Road Trip '08

Doin' things a little backwards this time. I've already told you we're home from our trip, now ABOUT our trip. This is will be difficult because I want to post some pictures. However, Angela could fill an entire memory card on a simple trip to the grocery store, so you can imagine how many we have after going on vacation. One word to describe our trip...BLAST!!! Our first day in L.A we went to the San Diego Zoo, quite amazing. It's a very LARGE and very beautiful zoo with lots of play areas for "kids".

She finds fun in everything.

Tony got the chimps going of course. While one tried slapping him through the glass, another tried kissing him...just like the women.


LOTS of fun pictures from the Zoo, but I'll move on. We ate dinner that night by the USS Midway. Can't even begin to describe the magnitude of that carrier...if you're ever there check it out.

Next to the Midway is an area with a Tribute to Bob Hope, kinda cool for those that grew up seeing him in movies and tv. There's also a replica of the famous snapshot where the soldier grabs the nurse and kisses her..and if you think Angela didn't find THAT a real photo op, you don't know her very well! It was dark, but trust me, they're in the picture.

Next we started driving North on the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. What a beautiful drive. We took our time, staying anywhere we wanted and doing whatever sounded fun. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Winchester Mystery House,and Alcatraz. No trip to San Francisco would be complete without driving over the Golden Gate, walking around the Wharf, and of course riding the Cable Cars. And need I mention the amazing shopping we encountered???!!!! I'll never be able to shop in Idaho again!

Our first tourist stop: Monterey Bay

I love having a son.

Giulliano thought this was funny

Waaay too much time in the kids area:


Next Stop...Winchester Mystery House

If you don't know anything about this house, research it. Quite interesting. Of course anyone who knows Tony can figure out why Angela made this a "must" on our trip.

Do I even have to explain?



This beautiful front door wasn't even used since Mrs. Winchester NEVER had visitors in all the many years she lived there. How sad...



Of course Ang wouldn't miss the "Behind the Scenes" tour..heading for the old smelly basement.


On to our next location....pretty sure this picture needs no explanation.

Giulliano also drove us across the bridge and around Sausalito...I LOVED it there, it's such a beautiful little town.

Next stop..ALCATRAZ

I TOLD her to behave or else...(and yes, it's kinda creepy being in the cells)

Syncing our audio tour

Sitting in the mess hall on authentic benches used there.

Re-inacting the inmates in "the yard"

I LOVED Alcatraz. I learned so much about it's history. Did you know it started as a Military lookout to protect the Bay? It was later used as a Military Prison and eventually became what we all know it as, a terrible place for some baaaad people. And did you know some of the Guards families lived ON THE ISLAND?! There was even a play yard for them, and they took a boat into San Francisco each day to attend school..that's crazy. OH, and after it was closed as a prison the Native Americans overtook it for awhile, using it to protest against the Govt. How come I've never heard that? Tom...YOU would LOVE IT!!!! I couldn't stop thinking about you the whole time, wish you'd been there. One last picture from there..I think this depicts the Alcatraz reputation....
Well..I thought you'd be able to read the poster, it says: "Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz"

After "getting off The Rock" we spent the day riding the Cable Cars and seeing San Franciso. Sunday morning we headed back to L.A. driving thru the Sequoia National Park on our way. WOW...amazing. I'll end w/ a few pics in S.F and the Forest.



Heading for home....



Tony bought a Giant Sequoia to grow in Idaho! So please tell your great great great grandchildren to look for it in Idaho some day. Perhaps by then it will be big enough to climb. heehee




Tony and Giulliano relaxing after FORCING me to drive!
This was such a fun trip, even more so because the four of us were together. I know, I should have just made this a slide show, but I didn't think about it until all this work was done...sorry if I've bored you to death. Thanks Ang and Giulliano for a GREAT TRIP!!! We love you and can't wait for that next road trip we talked about!

There ya have it...hope you weren't TOOO bored. Trust me, it could have been worse, I have about 500 pictures. Thanks for indulging me. I'll make the next post short, I promise!

Here a cow, there a cow...

If you've never raised cows before let me give you some advice...DON'T!!! They're alot of work. As if Tony and Randy didn't have enough to do, they decided to provide more then just wild meat for the freezer this year and raise a few "beef" (that's cattleman talk ya know), which promptly resulted in ALOT of cow chasing at various times throughout the spring/summer/fall. I know what you're thinking...Carol chasing cows? Not exactly my style I know. However, when you have those very large, very expensive creatures running all over your yard, the road, the neighbors corn field and anywhere else they feel like going, you really have no choice, city girl or not. If you think I don't have a reputation for not being farm savvy, consider the farmers son next door coming over after one escape episode and asking "how ya likin' them cows now?".

Anyway...after a long summer of watering, feeding, and chasing we finally...yep...we did, had 'em slaughtered. Couldn't there be a better word then slaughtered? Ick. That happened while we were on vacation thank goodness, didn't really want to witness that. We return home and guess what we spent our first night home doing? CHASING THE NEIGHBORS COWS!!! Hmmmm...could it be "karma" for killing ours? I was riding along on my lawn mower minding my own business when I looked up to see a heard of cattle running down the road. WELL...as any good country neighbor would do we got on the four wheelers and proceeded to chase them down. What a sight...cars stopping, people running everywhere, quite amusing. Then it got dark, a bit worrisome since the cows are all brown or black. Long story short..after a couple of hours of this craziness they were all corraled into our two pastures until morning when they could be moved "home" and we all went about our "normal" lives. Just another day in country paradise. My best advice...think twice before raising cows.