Christmas 2009 - Part 6

Monday morning we wake up in San Juan Capistrano to an empty house. The night before, there were 2 + 5 + 6 people in the home we were staying in. Ed & Marie (Christy's uncle and aunt) let us stay over at their home Sunday night, and already had house guests (Chris Hillman and family). Ed & Marie took off to work before we got up, and the Hillman's took off hours before them, on their way back to Utah. It was odd to hang out in an empty home. We showered, packed up, ate some breakfast and took off. Our plans for the day originally included waking up, hitting La Brea tar pits, and making our way to Tehachapi. As we have continued to do on this trip, our plans were ever changing, augmenting and decrementing as we saw fit and the mood struck us. We had decided to add a trip by the LA temple, a trip to see the Hollywood walk of fame, a visit to my cousin MichaelBrent, a visit to Christy's other aunt and uncle, along with starting the day off with one last visit to the increasingly popular beach. Some of these items had to drop off of the itinerary. We were unable to see the walk of fame, visit with my cousin MichaelBrent. Dinner plans were supposed to occur in Tehachapi, but were unable to be make that event either. The events we were able to hit were thoroughly enjoyable. We were sad to miss some things, but time simply was not on our side.

After our breakfast in a borrowed home (thanks to ed and marie) we headed south to the beach. We went to an institute at dana point that advertised some tidal pools with animals to poke and watch. There were tons of rocks, the tide was low, allowing us all the chance to get close to nature. Turns out that Treyson doesn't have a problem with poking a sea anemone, but is terrified of small crabs. Who woulda guessed? Kylie would simply sit on a rock staring out into the bliss of the blue without a care in the world, dreaming of worlds she hopes to create for her future. She is in love with the ocean. She is making plans and trying to figure out how to live near the ocean as well as work within it and its wondrous creatures. Alyssa is so brave, wanting to learn and experience all she can wit the ocean and its creatures.


Alyssa in San Juan Capistrano


I call this one "The Birth of a Dream"


Trey having a blast


The lovely ocean


As we headed north, bidding adieu to the ocean for now, we encountered the other creature that stymies so many folks in this state as well as us today, traffic. We headed north along I-5, encountering tons of unanticipated traffic, along with a crazy naked old man that would drive with his window down yelling at the beast in front of him that was unforseen traffic. The kids got a kick out of him, and we should have gotten a picture of his antics, but feared retribution if we were seen taking his photo. We drove on. Along the way, we again used the tool we have used to reach almost every destination, my smartphone with internet access and google maps. With the gps of the phone, the ability to have google maps tell us where to go and how to get there, we have had quite an interesting time traversing the state.


We reached La Brea tar pits a bit later than we had anticipated. Lunch was supposed to be somewhere exciting and unique to California. After departing the freeway, approaching La Brea, we passed 5 Subway restaurants before finally stopping at a Del Taco for nosh. This was disappointing but unavoidable. When we arrived at La Brea tar pits, there was a line to enter the parking lot, coming from the opposite direction from us. We sneaked in to the line of cars and the car behind us entered the parking lot, followed by the attendants closing the parking lot, marking it as full. We had just breezed in. After we downed our lunch sitting on the grass of the museum under the heat of the California sun, we discovered the outlying park attractions before entering the museum proper. The kids were fascinated to learn of the bones being extracted from the tar, as well as loved seeing the actual tar pit in pit 91. Once in the museum, they looked at every display with interest, reading the plaques, looking at the bones of creatures long gone. There was a movie we watched that taught us a lot about the area, the creatures inhabiting it, how they lived and died. It was very informative as well as interesting.


At La Brea tar pits


At La Brea tar pits


At La Brea tar pits


At La Brea tar pits


At La Brea tar pits


From there, we took off to see he LA temple. The sun was going down soon, so we were able to get some interesting pictures of us, the temple and the sunsetting. We love to visit the temple. The kids get interested in religious topics, questions are asked, things are learned.




LA Temple


LA Temple


LA Temple


From the temple, its a quick jaunt to the freeway, which takes us north towards Tehachapi. Before heading on the long trek to my hometown, we swung by an aunt and uncle of Christy's. Aunt Charlene and uncle Fred live in Chatsworth, which is along the way, so we stopped by for some visiting and dinner. We have been the recipients of many gifts and good thoughts from aunt Charlene over the years that we needed to stop by and visit with them. We ended up having a great time, great food, great conversation, and a great time. Christy had a great time catching up on some family history.

After a great time at the Rio's home, we headed further north to Tehachapi. After getting on to the Palmdale/Lancaster freeway, I was finally able to shirk the use of the gps/phone/google maps and simply drive to the location by memory. We reached our hotel in Tehachapi (the best hotel by far) just before midnight, and simply crashed. Each night has seemed to catch us unawares as it progresses later and later and we simply do not want to give up the day of vacation time to sleep quite yet. It will be hard to readjust our schedule once we get back home. We will have to though.