Pictures!

I just figured out how to add pictures!

Day 1


Self Explanatory



A replica of the Little Mermaid statue in Solvang.

Day 2


Three Kids on a Rock




Mom and Philip with the Olallieberry lemonade.





Uncle Dana and Jevi.



 Day 3 


A novelty at the Holliday Inn Express.




The hill.  Those tiny people are us.




Vicory!



It was a large hill




Winchester Mystery House.

 


At the aquarium.



One of the many posters in the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit.




Baby Seahorses!

 


The Neo Cube! Look it up; like Wagner, its harder than it looks!









You already have pictures from day 4. :)







~Meri

The Long Road Home

Day 4: June 17

Walt's Barn

Yesterday was our last day of vacation.  We left our hotel earlier than I wanted to leave, and I promptly fell asleep in the car.  From what I understand, I missed driving and more driving.  A quick stop in a slow drive thru, and we were on the road again.  At long last we came to our first stop: Robert Caur Violins in LA.  Thus is where both my violin and Philp's cello were bought.  We ducked in for just a minute to resharpen Philp's endpin (that dangerous weapon!).  While we were waiting, a young cellist came in to report that her bridge (the fragile wooden piece that props up the strings) had been knocked out by her brother.  He accidentally hit her cello with an exercise ball.  Let us all take that lesson to heart: no throwing balls in the house!  Happily the rest of her cello was not damaged.

  A hop, skip, and a jump away (comparatively) was Walt's Barn.  Yes, this was Walt Disney's barn that has been relocated from his property to Griffith Park.  Unfortunately the barn was closed, but we could see it through the fence.  Dad has been up there before, and said it is a small museum that tells about his railroad hobby and has some original pieces.  Then back in the car.

  Our final stop was the Griffith Park Observatory.  It was really exciting getting to "stand on top of the world" from up there, and also see the Hollywood sign.  We watched two planetarium shows; one on a general history of astronomy, and a second on the aurora borealis.  The second was really interesting since I didn't really know what caused the northern lights.  It was also very funny because since the vikings thought the northern lights were the valkyries carrying away the souls of lost heroes, the presentation played Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries which PSYO played last year.  All I have to say about it is that it is alot harder than it sounds. After learning about sun spots, meterorites, the planets, cloud chambers, and eclipses, we left.

  After searching for a place to eat for a very long time, we found ourselves at a Panda Express in Fullerton.  Panda has never tasted so good!  Finally we made it home safe and sound.

Fatigue, Fish, and Feet

Day 3:

     Our last few hours in Pacifica were spent waking up, eating breakfast, and scaling a miniature mountain for a picture. This quest, which was originally intended to be a simple little walk up the hill turned out to be a very fatiguing hike and took in all probably half an hour from start to finish. While trekking back down the hill, my siblings and I were educated in the velocity-slowing properties of deep sand. After this adventure, we set out in our trusty van for yet another expedition on the road. Our destination: Monterey. After spending an extra forty-five minutes stuck in traffic in the Santa Cruz mountains, we reached our afternoon's entertainment, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

    Our family had visited this aquarium thirteen years ago, but, seeing as I was all of three at the time, I was able to take in the sights and sounds as if for the first time. We were able to see pretty much every exhibit during our time there, including: a giant octopus, a scary amount of jellyfish, moray eels, rock crabs, skeleton plankton, tiger sharks, bat rays, sea stars, the whole lead cast of Finding Nemo, sea otters, anchovies, sardines (not in a can), flatfish, and the like. One of the featured exhibits was on Seahorses, so we got to see an especially large amount of those. Unfortunately, one of the other featured exhibits, which lures in unsuspecting tourists with its catchy title (Hot Pink Flamingos), not only contained very few hot pink flamingos, but also was filled to the brim with environmentalist propaganda that looked like it could have come out of Communist Russia. O_O Not cool. Besides that sobering exhibit, the rest of our aquatic experience was very enjoyable and educational.

     We dragged our exhausted feet back to our car, found our hotel, and unpacked for the last time. I was able to make a pretty cool makeshift bed out of a reading chair combined with two small couches intended to go with the room's main beds. After kicking back for a few minutes, we found out that X-Men: First Class was playing in a nearby theater...in half an hour. So off we go gallivanting to the theater with empty stomachs and tired feet. After the movie, we retired back to our hotel room, added onto our collection of “Day in Review” videos and then drifted off to sleep...

-Philip

Of Rocks, Ollalieberries, and Spicy Rigatoni

Day 2:

We had a late start (us kids, that is), but eventually got down to our “deluxe continental breakfast”. Lovely waffles, orange juice and pastries awaited. After eating breakfast and cleaning up, we all headed across the road to the beach. Dad had gone down earlier and said the view was crystal clear, ocean as far as the eye could see. But by the time the sleepy-heads rolled out of the inn, a lovely haze had descended upon Cambria. We got to sit on a bench overlooking the rolling waves and a couple with two young girls while we did devotions. After that, we headed down to the shore itself. There were some very tempting, large rocks not very far out in the water. Philip and I ran out there, and eventually Ariel joined us. Though we got very wet, we had a very fun time out there.

