Adventures on the Road-California Edition

Two weeks ago, Andy and I piled our bags in the back of the Yukon, said goodbye to rainy Vail, and prepared ourselves for an adventure. Our journey began at the Denver airport where we prepared to board a plane headed for Los Angeles. After a few delays due to a really intense (but very cool) storm, we finally made it to Andy's dad's condo sometime after 1am. We had quite a full house for the first couple of days which was fun in and of itself--8 people in a condo normally occupied by 2! One of our first adventures was a trip to the beach to watch the sunset. Andy and I took his dad's motorcycle and the rest of the group piled into the car. During the parking process we accidentally lost track of one another. We eventually found the car but not it's occupants or my backpack which conveniently held my camera that night. Imagine my surprise when I found pictures of the sunset on my camera!! Thanks for the pictures Alicia! We had a lot of fun walking around and watching the people fish off the pier. It was such a pleasant night, perfect for looking out over the ocean and exploring on the motorcycle.





Sunset at Redondo Beach...taken by Alicia!!









The next day we took a driving tour. Our first stop was the Griffith Observatory where we took pictures of the Hollywood sign, looked over the skyline of Los Angeles, and learned about the planets and stars in our solar system.






Hollywood sign!!











Group picture, taken by Robert, at the Griffith Observatory.








After taking a couple of pictures, we returned to the cars and made our way down Santa Monica Blvd toward the 90210. While in the Beverly Hills area, we took a moment to check out the stores lining Rodeo Drive. (Way too rich for my blood!) Our final destination was the Santa Monica Pier. It was a bit cloudy and chilly by the water but still quite a neat experience.






Even the clouds could not stop the glorious sunshine!













Andy and I trying to stay warm out on the pier.









According to Andy, this is "my" dolphin. Two years ago Andy took my picture with this dolphin and now has that picture on the desk in his office.




On Sunday afternoon we went on a Geocaching adventure! It's always fun to take people out for the first time. The first cache we found required a bit of a hike. When we finally made it to the site all 6 of us began scouring the ground. Andy soon found the cleverly disguised cache.







"That's what we were looking for?!?!"












Hooray for Geocaching on a beautiful, sunny afternoon!!







After replacing the cache, we reprogrammed the GPS for the next cache which we assumed to be in the same general area. Thankfully we assumed correctly and we were soon on our way to the next destination. The cool thing about the 2nd cache of the day was that it was a "multi-cache" meaning you find one cache and that cache gives you coordinates/clues for the second cache where you sign the sheet and make your trades. All in all it was a wonderful day!

On Monday night we returned to the pier to witness a magnificent sunset. The colors were phenomenal!! I probably took 20+ pictures that night!





I love sunsets!! I really love sunsets with Andy!!














Wow!!! Pictures do not do this sunset justice...it was awesome!








Our final adventure in California took place on Tuesday night...we attended a Dodgers game!! I had never attended a Major League Baseball game before. What a neat experience!! After 8 thrilling innings we decided to leave in an effort to beat the traffic. It was getting late and it seemed like the game might go into extra innings. We had so much fun and were very excited when we learned that the Dodgers won the game!!!






View from our seats. We could see everything!












"Take me out to the ball game"









On Wednesday Andy and I went on our final California motorcycle ride then boarded the plane for Chicago. We had such a wonderful and memorable time in California and cannot wait to return!
That's all for now...check back later for "Adventures on the Road--Michigan Part 1", a look back over the adventures Andy and I had with our families in Michigan after we landed in Chicago....