Village. My friend's cabin was not available, and this was one of the more reasonable cabins (with four beds) that I could find. It's old and in need of some attention, but it will do.

After we checked in to the cabin, we headed to the local grocery store to buy food. Normally, we eat out a lot on our trips, but since we have a kitchen and the coronavirus is limiting restaurants, we decided we could eat at our home base most of the time. We loaded up the cart with more food than we could ever eat in four days while different sons waited in the long line to check out. On our way back to the cabin, we saw a Sizzler and considered taking a photo for Matt. You should have come with us, Matt!

Individual pizzas from Saucy Mama's Pizza was our dinner. It was an hour wait for pick up, so we didn't even start eating until 8:00 p.m. We played a round of Bang, a card game we haven't played in a while and then it was time for me to go to bed. The boys stayed up for three more hours watching Hulu before they too headed off to dreamland.

This morning the sun is out and the sky is blue. It looks like it will be a lovely day. I have a Zoom meeting with my colleagues mid-morning, but then we hope to go to the Alpine Slide. Zach has been up and about while I have been typing this. He completed his morning yoga routine, ate his "first breakfast" and is now playing Animal Crossing. The rest of the gang is starting to rouse, so I'm going to make brunch and then we'll get started on the day.