After drying off at the inn, we drove into Cambria. We walked about the town a bit, found a garden shop, a thrift store, and a gallery of paintings. Then we went to Lynn's, a restaurant our aunt had told us about. The food was excellent, especially the spicy pickles, and the owner gave us a history lesson of the owallieberry. Then it was to the road again. We passed the Hidden Valley Ranch and a lot of hills, cows, and grape vines. A few hours later, we reached Pacifica, where we would spend the night. Funny enough, this is the same hotel we stayed in last time we came to Pacifica! We walked around the Farmer's Market and gift shops before going out with our friend, Uncle Dana. For dinner we went to “Nona's”, a diner-type restaurant. Philip ordered the spicy rigatoni...and it was SPICY! Not unbearable, though. Then we went to Uncle Dana's house, got to see all the neighborhood animals, took a tour of his house, including his impressive airplane collection, and then went back to the hotel. After a little while, when Ariel and I were started to drop off, we said goodbye till next time.

If anyone is interested, at our church's high school group tonight they had third annual No Talent Night. Since we couldn't be there, Philip and I (with Ariel's help) made a video for some friends to dance to. They didn't know what we had put together, but I'm sure they were good sports about it. Here's the link if you want to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6--gKMyPo .

Well, it's time for bed. Tomorrow: adventures at the aquarium!

~Meri

This is not Bulgaria

Well, as you'll probably be able to tell, this blog post is not about our time in Bulgaria because, in fact, we are not there yet (and will not be for another week and a half). This post, and most likely the next few others, will be documenting the Sheegog family's vacation up the Californian coast. And, because we had already made this blog, we thought we might as well share our discoveries and adventures with all of you.

Day 1:

     We left at ten o'clock yesterday morning and drove for three hours north until we reached our first stop, Pea Soup Anderson's. This restaurant is one of the two in the State (and the world, for that matter). The food was quite excellent. The soup, although similar to its canned cousin, was far superior in both texture and flavor. In addition, the soup came with “chocolate milkshakes” which were more akin to Wendy's Frosties (and, as you can see in the pictures, Dairy Queen's Blizzards).

     After our stomach's were quite happily filled to the brim with chocolate and processed peas, we crossed the freeway and took a small road out to the Danish town of Solvang, which happened to be celebrating the one-hundreth year since its founding in 1911. As mom astutely noticed, half of the twon squares, malls, libraries, and whatnot were named after the famous Danes, Hamlet (prince of Denmark, from Shakespeare's play) and Hans Christian Anderson. Seeing as one of those two men is merely fictional, the whole town was sprinkled with tributes to the great writer. We even visited a Hans Christian Anderson museum which contained at least 10 different copies of each of his stories on display, in addition to an entire glass case full of books and articles about “The Little Mermaid”. We ended our visit in Solvang by purchasing some authentic, freshly-baked Danish cookies for several special people back home.

     Second stop down, and several more hours of driving await. Well, actually on one more. On the way to our final destination of the day, Cambria, we made a stop in San Luis Obispo for some food and entertainment. After seeing my first genuine “gaming lounge”, we watched Super 8. Spoiler alert. Super 8 was fairly entertaining, if not slightly predictable and mellowdramatic. Although the alien seemed more like a strange hybrid of a cave troll's face and the body build of General Greivous (not in metal, of course), it provided ample suspense and several of the obligatory “shock” moments. It was good, but no Inception. After the conclusion of the film, we hopped next door to Californian Pizza Kitchen, where we refilled our still-happy stomachs with pizza and a delicious chicken salad.

     Leaving San Luis Obispo, we finally approached our resting spot for the night, Cambria. Although I'm sure the drive was absolutely gorgeous, I cannot accurately describe it as I was asleep for the vast majority of that drive. Despite my absence of mind, we safely reached our hotel, the Sand Pebbles Inn, without incident.

-Philip

The Countdown Begins!

Well, I suppose we've been counting down since we found out last year that we were going on this trip.  But now we are actually counting down the days-14 left!

Let me take a step back.  Philip and I are in the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) which is going on tour to Bulgaria.  We are giving three concerts while we are there, but we also get to do a bit of sightseeing, too!  You ask, "why are you going to Bulgaria of all places?" That is an excellent question.  Maxim Eshkenazy, conductor of PSYO, is a native Bulgarian, and Mrs. Elizabeth Stahr, a member of a Pacific Symphony board, thought it would be great to take the orchestra there for the first tour in the group's nineteen year history.  After two years of planning, fundraising, and tireless work, we are all going!

Rehearsals start up again next week so that we sound as good as Maxim has been telling everyone.  The orchestra has also been invited to an "authentic Bulgarian dinner" where we'll sample food, hear cultural music, and get to socialize with our orchestra mates and chaperons.

That's all for now.  More posts and pictures will follow!

~Meri