Trip for Grandma - Day's 1 and 2

Left Thursday afternoon with my sisters in tow.

(yes, less than 24 hours since I got off the plane from Washington)

We left the men in our lives and headed to sunny California.

Well it was kinda sunny, kinda warm, kinda nice.

But not what we were dreaming of.

Doesn't matter, we were there for a greater purpose.

Arrived at hotel #1 in Ventura in the later evening. Loved our view from the room. Went to dinner and stuffed our faces. Well all but the little girl that tagged along. She got very sick and spewed mashed potato's all over our dinner.  I think our appetites pretty much flew out the window at that point.

Our Friday plan was to head North and meet up with our Mother in Solvang.

This super cute Dutch town. 

A place my Mother is very fond of.

The drive was just about PERFECT.

I wish so very much I could have that drive every single day.

We also saw something very shocking on the drive. Just before we enter Dutch town there was an ostrich farm on the side of the road. Hundreds of these suckers were running amuck. 

That's not the shocking part.

I got the shocking part on film but fear for all you to actually post it.

Its a 3 min. video of this male O stalking and tackling this poor female O. 

He went to town on her.

I cant go into detail. I will pee laughing so hard.

You should have heard 5 girls squeal and scream as we witnessed this taking place. 

No No. We couldn't have just rolled up the window and continued on our drive. We all needed to learn of the birds and and the other birds in this very graphic, very detailed way.

*even though 3 out of the 5 girls in the car have had a child and should know what was going on*

We arrived at Solvang and had a wonderful time

shopping, eating, eating, shopping, sitting in giant shoes, learning about "when I was little" from my Mother, soaking up the sun rays and eating more.

After hours of walking fun we headed to Lompoc.

Lompoc is where my Grandmother spent more than half of her life. 

This is the place she raised the majority of her children, the place she took care of Grandpa when he was very sick, the place she lost Grandpa, the place she served, the place she grew, the place she welcomed a crap load of grand kids into her life, the place she left a lasting mark and the place Grandma was soon going to be laid to rest next to Grandpa.

This was a night of going from place to place learning about where and when things happened. What they did when they were younger. How my Grandma was pretty much the funniest person ever. We saw the house my Mother grew up, the church she married in, the streets she played, the high school she attended, the famous mustard flowers, the houses of her friends, the dairy queen and the Mc Donalds.

It was a sweet day.  A very special day with our Mother.

We check into hotel #2 anxious to relax.  The little girl and I unfortunately got poisoned by the mass amounts of chlorine in the hot tub which left us both aching in pain, with rashes that turned into welts and lasted well into the next day. Hmm.. Can you say Sensitive skin. 

Saturday is going to be the day, sleep was much needed....