Fun And More Fun

A fun--and activity filled--past two days.  We arrived in Carlsbad (a three-hour trip, a mere nothing by California standards) about 1:00 to see the precious little girls and their parents.  They had rented a good-sized townhouse with spectacular views of the ocean and, of course, lots of palm trees and exotic foliage.  We all went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, then to the beach. It was too cool to actually go in the water, but V. and V. waded, then Vivian was allowed to change into a bathing suit and go a little farther out.  Rest of us sat on the sand (me in a chair Mike had brought) and chatted.  We met up with a family from Moorestown, NJ and enjoyed talking to them.
E. and I then checked into our motel and freshened up before going back to have dinner with the gang.  Mike went out and got ribs, fried chicken, and various sides, along with a bottle of Chardonnay, which Paula and I enjoyed.  We didn't eat until after 7:00 and by the time E. and I got back to the motel, it was past 9:00.  Fell into bed an slept like a log.
Yesterday was Queen Mary and Griffith Observatory day.  Mike and family visited with Paula's father, who's not entirely well, in Escondido (?) while E. and I took two separate tours of the Queen Mary in Long Beach.  I've done this before and never fail to love it.  There was a lot of walking up and down long flights of stairs, however--we were told twelve for each tour and even for me, it was pretty strenuous.  We had a delightful lunch at one of the restaurants on board, then took off for L.A.
We arrived in Griffith Park to see an electronic sign advising visitors that the parking lot was filled, so we parked way, way down a sloping street.  It must have been close to mile and we had to walk up it.  Strenuous, and I had to stop twice, but good exercise.
After some searching, we found the others, and had a good time exploring the observatory and museum. Stayed several hours, then Mike drove us back to E.'s car and we said a sad and reluctant goodbye.  Drove back to Ventura at rush hour, seemingly along with every other car on the western seaboard--I never saw such traffic.   Stopped at Jack In The Box for hamburgers and fries, which we ate watching Jon Stewart.  A fun day--they all are when I'm with my darling daughter--and boy, I didn't have any problem sleeping last night.