Mike's Happiest Place (to visit) on Earth Part 3 of 3

The week after we returned from Disneyland, Mike and I spent the weekend in Yellowstone. The much cooler temperatures were a welcome reprieve after our hot summer here at home. On Saturday morning as we left our hotel and drove into the park it was 16 degrees... I loved it!!!

Mike has an amazing eye... he sees everything!! He can drive and will see things in the sky, on the mountain, in the meadow, in the river, on the lake... sometimes as we drive by, I'm still looking for what he's already seen. It truly is a gift he has.
He also knows the names of every animal he sees, some of them I've never even heard of before. He's always pleased when I see an animal first, and when I point out things like "this is bear country" or "this is moose country" as we drive through certain areas in the park (I'm not just an ocean girl).

We stopped at Mike's favorite place in the park... Hayden Valley. He got out of the car, set up his chair and spotting scope, and watched for about two hours. I sat in the warm car and crocheted. It was beautiful and peaceful.

In Yellowstone it is not uncommon that when someone pulls off to the side of the road... everybody stops. Everyone wants to know what you are looking at. Sometimes I find it a bit comical. As Mike watched in Hayden Valley, cars kept stopping and people would come over to ask him what he was looking at. I wish that I had taken pictures of all the people who stopped to talk to Mike. He was always friendly as he pointed out the elk that he was watching across the valley and on the mountain, even sharing his binoculars with strangers. Mike loves nature. Yellowstone is his favorite place to visit and I love going there with him.

Vacation: Caitlin's Happiest Place on Earth Part 2 of 3

Three weeks ago the three of us spent three days with our three Leger families in Disneyland. It was hot, and day three was crowded, but it was great!! Some of my highlights were: being there with my four kids, seeing the grandkids excitement as they saw their favorite characters and rode on their favorite rides, yummy Disney treats, finding a bench to sit on, going on splash mountain with Mike and our four kids, buying a Mickey jack-o-lantern, the Halloween decor at the park... but my best moment was when I went on my favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, with our entire Leger family (18 of us) in one boat. Mike and I sat on the last row with William in between us, and as I looked at my entire posterity in front of me I couldn't help but reflect back 28 years ago when we brought our three little boys to Disneyland for their very first time. Our family has sure grown in 28 years, and seeing all of those I love in front of me at that moment, well... it brought a little tear (or two) to my eye. Here are just a "few" pictorial highlights.

Vacation: My Happiest Place (to visit) on Earth Part 1 of 3

We have been very fortunate and blessed recently to enjoy a couple of brief vacations. Our first trip was to Southern California, which is my favorite vacation spot.

This was actually a Disney trip; but Mike, Caitlin and I drove all day on Saturday September 22, just so that we could enjoy nearly 24 hours at my favorite place... the ocean, or as I affectionately call it... t'ocean. We traveled all day and arrived at our hotel in San Clemente at 5:50 pm, just enough time to check-in and get down to the pier to watch the sunset.

I have been vacationing in San Clemente since I was ten-years-old, and Mike and I spent our honeymoon here (there we are standing in front of our honeymoon hotel) and have been bringing our children here for over 28 years. It was surreal to us that we were actually here, having just left our own home eleven hours earlier.

It was a total coincidence that two of my siblings also planned trips to Disneyland and San Clemente that same week. When my brother Alan called me that afternoon wondering where we were at that point of our trip, he was so surprised to find out that we were driving to San Clemente to spend the night. We made a plan to meet up on the pier for the sunset.

We have stood on this pier many times over the years and watched beautiful sunsets. We didn't think we'd see it this night because the sun was hiding behind the clouds... but look how spectacular it is!

Some of our San Clemente traditions are: eating ice-cream cones while walking on the pier (it's the same ice-cream man in the shop year after year) and eating at Pick-Up-Stix (where we also ran into Alan and Marivic).

Seeing t'ocean was a huge BONUS for me on this trip. Part 2 of my vacation posts will be the reason we went.

US Open

So, I actually didn't go to the US Open... Mike, Jeff and Jeremy went with my brothers Archie and Alan. I just enjoyed three days sightseeing in San Francisco. This picture was taken on Saturday morning (June 16), the guys last day at the open. They are in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites at Burlingame. My room is on the third floor overlooking the bay.... *insert smiley face*

This is Thursday morning (June 14) as we are leaving the Embassy Suites in Sacramento. The guys left in one car and headed for the Giants game as Marivic and I left in the other car for Burlingame.

After checking into our hotel rooms, Marivic and I took a scenic drive through a forrest of redwoods to arrive at this beach. It wasn't like the beach at the beach house... there was no pier, or shops, or hamburger stands, and hardly any people around; I would never have dared to swim or boogy board in that water, the waves were rough... it was very natural and undeveloped land... it was beautiful!

After our afternoon at the beach we drove back to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway. Again... not like our sea level version of the PCH at the beach house... we were driving atop cliffs.

We met the guys at Hard Rock Cafe on Pier 39. We also got to meet Tara's boyfriend Andrew.

When we went back to the car we noticed Mason Street so we stopped for a picture of Jeremy.

On Friday I went sightseeing with Marivic and Tara. We crossed the bridge to Sausalito. Has anyone been there before?  It is a beautiful little bayside town... and I had the best ice-cream cone ever there!!

I loved the hillside town overlooking the bay. All along the main road were little shops and cafes. I love narrow, winding streets... except of course when I am driving through them.

Friday night we met up with the guys for dinner. They had plenty of great stories to share about their first day at the open. Jeff and Jeremy were pretty happy about their actually meeting and visiting with their favorite... Phil Mickelson.

I did enjoy a couple of hours in my hotel room resting from sightseeing. My room overlooked San Francisco Bay, so I pulled back the curtains and opened the sliding glass door and let the breeze in and listened to the water. It really couldn't have been much better than that... I'm not kiddin'. 

A Bit of Heaven On Earth

I think pretty much anyone who knows me really well, or reads my blog... knows that I love the ocean (t'ocean). But does anyone know how much Mike equally loves Yellowstone? And that Mike loves to take me to the ocean, and that I love to take him to Yellowstone?... which is what we did this weekend. It was especially fun this time to join our kids Jeremy and Emily, and our handsome grandsons Mason and Tanner. We also took a side-trip to Yellowstone Bear World in Rexburg (one of those places you drive by on every trip and say, "one of these days we'll stop there", well... "one of these days" finally arrived).



Mike at his favorite place in the park... Hayden Valley. He, Jeremy and Mason spent a couple of hours sitting patiently waiting for a grizzly bear and a pack of wolves. The bear was a no-show, but seven wolves appeared and joined an eighth and the guys watched them make their way across the valley.



This was one of very few elk we saw on this trip, which was very unusual, we usually see so many.



We spent one night at the lake hotel. This is a great spot to sit and capture the beauty of the lake... although I just wanted to capture a picture of the family (just ask the guy that took the picture for me).



Last look at Hayden Valley on our way out.

We sat and watched this grizzly playing in the water for several minutes at Bear World.

A "tour truck" at Bear World, filled with people feeding the bears. It reminds me of what Yellowstone was like years, and years ago.