Pismo Beach

wow, there's a lot of catching up to do.

Pismo Beach was wonderful. Even this late in the year, the weather was perfect, mostly in the 70s, and the beach beautiful. My sister and I went hiking, clamming, horseback riding, and hung out at the beach. Pismo Beach is known for its large clams, which seem to have declined in population, at least according to us. Our family's been up there several times and each time we go, it's a little harder to find a clam.
My sister and I caught a clam simultaneously. Mine is the smaller one on the right... :)

Our horseback riding took us through the woods and onto the beach. Our guide was really cool and let us trot and wade through bird sanctuaries and explore a little more off the regular path.

We had fun enjoying the breathtaking views of the ocean and the amazing surfers riding huge waves. Having all of this, so close to home and so accessible, made me feel the urgency to move back to California some day in the near future... I just hope that this is also in God's plan because I'm going to need a little help finagling it. :)

my roots

my sister and i drove down the pacific coast highway today and hiked along Point Dume. even though it was cloudy and we felt more than a couple drops of rain, it was beautiful and we enjoyed much more sun than i've seen in a long time. we could see up long stretches of the coast and so much ocean and sky. have you ever seen more blue than this? i feel this picture doesn't even do it justice. it sure would be nice to live in malibu and be able to walk into my backyard and have this.

i have two pictures of southern california flora. this first one is very yellow and bright.

this next one is completely the opposite but beautiful in its own right. perhaps more representative of the desert that is here.

after our hike, we drove to In N Out and had the best burgers in the world, along with fresh cut french fries (fried cholesterol-free!!) then we indulged ourselves with cookies from Diddy Rees. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

as much as i love diddy rees, every time i go there, i'm reminded of my time in england. i miss Ben's Cookies in the open-market at Oxford. i swear, this is the only reason why i didn't lose weight that year, having been forced to eat the awful british cafeteria food. *shudder* but Ben's Cookies were always warm and would melt in your mouth like no American cookies can. it's amazing. i need to go back there some day...

the future is here

tonight, i'm going to see the Joffrey Ballet! they're doing Cinderella. At the Auditorium Theatre, which is reportedly the most beautiful in the city. i saw the alvin ailey dance company there several years ago.

tomorrow, i'm flying home to California for 2 weeks. can't wait for good weather, lots of food, and old friends.

the storm on monday blew off armand's roof... things have been kinda crazy here lately. heme/onc was great, but i'm still trying to sort out my true feelings about the experience.