Second Day of the Choir Tour

Nike and her husband arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia around 2 am after several complications with their flights.  We were supposed to have our luggage waiting in the hall by 7:45 am.  It made for a short night for her with such a full day ahead

We arrived at Wayne Baptist Church in time for some rehearsal before worship.  Wayne Baptist may be a different denomination but it is definitely a sister church,

The church is beautiful with art every where -- created by members of the congregation.  They speak for inclusion, stand up for the rights of the immigrant and have a profound sense of community.  I was very glad for the connection.

We left Wayne Baptist around noon and headed to Longwood Gardens.  We ate lunch at their cafe and scattered to explore this most amazing places.  I loved the lily pond gardens...

...the fountains...

...and the green wall of 48,000 plants lining the bathrooms...

...and that is just the few things I had time to see..

After some hamming for the camera, we got back on the bus and headed to Bird-in-Hand and our lodging for the night.

Part of the group is staying at the Family Inn and part of us are in an old B&B.  We had 45 minutes to get ready to leave for Lancaster Church of the Brethren for an evening concert.  The church fed us dinner, which Nike told us to eat with purpose.  The acoustics in the Lancaster CoB are outstanding and we had a great concert with an appreciative audience.

The Choir Tour Begins

Over 30 of us met at the church this morning to meet the bus to LAX. Pastor Janet met us and sent us off with prayer. We all made it through security at the airport with time to spare. The flight was uneventful and we touched down early.

While things have been going smoothly there have been a couple glitches.  1) One of our travelers had to stay home due to illness. 2) Our director and her husband were flying Southwest, which is having a computer glitch.  They were rerouted for a later arrival, supposedly arriving at 11 pm but last we heard they are stuck in Chicago due to mechanical problems.  3) It appeared that one of our bags didn't make it until one of the baggage workers went into the basement and located it.

We had a delicious meal tonight in the historic downtown area of Philadelphia. Several members of our group had travelled out early and met us at the restaurant.  Today is Shawn's birthday so there were cards, a poem and a song from the altos. 

I think Shawn enjoyed himself!

A Day of Flowers

Yesterday Bryan and I left in the middle of the afternoon to go down to San Diego.  Our friends are moving from Carlsbad to McPherson, Kansas.  They were having a "Good-bye" party and we wanted to be able to say how much we would miss them.  I am usually completely fried by the middle of Sunday afternoon so we knew we didn't want to drive down and back on a Sunday.  So we used our HotelTonight app and booked a same day hotel.  We ended up staying on Mission Bay in a lovely room.  We stopped by their restaurant and ordered their Rocky Road Tart to go.  We sat in our room drinking coffee and eating the best dessert we have ever had.

We got up this morning and headed over to Fiesta Island in Mission Bay.  It just looked like a good place to hike.  It turns out it is a great place to bring your dog.  The leash laws don't apply on the island so that people can let their dogs run and swim.  The spring flowers were out in bloom and we had a good hike....with the dogs.

Then we drove up to Carlsbad and went to the Flower Fields to see the ranunculus in full bloom.  As far as you can see there are flowers.  The flowers are planted by color in long lines.  On one hillside the flowers are planted by color to display the American flag in flowers.  It costs to get in and we hiked among the flowers for quite some time.  They give wagon rides for those who prefer to see the flowers without having to walk the whole field.  They also have a maze made completely out of sweet peas.  I wanted to go in but I knew I would be the oldest person in the maze by about 45 years.

We stopped at Dos Lagos for lunch.  We found a BBQ restaurant that made my mouth happy.  I came home to find my rose bushes in need of attention.  I spent the late afternoon trimming roses.

Hiking

Bryan and I have been hiking lately.  We joined the Lenten Interest Hiking Group up to Mt. Hollywood, looking down on the Griffith Observatory.  

Then last Monday we grabbed our poles and hiked just south of Brackett Field in La Verne.  The mustard flowers were in bloom.

Sunday afternoon we went back to Griffith Park and hiked back up Mt. Hollywood.  We took some different paths this time.  I cannot believe how many people hike that trial on a Sunday afternoon.  

It was hot and we stopped at Dante's View.  All the benches were taken so I headed over for a tree stump cut like a bench.  Just before I sat down a little boy ran over and showed me the snake resting by the stump.  I was grateful for this Good Samaritan.

When we got home Bryan told me he would like to hike in Laguna so I spent time on Sunday evening plotting our hike.  We parked in a residential area and climbed up and up and up until we were rewarded with a most amazing view.

We hiked about four miles.  We had hoped to have lunch and maybe see a movie while we were there....but after our hike we just came home and took showers.  I am already planning our next hike.

A Perfect Day

Bryan and I agreed that we would get up early and head for a hike in Griffith Park.  I took this hike on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but Bryan had to work.  I have wanted to take this hike with Bryan on a day when it was unusually clear.  So I have been trying to find a day when Bryan and I were off together and it had just rained.  Today was as close as I could get.  Yesterday would have been better but I am not off on Sundays!

We parked near the Trails Cafe and headed up the hill.  It wasn't perfectly clear as you can tell in the pictures but it was still beautiful.

There was snow on the mountains to the east and yet it was in the 70s.  There were very few people up there today.

There were doing maintenance on one of the telescopes so we got to see it.

We came back down a different way.  Our plan was to stop and have lunch at the Trails Cafe but it turns out that they are closed on Mondays.  So I used Yelp to find a restaurant in Pasadena.  We ate a La Grande Orange.  I think I found my restaurant.  Bryan had chicken mole tacos and I had short rib tacos.  They make their own tortillas on site.  The guacamole is outstanding.  The kale salad tastes great on the tacos.  As we were leaving the hostess said, "Be sure and take a cookie as you leave."  We had a chocolate chip cookie with sugar and salt sprinkled on the top.  It was perfect.  

We headed back to La Verne for a matinee.  We were the only people in the movie theatre.  What a treat.  

Chopped

Yesterday the youth of the church had a Chopped event.  Over a dozen youth were divided into four teams for a re-enactment of the reality TV show Chopped.  They were given a certain number of minutes to create three courses with pre-determined ingredients.  For the appetizer course they were given:  oranges, green onions, almonds and tofu.  For the second course they were given spam, frozen vegetables, asparagus, tortilla chips and a can of fire roasted tomatoes.  Dessert had to include red licorice, popcorn, strawberries, and pie dough.

I had the pleasure to be one of the judges.  I admit that I went assuming that I would have to taste some food that was hard to eat.  Our youth wowed me.  The food was outstanding, creative and beautiful.  I was supposed to just taste what they made us but I wanted to eat the whole plate of food.  Needless to say, I didn't need to eat dinner on Sunday night.

I wish I could show you some of the amazing pictures I took of our youth hustling around the kitchen in their varied aprons making delicious food. But I don't have permission to show the pictures of all the minors in attendance. Suffice it to say, it was one of the coolest events for youth I have ever seen.  They displayed amazing teamwork.  They were undaunted and they showed such originality.  I hope it becomes an annual event. I would love to be a judge again!

The End of Vacation

We got up early to go hiking.  We parked next to the beach and hiked up to Morro Rock and back.  

We sat on a park bench and watched the surfers.   It was hard to leave and know that our vacation was almost over.

We stopped in Ventura and ate lunch on the pier.  There is a restaurant there that serves the best shrimp and chips.  We sat outside on the second story porch of the restaurant.  We watched the fishers on the pier and the nun in blue habit sitting on the beach with friends.

We left in time to beat the worst of traffic; got our groceries; picked up the mail; got the car washed; and made it home by 4 p.m.  Now it's laundry time!