The most wonderful time of the year

While in Orange County, we were able to get into the Christmas spirit by observing holiday decorations and lighting displays everywhere. My favorites were displayed along the streets in the artsy community of Laguna Beach. (For those familiar with New Hope, PA --- this town is very similar.) There must have been nearly 100 of these painter’s palettes, each one unique in its design. The styles varied greatly, including religious, whimsical, & traditional, as shown below.

   

       

Wednesday evening we attended a show at the Laguna Playhouse called Winter Wonderettes, a lively musical set in 1968. The story revolves around a hardware store’s Christmas party, with the entertainment being provided by a girl pop band made up of 4 of the store’s employees.

                      

Finally, on Thursday evening the timeshare offered a mini-concert by a group of 8 students from Orange High School. (Antioch people, think Music Masters.) In front of the lobby’s Christmas tree, with gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate, the scene was set for some beautiful Christmas carols by these talented teens.

      

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Today’s Mission

The weather channel was calling for rain today and yes we had a beautiful sunny blue sky day.  And these people get paid to predict weather.  I should get a job doing this!  Our mission today was to tour the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

Today was a perfect day to visit the Mission.  We even flagged down some guy to take our photo at the entrance.

Twenty-one missions were built by Spanish missionaries up and down the coast of California.  This is the largest of all the Missions built. 

The original church built in the 1700’s was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1800’s and has not been rebuilt.

 

As you can see by this photo the people who built the mission were giants (like Cindy) by looking at the doorway in the barracks built on the mission property.

One thing about people in Southern California they are a little desperate for Christmas trees so they will decorate anything that’s green.

We  had a great time touring the mission but when we left I had this ringing in my ears for awhile.

After we left the mission we went to a Starbucks where a lot of the locals hang out.

This is Howard and his friend Cupcake. Howard likes to order a latte with extra foam so Cupcake can lick the foam off the top.  We left before his order was ready!

This trails for the birds!

On Tuesday we set out to do some hiking in some of the parks near the timeshare.

We went to several parks and they were all closed because of adverse conditions.  We found out later that the adverse conditions meant the trails were muddy.  Oh my gosh I guess the people here in southern California don’t want to get their designer hiking boots dirty!  Can you believe it? Muddy hiking trails, how uncivilized. 

We did find one trail open. It’s called the back bay loop trail.  Of course it is on an old blacktopped road.  No mud but it was a little wet in spots.  I think we had to walk around one or two puddles.  We took our life and our non-designer boots in hand and survived.

This park is for the birds!  I saw a few squirrels on the other side of this sign and chased them back to the non-bird side so they wouldn’t get thrown out of the park. 

 

  The trail is a 10.5 mile loop.  We managed a trip of 5 miles before it got dark. Next time we come here we will have to do the whole loop.

Playing Tourist in Burbank

A few months ago, I asked Bill if he would be interested in going to a taping of The Jay Leno Show when we came to southern CA. He said sure, so I emailed our request for 2 tickets. A few weeks later, when I’d more or less forgotten about it, I got an email saying we had a reservation . . . Dec 7th, taping at 4:00pm, be there by 2:45pm at the latest. The email said that the reservation was no guarantee of admission, and while we were waiting in the Audience Holding Area found out that they give out way more reservations than the studio accommodates, because the performers on the show are guaranteed a full house. Well, yesterday, with the nasty weather (rain, wind and cool temps) EVERYBODY got in.

We only have a couple of pictures of our day in Burbank, because cameras aren’t allowed inside the studio, and it wasn’t the kind of day to walk around sightseeing. We DO have a short video clip that Bill took unintentionally (thinking the camera was set for still photos.)

Before the taping we had time for the NBC Studios tour. The tour was interesting and the taping of Jay Leno’s show was a lot of fun. All in all, a great way to spend a rainy day.

Newport Coast After the Crowds

What a great time to visit the Newport Coast.  We were lucky to get reservations at the Marriott Newport Coast timeshare.

Here is a photo of our timeshare.  I couldn’t believe that we got a beach front  unit!

It’s a long walk to the fitness center but the views are great.  We even have our own mail box.

We  drove down from Antioch in our 1951 Nash Rambler.  We got quite a few looks from the other vehicles on the road.  Maybe we overdid the Christmas decorations we put on the car.

The weather was quite cool with a little bit of snow.  So we used what snow we had and got into the spirit of the season.

We did a little Christmas shopping when we first got here and Cindy gave me an early Christmas gift.  I took a photo of her standing in front of it.

After our shopping we took a six mile hike, some of it along the beach and we saw some fantastic views.

  

After a fantastic lunch at the Beachcomber we went back to the timeshare for a few hours of rest and football.

After our rest we drove into the city of Corona del Mar. They were having their city center Christmas walk.  Translated that means all the shops were open, bands playing on the sidewalks and small refreshments were served throughout the main street.  We did get to see and photograph some dolphins while we were there.  I think they even had the Christmas spirit!

  

Tomorrow we are going to the Jay Leno show (I think he wants me as a special guest).  So look for us.

Hiking in Tahoe in October!

I think this early snow storm may have caught some people off guard!

We drove up to our timeshare, The Ridge Tahoe, at the top of Kingsbury Grade on Monday and the snow up there was much deeper than it was around the lake.  The lake is around 6,500 feet and the timeshare is around 7,800 feet.

 

On Tuesday we drove up to Emerald Bay so we could hike the Rubicon Trail.  The snow had melted on this side of the lake and the temperature was in the mid 40s.  Just right for hiking. 

Emerald Bay Lookout Point

We drove on to Bliss State Park to hike the Rubicon trail from the beginning.  The park was closed so we had to hike in two miles to get to the trailhead.

When we started our hike that tree behind me was alive!  That is how long the hike was.  If you look behind the tree the white lines coming down the mountain are ski runs at Heavenly ski resort.

After our hike we headed back to the Marriott and right to the hot tub with a glass of wine.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Surprise in Tahoe

We planned a few days in Tahoe to do some hiking. Usually, this is a great time of the year to get out on the trails. Well, as we were driving up this morning, we noticed a message board warning CHAIN CONTROLS ON HWY 50 . . . (WHAT??!!) . . . and although the chain restriction was lifted by the time we reached the summit, we've had lots of snow since we got here. Here's a photo taken from our balcony a few minutes ago.

Taki & Heather were here for the weekend, and they were happy that Nikos & Olive had a chance to see snow. Niko even had a snowball fight with Pop-Pop before they left for home.

We're hoping this early snowfall bodes well for a great ski season!

5,840 miles to home

We spent the final two days of our trip in London.  We were fortunate to have great weather both days.

 

We had fish and chips and some great English beer at a traditional pub!

We even caught a glimpse of what’s in store if we get that new national health care.

We took the flat ones on the London eye for a great view of the city and Big Ben.

  

 

We mastered the London underground.

This isn’t Piccadilly Circus! Oh well it’s all London and I know we are close.

We even had time to see a show in the West End.

Also got a little taste of home.

  

We stopped by to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace but she was in Scotland. So we didn’t get to have a spot of tea with her!

It was easy to find our way around London

Yes we did find Piccadilly Circus.(below)   We also found Trafalgar Square

and Tower Bridge.

We also met a new friend but he is camera shy.

Our next stop was the Tower of London.

We spent some time in a few of the towers

And to complete our tour of London we went on a walking tour of the area of London where Jack the Ripper preyed on his victims. The following photo is the original bar which was frequented by many of his victims before they met their end.

The last day in London we left our hotel at 10:30AM and arrived in Antioch at midnight (8AM London time). Boy did that bed feel good!