The Virgin Eagle

That's where we went to Saturday

Our Saturday was all dedicated to joining Bugzy's party. It was supposed to be held from like 2 pm until 11:30 pm. My task was to bring along dessert. But we brought that and aunt Virginia tagged along ;-) The plan was to stay until maybe 7-9 pm... astoundingly we didn't return to our accommodation before 1:30 am! *lol*

Late evening hours

We seem to have had a blast, don't we?

Aunt Virginia and her 'Menage á trois' retired earlier than we did, and that, totally hyper from about a sip of wine. She was fun to have with us!

In the center: the Virgin Eagle

There isn't really much to say about the party, except that the Johns know how to throw a party (R.I.P. George) and that LaLaLand is a fun place to be, right Bugzy? *giggle* No, seriously, the food was delicious, thx to Tom and Kim, among others (no clue who made the beans - was it MacDonald?), glad everybody liked my sweet burritos, and on top of all our Virgin Eagle (our aunt's name translated from Spanish to English) landed safely at her house, as did we.

The sweet burritos

Seems to have tasted good...

Let's see if the photos speak for itself?

A nice Oldtimer (not ours)

Sunday was used to cook German pasta for the family, and drive up to Malibu, to check out the house of the famous baseball player Jim Gibbons, who lives in there with his family. Somehow (around a lot of corners) we're related to him. He has like a villa, and our daughter got lost on her way to the restroom (!), seriously.
Unfortunately all of us thought that neither Malibu itself, nor the Paradise Cove there were a place we would like to live at. It's breathtaking though (the house) but more of a castle with lotsa personnel to even maintain it. The drive up there and back home were horrible long and I'm about to pass out in a sec!

Little Lauryn

Monday will be moving day for us again, b/c John will be hosting us for the rest of our stay. And Peter is really, really, really looking forward to it! So tomorrow at this time I'll be writing to you from another WiFi place *lol*. Or due to activity on some other day... CU soon.

Kim and Tori

Christine, Jimmy and Tom

Kim's hubby on the right...
and actually Lauryn's parents (can't find a photo) :(

Hollywood

Okay friends, we've finally been to... no, not where no man has gone before, but where the rich and the famous are supposed to... no, not live, but... WORK. *lol* Not really spectacular, rather sticky, smelly and at times gross, due to the fact that too many tourists and hoodlums and bummers hang around there too. Add the heat *yikes*! Nevertheless we walked the Walk of Fame in the tremendous heat and took loads of pics. We couldn't manage to walk the whole thing, it's just too long (almost 2500 stars)...

Paparazzo

We also went up to the HOLLYWOOD sign, which was fun, being so close to a thing that you've seen on the tv screen like a zillion times in your life!

We weren't acutally supposed to be up that high! :)

The Crossroads of the World were... non existent *confused*, so was Griffith Park (almost), for the size of the city it was rather tiny and normal, nothing spectacular there either. At CBS we couldn't really get into. We could've gotten tickets for The Price is Right though, but we wouldn't want that to begin with.


My encounter with the BofA was rather awkward, b/c this time they made me leave my fingerprints (!) on the travellers cheques (?) and kept me waiting on end... but... we have cash again *yeah*. The encounter with the Postoffice yesterday was the usual: wait in line. Three open counters, 25 people waiting in front of me, for... FIVE stamps? No thank you. So all that was rather unfruitful, the food at Virginia's house (my daughter's greataunt) delicious and as usual too much in the heat. We don't actually eat that much, just twice a day kinda. *giggle*

Sharing some stories...

Did I write about my friend John(ny) [Bugzy] P. yet? We've known each other for some five years now, online that is. We met through MySpace and our shared illness MS. As we continued our friendship all the way over to Facebook, and when he found out we would come to visit California, he actually was so polite to invite us over! Go figure. So we've decided to split our stay into two. On Monday we'll switch locations/accommodations for the last time. He also insisted for us to go down to San Diego, although I still refuse atm ;-)


We met and it felt as if we've known each other for ages and we both said: hey, you have an accent *lol* and you're so you! His family almost feels like mine, I know his place almost in detail, all that was missing to this point is the one on one encounter and to hear our voices! Plus I'm so happy that the 'boys' like one another and literally 'understand' each other, like it happened with Grant, up in Eureka. :) I'm so happy about that. Sabrina feels comfy there as well.

Inviting, ain't it?

