Sun and the Beach

I spent last week in California for work. Although I missed be away from home and had a lot of other things I needed to do to prepare for Austin it was nice to enjoy the warm weather of California.

For the last half of the week I was at the Seascape Resort in Aptos. This was the view from my room. It was awesome! I could hear the water in my room if I opened the patio doors.

Since I was there for work, they had all sorts of events and other things planned for our time. The best part was that we had dinner on the beach for the two nights we were there. The resort even set up bonfires and brought out supplies to make smores.

There is nothing more relaxing to me than watching the sunset and listening to the ocean.

All in all the trip was good. I did come home with a wicked sunburn though. My skin isn't used to the sun, since we haven't had very many warm sunny days yet this year.

While I was out...

During my blogging hiatus we took a trip to California. I was stressed from work and we decided that a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas would help with all of that holiday stress.

We flew into Long Beach, picked up our car and headed to Newport where we were going to stay for a few days. We didn't really have anything planned other than to hang out, visit the beach and just relax.

The first day was beautiful! The sun was out. It was much warmer than Utah and we didn't have to go to work.

The day was awesome! Unfortunately, the next morning a storm that was supposed to come the next week started to rain on our parade. It was still sunny and beautiful but the wind had a not so friendly chill to it. We decided we would take a drive down the 101 and see what we could find.

And of course it was that day that the ocean and I got into a fight. There I am standing on the beach admiring the scenery and listening to the ocean, when a big wave suddenly washes ashore and before I can get out of the way I get hit.

It's cool I can survive. We jump in the car and I make Jon run the floor heater to try and dry out my shoes. I pretty much dry off, just have sand in my shoes. Oh well, a souvenir.

We get back in the car and head out to another beach. Since Jon usually takes the pictures, we find this cool spot and I tell him to go out and stand on the rock. It's in the ocean so he has to wait for the tide to go back to get to the rock. I am hoping for this awe inspiring picture where the waves are crashing behind him.

I think he stood there for a good 5 minutes and this was the best shot I could get.

Not what I was imagining.

Jon comes back and then it's my turn to go to the rock. No problem, right? Wrong! Remember how I said the ocean and I got in a fight?

Enter me running to the rock.

Right as I jump up on the rock, what do I see?

That huge wave that is supposed to make the impressive picture, only it's WAY bigger than I thought and I have no where to go.

Ocean - 2 Bekah - 0 and soaked. Now I am completely wet and covered in sand. The ocean just knew how to get me. It waited until I wore the most absorbent hoodie I packed and then got me.

On the last day we went out to Balboa Island, just to see what we could see. We went out on the Pier and were lucky enough to see some dolphins.

And this guy

We went to our last beach and watched the sailboats and the storm come in before we had to head back to the car and drive to the aiport.

The End.

Sunshine?

Last week I had to fly to San Jose for work. It was a quick little trip, but I was able to spend some time with my colleges from another office and enjoy the warm and sunshine.

I do like being home - but as I was waiting for my car to warm up this morning so the ice on the window would melt (I couldn't find my ice scraper) I was nostalgic for the sun and warm for a few more weeks.

(View from my room)

(Santana Row)

Club Ed

I've MIA and super busy lately, so I am trying to catch up on some of the posts I have been meaning to get done, but just haven't had time to get to.

Over the weekend of my birthday Jon and I went to California. The trip wasn't primarily for my birthday, but it was nice to get out of town. The trip was originally going to take place a few weekends prior, but there were scheduling issues. The plan was intended to go pick up some car parts and new wheels for Lucy (1962 Mercury Comet).

This is Lucy's before picture.

Here's Lucy with her new wheels and tires.


I have a fascination with ghost and old towns. Over time I think this has rubbed off on Jon. Club Ed is actually a movie set, located in Lancaster CA. It was originally built in 1990 for the movie Eye of the Storm. After filming the movie, they decided the set was too cool to tear down. It's described as an "outpost of classic Americana". We decided to drive out to it and take a look. Unfortunately, it's closed to the public so you can only take pictures from the road, but here are a few shots we got.





It's a pretty awesome place. I wish we could have gone in. There was a caretaker there, who we saw and he hid behind some of the buildings watching us. It didn't seem like he would be the type of guy to let us in to take a look around, since he didn't even want us to know he was there. The Club Ed website talks about the location and shows additional shots of the set including the interior of the buildings and the swimming pool located behind the inn.