Dylin has a sleepover

 While we were gone, Dylin left a message asking if she could have a sleepover.  I made arrangements to pick her up after school today. We went home to pack her bag, and then we were back on the road up to Katy.  I told her to take a little nap as the 30 minute drive always seems so long to her. When we pulled in the driveway, Sneed came out to greet us. He got Dylin out of the carseat, although the minute he stepped into the house she woke up.

As soon as she awoke, she wanted to go in the pool...



After a shower, she donned her new dress and posed in the gazebo. Then we had some franks and beans for dinner.

For dessert, we went to a new place that recently opened, Rita's Ice. Dylin wanted the large orange slushy drink. It did a number on her teeth and tongue. Fortunately, it came off when she brushed her teeth. Otherwise, it would be the perfect treat for a t-sip. = ) (Aggie humor)

Sneed set up the DVD player so we could watch a couple of episodes of Fraggle Rock.  I was getting tired, but she was too wired from the icee drink. She sent an email to her Mommy, who sent one back lickety split. Erika also sent some of the photos from when Dylin was a model of Flower Girl dresses.

She looks so grown up in these photos.

We Skyped with Aunt Annemarie, Uncle Brett, and Burke. Burke was really watching Dylin as she made funny faces at him to make him laugh.
 I asked her if she wanted some curls tomorrow. There were some bobby pins in the bathroom drawer so I pin curled her hair. She had to be careful when she was sleeping because she moves all over the bed. Last time the curlers fell out when we tried this. Maybe the bobby pins will hold.



Saturday morning when I peeked in to see how she was doing, she was 180 degrees turned in the bed. When she came downstairs she announced she only found one bobby pin in the bed. Voila!, curls!!

Hello, Clyde, We're Home!

Sonora to Katy

You've seen this stretch of the highway a few times, nothing new except the pretty sunrise.

 Final stats - for today, the entire trip while GPS was on, and the entire trip on Cy's tripometer.



Day 2 Homeward Bound

Chandler, AZ - Sonora, TX


Pretty uneventful day. We're back on I-10 so it's smooth sailing on into Texas. Sneed was getting pretty tired as we crossed another time zone. We had high hopes of spending the night in Ozona, expecially when we saw a brand new Holiday Inn Express.  Evidently everyone else had the same idea as at 7pm, there were no rooms in the inn. So back on the highway for another 30 miles to Sonora where we had our choice of a few very, very, very, old motels. Yuck. That's what happens when you're traveling in far West Texas and the towns are few and far between.


This structure caught my eye as we zoomed past. Taking photos while the car is traveling along at 85mph (the legal limit in Far West TX) isn't the easiest.  We believe this is a prison, but a very pretty facility.

The road goes on forever....  pretty mural on the side of the overpass in NM

 Day's end



We're on our way home

 Santa Barbara, CA to Chandler, AZ

We took a different route home rather than coming straight across on I-10. Our objective was to miss Los Angeles and when in Arizona go through Sedona. Well, it was worth it. Lots of red rock mountains. It's gotten touristy over the years and many summer and year round homes and rental homes have been built at the base of the mountains. The road was Sneed's favorite, lots of twists and turns. We spent the night in Chandler just South of Phoenix.

Along the road photos....the last photo shows the windmill blades that are on the windmills dotting the country these days. The blades are humongous!



Look at those petrol prices!!

 

Beautiful Sedona

  

Cy hones in on another McDonald's





Packing a lot into our Last Day in SB

Early morning walk with Burke to the park nearby. Found out that this was his first time out of the stroller or k'tan while at the park. Seems like he enjoyed the experience. Annemarie enjoyed having a shower without having to worry about Burke. When we got back she was ready to take us down to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The 360 degree view from the roof validates our belief that Santa Barbara is one of the most beautiful cities. Even we as novices of the city could pick out certain landmarks...and I don't mean the Pacific Ocean shown in the last photo. = )  It was near lunchtime. We stopped at The Habit and picked up some burgers, fries and yummy mocha milkshakes. Mmm, good! Annemarie hung the birth sampler on the wall so Burke could see his name and I packed our bags. After dinner, we went to Hendry Beach to take sunset photos. It seems to be the best place as people were all over the beach doing the same thing. Kinda sad knowing that this is our last day in SB and seeing Burke and interacting with the little fellow. Good news is that he and Mommy and Daddy will be coming this way the end of September. Hope the days pass quickly.

Quilt and Flowers

Annemarie made a quilt and carrying sack for herself earlier this week. She decided that we would tackle making one for her friend Rachel whose baby shower we were to attend today. Having started on Friday night, we finished it early Sunday morning. The quilt was a big success. Burke even got a photo on it before it was given away.

Sneed and I went to one of my favorite places in SB, Alice Keck Park. There's always something blooming there. Here's a sampling of what caught my fancy this time.

Annemarie's great friend, Emily, joined us for a dinner of Annemarie's famous Chicken Fiesta. We then played 2 rounds of Hand & Foot. Such fun!

Only in California = )

Skateboarding while on crutches

 

Riding along on a Carousel

I love, love, love carousels. I collect miniature carousel horses. It may be that before I was born my Mom went to see the musical, "Carousel". I saw it as a young girl and fell in love with it too. I have seen it a couple of times since and love the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration. So it was a no-brainer since Santa Barbara has a wonderful carousel that Burke should be introduced to this fun and relaxing entertainment.

Before we left, Burke was in a playful mood. He exchanged smiles with Papa Sneed.

