I just spent a little over a week in southern California, visiting friends and family, and relaxing. Ahhhhh.
My first stop was to drop Chris off at his aunt & uncle’s house, then I headed over to my friend Robyn’s house. I spent 4 days there – eating, drinking, and having fun. Robyn and her mom hosted ‘game day’ the day after I arrived, and my friend Barb and her mom, and 2 other ladies were there. It was lots of fun! Here are some photos from my time at Robyn’s house, in the high desert.
Robyn’s yard is full of bunnies, quail, and plants (Caesalpinia gilliesii) that I like:
Here’s game day, a Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) sunset, and a picture of Pixel, Robyn’s lovey little dog:
Robyn’s kitty Mushroom, and Cricket (her mom’s cat):
After my very enjoyable 4 days in the high desert (Thanks, Robyn and Linda!), I moved down to the LA basin, to Rich’s brother’s house to spend some time with family.
I did go out to Santa Clarita once to visit Barb, and I actually wish that I could have spent more time with her. We went to get her daughter new glasses (and tried some on ourselves), then went out for sushi. Here I am with some try-on glasses on, Barb with same, and some sushi (a sushi burrito – it was GOOD – and a red dragon roll).
I took lots of photos of stuff while staying with family, mostly bad photos of birds, and good photos of plants and bugs. Here’s a lovely one of some Japanese beetle ummm….reproductive activity, along with one of a new plant I bought for my mom, and the resident doggies – Paris, Mercedes, and Jayda:
Chris also had his 18th birthday while we were there:
Chris and I drove to Pasadena one afternoon, and did some visiting. We visited Rich’s friends James, Chris W. and Jeff. It was nice to see everyone, and Chris and I stopped at Monrovia Pizza Company, and had an amazing pizza. His half was sausage and pepperoni, and my half was chorizo, ham and jalapeños. MMMMM! Below Monrovia Pizza Company, one of my pizza slices, and Chris with the pizza:
Here’s Chris with James, and a picture of Jeff & Chris’s new little corner succulent garden:
Last but not least, here are the awesome ring I bought at a gas station, and the 6 carne asada burritos I brought home to Rich.
Thanks everyone in SoCal for everything, and I hope to see you all again soon! 
Thanks, also to all my faithful readers for visiting and reading and commenting!
Janet and I went to St. George, Utah for a little get-away this week. The weather was hot and lovely. We had fun, ate a lot, and got sunburned. AHHHHH.
*Disclaimer: Most of the photos are not all that great this time, as I used my phone to take them. *
There was some pool time. The first day, it was incredibly windy, but the second day was calm and beautiful. That’s Janet, triumphant after inflating her air mattress, and 2 pics of the pool at the Crystal Inn.
We ate at The Olive Garden, In ‘n’ Out, and others in St. George, and at Lupita’s Mexican restaurant in Cedar City. Here’s Janet at the Olive Garden, me at In ‘n’ Out (and a burger), and various stuff from Lupita’s – Tacos (asada on the right, carnitas on the left), ‘Mexican Flag Enchiladas’, and some festive American Independence Day decorations.
Thursday night (June 30) we went to see Grease (the musical) at Tuacahn Amphitheater. Janet had received some free tickets from work. It was GREAT. I loved seeing it live. I highly recommend it. They didn’t let us take photos during the show, but I snapped a couple of the entrance to Tuacahn, and one of the stage just before it started.
It was really nice to hang out with Janet for a few days, and just relax and chat. I miss having friends where I live.
To get to and from this little get-away, I rode the Greyhound, which was a fiasco we won’t discuss…except to say I think this may have been my last Greyhound trip ever. EVER.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!