California #2: Back Again

Our supper time bench enjoying our dinner, the blue skies...

...the ocean breeze, the sand, the sea, the setting sun.

Not only were we able to visit the Dahers, but Mrs. Daher took us to a very pleasant...

Lavender Farm

From the smallest to the tallest... and he's even bending his knees!

The whole farm had such a charming feel with neat structures like these wooden doors for gates

After taking this picture we remembered reading the sign to beware of rattlesnakes among the rows. While there were no snakes there were bees enough to make up for them.

For those of you who visit Jordan's blog (which you all should since he has awesome pictures and captions that are like medicine... good for laughter) you may remember pictures of their visit to the Yellow Deli... it was as good as he said it was

Partaking in the best vegan pizza I've ever tried, complete with seiten "meat" and dairy-less "cheese". It tasted very close to the real deal... not quite the same, but close.
An a big thank you to Mr. Daher for helping me solve my "blurry picture" problem... turns out my camera came with two filters on it and one was some type of soft blur filter. Problem solved! Now any blurry pictures will be my fault.

Trying to copy Jordan's "patented snob smile"

"So... have you heard of pinterest?"

Note to all those who think pinterest is only for girls... while it can be used to waste time searching for the perfect pictures to pin it can be a great help when you like sharing things with family... especially if you're in three different states.

Being a rainy day, games with the little ones were played inside which was most entertaining

Before we left Nathan and Marscel went to the beach and took some fun pictures...

Oh yeah!

 Headed to the Petrified Forest on the way back to Oklahoma, we drove through many route 66 towns and "had" to stop and look around.

Transported back in time... except for that spot light in the corner.

We weren't aware there is a law in Arizona against SFP's... barely had enough to post bail! (Note the INTJ trying to figure it all out)

With only two of us at "home" now there is less variety in our pictures, but if I like it you get to see it.

Big altitude changes can do strange things to your bags of chips.

When we were ready to stop for the night we put in "nearest hotel" in our gps and came to a hotel that had such a badly mannered attendant and overpriced rooms. Three of us in a row all went down the road a bit and came to this delightful inn run by this couple.

They decorated all of the rooms in different themes. Ours was the best... Route 66

The next morning they showed us some of the other rooms. This was in the John Wayne themed room... we liked the quote in the picture.

Taking a nice picture of Pa and Mom at another stop along Route 66 and all of a sudden this tourist comes flying out of nowhere.

That's better.

One of those towns that you can lay on the painting in the middle of a rode at four intersections without worrying about cars coming out of nowhere.

Taking the scenic tour to the Petrified Forest we stop by one of the many touristy souvenir places, but this one had "Geronimo", the largest piece of petrified wood.

The way the rings of the tree were visible on some of these pieces are such a beautiful picture of bringing beauty out of destruction

Not much for a background, but I love this picture cause I love my Mumly!

They both inherited the "Stretch" gene

The posts to one of the buildings covered in lovely pieces of polished petrified wood.

As we're driving along all of a sudden we passed the Wigwam Motel. Route 66 isn't my favorite, but this was cool. I believe this is what the "Cozy Cone Motel" was based on in the Pixar movie Cars.

Complete with cars that look like Mater, Ramon...

... and THE Doc Hudson! Sometime I surprise myself over the random things that excite me... bear with me.

You may have thought this car is an antique, but it was made the year Pa was born and as he is not antique, neither is this car.... just nicely aged.

Proof that I was there too

We were looking for a place to get a few pieces of petrified wood. As we approached the parks entrance we passed this tiny little structure and decide to turn around and check it out. Turned out to be the best place to buy "souvenirs". Walking up and down the rows rating the beauty or uniqueness of each piece. The longer we stayed the better the deal they gave us. Turned out to be a fun little blessing of the day.

If you were expecting a forest of trees in an upright position sorry to disappoint you. This was definitely different.

art

Looking around was such an amazing example of the reality and validity of a global flood. A whole forest in the middle of miles of dried land? Makes me wonder what it would have looked like before the flood.

Certainly the most unique forest I've ever visited.

People ask if he's 18, people ask if I'm 18... until they see us together. One person then thought I was younger. I'm sure I'll be glad for that when I'm in my 80's.

art

more art

A bump on a log

Fixed camera + learning to shoot in manual + artistic setting = more art

Some of these were pretty massive

Plumb tuckered out

It was interesting to see how they naturally broke into "slices"... looked like someone had come through with a chainsaw

Can you believe we were able to enjoy all this for only  $10?!?

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The bark on this tree was amazing. It's funny how much they look like a regular log that you could chip a piece of the bark off of

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With different pieces having different amounts of certain minerals the colors were so unique

This is one forest that doesn't block your view

Kinda looks like bales of hay... with bark. Ok, emphasis on the "kinda"

Knowing there used to be Indian villages around we were amazed to find this arrow head in such great shape... and size. Must have been giant Indians

It's hard to capture how clear the rings are in a picture

I spy a man jumping rope, a star burst, and some kind of animal... at least that's what it looks like to me

 Any one know what that egg looking thing is? 

Pa remembers coming here with his family when he was around 10. He knew he had visited before, but nothing looked familiar until we came to the old Indian ruins. Turns out his family had entered the park from the opposite side. 

From one of the signs it seemed to say they would come in and out through the top of the rooms.

 I'd love to know the story behind the stork like bird with a child in it's mouth. Is this where the myth of the stork delivering children came from?

A natural bridge from a petrified log fortified in recent years to preserve it

Rainbow petrified wood

love bugs

To infinity and beyond!

Part of the painted desert

I think they should start a band to have this as their cover.

Playing around with my panorama settings on photoshop. You are seeing about 180°

Look at how stylish they are while exploring!

In what used to be an inn

I'm not sure if Pa asked if there was a trail or if he found it, but there it was and it was calling to be explored...

... and explore we did!

Just randomly posing on some random pieces of petrified wood

"Let’s grow old together
With my heart in your hands and your hands holding mine"

Marscel Pierre

Classic Tourist look

A 360° view. Can you see Pa, Mom and Marscel?

I know you wanted to see one more picture of petrified wood before we left the park... here you go.

A 360° view from the top of a hill

Rugged beauty
Landscape = rugged

Parents = beauty

The side of an RV that we passed for all you Roy Rogers fans

art

Needing to get one more thing fixed on our van we re-visted Old Town...

... and found a whole second floor of stores undiscovered

Now that my pictures aren't coming out blurry I love playing around with "art" shots... thought I'd tell you in case you didn't notice.

We stop to take a picture and then hear some great Spanish music playing. Following the sound we came to a little courtyard where no one was...

Good music and no one around to enjoy it? That was fixed with an impromptu dance.

Finding more historical facts along the way.

Marscel was so disappointed that his favorite glasses were breaking and didn't want to throw them away. Mom said take a picture to remember them... which started a mini photo shoot.

I'm sure wearing them before they were broken wasn't nearly as fun or entertaining

The view from our hotel room... the Sandia Mountains

My Birthday greeting

Chipotles... one of our favorite, traveling, fast food meals. Just look how they're enjoying it!

My backseat traveling companion. I'm always surprised how fast the car rides go... so much to do so little time!