Bugzy took us to Newport Beach, where my two got to dive in the Pacific Ocean once more, while us two chitchatted some more, waiting on them. The Pier was lovely, as all the others were before, the sun was burning down, the water wasn't too cold, and the Donuts and the other food (we went to Knowlwood's) was yummy, as promised.

Giant fish, two nice guys

For today we've two things scheduled: doing laundry another time *sigh* and partying with Johnny, the PMS-Man *giggle* (that nickname came about through a typo... too funny!). He has invited us over with eleven of his friends, just because, and everybody wants to meet with us. How cute is that? All we have to do is bring a dessert. What do you think of sweet burrittos? That's what we're gonna prepare there. The party is scheduled to begin around 2 pm and last until almost midnight (!).

At the pier of Newport Beach

More reports upon our return, probably on Sunday morning. Hope y'all have a great day and that you'll enjoy whatever it is you'll be doing. Hugs and hugzzzzzzzzz and ya know...

Los Angeles

You read right: we're here. Finally, huh? Well, what can I say? People are very nice, and we've watched some sightseeing attractions already, but the heat and my pains prevent me from doing too much. On top of all our visit/trip was misintrepeted, so we're trying to work that out. Details upon my return. My Italian friend called luckily and that's where we'll be hanging out at least today I guess. And for all those who'd like to see what we're up to, here I go...

This is the largest figtree in the USA,

we've spotted that in Santa Barbara

This are my two, boogie boarding

at Redondo Beach for the first time

And here we're on the Angels Flight

in Los Angeles, on the way up

And on the way back down again...

We hope you've enjoyed our little films, eventhough they might have been of bad quality? Love y'all, and you know who you are! ;-) Will be back online in a short period of time, you know that.

Santa Barbara

Well folks, let me make this short. We're about to head out the hotel and towards Los Angeles today. My two are still sound asleep, and sleepless mom tries to figure out things with her German bank. Which isn't too hard after all, b/c this Italian travel group is more than loud!!! Don't you just hate noisy Europeans? *lol*

Butterflies alive

Mission Santa Barbara (from a back angle)

Fountain in front of the Mission

Decoration inside the Courthouse

What does this have to do with jurisdiction?

View down from the bell tower

Exploring the gardens
of El Presidio

Flaggs at Stearn's Wharf

Bradbury Dam, Santa Ynez River, Lake Cachuma

Our trip continues to be rather exhausting for me, and the two pain attacks were proof enough of it I think. No clue yet of what to expect in the city of angels. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right? Anyways, so I'm sitting here, thinking about what we saw in Santa Barbara, and that was quite a lot, let me assure you that much: the museum of natural history (with wonderful alive butterflies), the Mission, the courthouse, El Presidio, the Stearn's Wharf with pier and on our way back to our hotel in Santa Maria we passed (and stopped) by the wonderful Lake Cachuma and the Bradbury Dam. We were gone like eleven hours or so!

Going butterfly crazy

The Sunday was rather unspectacular compared to that. We walked to the museum of flight again, to write something in there guestbook, played cards (FLUXX, you know the game? It's still kinda puzzling for us...), went out to grab some Mexican food for dinner at some fast food joint, and came back and did crosswords until midnight.

Watching the butterflies

Action paired with relaxation. Peter went sunbathing and to the pool a lot, Sabrina was stuck to the internet most of the time, and I 'wellnessed' if there's such a word. We gotta save up our energies in order to manage two weeks of sightseeing LA *giggle*.

Just us

I'll report right back with you guys as soon as there's more to report, ok? And you keep up the good work and keep commenting on my blogposts, so I know you're still out there and with me, paying attention. Hugs 2u all, you know who you are!!!

Can we take this home as a sofa?

For more photos (on all the sites) please go to my German blog... I refuse double posting pics ;-) Regina's German travel blog

Museum of Flight and the Danish Capital in California

At Santa Maria, Museum of Flight

Very interesting and informative stories...

Done yet?

