34th Anniversary Get-Away

Last Wednesday, Lyle and I went on a little adventure. Lyle surprised me with a little get-away starting in Malibu. Lyle drove down to the Getty Villa. What a great place to visit.

From this entrance point you can see the ocean. It is a beautiful place to visit.

In the amphitheater they do ancient Roman dramatic productions. Lyle was waving so you could see him!

An authentic Roman Villa was recreated for Getty to show his art pieces from his travels.

Unbelievable detail was given to every surface wherever we went.

This is an outside hallway ceiling. The large pool which runs between the 2 long halls.

On the 2nd floor there are many authentic treasures.

A Roman mummy
So after we left, we thought we might make it to the Reagan Library before it closed. They have added Air Force 1 and the Oval Office that we had not seen before. We got there at a perfect time....about 4:00 when the crowds were leaving.

The Oval Office was reconstructed to exact measurements. Many of the things in the room were the real deal. The guides were very informative and answered any and all questions about the room.

The size of Air Force 1 within a building is staggering! The views were breath-taking. The tour through the plane was a blast from the past. Everything looked so dated compared to today's technology. We highly recommend this tour!

There are people who make exact replicas of historic buildings.
This one of the White House is amazing. This is from the front.

And on the backside, you could see the details of each inside room.

This display was representative of the building of the White House. The carved characters were very individual and expressive. You could spend a lot of time examining things in this room.

There were era displays. This one happens to be of Lincoln and what the room was like in his time. There were several others. I guess you will have to visit to see those for yourself.

One of the guides took our picture in front of the life-size bronze statue of President Reagan.
So we drove a couple of hours up the coast to Solvang. This is the Days Inn we stayed in. Not the greatest, but it did have a windmill in the front if you look closely. (I took this from the filling station while Lyle was getting gas.)

On Thursday, we went to many places. This is one of our stops at Pismo pier. It was windy and there were many white caps all day up the coast.

We stopped for lunch in downtown San Luis Obispo. We ate by the creek and shared 2 wonderful salads.

At Morro Bay, we stopped to say Hi to my friend Lu Chi Fa, author of "Double Luck, Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan." He was not there, but we were entertained by these seals. They were picking at each other in between snoozing on the rocks.

So after a long winding drive up Highway 1, we got to Monterey. These seagulls were like statues in the wind. All lined up and holding their own.

This shot is for Cory. Vinyl Revolution was one of his college day hang-outs. It is still there. And across the street is one of Cory's favorite Mediterranean places to eat. It is still there.

While driving around near the ocean, I spotted this deer in someone's driveway. I had to grab the camera fast to get the shot. She looked so out of place in this residential area.

We stayed at the Rosedale Inn in Pacific Grove. They advertise that they are 400 yards from the ocean. Lyle actually walked out there, but it was a lot of climbing. The inn was so much better than the previous night. We enjoyed the fireplace, Jacuzzi tub, kitchenette, and free wifi. It was really a good place to rest for us.

On Friday, we headed to Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Lyle loves this town, because his grandparents used to live here and he would spend summers hanging out in Santa Cruz.

Here is a Falafel Hut we had to take the picture for Cory. Maybe someday he will visit it. It is located across the street from the Boardwalk. Lyle is getting good at taking our picture. It was overcast until about 11:00 when the Boardwalk opened, then the sun popped right out and was a perfect day.

We rode the sky cars and took in the amazing views.

We enjoyed the displays and the lack of a crowd. It was a perfect time to be there!
We rode the carousel and Lyle got the ring in the clown's mouth. It made the buzzer go off and everyone applauded him.

About 2:30 we headed home. We had a great 3 day Anniversary Get-away adventure!