Merry Christmas!



Jennifer's California Trip, Part 6

We visited the Cabrillo National Monument, which commemorates the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay. The monument is located at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula. Cabrillo was the first European to reach the US west coast.



Cabrillo National Monument




View of San Diego from Point Loma Peninsula





Old Point Loma Lighthouse

 We walked around downtown and saw the USS Midway, but we didn't have time to actually get on and check it out. Next time, I'll bring Ed and we can go together.



USS Midway



At Seaport Village, we looked through several shops, including a hat shop with nearly every kind of hat you can think of.

We also checked out several of the beach areas, including La Jolla. The seals were out to play!


Seals at La Jolla beach





Jessica and Daniel B. at La Jolla

 Well, that's all for my trip to southern California!

Jennifer's California Trip, Part 5

In San Diego, we also went to Balboa Park. There were museums, indoor and outdoor gardens, and other attractions. We took a trolley ride around the park as well.

 


See the cute turtle?







koi in the pond





Jessica & Daniel B.





Alexis and Daniel B.



Daniel B. and Jennifer



It's a big park, so we didn't get to see and do everything. Maybe next time we can check out the museums. Still more to come!

Jennifer's California Trip, Part 4

Alexis and I went down to San Diego to see my brother, Daniel B., for the rest of our trip. We also got to visit with some family friends (of Jennifer's family) that Jennifer hadn't seen in over 20 years while we were there. We went to Old Town San Diego, which is considered the "birthplace" of California and the site of the first permanent Spanish settlement in California. It includes lots of shops, restaurants, museums, and historical sites.



Wells Fargo Museum: Carriage (Daniel B. to the left)



 Telegraph equipment



Daniel B. and Jennifer communicated across the museum via Morse code.



Daniel B. appreciating primitive technology



Immaculate Conception Church (Catholic)

We went to a lot of places and took a lot of photos, so in an effort not to have an insanely long post, I'm breaking up the San Diego posts. More in Part 5!

Jennifer's California Trip, Part 3

The next morning, we went back to LA. TFF did the last U.S. show of their 2011 tour at the Wiltern that night. When we got back to LA around 1 pm or so, we drove by the Wiltern on our way to the Ramada just down the street (where we stayed that night), and saw that the show was sold out. We also saw one of the girls who was at the concert the night before who had supposedly been sitting in "line" (there was no line until late afternoon) since 9:30 am!

We were in the first actual row, but the orchestra pit was in front of us (evidently, those were different, more expensive tickets). We still had a decent view, but not as good as the night before.


View from the 1st row behind pit

After the show, the opening act, Michael Wainwright, came out to meet and greet. He also sings backups for TFF.


Alexis and Michael Wainwright

The next day, we went down to San Diego to visit with my brother. More on that in Part 4!

Jennifer's California Trip, Part 2

We took a little detour for one day and night to go to Las Vegas for a Tears for Fears (TFF) concert. We would probably have never even thought about going to Las Vegas if they hadn't been doing a show there. The normal attractions are so not our idea of fun. The views on the drive over were nice:

The show was great. It was at the Red Rock Casino, Resort, and Spa, which isn't right smack in the middle of everything, so it was quieter and the view was better.



View from parking deck of Red Rock hotel



Lobby area of Red Rock hotel

The concert was outside near the pool, and the weather was perfect. We got second-row seats! We only got a couple of photos:


Stage before the show from our 2nd-row seats



TFF's Roland Orzabal performing in Las Vegas

We were really glad we went to that show, because we got a lot closer to the stage in Las Vegas than we did the following night back in LA. More on that in Part 3.