last day

We spent our last morning driving out to Malibu and Pepperdine. Pepperdine was just an awesome looking campus. It was Sunday morning so we didn't get a tour and nobody seemed to be awake yet. We ate breakfast in Malibu and took the scenic drive back to LA and the LA Farmers Market. There was a cancer walk/run going on so there were people everywhere. The market had a lot of good food booths and we were upset that we had eaten already...
After walking around a bit we headed to the airport and had an ontime flight heading back and got home around 6pm. I drove back to the airport around 10 to pick up Meg and Joe who had a great time in New Mexico...

more LA

Spent most of the morning around USC and the Coliseum getting ready for the big game. We got stomped but it was still fun being in the huge stadium and cheering with the Husky fans.

After the game we went to the Griffith Observatory and saw the planetarium show. Then we had mexican food and went to see a movie in Burbank. It was a packed day again. going home tomorrow...

More Bandelier

Bandelier

Bandelier park is amazing, ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. Joe and I had a great time exploring.

New Mexico

Drove through cool artist community of Madrid, then headed over to Bandelier National Park. Drive was beautiful, stunning vistas everywhere.

Exploring in New Mexico

We headed out right after breakfast to explore the area. Some things we wanted to see are closed for the season (we were bummer to find Tinker Town was closed....a 'museum' of a guy whose been collecting 'stuff' for 50 years). Our first destination was Sandia Peak, over 10,000 feet, awesome views and COLD!

Mom n' Joe in ABQ

Joe and I landed in Albuquerque mid-day Friday. After getting our car and finding our hotel (old style motel on Route 66), we wandered around Old Town, checking out shops and what not for the afternoon. Old Town was pretty quiet- the tourist season has ended around here.

After a brief rest, we went exploring in other parts of town, then went to see a movie.

California trip

Jess and I had a busy first day in LA. We got here so late on Thursday night because of plane delays that they had given away our room. We ended up at a dumpy hotel next door that smelled of smoke. Friday we got it figured out and now we are back at the Pasadena Rodeway. Friday we toured Caltech and then Harvey Mudd. Both of them are great schools but neither of them are much too look at. Last summer on the East Coast, all the colleges looked like beautiful fancy old schools. The California schools just look a lot different.

We really got around yesterday. Had breakfast in Pasadena (Dennys), Lunch in Claremont (In n Out), dinner in Hollywood (Hard Rock Cafe) and dessert in Santa Monica (ice cream on the pier). After the colleges, we went to the La Brea tar pits. The museum was almost closing but they let us in for free for the last 15 min. to see the animal bones that they found in the tar pits. Amazing how many stupid animals there were.... We then checked out the art museum next door and saw a bunch of picassos and other great paintings although we didn't stay long because we were hungry.

Made it down to outside of the Chinese theater and saw the Hollywood walk of fame. Not that exciting and we didn't really see any interesting restaurants so we went to the Hard Rock. Overpriced food but a fun atmosphere. We then drove out to the Santa Monica pier. The rides and the rollercoaster looked lame so we just kind of walked around and had ice cream.

Today, we will be heading to the UW-USC football game at the LA memorial coliseum. Nothing else planned but I am sure we will have another busy day. Hoping to hear from Meg and Joe who are in New Mexico...

soccer game

Nephew Henry and Bill at Sounders playoff game