The Observatory is Closed? Wait, What? Day 3

So we learned Griffith Observatory is CLOSED on Mondays!

 

We got up that Monday morning, got ready, and looked for the IHOP that was close to the hotel. (The above picture was right outside the IHOP.) After eating breakfast, we knew we were driving back up to the observatory to see that darn sign! But alas, it’s closed on Mondays, which we did not know. So we drove back down the mountain knowing we wouldn’t be going back up.

Disappointing? Yes.

Did it ruin the trip? No way!

For those who don’t know who Chris Hardwick is – he is the host of The Walking Dead after-show called The Talking Dead. He also hosts another program called @Midnight. I looked and looked to get some kind of tickets for a live taping of a show, and this was the only one I could find. Actually, we were put on the wait list and then given tickets the same day. Jim watched a couple of episodes, so he knew it was a potty-mouth show, but it was Chris Hardwick!

We went down to Hollywood to see the Walk of Fame. THAT was so cool! We parked in the parking garage, and I didn’t even mind spending the money. And people were everywhere! I had to break down and buy a new pair of Sketchers because all I took was sandals – yeah, I know. And we got some souvenirs, t-shirts, magnets, etc.

 

Oh, and there was public restrooms in the mall! I was shocked.

There was quite a few musicians on the streets trying to sell their CDs, but masquerading as giving them away. It was frustrating because we were down there to see things and not be accosted by people trying to sell us things we didn't care about. 

 

I ended up having a horrible hot flash out there in the mall area and thought I was going to die. It took, what seemed like forever, for me to cool down. We sat down, had some Annie’s Pretzels, and talked to a guy from New York. His family was on vacation, too.

Afterwards, we went to find parking where the show was being taped at a stage I can’t remember the name of… The signs on the street were so hard to understand that we drove around several blocks before stopping to read them. Something like “free parking for 2 hours unless it’s on Monday when the street cleaners come by…” But not all signs were the same. It was crazy!

Oh, and we couldn’t take our cell phones in with us, so we have no pictures to prove that we were there. But if you watch the episode, you can see us. From the back.

We stood out in line with a bunch of interesting people while we waited to be herded into the security line. The gal behind us was from England and was taking a year-long trip and going to many countries. She told us a story about it being so hot and her roommates didn’t want her to use the fan, but she did it anyway, and, well. So the guy behind her was from Chicago, and then there was a couple of older ladies, in their 60s, who, while standing there in line, watched as their car was towed down the street. Whoops! They parked in the wrong spot. And I'm not sure, but I think someone with the show helped them afterwards.

In the security line, Jim realized he had his knife with him. So he gave it to them, and they held it until after the show.

We sat out on benches while we waited for them to usher us in. Somehow we ended up in the second row of the studio. The guy who warms up the crowd singled several people out, including a beautiful middle-aged woman who was there with her son (and they made him dance on stage for 20 seconds), a young single lady who really played along, and me. Yes, the person who doesn’t like spotlights shining on me, no attention, etc. There was some foul language, and it was a little embarrassing, but Jim got a @Midnight t-shirt out of the whole thing AND we got to see Chris Hardwick! He is funny, but I have to admit that I do like him better on The Talking Dead.

Afterwards, we picked up Jim’s knife and headed out so Jim he could show me where he lived when he lived in in LA as a young adult. He also wanted to go to a hamburger place that he swore was just fantastic, and when we saw one of the locations, we decided to go to the one by our hotel in Burbank instead.

To say that it’s a little hole in the wall is an understatement. And guess what? They didn’t have a public restroom, either! I had to walk across the parking lot to the Carl's Jr to go to the bathroom. Insanity! (Yes, that is the Challenger in the background behind my head.)

 

We decided the food wasn’t exactly as good as he remembered, stopped by Walmart to get some playing cards, and went back to the hotel. Then we sat in the lobby and played Canasta for a while. It was a lot of fun.

I had already decided that I was glad we didn’t live in LA, but to visit there was just priceless. We were having such a great time, and really, we had only begun.

25th Anniversary Trip - 2 Days In

So we woke up that Sunday morning to the sound of seals outside in the marina. I looked for them several times, but I could not find them.

The room was getting warm, and I was ready to hit the road. Poor Jim had to drag all of our suitcases and junk down the stairs after dragging all of it up just a mere 18 hours earlier. But we were on the road again to our next destination. In a loud COOL car.

 

First, though, we wanted to find a place to eat breakfast.

We ended up in San Clemente, and as “luck” would have it, a farmer’s market was going on in the downtown area, and it was hard to find parking. According to Yelp, there was also a great restaurant over there for breakfast called Café Mimosa. We got there when there was only a couple of empty tables out of less than 20. We had THE BEST crème brulee French toast. Oh my! It had blackberries all over it. The coffee was great, and really everything was great.

