The second part of our trip involved staying in Thousand Oaks, California which is the city where my grandparents on my dad's side live. The weather was absolutely amazing there. It wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold either. It was though a little colder than I thought it would be, but I sure wasn't complaining. Another thing that was great was that they don't have humidity like we have here in Kansas, so I wasn't sweating like I usually do.
When we got to the city, we had to pick and choose some of the things that we would do. Here are some sights that we saw while in the city.
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| Pacific Ocean |
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| Santa Monica Pier |
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| Santa Monica Beach Jaycee loved the water and wanted to chase it when the tide rolled back out. So fun!!! |
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| Jaycee and Grandma and Grandpa Walker |
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| Venice Beach It is very eclectic and there are lots of things to do and much to choose from. The walking was great though. |
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| Jaycee's grandma bought this cute jacket for her while we were there. Tom calls it her coat of many colors. |
On one of the days, we spent some time in Hollywood. I always see the sights of Hollywood on TV, but it is much different in person. First of all, there literally is no parking. We drove around for quite a while looking for parking, and when we found some, we had to pay for it. Also, there are lots of people everywhere. Not like the wide open spaces of Kansas. Now I like experiencing other areas of the country, and I was ok with it, except that we had a very tired and hungry 2 year old in tow. So we made the best of the situation. There is a lot to see, but be prepared to spend a lot more money on things to do and see than what you would expect. But none the less, we went ahead and braved the crowd and walked down Hollywood Blvd.
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| We ate lunch here. |
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| Took pictures with some famous characters. Didn't realize that they wanted money afterwards for the picture. |
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| Went to the Chinese Theatre. It is famous for lots of movies and premieres. |
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| The Chinese Theatre is also famous for famous people and their handprints and shoe prints in the concrete. Here is the governor of California's famous hands. |
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| We rented a van and had to stop for gas. Couldn't believe how much it was. |
On our way back to my grandma's house, we stopped back by the "old neighborhood" where I was born and lived until I was 8. I have a lot of fond memories of those days, but it was nice to see how things have changed, but also how some of the same places that we went to as a kid are still around.
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| My First School Hazeltine Elementary My mom would walk me to school everyday. I was a really quiet kid. |
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| The little apartment where we lived. I remember having to learn my address and memorize it, I also remember that it was here that my dad had to finally get rid of my favorite blanky. That is one thing Jaycee and I have in common. It was quite the tramatic event for a 5 year old. |
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| Oxnard Beach This beach is a little cooler than the others, and it was also a little more secluded. As you can tell we were still all in our clothes. |
We were able to spend the fourth of July at my grandparents house, and we really just did a lot of relaxing and walking around their neighborhood. Jaycee found her own bit of excitement and decided that a rock pile in their yard was the perfect entertainment. She spent about 45 minutes washing the rocks off.
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| My aunt Debbie and my grandpa Walker |
On the way home, we decided that we would make a stop in Las Vegas. I have never been and don't know anything about it except what I see on TV, but thought that it would be fun to spend an evening driving up and down the strip. We didn't really get out to do anything except eat. We did however have some time to take a couple pictures of some famous Las Vegas landmarks. I think that I would eventually like to go back there leaving my daughter behind with her grandparents.
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| My dad, mom, Tom, me and Jaycee. Jaycee had just woken up from a small nap. Her schedule was non-existent during this trip. |
After spending the night in Las Vegas, we started to head home. But we couldn't leave without seeing the Hoover Dam. I was more amazed by this than I thought I would be. It is a giant dam, bridge and power source for the city. It is also in the middle of the desert and I couldn't believe how the temperature changed from the city of Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam.
When we finally got back to Kansas, we stopped for dinner in some small town, I can't even remember where. I slept most of the way home. But we were so close to the famous Dalton Gang Hideout, that we had to stop. It was closed by that point, but that didn't stop us from looking around the grounds.
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| My dad found this antler on the ground and put it up to his head. He is pretty silly, and I think was really tired. |
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| Jaycee put herself in jail. |
This trip was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of the country. I always thought that flying would be so much easier and quicker, but seeing so much of the United States was such a fun time. We had so many stories from just being on the road that I can't even write about them all. We potty trained our
2 year old, packed lots of snacks, listened to music, played music guessing games, watched DVDs, slept, met interesting people on our stops, learned how to read a map of Los Angeles, hung out with grandparents and great grandparents, helped my aunt and uncle move, spent lots of time in the great outdoors enjoying the beautiful California weather. It was a great trip and one that we will remember for a long time.
the Ehrlichs
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