Photo update: California, the Wedding and My Trophy
I finally got all my pictures uploaded from our trip to California. I had been waiting to have them up before I gave my long trip post, since the pictures tell much more than anything I could describe.
So here goes...
Scott and I were up early for our flight out of Logan. Thankfully we flew JetBlue, which means we had a direct flight to Oakland - woo hoo!
When we got into CA my sister, Tracy, picked us up at the airport in her cool, new VW GTi. On the way from the airport to Brentwood we stopped at a local fruit stand for some fresh-picked California peaches, apricots and nectarines. Yum!
Later we went to Cocoro, a sushi restaurant in Stockton (near the University of the Pacific.) We ordered way too much food, but still tried to make room for the amazing plate of sashimi (next time you try sushi, cynthialord, you should try some of this).
The day began with breakfast then a drive from Brentwood to the wedding area, across miles of rolling hills and farmland.
My parents, Scott and I spent the afternoon exploring the old mining town of Murphys in Calaveras County (where we stayed). The area is known for copper, wine and jumping frog contests. It also has one of the quaintest libraries I've ever seen (yes, I visited the library...but it was closed.)
We also had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Because, we all know that no visit to CA is complete without enchiladas! In this case they were snow crab enchiladas and were amazingly good.
Early Saturday morning Scott and I borrowed Tray's sporty little car to drive up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which was about twenty minutes away from Murphys along a fun-to-drive, windy mountain road. Did I mention I love my sister's car?
We decided to walk the North Grove path as we didn't have a huge amount of time. It was amazing!
(Scott in a tree!)
I only wish we had had more time there. But, we had to get back to our hotel to get ready for the main event...the wedding!
The wedding was wonderful. The location was perfect (a family home surrounded by pine trees):
The bride and groom looked amazing:
The decorations were perfect:
And there was family everywhere:
(my sisters and me)
The only downside to the whole day was that my dad tripped and fell while taking pictures at the reception. He cut his head on a rock, gave himself a black eye and was pretty banged up. But, after the ministrations of the four(!) nurses at the wedding, he was bandaged up enough to get him back to the hotel. I drove to the airport the next morning, and my mom drove from the airport back home to Southern CA and straight to the hospital. He got a check-up and some stitches and is doing just fine now.
We've been back just over a week now and the days have flown by. I'm busy with summer reading at work; it's fun and exciting, but also exhausting. I'm living in a complete blur from now until the end of August, when I can finally sleep without dreaming about book reviews, crafts and Harry Potter parties.
To top it all off, last Saturday was my first-ever taekwondo tournament. Because of my still-healing foot, I only competed in the forms event.
I got second place!
My apologies if I'm away from LJ for periods at a time. I'll try to check in with ya'll from time to time, but my posts may start deteriorating into senseless babbling as summer reading continues. It's all just par for the course *g*
So here goes...
Scott and I were up early for our flight out of Logan. Thankfully we flew JetBlue, which means we had a direct flight to Oakland - woo hoo!
When we got into CA my sister, Tracy, picked us up at the airport in her cool, new VW GTi. On the way from the airport to Brentwood we stopped at a local fruit stand for some fresh-picked California peaches, apricots and nectarines. Yum!
Later we went to Cocoro, a sushi restaurant in Stockton (near the University of the Pacific.) We ordered way too much food, but still tried to make room for the amazing plate of sashimi (next time you try sushi, cynthialord, you should try some of this).
The day began with breakfast then a drive from Brentwood to the wedding area, across miles of rolling hills and farmland.
My parents, Scott and I spent the afternoon exploring the old mining town of Murphys in Calaveras County (where we stayed). The area is known for copper, wine and jumping frog contests. It also has one of the quaintest libraries I've ever seen (yes, I visited the library...but it was closed.)
We also had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Because, we all know that no visit to CA is complete without enchiladas! In this case they were snow crab enchiladas and were amazingly good.
Early Saturday morning Scott and I borrowed Tray's sporty little car to drive up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which was about twenty minutes away from Murphys along a fun-to-drive, windy mountain road. Did I mention I love my sister's car?
We decided to walk the North Grove path as we didn't have a huge amount of time. It was amazing!
(Scott in a tree!)
I only wish we had had more time there. But, we had to get back to our hotel to get ready for the main event...the wedding!
The wedding was wonderful. The location was perfect (a family home surrounded by pine trees):
The bride and groom looked amazing:
The decorations were perfect:
And there was family everywhere:
(my sisters and me)
The only downside to the whole day was that my dad tripped and fell while taking pictures at the reception. He cut his head on a rock, gave himself a black eye and was pretty banged up. But, after the ministrations of the four(!) nurses at the wedding, he was bandaged up enough to get him back to the hotel. I drove to the airport the next morning, and my mom drove from the airport back home to Southern CA and straight to the hospital. He got a check-up and some stitches and is doing just fine now.
We've been back just over a week now and the days have flown by. I'm busy with summer reading at work; it's fun and exciting, but also exhausting. I'm living in a complete blur from now until the end of August, when I can finally sleep without dreaming about book reviews, crafts and Harry Potter parties.
To top it all off, last Saturday was my first-ever taekwondo tournament. Because of my still-healing foot, I only competed in the forms event.
I got second place!
My apologies if I'm away from LJ for periods at a time. I'll try to check in with ya'll from time to time, but my posts may start deteriorating into senseless babbling as summer reading continues. It's all just par for the course *g*