 

When we were leaving, the wait line was insane!

We went across the street and walked through the farmer’s market. What a neat little town! The houses were so cute, the people seemed very happy and nice, and the food…

 

This was the day we were driving into Los Angeles. We were staying at Courtyard Marriott/LA Burbank Airport. On the way there, we decided to drive up to see the Hollywood sign from the observatory. However, the parking lots were full, and people were walking/hiking up the mountain just to get there. Unfortunately, I had to use the rest room so bad that I couldn’t think of walking anywhere. Only to a bathroom. And we were stuck in standstill traffic.

After getting out of the mess, we drove into Hollywood and found a Starbucks so we could use the restroom. No public facilities.

We walked a couple of doors down to Jersey Mikes’ Subs and found they had a bathroom, but you had to buy something to get the code in order to use the restroom. So we bought a meal and split it. The food was really good! And I was so glad to find a bathroom that we could use.

Then we checked into the hotel, which was nothing short of fantastic. The room was beautiful, the bed was comfortable, and it was great.

We made a trip to Target and bought a fan. And then we headed over to see a few of Jim’s former students from his teaching days in North Kansas City. They are about 30 now, which is unbelievable!

The parking was crazy around the apartments, and we had to park a block away. But when we got there, it was easy to forget the small stuff. Nathan and Stephanie have a young daughter and baby son. And another student, Lindsay, was there, too. We got to talk about what’s been going on for the last 10+ years in everyone’s life.

We are so proud of all three of them. They are living for Jesus in LA! Nathan is working at his church, and Stephanie gets to hang out with her babies – Lindsay is an editor on a TV show (I’m not saying which one). 

 

And there we were, like no time had passed since the last time we were together. It’s kind of funny that the last time we all saw each other, they were just kids, and now they are responsible adults who are living their lives.

It was so good to see them all, get the updates of life, and make the decision that we are staying in touch better in the next 10 years than we did in the last 10 years.

They suggested, if we wanted desert, we go to an ice cream place called Salt and Straw, but that place was too busy. So we ventured over to the Republic of Pie. What a cool atmosphere! It was like a little bar with pie, coffee, live music and dim lights. Had a great time.

We knew the next day would be awesome, too, and that we didn’t have to pack up and leave the hotel because we were staying there for 2 nights. That alone made it easy to fall into bed and pass out.

Our 25th Anniversary Trip to California

My husband and I didn’t have a honeymoon when we were married in 1991. After all, we only knew each other and dated for 4 months before getting married. There wasn’t time to plan and save for an elaborate trip like that. 

 

And then we separated 4 times in the first 2 years we were married. And then he went to college, and then we were blessed with 5 kids in 5 years after an Endometriosis diagnosis.

We were still on a whirlwind trip of our own called LIFE.

So, for our 10^th anniversary, we took a trip, just the two of us, to Orlando. We decided to drive because we thought it would be fun. A great friend volunteered to keep all 5 kids (who were 6, 5, 3 and the twins were 1)… She even potty-trained Caleb, who really hadn’t shown much interest at home.

 

We couldn’t get home fast enough from the trip. Maybe it was the season of life we were in, maybe it was because other things were going on. For whatever reason, we really don’t look back fondly at the trip, and that’s really too bad.

So, for our 25^th anniversary, we have been scheming and planning for several years. We had every intention of going to New York and the east coast. But I talked to one of my co-workers, and she told me about the trip they took to CA and driving the Pacific Coast Highway.

We changed our plans.

I had always wanted to visit California because I had never been there. Jim had actually lived in LA at one time, so CA wasn’t untapped territory for him. So CA it was!

And we had so much fun!

We decided to fly into San Diego and out of Sacramento. We would be gone for a week and would rent a car and drive up through the areas we wanted to see.

I can’t tell my whole story in just one blog post, but I will give a first day synopsis.

We got up at 4:00am, and our son drove us to the airport. It was strange leaving them this time, although they are considerably older than they were in 2001. 

We arrived in San Diego at 9:10am, retrieved our luggage, and proceeded to the Enterprise Rental Counter. Quite a few customers were ahead of us, and it wasn’t a big deal, but we were scheduled to meet some lovely friends for brunch. When we had waited just a little while, the rep said he didn’t have a full-size car we had reserved, but he could get one cleaned up for us. I said we had somewhere to be, and he offered a small SUV. However, we did not want an SUV because if anyone looked in, our luggage would be visible.

So, he pointed in the other direction and asked, “How about if I put you in a Challenger?”

Oh, yeah, my husband lit up. See, we were going to rent a convertible Mustang when we started planning this trip, but we decided it wasn’t worth it to spend double of the amount a full-size car was.