Astoundingly those people who aren't ment to make the shoe fit... put it on... *lol* Bugzy of all people, you didn't have to get a bad conscience!!! You needn't to invite us over to your house, but now that you did it... thank you. I think this is the only thing that was scheduled from the beginning was that we were invited to stay at aunt Virginia's house when in L.A. I just wasn't sure that she hadn't a problem with it being actually two weeks *giggle*. I'm thankful for both invitations, and we don't take these for granted. Bugzy, IF we'll need to take you up on it, or else, we'll talk to you FIRST. So thanks again you two, Johnny and Virginia! What made matters worse was simply that we were done sightseeing so quickly. We rushed through San Francisco within three days (!) and wrapped up SLO in no time. We just hung out there longer in order of being able to meet with my friends Andy and Liz. Well, that was a bummer, b/c they couldn't make time, they have to work this week. :( And now my health is getting in my way, but I'll manage. Peter is filling in with organizing now and has it all planned out (the trip to Santa Barbara). At first we were planning on a Segway tour, but with over 200 bucks it seems just too costly for us, and for something we can do as well at home, plus my health might interfere with a two hour tour to begin with. The visit of Lotusland seems intriguing, but... we did something similiar at the Mendocino Botanical Gardens already, and the part I don't like is that it's a garden invented by a private person in a residential area, which means not too many visitors are permitted to go there. You kinda apply online to even get tickets for it, without even knowing a covercharge. Odd. We won't do that either. Peter wrote a looooong list of to do's and must see's in SB *lol* and we're on our own time schedule, allowed to take our loads of photos then. And we postponed it from today until tomorrow.

We spotted this X-Mas Store,
like the one we have in Germany! Too cool :)

Taking a break in front of the X-Mas Store

Today we were thinking about driving up to Lake Cachuma at the Chumash Reservation, but it turned rather chilly here, clouds were moving in, same scenery as yesterday when we were trying on going to the beach in the VAFB area (Vandenberg Airforce Base). We thought of doing something else, which was visiting the local Museum of Flight. Tour guides were two elderly guys who actually had been stationed in Germany earlier in the years. And the CEO used to be stationed in our hometown actually. We had a blast being filled into all these airplane stories. I just would've loved to sit in one of them machines. I didn't even have to translate a lot for Peter. Guys seem to automatically connect with each other once talking technical stuff. That's international *lol*.

Taking a break from shopping and eating icecream ;-)

All day yesterday was dedicated to visiting Solvang. We went shopaholic in the heat and loved it. The yummy food, the friendly people, the nice weather, the tons of things to photograph. And you know what? We were a handful foreigners among hundreds of other foreigners/visitors/tourists. It felt nice for a change, to not be the alien, to be dressed odd like all the others and to not be spotted through our accents or foreign language.
The little houses were cute to look at, all the crazy souvenirs to scroll through, the tons of delicious bakery items, wonderfully flavored icecream. A wonderful day altogether.
We tried to visit the motorcycle museum as well, but their opening hours are just on the weekends. Plus with ten bucks per person to look at just fifty machines, I find that rather expensive. So Peter took our photos from the outside and then we headed back 'home' to our Hotel in Santa Maria.

Eating at... no, not the Wild Animal Park, but McD's

What nice days these are. We're enjoying them to the fullest, trust us! Keep looking for more stories to be told. Missing you all, you know who you are!

My two favorite things:
nice cars and goodlooking men ;-P

A closer look would've been nice...

Does anyone even read these?

Why am I writing anyway? I said I wouldn't be online at all except blog from our vacation during our five week long journey. So here I am. But it seems to me as if I get no attention at all, not on my German blog and not on here either.

Bubble Gum Alley in SLO *gross* *lol*

I hope that YOU Misty, are following me, and that you haven't forgotten yet... *missing my daily dose of bff* And I also hope that you're doing alright and that you got outta that emotional hole you were drawn into? Be prepared to catch up with me upon my return and don't you forget to tell me all about what happened, you hear? Did you get my second card yet?


Karol, we love to remember these couple of days we were allowed to stay with you, so far it was the best part of our trip to California!!! Peter and Grant seemed to have bonded despite all language barriers there were... You wrote that the Momma whale beached, so does that mean it stranded and died up there in Klamath now? How very sad is that! :( Do they know anything about the baby whale? *sad*

Whale stuck at Klamath River

Bugzy, I hope you're reading this, b/c we're slowly moving downwards towards your llittle world. We should make it into the area around the 22nd, so maybe meet with you a week after that the latest? Be prepared! I'm and we're so looking forward to meeting with you. *happy*


Well, from San Luis Obispo we moved down towards Santa Maria finally. Here there's not much to do, but we keep busy. The hotel was a catch online, and we're happy to stay at a nice and clean place with reasonable prices, until we'll move on to Santa Barbara County and Solvang, before we'll head towards the City of Angels in about a week or so.


So far we've made many experiences and had all kinds of adventures and encounters. Some were more than pleasant, others odd or saddening, even disappointing. Either way, we'll try to make the best of it.

