Off By A Few Days

We don't really do Valentine's Day, but we are excited about this.  Enjoy!

2017

Here's to a wonderful new year!

Wanna Play Catch Up?

Michelle & Jim farewell from Norfolk

Okay so I realize that I've been quite tardy on my blogs lately, so bear with me.

As you may or may not know we've moved from the East Coast to the West Coast.  Such is Navy life.  Always an adventure!

Jim & Darby Cadillac Ranch

So we packed up what was left, after the movers had come, into our two vehicles and traveled from Norfolk, VA to Chula Vista, CA.  We had the two cats, our dog and the bird travel with us.  Don't worry we had the cats in a different car from the bird!

We stopped each night at a pet friendly hotel so that everyone could be out of the vehicle, stretch their legs and be reassured that all was well.  Thank goodness for a bit of  planning ahead of time.

Winslow, AZ

The animals did much better than I had hoped they would.  Although our female cat was none to pleased about life on the road.  Our boy cat on the other hand thought it was a great adventure!  And our little dog?  She loved it.

Even though we were on a deadline to be in California by the end of September, we managed to get in a bit of sight seeing again.

Our stuff has arrived!

We stopped in Texas at the Cadillac Ranch, went to the corner of Winslow, AZ, visited Las Vegas, NM where they filmed the original Red Dawn and of course stopped in Glendale, AZ to visit family.

Whew!

Fortunately for us, our household good were delivered within days of our arrival.  This pleased the animals greatly!  They were tired of air mattresses and folding chairs.  And I was with them in that regard!

Adina & Michelle

It's taking adjusting since our move here.  We've been blessed with really great weather though.

Jim, Audry & Rebecca

We've caught up with old friends, visited a museum or three, and had company three times already.  Jim has even reconnected with old shipmates.  How great is that!

Michelle's parents even came out for a visit around Halloween.  Insert a squeal here.  To add to the joy her aunt and uncle also came to the area during the same time.  So we did a bit of sight seeing and then back to Casa de Davenport for a lively couple of rounds of Mexican Train.  We're kinda hooked!

While we're getting used to the west coast way of life (and let me just say here that people are way more laid back here, a bit too laid back in some cases), we decided to get museum memberships.  We've already been to the San Diego Museum of Man.  Michelle wanted to see the exhibit on Monsters.  Bonus was the exhibit on Beerology.  Since the exhibits are constantly rotating and this is not the only museum that we have a membership to, this will become a habit for us.

A habit that I look forward to.

The weather here is another change in our life.  We're used to colder climates.  Not that it hasn't gotten cold here, but not for long periods of time.  And people react differently here.  I had a friend mention that they hardly got any rain here.  Plausible since California is in the midst of a drought.  You wouldn't know it by how often people wash their cars around here and how often all the sprinklers for the lawns go off.  However, it has rained quite a bit since we got here.  So much that we've actually turned off our sprinklers for the time being.  People have been known to freak out when it rains here and will treat it like a snow day.  LOL

Michelle & Jim snow selfie

And don't even get me started on snow.  So after Christmas Jim and I decided to drive up to the Palomar Observatory.  We were hoping to go in, but it was closed.  Which was sad.  The drive was lovely until we got higher up.  There was snow.  It wasn't the snow that worried us, it was all the crazy people parking, on the road, to go play in the snow.  I'm still shaking my head over this one.  We even saw people shoveling the snow into the bed of their trucks and on top of their cars (by the way that's a jerk move and quite dangerous) to try to take some back.  I guess they don't realize that snow melts. Can't wait to see what other craziness we will encounter while we're out here.

We Didn't Forget

Fourth of July in Newport, RI

Pell Bridge

 Just before the fourth of July weekend Darby and I drove up from Norfolk, VA to Newport, RI to visit Jim while he was there for school.

Yes, you never stop learning when you're in the navy.

Pell Bridge & Naval Warfare College

That was a long ten hours in the car with only two stops!  

Darby was a trooper.  She didn't get sick once and handled it like a pro.  I was so proud, since in the past we've had to deal with car sickness.  And she was so happy to see Jim!

She wasn't the only one!  It had been a month since we'd seen him.  So this was a wonderful mini vacation for the pup and I.  Plus a fantastic trial run before we go on a major road trip.

Quality Darby & Jim Time

Jim and I had been in Newport twice before.  The joke is that we always seem to come back to Newport every eight years.

I don't think we'll be back in eight years though.