We picked the charcoal gray with metallic flecks, and we headed out onto the streets of San Diego. It was loud and cool and awesome! And maybe just a little scary, too.

We found the parking lot by the restaurant where we met our friends, Caroline’s Seaside Café. Right there on the Pacific Ocean. Right there! We parked in a space that wasn’t marked with any signs, the sign in the lot said free on weekends and holidays, we thought we were fine.

We have known these friends since 1998, so 18 years. They both went to our church as young people, and they are now almost 30. Unbelievable! We talked and talked and talked, and of course, it was like no time had passed since we saw each other. And they were celebrating their 10th anniversary that weekend!

 

After eating, we stood out on the walkway and watched the waves crash on the beach. It was a cloudy and cool day, and really, I can say it was so beautiful.

When we got back to the car, we were getting a ticket. The officer insisted there was a sign saying we had to pay, but we obviously didn’t see it. He was very gracious, though, when he asked if we were leaving, and we said yes, he gave us a warning instead. Whew!

We then headed to the Oceanside Marina Suites in Oceanside. It is really like a throwback from the 80s, no air-conditioning, old accommodations, and right on the marina. By the Pacific Ocean! Honestly, the weather was so perfect, and it didn’t seem to matter much about the comfort of the room.

 

 

 After checking in, we made a run to Walmart for our normal things: bottled water, snacks, ear plugs…

That night, we had dinner at Rockin’ Baja Lobster and met up with one of my good friends. We’ve been friends since 1978, and we hadn’t seen each other for years. We talked, we laughed, we had the greatest time! And the food was awesome! Though it did keep me up that night.

 

But the bed was comfy, and we did get a little sleep.

And it was just the beginning of a great trip!

If you are interested, I will be continuing to write about our adventures on our trip of a lifetime. Stay tuned!

The Changes in our World

I can't believe I haven't written on my blog for almost one year! I guess life gets in the way sometimes of things that you really want to do.

Many things have happened in our family in the last year, but the ones of major significance were difficult, to say the least. They were losses that still hurt sometimes today.

On November 14, 2015, my first boy, Noah, moved out of our home and in with his girlfriend. He was almost 21, so it was probably time. But to have this young man whom I love so much leave our home of safety and love, it was so hard. I cried all day at work the day before he left.

I had been with him since before he was born, and I think it was harder on me than anyone else in the family. Moms are like that.




A couple of days later, November 17th, to be exact, we found out that our furry girl, Sophie, had kidney failure. We let the boys get out of school the next morning so we could all go to the vet together. We didn't know exactly how serious it was until we talked to the doctor. I did notice that her breath smelled medicinal, which was not a good sign. It was hard for her to get up and walk, and she had lost a lot of weight. We thought it was due to her new food and having a puppy around (more exercise, etc.). But we were wrong.

She was a member of our family since she was about 8 weeks old. She was quite a girl!

 

The doctor said she was very ill, and we could keep her there with IVs and maybe prolong her life, but we couldn't do that to her. She would be 9 on December 31st, and she had a great life with a family who adored her and loved her so much. We had to make the decision to let her go on that day, November 18th.

 

They took her out of the room to put the port in, and when they came back with her, we got to tell her how much we loved her, give her some hugs, cry some tears... She continued to stand up during this, but when they gave her the sedative, she laid down. And when they put the lethal shot in, she was gone within seconds. She was a sick girl but she loved her family back.

Our son, Isaac, insisted on carrying her to the car in the towel we brought. When I had to pay for the procedure, I broke out into the ugly cry, and I didn't even care. I loved that girl, and I still do.

Isaac sat in the middle seats of the car and laid on her the whole way home. When we got there, he picked her up and carried her to the back yard patio and held her while Jim and Jonah dug the hole for her burial.

It was awful.

The rest of the day, we sat around and cried occasionally. Jim had to get to work, and Caleb elected to go to school, but after he got there, decided it wasn't such a good idea.

Less than 2 months later, on Noah's birthday, my dear-mother-in-law passed away from Alzheimer's, which she had been battling for several years. This is a picture of the last time we saw her (July 2015).



Jim and I flew to Idaho for the funeral and spent time with the family. My parents actually stayed with the kids, which was a great comfort to me and Jim.

 

This was taken on the trip to Idaho Jim took me on to meet his family after we had only known each other less than 2 months (June 1991). I loved Shirley from the minute I met her, and I think everyone who knew her felt the same way.

 

So those 3 things defined our winter months in the Hammer house. Those few months were a time of great sorrow.

We are better now. Noah is doing well living out on his own. Sophie is no longer in pain. My mother-in-law is rejoicing in Heaven with her husband, my grandma and uncle, along with many other loved family and friends. And we will see them again someday.

Loving someone so much will open your heart up to joy and pain. But it is worth every minute.