How We Celebrate!

How does one celebrate Veteran’s Day?  I dunno what the “appropriate” way is, but we chose to go on a county adventure. 

We wanted to check out a nearby county and DO something there.  So we hoped in the car and took off . . .

And went out to eat!  This restaurant got some good reviews from what we could find.

The menu was nothing too special . . .

We ordered some sandwiches and a shake to share.  It wasn’t terrible but it’s doubtful that we would make the drive again just to eat here!

On the way home, we drove through the town to check it out.

It made us feel like we live in the BIG city!  The best part of the jaunt was hanging out with each other and enjoying the beauty of the world around us!

So what do YOU do to celebrate Veteran’s Day?

Summer Vacation

Some people take big trips during the summer but we contain it to four days . . . and two of those are driving days!

We decided to be adventurous and drive across the 50. . .

Pretty it was . . . and empty it was . . .  it was so lonely that there were bike riders in the middle of nowhere!

It was so boring that I fell asleep for most of it.  We had a “county adventure” planned in Eureka county and stopped for lunch there.

We had another county adventure planned after that . . . in some county that we might have enjoyed if I was awake so I could let Paul know when to stop!  Oops!

Since I was no good at helping the driver (aka Paul) stay awake, I depended on Harry Potter to do that job.

I was awake once we crossed into Utah and we opted to do a spur of the moment county adventure and stop at a park (which was perfect for stretching our legs . . . sleeping is hard work, dontcha know?

But we weren’t at our final destination yet . . . not even the one before that. .  there was more lonely road to drive (but boy, was it pretty!)

We “had” to stop for dinner and you’d never guess where that was (which was our second to last destination.)  Yummo!

And then we arrived at our destination . . . our private hotel!

The next day, we were able to hook up with David for breakfast.  (darn that crazy work schedule)

I was able to convert more followers to THE best shave ice around . . .

and we went to the movies!

Our lives seem to revolve around food . . . we were treated to a super good Brazilian restaurant . .. and I forgot to document any of it until dessert time . . .

The next day found us boating . . .

Our nephew knows what he is doing!

It’s nice being out on the boat because we get to leave everything else behind . .. no phone calls, no emails, etc. . .

Scott is kind enough to chauffeur us . . .

he even gave Paul some lessons on how to get UP which hadn’t happened yet . . .

and it paid off!

It’s fun hanging out with this bunch . . .

After boating is wiping everything down . . . no wonder the boat always looks so sharp. . . .

It was a wonderful day!

The next day we headed home . . .

We were thankful to John Grisham for keeping us both awake (okay, mostly Paul.)

Since we were still on vacation, we tossed in another county adventure and stopped at a museum along the way. . . .

and a spot to bird watch . . .

It was a great get-a-way for us

and the next day we had to turn the rental car in. 

Back to the O.C.

We took Leah to meet her great grandparents and assorted aunts and uncles.  I’m not sure she will remember it! 
In the process, she added both Nevada and California to her ever growing list of states she has been in.
We put the happy little family on an airplane to fly home while we continued our journey.
Since it was also our vacation, we decided to take some time for ourselves and do some things we wanted to do.
First on the list was revisiting Back Bay where a lot of bird watching hours were logged when we were in college.  Things have changed but there are still an abundance of birding opportunities.

I was feeling nosy and wanted to know what this fellow was painting.  I didn’t have my own binoculars so I used the next best thing. . . my camera . . . and I still couldn’t tell.  But I thought it made a good picture.

Since we lived there (a LONG time ago), a temple has been built.  We really wanted to see it (or at least I did and Paul was willing to take me there).  Sadly the grounds were closed but we could still see through the gate. . .

From there we headed to the shore to take a walk along the boardwalk. . .


and headed up the pier to see what we could see. .







and then we headed across the street to the spot where we had our first dinner out <3

All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day!