Sunny California, Synchro, and Blizzard

 What a crazy couple weeks it has been.

Let's start with the day after the November 5th election. It was a devastating loss for those of us who are "woke" and care about humanity and our country.  This is our daughter working from home on November 6th wearing her onesie.  We sympathized with her, dropped off the dog and headed to the airport for a flight to southern California.

As it turns out we arrived a day earlier than the rest of the crew which meant we had a day to explore.

We headed down to Dana Point because it's supposed to be a good place to see some seals.

We stopped by the Ocean Institute.  Unfortunately during the week it's only open to schools and other group tours.  The public can only come in on the weekends.  While we were walking around we met a very friendly couple who told us where to go for the best chance of spotting seals.

Off we went to the Sea and Surf restaurant in the Dana Point Harbor and almost immediately we spotted these cuties.

So adorable!

After walking around we decided to have lunch at the Sea and Surf which was a great decision.  This thing on Irv's plate is a calamari steak.  We never knew there was such a thing.  Irv said it was delicious.

This guy decided to pose for us on our way back to the car.

The next day was competition day.  Miss G is part of the Ice Denettes synchronized ice skating teams from Arizona.  The many teams pretty much took over the hotel.

Hair and makeup is done and it's time to head to the rink.

There were lots of teams competing.  I thought this one from Kansas City was cool.  They were all about Travis Kelce.

Then it was time for Miss G's team.  Here's the video of their entrance onto the ice.  I can't show you the whole performance because apparently there are spies even at this age who want to study what other teams are doing.  

Guess what?  That's a gold medal hanging around Miss G's neck--their won their division!

There were teams of all ages from toddlers to the "masters".  We spent the rest of the day and all of Saturday watching all kinds of teams.

The highlight was a performance by the Haydenettes from Boston.  Click here to watch their performance at the 2024 World Championships.  It was a silver medal winning performance.

By the way, the national championships are going to be here in Colorado Springs in February.  I'll definitely be going!

The next day we went exploring and ended up at the Santa Monica Pier.

It's one of those places that you've got to visit at least once in your life.

We found the end of Route 66.

Family photo at the end of the pier.

Then it was time to explore some of the amusement rides.

Of course we had to take a ride on the iconic Ferris wheel.

Miss G is missing the roller coaster gene just like her Grammy so she wasn't interested in any of the more thrilling rides.

Then we walked down to beach to feel the sand and surf.

Miss G always has a big smile on her face.

Some army helicopters were practicing for a Veteran's Day performance.

Then it was time to find a geocache.  This was a fun one because you had to "fish" for it.

Irv has to get at least one geocache every place we visit.

Afterwards we drove through Hollywood to get a view of the iconic sign.

Fun trip to sunny California.

While we were out of town there was a full blown blizzard at home with 24" of snow.  Once again our amazing horse sitter came through to care for the critters.