Yep, that's the Pacific Ocean in the back

Here in Santa Maria we're close to the Vandenberg Airforce Base and the airport. The visit to the local Farmers Market was disappointing, because it was so small. Just about 10 tents were placed there. So we ended up driving through town and the way ended at a mall. We shopped, ate, tried to get into the Museum of Flight, but it's closed until Friday *ugh*. Now we're back at the hotel, and the 'kids' went playing at the pool and whirlpool.

Ostrichland in Buellton

Yesterday we went to Ostrich Land in Buellton, which is the home to some 300 ostriches, of which the oldest died age 81! They have emus also, and little babies. They are humungous!!! Even the babies are large already... You had to hold on to your feeding pan with both hands, otherwise you would've gotten either bit or the pan stolen off of you by the ostriches. They're craving the visitor's food it seems!

Hold on to that pan handle, girl!!!

Unfortunately my camera gave up on me there yesterday, there seems to be a problem with the program. It produces stripes through all photos and lightens them up to a point of unrecognizable... :( Luckily I may borrow Peter's camera, but that's not the same. *cry cry cry*


Guess that's all to tell for the moment. Did I write about Sabrina's oldest halfbrother Lance? He's such a cutie. We met with him three times during our stay and will keep in touch most definitely! That's one of the good things that came out of this journey. We're very happy about this development, as we are with the established friendship with Karol and Grant. How sad that all you guys don't just live around the corner, or at the next block or town *sigh*. We miss you all already!!! Seriously.

Sabrina with Lance (in the foreground)

I'll post some photos as well. More details upon my return home and online in September, ok?

Big spender

Well, unexpectedly the birth-day yesterday turned out a nice day. Four of them halfsiblings met at the beach, have a look:

Deanna, Lance, Eylene & Sabrina

And the two little ones played in the sand... ;-)

Sabrina & Alyson that would be... *lol*
referring to 'the little ones'

The evening ended at a nice (loud and crowded) restaurant, with great food. Which brings me to the big spending. I have a feeling that it was expected of us to invite everybody, which we didn't/couldn't. I mean, I would've loved to give everybody like at least 150 bucks and pay for all the food and buy this and that, but come on, we live in the real world, right? So we brought everybody German candy, which is without food additives and delicious, but, ya know...

Peter, Drew & Eylene

Just to name some numbers... the flights alone cost us 3300 Euros, 1200 Euros for the rental car, the hotel in San Franciso (3 nights) was 400 Euros, all in all we spent like 10,000 Euros on this trip, which is about 15,000 Dollars. With about 150 bucks per night for a motelroom, and the gasoline, and the food... you can probably figure out for yourself that there can't possibly be much financial scope to make it through 34 days. I wouldn't call it a small budget, but it's tight. We gotta think about every expense here twice. So I'm happy for everyone who doesn't leave in a huff but understands... Thank you. Plus can we please keep in mind, that I'm retired and live of a low pension age 45 to begin with?
So I thought it would just be fair to everybody pay for themselves, wasn't it? And IF I'll treat someone to something I'll let him/her know in advance, at least that's how it works with the rest of the world.

Caught drawing

San Luis Obispo

Finally we're here and met two of my daughter's halfsiblings already. I must say that at the moment I'm rather frustrated and annoyed than anything else. We drove around for three hours just to get another accomodation!!! In the end we are right across from where we started out this morning, but we drove almost 45 miles to get to this point. They say it's orientation week at Cal Poly and the weekend also, so there are no vacancies. Plus we're not willing and can't afford a 300 something bucks per night anyway. But while we drove down south to Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande at least the gas prizes were as low as they could get, so we have a full tank now and we'll stay here at the Los Padres Inn for at least two nights, maybe three, depending on the schedule of the Johnston-Carter's, who won't be back in town before Sunday evening.

In front of the old Fremont movie theater downtown SLO

If everything gets cancelled today, we'll just try finding Sabrina's grandpa, maybe go to the beach finally, but it's late afternoon already, and we might eat out somewhere on our own.

Taking a break in front of Mission San Luis Obispo

Other than that we saw a little bit of downtown SLO yesterday, but ended up in a shopping spree. I had to check out Applebee's, b/c Misty told me about it and we had delicious and pricely reasonable food *yeah*. We drove around in our old neighborhood, but it was dark already. This day to me seems wasted through all that driving, but at least I napped some. Slow day, no tourist's stuff, but alright I guess.

At the ticket counter of the Fremont

TTYS with more fun things to report I hope. Take care, as I know we will!

Exploring the creek