So we went to a few places that held a place in our hearts.  Of course we went to Del's for a frozen lemonade.  I found that it's sweeter than I remembered, but then again tastebuds do change with time.  We were also able to get an Awful Awful from Newport Creamery.    We got a large Oreo flavored one to share.  At first we thought it would be too much, but by the time we finished it I was seriously thinking I should have gotten my own.

What is an Awful, Awful you ask?  I'm so glad that you asked!

It is a blend of flavored syrup, milk, and a secret frozen ice milk mix.  Awful Awfuls are "Awful big, awful good."  Apparently if you can drink three at one sitting, then the fourth one is free.  Although I don't think I could ever do that.

All in all, it was a GREAT trip.  Relaxing and a wonderful time to just get to spend quality time together.  Plus Darby got to explore new areas, which made her a braver dog.

Road Trip! California bound.

St. Louis Arch

 So in March we took the scenic route to San Diego, CA in Jim's 1990 Mazda Miata.

Just the two of us in a convertible with no power steering, cruise control, a/c (not that we needed it), radio or passenger side air bag.

Yeah, we might just be crazy.

MU Columns

Our first night was in Columbia, MO.

Broadway Diner

Of course we had to see some of our old stomping grounds.  We went by MU, where I used to work and where Jim's ROTC unit was stationed.  Bonus?  We had Broadway Diner for breakfast.  Great fuel for the start of another day on the road.

Canon City, CO

There were plenty of miles with absolutely nothing to see.  Yea, Kansas I'm looking at you here.  But for the most part it was a beautiful drive.

Monument Valley View

Colorado was gorgeous!  And I think Jim really enjoyed driving these winding roads.  And I have to admit I did kind of like that the speed limits were higher than I'm used to.  So in reality I wasn't speeding.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley Selfie

We were able to visit Monument Valley along the way.  For those of you who may not know, this is where many a John Wayne movie was filmed.  We had to get a selfie with Monument Valley in the background.  And wow was it bright outside, hence the sunglasses.  And so VERY windy.  The dust was pretty vicious.

Grand Canyon

We also were able to visit the Grand Canyon.  This had been on my bucket list.  So yay!

The Grand Canyon is the size of Delaware.  So as they say, two birds one stone.  We were fortunate enough to have another couple offer to take a photo of us.  We returned the favor, of course.

We were very fortunate that while on this trip we were able to stop in Arizona to visit my Aunt Laura and Uncle Harvey.  I hadn't seen them in years and Jim hadn't seen them since our wedding day.  Such is life in the navy.  So we were able to stop and catch up with them.  It was great getting to see them!

The original reason for coming out to San Diego was to drop off one of our three vehicles and scout out locations for a place to live.

However, a definite perk was getting to see many of our friends that are already out there.

We enjoyed getting to see a few of our friends, plus trying out great new places to eat.  Sadly we couldn't see everyone, but fear not my friends we will return in September/October time frame!

Even bigger bonus?

We flew home in First Class!  What a way to end a really great road trip!

Halloween

 As most of our friends know, Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday.  Every year we have sat out in our driveway with our neighbor, John, to pass out candy.  Normally there is a tasty concoction that I have brewed up just for the occasion.    In colored plastic cups.

We have done it almost every year we've been in this house.  So that's seven or so Halloweens.

It's been a pretty great tradition.  And the kids that stop by get a decent haul since we're the only two houses that do candy.  One stop, twice the candy.

I use the past tense because this will be our last Halloween in this house for a while.  By this time next year we will be in California.  Hopefully we'll be in a great neighborhood that likes Halloween as much as we do.  It makes me slightly sad though.

We didn't do pumpkins this year.  I just couldn't find the time or the gumption.  It was kind of bittersweet.  We normally carve pumpkins, eat cheap pizza and watch 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'.  I did watch the show, just not the rest of it.

Instead, this year we did it up a bit more.  We grilled.  Had lots of tasty beverages.  Invited friends over.  There were ten adults that night.  Quite the little shin dig don't you think?

And we handed out full size candy bars.  That's right we do it up right at our house.  And I had no candy left by the end of the night.  Does it count that one of my friends 'traded' me a bucket of their fun size candy for five of my full size candy bars?  And I didn't eat any of my candy.  I swear!  Trick or treaters really made out like bandits at our house.  Not only were we giving out full size candy bars, but there were two other adults giving out candy by the handfuls.

Plus we had Edgar Allan Poe's works being read by Vincent Price playing in the background.

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful night.  Especially considering we didn't shut down until midnight even though the trick or treaters were done by eight.  Gotta love a fire pit, good drinks, great friends and fun conversations.