Home Again, Home Again

It's Monday and we are truly, officially not on vacation anymore. We arrived back to Columbus on Friday night, drove out to the farm on Saturday morning, and spent the weekend coming back into ourselves.

California was lovely and our friends were even lovelier. One of the first things we did in Los Angeles was set out for a walk. It was misting, of all things, so we had to don some chapeaux.

There is Col in her infamous kitty hat.

And after that it was non-stop. We ate at fabulous restaurants--how can you not in such cities as LA and San Diego? We saw a hilarious show at the Groundlings Comedy Club. We visited the neighborhood coffee shop every morning to get our coffee on (girl got to get her juice!) And we did something I've never done in all the times I've visited Col in LA--we took a hike. Stough Nature Preserve sits on the hills above Burbank. We walked straight out of the parking lot up some fire roads. The colors were soft and autumnal in a desert-like way.

At the top of one of our hills was a picnic table near a lone pine tree. On the picnic table was a box where people wrote their thoughts on paper and left there for others to read. We had a nice rest there, ate some berries, and of course left our own thoughts on a scrap of paper.

The next day we drove north to wine country in the Santa Inez Valley to do some tasting with some of Col's friends. Yeah, that was hard. That was a really hard day. Mmm hmm.

And then we were off to San Diego. John and I drove our rental car to San Juan Capistrano to sight-see at the Mission before meeting up with Karen. I visited missions near Santa Barbara with my parents when I was a kid. They bought a painting on one of our trips and it hung in our home when I was growing up. I loved looking at it and remembering the cool stones and hot sun, the yellow adobe and fuschia flowers, and the endlessly interesting play of shadow and light across the pathways. This shot reminds me of that painting, and is, for me, the quintessential Mission image:And there are those fuschia flowers (with the addition of a sweet hubby).We stayed in a little motel by the ocean that night and watched a sunset. You can't have a travelogue about California without a sunset shot!The next day we continued down the coast and met up with Karen in San Diego. We took another hike--this time along the coast. We began up high and travelled down to the beach. It was another glorious day, although a little hot. Thank goodness we didn't run out of water! Karen!


We returned to LA after a delicious meal at a Mexican restaurant that one of Col's friends recommended--El Agave. We each had a different mole. I wanted to lick the plate, it was that good.

On our last day, we took it easy with Col, laying around, eating one last meal with one last bottle of wine. And then we flew home.

Thanks to Col and Karen for your hospitality and energy. It was so good to see you both. Friends like you are priceless. Thanks, California, for your rugged beauty and for giving me a new reflection of myself. Hello again, Ohio, my undeniable place of heart. It's good to be home.