First of all, I want to thank everyone for their hospitality. My sister and I had a great time checking out the tourist attractions, the beautiful scenery and meeting you all. I especially want to thank Alvon and Maureen for putting up with us for an entire weekend and keeping us busy and Gary Poage for trusting us with his beautiful 69 Spider. That was a treat in itself!
Our trip started off with Alvon picking us up from the LAX airport. We then drove to Gary's house to pick up the 69 Spider he so graciously offered us. Driving in LA is a bit different from what we're used to. People seem in a bit of a hurry, but there were several of them saying hello by tooting their horns. Here I am following Alvon in his Honda.
And Kimberly enjoying a little leisure time in the Spider:
Our next stop was to pick up Alvon's daughter, Ashley for a bit of sightseeing. We went to the famous sites, such as the sidewalk where all the famous people wrote in the cement. It was fun to see who all had been there. I especially like Johnny Depp:
We also were able to dance with the Stars themselves:
The next day was the most anticipated. I was excited to meet many people I only get to communicate with via this and other forums. Here, we meet up with the group and have a few moments to check out all the cool rides:
The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Although the mountains in SoCal have no trees, they were magnificient! The roads were fun and twisty, not unlike the mountains of NC, and we had a great time. I do think my sister would have liked to see guardrails a bit taller than the one in this picture, especially with Alvon driving, but all in all, the slap she gave me for sticking her in the car with him didn't hurt that bad.
We ended our drive at a beautiful park where we were able to play a few games:
And make new friends:
The food was great and I want to thank Ron for bringing his World famous potato salad to the picnic. I believe there will be a potato salad cook off at the Freakout this year, so you won't want to miss that, Ron!
Sunday, we went sightseeing again. Alvon and Maureen took us to the beach for a little sunbathing:
And we went tree climbing:
Then, we went hiking through a wilderness in Ojai. The path went through several creeks. Here's one I believe was called Sh*t creek, cuz I went up it without a paddle:
Here, I was second guessing our plan to go hiking:
We then took a drive to the Ventura Harbour to see the sailboats and do a little window shopping. I didn't buy any windows, but we enjoyed walking around:
We swam with the dolphins:
Alvon proved he could be a real animal. Here he is as an octopus:
Kim and I tried our hand at being Pirate rappers:
And here, Alvon shows off his curves as I show off my muscle:
As you can see, we had an eventful weeekend!