Hello and ...

Hello again. If I have any readers left, welcome back.  

Vacation was great. Watching my grandson walk down the aisle to get his high school diploma brought tears to my eyes and a tug at my heart.  I can still see him running down the hall butt naked as he liked to do after a bath, beyond that I remember the thrill of his first picture (the sonogram) announcing his impending arrival, the first time I held him in my arms; then I remembered back to all those memories of his mother and know how she feels releasing her firstborn into the real world. It's a sobering experience.

The day after the graduation the six of us piled into the car and spent the day wandering around Monterey Wharf.  I bought the one and only thing on the entire trip there.  Ray jokes that I have a sweatshirt from everywhere we visit because I never bring a jacket.  Monterey was no exception, the daytime was wonderful, but once the sun started to set, the breeze off the water was kind of brisk.  Surprised him though, I didn't buy a sweatshirt, instead, I bought a fleece jacket in my color.  It did come in handy a couple of times on the trip, but then I mixed it in with my Clearwater sweat jacket from a previous trip.

We left that area the following morning after breakfast with our daughter.  It was sad to leave but easier knowing that soon my beloved will be celebrating his 75th birthday and she's coming to share the experience.

Our next stop was Cambria.  It is a small seacoast town not too far from San Simeon and Hearst Castle which we planned to tour.  It's funny, but all the years living in California and passing it numerable times, we never stopped, so this was the perfect opportunity.  We stayed at a place called Cambria Pines Lodge which is a resort settled among the pines  Great place, we stayed in a quaint cottage, decorated in the style of the Hearst Castle era. I booked it through TravelZoo - it was great, two nights, a dinner with a bottle of wine and two full breakfasts for one price.  Definitely the best deal of the entire trip.  Hearst Castle sits atop a mountain and the view is spectacular.  The tour was worth taking to get some of the histories of the castle and such.  The furnishings were opulent but I couldn't help but think that it was decadence of the royal order (think Old Hollywood as depicted in the movies) except this stuff was real and worth millions.

That was the end of schedule portion of the trip.  After that, we were traveling on a whim with no particular destination in mind except it would be along the coast.  We couldn't take Highway 1 all the way which was disappointing.  There was a huge landslide last year and it is still closed so we missed some of those breathtaking vistas through Big Sur.  

We did manage to make a stop at Pea Soup Anderson's, a landmark restaurant along 101, famous for it's,  guess what - pea soup.  Ray always made it a point to stop there and it was close to lunch so....  It's the same but the town, Buellton, has grown up around it.  Not too far is the Danish village of Solvang, noted for their pastries and Scandinavian charm.

In case you haven't guessed by now, this travelogue is in place of a story.  Not once on the whole trip did I write one word - so much for plans.  It did get me thinking though that I'm going to follow through on what I've been thinking about for a while.  I'm going to take a break from Monday stories and blogging in general - at least through the summer.  I'm not going totally away and will post here and there but not on a regular schedule.  For some time now, I've felt like a fraud on this venue with the only thing making it legit in my eyes was that I supplied stories about TTWD.  Well, lately I've fallen off that horse and can't seem to get back up.  A break might be just what I need.

So, now that I've given you the news, I think I will end this week's post and who knows the remainder of the trip might be another post in a couple of days or next week.  Who knows?

Thanks for reading and see you later for more Aimless Ramblings.