Pining for the Fjords

As a pet Mom or Dad, you know, deep down in your soul, that unless you're adopting a tortoise, you will most likely outlive whatever sweet little booger you just brought home from the pound or rescue organization.  Knowing this, and having to go through it more than once in the last few years, still didn't make it easier to say goodbye to our sweet Kaylee girl this past Tuesday. On the beach at Point Mugu, January 2018 In her last few months, she'd gone fairly blind and potentially deaf (or at least, she acted that way when we were calling her to do something she wasn't interested in...), and we suspected there may have been some significant neurological decrease as well.  Because of this, she started showing symptoms of late onset separation anxiety; she never had this problem as a puppy or adult dog, but once it started getting harder for her to see and hear, anytime we'd leave, even for a quick run to the grocery store or the gym, she'd pace uncea...

As you read on the blog last week, we were in Solvang and Buellton the weekend before Christmas, eating, drinking, and making merry.  Chris normally takes the entire space of time between Christmas and New Year's Day off from work (his building has a plant shutdown, so not much else can get done), and this year, I joined him.  We spent a lot of time just hanging around the house in our jammies, but we did venture out a few times for some fun activities. On Boxing Day, we headed to nearby Belmont Shore (still technically within the city of Long Beach, even though Belmont residents don't really like to admit it) to take a ride on the holiday light trolley! Ding!  Ding! All aboard! Earlier that month, I'd found a Groupon for the trolley, which takes you around the local area on a 30 minute ride to look at the holiday lights.  This area of town, which also encompasses Naples and Alamitos Bay, has some amazing houses that are truly decked out.  Last yea...

As you may recall from last week's blog, in Part 1 of our trip to Buellton/Solvang, we headed over the San Marcos Pass for wine tasting, then checked into the Sideways Inn, and had a great dinner in the chilly air of the Most Danish (Danish-est?) City in America! We woke up on Sunday, 12/23 - my birthday! - feeling a bit worse for wear.  We showered up and got dressed to start the day and decided a big breakfast was in order.  We strolled the very short distance to Ellen's Danish Pancake House and promptly tucked into a delicious meal. Not our picture,  but this is what Chris' breakfast looked like. After ingesting far too many calories, we headed out for River View Park, about a mile away.  Since it was early on a Sunday, the city was quiet, and it was nice to stroll in the brisk morning air. Bustling downtown Buellton The park was a great little space; it was tucked in behind a neighborhood, and it featured multiple play areas as well a...