What a Difference a Week Makes

29 and snowing, after rain and ice all night.

A week ago I was here:

And now I'm home, to this:

What a contrast. I am not complaining, because anyone who knows me knows I enjoy winter. But I sure did enjoy a week in the sun and warmth, that's no lie. And it was a much needed break. I love my man, but two years of being almost constantly together, well, it gets a little wearing, on both of us. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed a week without me around too. At first I thought he'd come with me, but he said he really didn't want to go to California, hadn't liked it when he was there in 1969 in the Marines. But I'd never been, and my grandson found this amazingly cheap way to fly there, so I added a little link down to Miami to see our youngest son and his family, and went by myself.

It was wonderful. Seeing Tommy did me a lot of good. Miami is a long way from home and he can't get back very often, and we can't afford to go there very often either. But making this part of my trip only cost an extra 70.00, very worth it. My visit was short, and he had to work so we hung out mostly at his apartment, although we went out to dinner one evening. But just chilling with him and his wife and daughter, and of course Bruno the dog, was perfect. We plan to drive down to Orlando in March to see Larry's sister, and Tommy will come up there, so we'll have a better visit then.

My buddy, Bruno. He's great fun. You see the green thing in the photo? He and I played a lot with that, and also took several walks, which he of course loves. He's a bilingual dog, understands both Spanish and English--which is better than I can do!

Then it was off to LAX in California. It's a lo-o-o-n-g way from Miami to LA, but I had the whole row of seats to myself, a good book, and was tired enough to take a good nap so the flight seemed short.

I have to admit, I loved what I saw of California. The beaches, the hills, the weather, the flowers--all lovely. I also have to admit I was astounded at the number of people everywhere, and of course I am not a city person so can't say I loved the city, although I did like seeing it all. Cities are great to visit, but I'm country at heart. Still the lights at night, the easy access to stores and restaurants, the nice areas to walk, and always, the ocean, which has the half of my heart that's not taken by mountains.

Here's a few photos of the highlights of the trip.

Flying over the Rockies, northern New Mexico, I think.

One of the main reasons for my trip: to see this ship, the Queen Mary--the one my mother, a World War II war bride, came to America on. It's home is now Long Beach, where my grandson lives, and it's only 2 blocks from his house to where I took this photo.

More of Long Beach. We ate lunch here at an Irish pub, right on the water.

BIG buildings!

And beautiful beaches everywhere.

Nothing says sunshine like palm trees.

Sculpture at the beach, called The Lone Sailor. I don't know the background on this, need to find out.

Flowers, sun and water. Aaahhh...

One of the local motorcycle gangs, although fortunately these guys don't live in the same area as my grandson.

At Venice Beach, we saw many bikes chained to posts, but then there was this, also chained to the pole--a clever joke.

The Venice Beach skate park was amazing. There were some incredible skaters there, and then there was this little guy who gave out stickers with his Instagram account on them. Already a promoter at 3 years old--that's California.

Yeah, weed is everywhere, and Venice Beach was full of it.

Driving through Hollywood. I'm not really interested in that area but it was interesting to see, briefly.

Next day, we drove to Malibu, north of LA. The coast road travels past some gorgeous places.

Then we turned up into the hills, and what hills they are. As steep as West Virginia, just covered with sage-y type plants, all completely unfamiliar to me.

This was our destination, a winery beside a pretty little creek down in one of the mountain valleys.

My handsome grandson Jared.

Roses, blooming in winter. What a treat.

Heading back to Long Beach, passing Malibu once again.

We took one more side trip, to see the Queen Mary closer up, but sadly the security guards kept running us off. The city had planned to sink the ship as it needs expensive repairs but recently voted to do the needed renovations, so she's saved for yet a few more years, thank goodness.

The view of Long Beach from the other side of the harbor.

My last morning, Jared had to work, so his roommate Chris took care of me--and take care of me he did. A lovely breakfast in a small restaurant, then up above the city to this park with an overlook of the entire area, then to an organic grocery store for a smoothie, and finally to the airport for my flight home. What a sweet guy he is.

I have more photos to post soon, but I have to say, I have never felt so taken care of. Those two boys--my grandson and his roommate---made sure I had a great time. They succeeded very well!

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