La Mision, Mexico

We went south of the border last friday for a long weekend with Matt and Julia and another couple. The house was pretty nice, but the beach was great! We enjoyed long beach walks with the dogs, drinking beers and peaceful sunsets. Saturday took us into Puerto Nuevo for some langosta (lobster) and we stumbled accross some old time,house distilled tequila with an almond flair (2 bottles were purchased and later that night one was nearly gone:). We had a fun evening out and the boys continued into the night, making for a late sunday morning awakening. Thank goodness for beach walks at a slow,quiet pace. Lazy days and Mexico go side by side. Monday we packed up and headed north, a brief lunch stop in Rosarito and onward to california bound traffic. We did have some trouble with a certain Federale butch b***h. After thinking i might spend the night in jail, we got away. Needless to say we were glad to cross the border to the US. We then drove back to thermal, worn out, and tired!

LA

What a busy place, so many people, so many cars! We had a chance to visit the Weisman foundation, which is a private home in which an amazing collection of art exists...Rothco, Kadinsky, Giacometti, Warhol, etc. We also then cruised the hills or Beverly, all while driving the dually. Everything that has to do with vehicles in LA, the truck makes it 10times more difficult. I then really wanted to walk Hollywood BLVD and check out the sidewalk stars and concreted hand signatures. Graumans Chinese theatre at dusk made for great timing. Amazingly enough the Oscar band stands were already being setup. We did experience some trouble getting into a restaurant on V-day but we made the best of it back in Venice and unwound from our day.

Venice California

We have moved west towards the coast and are staying right on the Venice beach boardwalk. The people watching here is world-class with moments of pure jaw dropping wonderment. Emily's cousin Matt lives here with his wife Julia and their two hound dogs. Today consisted of a morning walk (all walks have 3 sniffing,curious,bewildered doggies leading the pack) on topanga beach (Daisy heaven and a Val Kilmer sighting), a pleasant lunch on 3rd street (a diesel store visit) and another walk around the venice canals. The canals provided a nice stroll through eclectic architecture, creative landscaping and a refuge from the hectic pace of california. We are enjoying Matt and Julia's company and look forward to our weekend together south of the boarder...viva en Mexico para la fin de semana!

Joshua tree

Finally after coming down here for the past 5 years we committed to visiting Joshua Tree National Park. From the horse show grouds if we peer east we see the desert mountains of the park. The park is a "transition" zone between the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert, with two distinct regions. The Joshua tree is very dr Suess-like (or the other way around, an inspiration for the Dr). Not only the trees but the rocks were quite fascinating, andworth a visit! As we continued through the park the topography changed and the trees turned into cacti. I think if we ever go back we will probably bring rock climbing gear and no dog. God has such a vivid and wild imagination, in fact we both discussed how in heaven we hope God shows us how he created such places!

Salvation Mountain

Emily and I have been touring the southern california deserts. We went down to visit the salton sea area yesterday and we went to Salvation mountain and slab city. We recently saw the movie "into the wild" and Chris mcCandless spent some time down there so we thought we would go down to see it. It does seem that the mix of sun and an ample amount of free time brings out some strange characters down here. Makes us smile and wonder if we will ever resort to squatting in the desert and pouring large amounts of paint on the sandy earth?

Thermal California

Emily has been down in Thermal for the last few weeks training and showing her horse Chivas and am here now with her. Today is the last day she will show Chivas before we travel to South America. Chivas will live in Livermore California until we return. It is beautiful and warm here!