The Southern Getaway, B-month P4

With the end of the month drawing near, I knew I would have to act quickly to fit in one more celebration weekend with my beautiful wife. Having spent time basking in the beauty of nature, I wanted to spend some time showing Margo some of the urban beauty of the LA area. While the beauty of nature is unsurpassed, we both can see the beauty in a city skyline. Again, I had taken off work, unknowingly to Margo, packed our stuff up and we headed south, telling her that we needed "a getaway". She knew I was serious when I got on the freeway, set the cruise-control, and didn't stop for 6 hours.

First up, an architectural masterpiece: The Walt Disney Concert Hall. We let ourselves in for a "self-guided" tour and got to hear someone rehearsing on the amazing organ.

Photo from rogerbourland.com

Followed by Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd, location of handprints, footprints, and signatures of movie celebrities. Margo's true personality is showing through as you look at the "star-prints" she chose to be photographed with.

Photo by Carol Highs

A trip to So Cal would not be complete without a trip to the beach. The water is a lot warmer after driving 6 hours south.

A surprise within a surprise! Tickets to the opening weekend of Phantom of the Opera at Pantages Theater.

Then and Now ("Then" photo by LA Daily News)

The definite highlight of the trip was visiting the gorgeous Los Angeles Temple. While visiting different sites of urban beauty, it is inspiring to see a true house of the Lord, built and dedicated to glorifying God.

Photo from kendalldavenport.com

Photo from kendalldavenport.com

We chose to take the coastal highway for our return trip home. It added about 2 hours to the trip, but was definitely worth it. The scenery is beautiful as the road meanders along the coast and the expanse of ocean goes on forever in the west. After seeing one dolphin, Margo's eyes remained glued to the ocean for the rest of the trip. Her efforts were rewarded as she saw several more during the drive.

Celebrating Margo's birthday has been a blast. I'm even beginning to believe in this whole birth-month celebration concept! Happy Birthday Margo!

The Countryside Blossoms, B-month P3

A friend passed along some tickets for a members-only event held at a large estate called Filoli, located in the mountains south of San Francisco. The estate includes a large, historic mansion and sprawling gardens in every direction.

Photo by Filoli Gardens

Photo by Karl Gercens

Margo loved the immaculately kept gardens, but I must admit that my favorite part was sampling the amazing food that was brought around on large platters as we wandered through the gardens. Not a bad addition to Margo's birth-month festivities.

The Celebratory Nourishment, B-month P2

There's no way I was making this thing up on the mountain, and furthermore Margo is convinced that birthday celebrations should really be birth-month celebrations. Step 1 to the birth-month celebration: execute an awesome camping trip. Step 2: make a birthday cake that is worthy to have its picture sized "x-large" on our blog.

The Forest Marvels, B-month P1

Calaveras Big Trees State Park

There is something adorable and cute about miniature things, and I suppose there is an equal feeling of grandeur and impressiveness for gigantic things. From the smallest pine-cone seedlings to the fully matured redwoods, these trees did not fail to impress. I managed to give Margo a pretty good surprise for her birthday this year: a few unexpected days off work and a magnificent camping trip in the great outdoors. We trekked eastward, navigating through the smog of California's central valley (not our favorite part of Cali), and finally found ourselves at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

View from our camping site

There's nothing like the fresh mountain air and viewing the endless expanse of forest in every direction. Our camping site was an "environmental site," which meant that it was isolated, set back 1/4 mile from the road, and didn't have a water tap. Shouldn't that be what all camping is like?

We spent a few days exploring the hiking trails of the North and South groves, admiring the colossal scale of the trees. These trees are absolutely amazing! And to think what they've lived through, some being over a thousand years old.

Searching for gold... I really found some!

One gigantic stump.

Other highlights of the park were the beautiful streams and rivers, and of course, some good ol' fashioned cooking on the fire. All in all an awesome trip. Can't wait until Margo's birthday next year.