Arrgghh! California traffic. No matter how many lanes there are, it’s crowded. There were some wide open roads with some agriculture activity at first, but eventually we ended up on a highway.
After many freeway backups and accidents and two suggestions of alternative routes (that also had backups and accidents) we arrived at our Oceanside hotel. It is located at the very end of the Oceanside Marina and the rooms are all suites. Beautiful views and the seals are far enough away that their barking won’t keep you awake! I think it must have been apartments or condos at one time — what hotel has a linen closet in the bathroom?!
Our plan was to go to Clay and Becky’s house and then out to dinner. But we were exhausted. The trip from Lompoc took two hours longer than the original GPS estimate. And, besides, the hotel had a beautiful pool on the edge of the water leading out of the marina. I asked the hotel receptionist whether our grandkids could use the pool and after the hotel manager shouted “how many” from her office, they agreed that two was fine.
Dinner was another consideration. The last thing we wanted to do was get in the car! Cliff scouted the internet and found a nearby restaurant that would sell us dinner, wine and beers:-). Pizza! Somewhat overpriced wine and six cups filled with beer, that the owner graciously brought to the car. Turns out the restaurant Cliff picked is a favorite of Becky and Clay’s (and Becky’s family) and we’d been there once on a dark, stormy night years ago.
The next day we went to Stephanie and Bob Turner’s house (Becky’s parents) and enjoyed their beautiful backyard complete with a breeze from the Pacific Ocean. My bad….no pictures:-(. We adjourned for a late lunch at another family favorite restaurant, the Privateer where we had one side of the restaurant to ourselves.
From there, “the girls” went shopping for some early birthday presents. So much better to shop WITH them than FOR them at a distance! Addi’s birthday is Aug. 6 and Charlie’s not far behind — Sept. 3. Afterward we joined Clay and Cliff back at the condo. Love that beautiful painting on the wall? Nope. It’s the TV disguised with a frame that Clay built after Becky admired (really expensive!!) TVs that looked like art at a store. He built the frame with some leftover molding…added some gold paint and a screen saver…and voila! Pretty clever!
Clay’s not the only clever one in the family. I’ve got lots of artwork at home that Addi’s created and Charlie presented me with several artistic creations of her own on this trip!
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