By golly, he likes it!

This evening we walked down to Annemarie and Brett's good friends, Dave and Dayna's house. Burke and their daughter, Hadley (almost 2), played together and we enjoyed a nice dinner and the company of their friends Noah and Ellie visiting from Los Angeles.

Time with the Burke-ster

And here he is.....

SB here we come!! WooHoo!!

The easiest way to get to Santa Barbara and our sweet, little, grandson is to show photos with no comments. These photos are in the order of our drive from Squaw Valley to Santa Barbara that depict the beauty of one of our 50 United States.

Beautiful Day for Judging

Surprisingly enough, the mist that had covered the golf course all week was not present this morning when we started lining up the cars to enter the field. Mother Nature always provides and she gave us a nice, sunny day to walkabout and see all the cars spaced neatly on the fairway. Naturally, I am showing Cy on the field, but to make this blog entry short I am limiting photos of the other PMCs to a few that we haven't seen before.

Cy and a prisine 1937 4 1/4 Litre Bentley

A rare 1929 RR Twenty HP shooting brake the woodwork of which was all redone by the owner and a 1915 RR Silver Ghost

As I was standing in the shade near where the 1st place cars were being placed, a flock of geese flew overhead and over the small lake (I guess it's a water trap). I was quite excited to let Sneed know I had gotten such a great photo. When I neared Cy (also in the winners' circle) I noticed Sneed was still polishing. Seems the geese when they flew over, decided to 'let go' and Cy was the recipient of their gift. Oh, the ignominy of it all.

Quite an interesting story about this 1938 Phantom III. Matt and his two young sons drove cross country from Virginia to the meet. Carter and Kyle will have a plethora of stories to relate as they write their "What I did this Summer" essays when school starts. Matt's blog about their journey will definitely jog their memory. 

The gardener at the Resort told me she was quite proud that this Monkeyflower planted a few weeks ago is thriving. Evidently pink monkeyflowers mainly grow in higher elevations and this is the first time they had planted them.  The meet ended with the Final Banquet held at the hotel. This was our dessert course. It was only fitting that the Flying Lady should grace the plates as we celebrate her 100th Anniversary.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

You do realize, of course, that I am exaggerating. However, one of those denizens of the mountainside visited the hotel last night.

Sneed went out early to get Cy and bring him up to the front of the hotel for the breakfast run. There was talk in the parking lot of bears appearing during the night. Sho nuff, a dusty paw print was on the bonnet. After a photo taking session of said print, it was washed away to preserve Cy's dignity. Later in the afternoon, when Sneed was prepping Cy for his debut on the judging field tomorrow, he discovered the swipe the bear left on the black panel between the windows on the driver's side. Ah yes, Cy has a badge of honor for invading bear territory. 



Once again mist was on the golf course...tomorrow the cars are supposed to start lining up the on the 9th fairway around 0630. Will the mist be a problem and the ground be too wet for the cars to make a careful entry? We'll have to wait and see.  As we were cruising to breakfast at the Cal Neva Resort, look what I espied in the side mirror. A brand new Ferrari coming to play catch up. Seems one of our members just got it in San Diego and drove it to the meet. I got to sit in it. I could feel the power and it wasn't even running! 


 
Once we got to the CalNeva, we were thown back into time when Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr and the ratpack used to 'takeover' this place. Every wall with full of photographs from the era. So interesting. One of the employees of the resort asked if we would line up the cars on the circular driveway for a photo op. The left side of the driveway was perfect, the right side -  a disaster. A big thrill for me was riding back to our hotel in the jumpseat of the 1934 Bentley with Greg and Doug's wife, Carole. After the ride, Greg informed me that at home his dog occupies the jumpseat. Oh well, I guess he enjoys it as much as I did.
 

 
In the afternoon, while Sneed was spiffing up Cy's external and internal appearance, I took a nice long walk and enjoyed the flora and fauna. Didn't see any bears but the chippies were adorable.

Sierra Sunrise Breakfast Run

As we left for today's breakfast run, the mist was trying to burn off on the golf course. 

Our trek led us on a circuitous route to Granlibakken Conference Center and Resort via a most picturesque stop at Vista Point, Emerald Bay. There we were awed by a waterfall, the Bay, wildflowers, and a man on a mountain. Wait a minute. A man on a mountain? Methinks that John has struck this pose before. 2011 man on mountain, 2010 man at bottom of waterfall.

The sun had just risen and bathed the area in its glow. There were paths to explore but our time was crunched and we had to get on the road as we had yet to eat.

When we arrived back at the Squaw Valley Resort, Sneed went to a seminar on Interior Restoration & Materials. I saw Sandy and invited her to accompany me to Mermie's seminar on Ovid's Big Trip. The trip was to the top of Pike's Peak in Mermie's 1939 RR Phantom III. What a fascinating trip she and Colin had cross country from Exton, PA, via the 2010 Toronto National Meet, to Pebble Beach and halfway back as fuel starvation problems halted their journey. Ovid was shipped to Frawley's and they rented a car for the rest of the way home.

We relaxed in the afternoon and drove to Truckee to dine in the original 1940s diner, JAX at the Tracks, next to the railroad tracks. We were next to a window and were amused as one of the PMCs was trying to follow the directions to a dinner and circled the diner four times before realizing the directions were wrong and finally made the correct turn.

We stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the hotel. Here's proof that Cy isn't the only PMC to frequent McD's.