How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I always hated those obligatory essays we were forced to write each fall when we returned to school. My summers were usually filled with lots of work and very little play. Once in a while we had a vacation worthy of prose, but generally if we traveled anywhere it was because we were moving. So much better now that I’m an adult and have more choices about how to spend my leisure time!

We had a great vacation in California and were able to visit with Karen, Taylor, Gary’s brother Mike, our friends Walt and Marilyn, and a few of Karen’s friends. It was a little sad to know that my friend Doris is no longer with us and we couldn’t have one more chat.

We shopped, ate far too much, took a trip over to the coast, and wandered around Turlock so we could see where Karen and Taylor spend their time, and where Taylor will go to high school next year. I love being able to visualize where she will be when she talks about school.

Taylor and Karen’s friend, Ann, got to play some golf while Karen and I, the non-golfers, went shopping. Gary was privileged to accompany the golfers as their official photographer! I was able to take photos before they left and to sneak one photo of the group at the last hole. We had to be VERY quiet! Lol Good to see Taylor in action.

Interesting that they had to play around deer on the course and be careful not to run over them with the carts. They are absolutely fearless and I also saw several in yards and along the roadside. I guess they are running out of territory and the young ones grow up with the hustle and bustle of traffic and tourists.

I am not the least bit nostalgic for the traffic and tourists myself! I am happy to visit the girls, but I would never want to live in CA again. Too much has changed since I lived there. Too many people and too many buildings. Since our friends are scattered we were able to see the desert, the valley, the coast, and the forest. A nice variety, but CA also has a lot of ugliness, and I don’t just mean the landscape. Reading the newspapers each day made me want to return to my own life! Of course many of the problems I read about can be found in cities here. I guess I’m spoiled by living in the country.

I’m sure I’ll have much more to write about over the next few days and I’m editing 490 photos. Gary did most of the photography this trip. He loves to take travel photos!

Time to go take care of a few errands before it gets hot. Later…

 

 

Comments

[Megan]

I can't wait to read and see more. The first picture of the ocean waves . . . so blue. So lovely.