Weekend in Cali!



I LOVE to travel. AND I love to travel to places that are warm and beautiful. I normally love to return home too, but I must admit that this trip I was a little reluctant to land back in Spokane, maybe it was that we were only away for a weekend. But....I must give these winter blues the shake soon!

Regardless, Thor and I had a wonderful weekend get-away to Southern California. He is the best travel buddy ever! He is a wonderful companion on long flights and drives, we are able to keep each other laughing in the most mundane situations.

We left for this trip on a Thursday night. Since I didn't have any bags to check, Thor went on up to the baggage check solo. I saw him laughing and flirting with the little flight gals but figured this could only bode well for my future.....sure enough, first class upgrades!! Oh the benefits of having a handsome and charming boyfriend!

The flight into LAX was pleasant. Although I had to be reminded to use my "airplane voice" oops...I was excited!

The next day Thor had a work meeting which left me with a couple of hours to explore Long Beach, California solo. I had looked up a little Vegetarian Cafe that I wanted to check out ....it was amazing! Kinda  tucked away with a great little local atmosphere. The food was AMAZING with very good prices. It does make me a little disappointed to know that not only is vegetarian cuisine in Spokane a little harder to come by, but much more expensive.

After my very enjoyable lunch, I strolled around downtown and was lucky enough to find a farmers market! So fun to see the different vendors and take in the atmosphere.

From there I headed down to the docking area to grab a couple of quick pics with the Queen Mary Ship and such. A nice man saw me trying to take pics of myself and offered to help me out. He was so sweet and talking to me about what the different things around were. When I asked him what he was up to today, he told me that he was homeless and a little bit of his story. My heart continues to hurt for that sweet man....



It was now time for me to head back to the hotel to meet up with Thor for our drive to Santa Barbara. SO, being very intelligent tourists we decided to drive from LA to Santa Barbara at about 330 on a Friday afternoon.....yup anyone familiar with Southern Cali is likely laughing at us right now...and we deserve it.The good news is we got to enjoy each other company and chat about life, with the windows rolled down while we sat between various bumpers for a few hours..... At least there was a beautiful sunset.... :)



In Santa Barbara we stayed with a client/friend of Thors. In the mornings we would wake up, pick some oranges from the tree in the yard, squeeze them for juice, and then drink the fresh OJ while listening to birds outside..... I cant even tell you how wonderful that was. We also took some time to check out downtown, eat at a natural cafe (I love the heathy CA food options!!!), and head to the BEACH!



There is something just magical about the ocean. The rhythm of waves, the unending horizon, the smell, the sound, the power......very therapeutic to the soul. We also watched a man play Frisbee with his dog. The pure joy, excitement and never-ending energy of the dog for his Frisbee was so charming. Why can't we all find joy so simply?

The next day was a drive back to LA and on home to Spokane....I must admit that when the pilot announced that due to fog and snow in Spokane, landing might be compromised, I hoped that maybe we could just go back to California??