Meghans B-Day

After two weeks of straight rain in the middle of January we had our first forecasted day of sunshine on a Saturday. So we gambled on the odds of seeing our long lost friend, the sun, and planned to spend the day out in Solvang to celebrate Meghans birthday. As the day approached it rained buckets up till Friday. When we woke Saturday morning it was looking like the weather man gets to live. Just the drive to Ventura to meet up was so nice. Then the driving up the coast, and then up the hill to Solvang was just beautiful. You know how it gets in SoCal just after a good rain. The air is so crisp and clear, the sky seems so big and bright, and you just feel good being out. Anywho, Solvang was all green and pretty.

First place we headed for was the Red Viking for lunch. I think we had mixed reviews on the hot red cabbage, but they got that gravy down for sure.
After lunch we thought we would burn off some calories, mainly so they could later be replaced in pastry form, and rented a three bench Surrey Bike to ride around town. That was fun, or was it funny. We noted the stores we wanted to come back to, then we stopped in at the Elverhoy Museum before turning in the bike thingy.

We spent the rest of our time perusing the little shops in town. The clock shop, knitting store, and that big christmas store.

At some point some dancers came out and performed a few numbers for the crowd.

We took the 154 out of Solvang through the Santa Ynez Valley back down into Santa Barbara. We pulled off the highway, just before San Marcos Pass, onto Stagecoach road so we could drive underneath the big ol arch bridge we had just drove across. As we wound down the narrow road covered by the trees on the hillside, we rounded a bend and this cute little place popped out of nowhere.



Then I remembered having seen it before on a Rachael Ray show she did about the food in the Santa Barbara Area. She had visited this place and recommended it for its great breakfast menu. Its called The Cold Spring Tavern. And the road it's on, stage coach rd., was how people used to migrate through the area, and this was a stop along the way.

We finished the night off with dinner on main street in ventura. All and all it was a fun and relaxing day out for the family.

Right of Passage.

This week the kindergarten classes at Sierra's school got to go on a field trip to the Los Angeles Zoo, and Jake was able to leave work early to help drive and go along. Now, we have had a family pass to the zoo for quite a few years, and take short day trips fairly often, but Sierra was very excited for this trip to go with all of her friends.



These are some friends from Sierra's class.



The kids were fortunate to stumble upon a few animal encounters. One of the things they did while at the zoo was identify the climate zones the animals were from. First they saw an armadillo, and then a tiny little hedge hog.



This younger giraffe kept coming right over to the kids and would lean over to a few feet away.
And no, that was not our kids feeding the giraffe. In fact we put a quick end to it.



We spent the most time with the orangutans than any other animal. The baby, now 5 years old, was coming up and playing right in front of the kids. She was so cute. Then when the mother saw all of the kids by her baby, she strolled right up to the glass to hang out too. She was very away of the children. She kept looking at all the kids faces, almost like a mom watching other kids play with her own kid.

It was a fun, exhausting, outing. Good times.