MINIATURE GOLF

I mentioned in a slightly older post that we had gone miniature golfing with Ian, Sarah, Sean, and Harriet.  Here's a few photos of the adventure.

THE HUNTINGTON GARDENS - CHINESE GARDEN

Charlie and I used to belong to the LA County Art Museum.  The problem was that it took us almost an hour to drive out to the museum and at least 15 minutes driving around trying to park. We then would go to some wonderful exhibit that would take us about an hour to see.  Back to the car and another hour trudging home.  Needless to say, we didn't go very often.  Eventually we decided it really wasn't worth dragging out there.  Close to our house is Huntington Gardens which have always been a treat to walk around.  Several years ago they began to charge an entrance fee.  We decided we'd join, and go as often as we could.  We manage to walk around the gardens at least once every other month at the least.  They have built a new Chinese Garden which is particularly peaceful.  Here's some photos of us in the garden.

THE HOLIDAYS

From the beginning of winter break until the beginning of February, we had a lot of house guests.  It was hectic, but a lot of fun.  The most difficult part of the month + was having company and needing to work at the same time.  Ultimately, it just made me tired.  Glenn, Krysty, and Kayley showed up first.  Due to the work on Krysty's parents' house, our house became home base.  When Ian, Sarah, Sean, and Harriet came through, we ran out of bedroom space, so Ian and Sarah ended up on futons in the living room.  Ian and Sarah (and children) came down again for New Year's  - more futons on the floor.  At the beginning of January, Glenn made a trip to Vancouver to do some work - Krysty stayed with us.  Toward the middle/end of February, Glenn took a two week trip around Canada to recruit for UBC.  Krysty went to Oklahoma to see her Grandma and cousins for the first week.  The second week she was back with us.  Then they left to drive back to Vancouver.  Our house was so QUIET it was unsettling.  The photos above are a few from our time of company.

We had driven up to see Ian and Sarah before December.  Here's a photo of our rainy trip down.

Over President's Day week-end we drove back to Ian and Sarah's.  Another rainy week-end, but Sarah found an indoor miniature golf course.  Half of it was normal room light.  The other half they had darkened and had glow-in-the-dark holes (our balls, clubs, and anything white glowed too).  Here's a photo of our favorite site on the way to and from the north - good old Arvin Edison.

 Now the visitors, trips, and company are over.  Just some quiet week-ends and teaching until spring break and a trip to Vancouver.  Later on, a trip to see Ian and Sarah again.

ANOTHER TRIP NORTH

The weather isn't exactly conducive to travel.  It's been rainy all afternoon.  I went to a faculty teacher meeting this morning.  I had planned to visit Ian and Sarah in Haywood today, but really hadn't realized that our furlough day-make up was planned to be the extra President's day weekend day (today).   I left the meeting a bit early which really made the difference in the trip.  The rain really increased as we drove becoming quite heavy the last two hours.  Fortunately, the weather put people off traveling, so the traffic wasn't as heavy as it could be.  We managed to get to Ian's by 8:30 - in time to see the grandkids before they went to bed.  Everyone was tired, but visits are good! 

We've taken the drive north so many times we know the high lights by heart.  The first highlight is Arvin Edison - the water tower seen above.  Our next highlight is Gorman (1 hour north).  Then Harris Ranch (3 hours north).  We stopped at Apricot Tree (3.5 hour north) for dinner - better than we remember.  Then on to Ian's.  Even with a rainstorm, the drive is always entertaining.

Soon - what happened between Christmas, New Year's and the beginning of February.