Thanksgiving Trip - Part 1

Grant Park and the 7 bridges

    A beautiful 60 degree day greeted us our first day in Wisconsin. Unusual for November but very welcome! We lingered in Vegas on the way- not to gamble but waiting for planes to be fixed. Our gracious host and hostess still picked us up at the airport at 1:30 AM. You can't beat the Lepak B&B and limo service.  After a delightful soak in their outdoor hot tub and breakfast, we explored the sights with Wayne and Echo ( the smiling dog and Garrett's first girlfriend)!

On the way to Lake Michigan

This my Californian friends is the Wisconsin version of the Pacific….. Lake Michigan.  An ocean without the salt!

Wayne, Echo and me

The Milwaukee skyline

A gorgeous day for sailing

Milwaukee Art Museum

Best coffee joint in Milwaukee- right at the lakefront.  Next we picked up Shane and Nikelle from the airport ( they were on vacation). Then off to Berlin and their apartment- 1 hr 45 min " up north".  Dave had to work the beginning of the week so he dropped me at Cathy and Randy's Monday and I had lunch with these lovely ladies. Then one night at their house, another day of work for Dave downtown at his former office and back to Berlin and our kids :)

Karen, Cathy and Dawn

 

Nikelle and Dave working from home on Wed in their pjs.

Shane's work on Wed.

My work on Wed.
To be continued………...

10 Month Anniversary

   Well, here we are again…. tomorrow marks the 10 month anniversary of our move to sunny Southern Cali.  Yes, it has been 10 months since we ripped our roots out of the frozen Wisconsin turf.  On Jan 16th our dear friends Randy and Cathy drove us and our multiple suitcases to the MKE airport.  So much has happened since then and it kind of feels longer than 10 months.  Our roots have started to penetrate this irrigated CA soil…. we have wonderful friends and a home here. And we still have wonderful friends and family "back east". Thus we are doubly blessed! Dave NEVER thought I would ever leave our Waukesha home and Wisconsin…. well he was wrong! Of course the thought of my early retirement ( although with no monetary benefits) did help ease the pain :) Enough said since you may have read all those past blogs! Some random pictures since I feel blog posts should have photos...

I visited the lovely Oceanside Harbor on Tuesday.

Tuesday I had lunch in this peaceful spot- love the lack of tourists!

One of my recent hats. Remember sock monkeys?

My friend Sherry made this lovely pumpkin bouquet.

Proof that we do have fall colors. One of our trees.

Just mastered the long tailed elf hat.

A friend commissioned me to make a set of hats.

New twist- the sleeping owl hat.
And that's all folks!

Content

      I don't have any great words of wisdom today. Just feeling very content with my current situation. I love being at home. Dave and I are together nearly 24/7 and we have adapted quite well. He doesn't shop with me, crochet, lunch with the ladies, etc. And I don't golf with him, bike, or have supper with the guys. We do walk, hike, go together to fly his sailplane, entertain guests, explore San Diego, etc. I guess we will do okay when he retires because this is pretty close to it! We have been out here for nearly 10 months now and it does feel like home in many ways. We have wonderful friends and plenty of social events to keep us busy. We have grown closer in many ways because we are away from children and family. I mean really we have to get along because we are together so much!!! I feel so fortunate to have this time together and to live in such a great place. Don't get me wrong…. I love Wisconsin and all our peeps there but now we have a whole new world out here.
    Well here I am coming back to finish my post a day later…. We had date night tonight. First we flew Dave's plane. Actually He flew his plane while I lounged and read a book. Then off to the beach in Carlsbad to watch the sunset. After dining outdoors ( we did need our sweatshirts) on some pizza we shopped at Lowes. Yes we know how to party! We plan to attack the "mountain" again tomorrow morning. We hiked Monserate on Wed up and partway down then up again. Spent over 2 hours hiking! Maybe this time I can do it without so much whining :)

We have been entertaining outside a lot lately.

The plane, the plane!

The pilot and his plane

And the sun sets on another beautiful day…..

A Touristy Week

 We had a visitor from Illinois the past week…. Dave's Mom.  I think she enjoyed her time in the land of palm trees- very different than small town IL in the midst of corn and soybean fields! We managed to show her around and do a few new "touristy" things that we hadn't done yet. The first day I took her to the place I really like to go….. Oceanside beach by the harbor. It was low 90's in Fallbrook but a perfect 78 degrees just 11 miles away at the beach!

Oceanside Beach

Dave's special day with his Mom wasn't so sunny. They went to La Jolla and Torrey Pines

Dave's new hobby- throwing perfectly good planes off of hills and cliffs! Sometimes it ends well and  sometimes he entertains himself by rebuilding them! Actually, he is doing very well.

The amazing view at sunset from one of our friend's home in Fallbrook.

Dave's sailplane soaring above Fallbrook

Went to the higher elevations about 1 hour away where apples grow. This is Julian where they get "real winter"!

A little Julian history for you.

Pressing cider

Orchard

We found out that we should have gone to Julian about a month earlier because literally all the apples were gone! They do all organic farming and let things happen naturally which results in very small apples…..

To show you the size of the apples we picked (these were the runts of the litter), from left to right: Reed avocado, persimmon, Julian apple, guava. 

When someone offers to bring dessert and shows up with this homemade cheesecake …. all one can say is WOW! Decorated with fresh berries and plumeria flowers. 

This spider web was visible all the way across our yard due to the rain drops outlining it. And yes it was a grey drizzly day- we DO get a few not so sunny days!

Took the MIL on a San Diego harbor cruise on another grey day.  We are only about 10 miles for Tijuana, Mexico when we are in the harbor. Another field trip for another day.

USS Midway

Star of India

The sun was trying to burn a hole through the clouds.

Harbor seals lounging on bait barges. Did you know that right in San Diego harbor they train dolphins, seals and Beluga whales to detect mines and enemy divers?! They patrol the harbor and all the ships coming in- I am not sure how they report their findings….may need to google or bing this!

Bridge to Coronado Island

The hillsides of SD. Well that is all for now- must go do lots of weeding!  Besides I think it is warmer outside than in the house. It dropped into the 50's last night which was a perfect night to sit around the firepit which we did!