September 22, 2010 – We got up early and said our good-byes to Angie.  

It’s always so hard to leave our girls!!  So far the trip has been wonderful!  We enjoyed all of our family time so much!! J 

As we leave California I have to mention how impressed we are with the energy-saving efforts of our western states!!  Recycling incentives are everywhere . . . from gift certificates to the hotel dining room  for not requesting room cleaning during multiple day visits, to divided garbage cans with one side for trash and the other recyclables, $25 weekly grocery store drawings for bringing in your own bags, car pooling lanes and the constant site of wind turbines, producing electricity.  We have picked up a lot of “green” ideas.

We were originally going to take the quickest route to Arizona but about 3 hours into our drive, we both felt we needed to see the ocean so headed to Highway 101.  We pulled off and spent a few hours in a quaint ocean town called Avila Beach.  We walked the beach and the pier, ate calamari and oysters at an outside bar overlooking the ocean and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon.  Driving along the ocean is one of the most scenic drives we’ve been on.

     

 We would have liked to spend more time in Southern California but have to leave something for our next trip :-)  As we skirted LA, I tried to take pictures of the many recognizable signs . . . Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Ventura but, after getting about a dozen blurry photos, I gave up.  We ended up settling for the night in Indio, CA.  They have a lot of concerts here - billboard ads are everywhere.  We just missed Sheryl Crow.  Our girls attended a Phish Fest here.

Tomorrow we arrive in Arizona - we'll visit Tucson first then the next day backtrack to Scottsdale - we're so anxious to see family in both places!