Road trip part 1: Freeways, bookstore, museum and family

The drive down to Pasadena was nerve rattling at both ends but the long middle part was placid if boring. My freeway defensive driving skills came back very quickly and the drive went well and I made great time.

All that was new on the drive from a year and a half ago was that in the alternate universe part of Kern County along I-5 there are now Trump Vance signs to go with the fading signs that say things like “Build more dams - Stop manmade droughts”. Those type of signs are in the arid areas where some landowners want to continue to grow very thirsty almond trees, etc. and continue to have lots of water supplied to them - at least as I understand the long standing water wars. Then the gas station I stopped at had several cases of rifles and other guns plus a wide range of hunting knives prominently displayed on the way to the restroom. All I can say is “I definitely wasn’t in Berkeley anymore.” 

Got to Pasadena mid afternoon and had a nice long catch up with my son before my DIL came home and then a good visit with both. Today as they are both busy I walked to the ultra nice Target close by to by a couple of random kitchen things on my list plus Halloween cards for the Grandgirls. 

I guess that means I’m a mystery!

My vacation souvenir. Overpriced as all good souvenirs are lol.

Then I walked to Vromans bookstore which wasn’t open yet but there coffee shop was so I got some and then (ad a nice chat with a woman sitting next to me who was also on a road trip by herself but started from Portland, OR. I also chatted with a man who had his 2 year old Belgian Shepherd/Husky mix dog with him and got some dog pets in. After an hour in Vromans I only walked put with an overpriced candle for myself and photos of books to request from the library (see the covers below). That store gets an A++ for merchandising and I could spend a lot there. I didn’t even go to the 2nd floor.

After lunch I’m going to walk to the Pacific Asian Museum and get an art museum fix while I’m in the big city. My road trip mini-vacation is good so far.

Art & Travel Prep - Thriving week 41

These were my two top favorites in the art show we went to on Saturday at the city recreation center. The hen and chicks is actually a mosaic made from pieces of old dishes. The amount of detail and the color/pattern combinations were amazing in person. The piece below is acrylic and mixed media and kind of glowed in person.

I’ve mapped out my travel with lots of rest stops and have my fingers crossed the drive won’t feel like I bit of more than I can chew. ☺️ I’ve already broken the drive home with a night stopover and if I get too tired on the way there I will find a hotel for a night too. Trying to get back into my very confident traveler mode as I lost it during the pandemic years.

The main thing is that I can leave quite early and avoid the worst of rush hour heading south. The driving challenge later becomes the unremittingly boring road and landscape while the last part is very busy traffic with lots of trucks and heavy traffic over Tejon pass and on into the greater Los Angeles area. Younger me would have no concerns lol.

Early Morning Sky

 

A way too hot but good week - Thriving week 40

Happy about:

Three cheers for the Georgia judge who overturned the 6 week abortion limit in that state with reasoning that should be shouted from the rooftops. My favorite line in his ruling is “Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. “

I’m through with my vaccines for the year. Just flu and Covid this time.

My mammogram came back negative again.

We are in the midst of what will be a week long heat wave. Tuesday was the worst with a high of 97 but our AC upstairs (courtesy of the split system we installed earlier this year) has made it tolerable. Yesterday was only 94🤪

After talking with our insurance agent we got much better earthquake insurance coverage for the same price as the current policy!

I have figured out my basic travel plan for later in the month including a one night hotel reservation and a work around for taking driving breaks when 2 rest stops in a row on I5 are closed for repairs for the next year.

October plans

What’s on your calendar or in your thoughts for the month?

I’m planning a 4 day trip to visit my son and DIL and then my friends from where we lived before. I’m doing the 6 hour drive down I-5 to Pasadena by myself and then hanging out there the next day before heading to Camarillo for friend time. Then I’ll head up the 101 to San Luis Obispo for the night and drive home the rest of the way the next day. Looking forward to although the long drives not so much but the thought of the train, plane, automobile alternative was just as tiring.

I’ve also got two small art exhibits/openings bookmarked, will finish up the free Fall Prevention classes at the city rec center, am going to buy a Mac laptop and switch from Windows to it (my poor brain lol), and hopefully get to the citywide fall yard sale and the senior resource fair.

I hope to have a lunch outing with my neighbor friend and have my other new friend over for coffee too.

Add in three Pilates sessions, the car annual servicing, the dog getting groomed, a few after school pickups of the older granddaughter due to after care being closed plus all the ordinary life chores and it will be a nicely full month.

Little Free Libraries Galore

Just some of the ones I pass on my walks in my neighborhood.

OK Then! - Thriving week 39

A $150 lightbulb - the LED light part of our bathroom fan started flashing and you have to buy a whole new fan unit to get a new light. We found the same model and only changed the light part but will keep the rest in case the exhaust fan develops problems. So we bought the equivalent of a $150 lightbulb. 

A safer step stool/short ladder - The good news is that while we were at Home Depot we picked up a lightweight 3 step folding step stool that means we don’t have to haul the ladder into the house for most chores. It is safer than our shorter one too and was an idea I got from the free fall prevention workshop series I am attending.

A healthy pup - The pup doesn’t have an ear infection (yeah!) per a vet visit, but now we need to put ear cleaner in his ears about once a week. It is a wrestling match to accomplish but we will do it and work on training him to hold still. He loves routines so perhaps it will get easier.

Needing D3 -My annual blood test showed I was quite low in Vitamin D which I think resulted from lots of overcast weather, using sunscreen out of concern for skin cancer and who knows what. I tried the supplement at the dose the doctor prescribed and can’t tolerate it. I picked up a low dose variety and to try and will increase to where I still feel good. I’ll make a point to be out more when the sun is plus I’m monitoring my calcium intake through food. My bones will thank me.

Listing auto payments and deposits - As we are automating as much as we can I’m creating a list of auto payments via credit cards and checking account plus auto deposits to checking. This week I was surprised to get an email reminding me that my annual Medic Alert payment would be auto charged as I had forgotten that one and Hubby wouldn’t have known it existed.