Santa Ynez Winery Trip

It has been a few weeks already, but I didn't have much to report or too many photos, so I have been putting off reporting on this. I will say that both Rowan and myself had a very relaxing weekend trip out to the Santa Ynez county. It started out with a wine-tasting picnic hosted at one of the wineries. It was a gorgeous location and in attendance were 13 other wineries from the region. BBQ lunch, live music, essentially unlimited tastings, scenic views, and of course horses! Apparently, they provide care for old race horses. The main building of the winery, Bridlewood, is highlighted by the first photo.

Earthquakes Galore!

Within the last few days, I have experienced my first earthquakes in person. A very strange experience. Both times I have not really been concerned, but it definitely leaves me a little nauseous. Sunday night Just a few minutes ago

Universal Studios

 

Did I mention yet that we did a lot this week? It was a fantastic time, in case I haven't said it enough yet. My thanks to the Martindales from coming down and visiting. I think one of the funniest moments during our visit to Universal Studios was the Frankenstein Monster. There was fairly tall guy with big shoes and the whole deal, but when you are tall like a Visser, being only fairly tall doesn't cut it. So, after some prodding, I walked up next to Frankenstein and got a picture with him. Moments after the picture was taken, a few girls come up to me and want their photo taken with me. I guess when you are as tall as Frankenstein you become a bit of an attraction yourself.

Disneyland and Medieval Times

 

Another collage, this time from Disneyland and Medieval Times. Incase you are wondering when this stuff all happened, it was the 2nd week in April, when Bill, Serena, and Branwen came to visit. It was a very exciting and action-packed week! For the Medieval Times, our knight was the Red Knight, and he completely dominated the field. I don't know if cheering actually affects the outcome of who will win or not, but our knight definitely got knocked down and hacked up a lot, but everytime he did we screamed for him to get up, and he always did. Needless to say, I was very hoarse for the next few days :D

Life in the Desert

 

Once again, I've gotten seriously behind in my blogging, so I'm trying something new. I've gathered together all of the photos from a particular event, in this case the trip to Joshua Tree Desert National Park, and ordered Picasa to make a collage for me. If any of the individual photos are too small, just click on the image to get the full size view of the collage. Not sure if I am completely happy with the resulting image, but at least it gets me blogging again.

Gone for the weekend

Just to let everyone know, I'll be gone for the weekend. Rowan and I are going wine tasting up in Santa Barbara county. Leaving in a few moments, so I'll see you all on the other side!

Martindale Visit: Day 1 - La Brea Tarpits and Santa Monica

The pictures posted in the previous post "Picture Preview" correspond to this entry. In the evening on Friday, April 10, Bill and Branwen arrived in Los Angeles. The next day we visited the Page Museum at La Brea Tarpits. It is very interesting because it's right in the middle of Los Angeles, about 2 city blocks in size. They have many pristine skeletons from the Ice Age because the tarpits would slow down or trap animals. After the tarpits, we went to Santa Monica to explore the pedestrian shopping area. There are many buskers performing there and lots to see, so it's always a bit of an adventure.