So It Begins | Anne

These first few days have been a whirlwind!

Catching our flight out of Charleston required that we leave home at 4:30 am !@#$%^& Between excitement, packing, and a rip-roaring storm at 2:00 am, sleep was simply not on the agenda.

My seatmate between Charleston and Atlanta was a gentleman heading down to Nicaragua to go surfing with friends. How fun to share that first leg of our trip with someone else setting off on an adventure!

A delay in Atlanta caused us to arrive late in Orange County, but thankfully my dear cousin Dawn was there to meet us. It was "hit the ground running" for me thanks (and I do mean thanks) to a business appointment at 3:00. It went really really well (Just in case you were wondering) and made all the rushing worth it.

Dawn cooked her fabulous spaghetti with all sort of secret ingredients for us, and yours truly was sound asleep on the sofa by 8:00. Our visit with Dawn and her husband Geoff was way too short thanks to flight delays and meetings (us) and a crazy week (them). Thankfully with family there's always "next time"! Thank you, Dawn and Geoff !

Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed first over to Laguna Beach for a little Pacific sand and toe-surfing. Now we will truly be able to say we have journeyed from one shore to the other! Something about Laguna makes me half expect that the Beach Boys or Frankie and Annette are going to jump out and burst into song at any minute! Beach volley ball was in full swing and the sunny day made us want to stretch out on a beach blanket ourselves. We dipped into the Orange Inn, home of the original smoothie, for frozen treats. Yummmmmmm

Then up to Idyllwild we headed for what we expected to be one night with Joy Sikorski. Ha! She quickly let us know we were going to stay longer and meet her sister who flying in the next morning. Those of you who know Joy know that visits to her home always include lots of food, laughter, and creativity of some kind.

The drive up the mountain juiced Laura's photo-bug in earnest. I drove, she clicked. I think we've found our groove! The scenery is breath-taking...and, no, I don't care one bit how overused that word has become! In this case, no other will do.