{Memorial Day Weekend 2012: Part Dos}

On Sunday we headed over to A.G. and wandered the Strawberry Festival. 

We ate a lot, drank homemade root beer and got toe rings.

I found this postcard in one of the shops in the village.

Later that afternoon Tyler took us all to his family's ranch where we cut our own lettuce, shot guns and picked our own avocados. 

Lettuce and pellets. 

Aubrey's photo of the Gang hanging out at the Ranch in the afternoon

I was sooo excited about picking our own avocados.... I mean R.E.A.L.L.Y excited....
I can't wait for them to ripen!

Alex took this photo of Christine, Michelle and me with our bag of avocados 

Tyler drove us on Monday to Santa Barbara so we could hop the train to L.A.

It was ridiculously stressful getting there {we almost missed it...} and we

had to make a mad dash from the car to the train.

But once on the train, it was smooth sailing and we hunkered down to do homework

while we watched the beach goers enjoy their Memorial Day holiday from the windows. 

Overall, it was a superb weekend...

filled with lots of laughs, strawberries and great memories.

{Memorial Day Weekend 2012: Part Uno}

Last year Aubrey invited us up to Arroyo Grande, right next to San Luis Obispo for Memorial Day Weekend festivities. 

Her home town of Arroyo Grande holds a Strawberry Festival every year to start off strawberry season. 

{last year I even participated in the Strawberry Stampede 5K....haha, fun times...} 

and this year the annual party grew, and so did the fun! 

On Friday I hitched a ride with Aly and Christine... 

Friday evening, we all met up at Avila for their Friday night farmer's market before having dinner with Aubrey's family. 

Saturday morning we went to Avila Valley Farm and we all piled onto the hayfilled trailer and took a tractor ride through the ranch. 

We also bought their homemade fudge from their little Sweet Shoppe. 

the family portrait of the trip

Then we headed off to the SLAM-JAM, hosted by some of the local longboarders for some windy entertainment. 

transportation up the hill 

 We stumbled upon some kind of Native American tribute/fire pit... 

it included a cow skull and painted tree stumps. 

It was so cold and windy we had to grab a sleeping bag from Tyler's car to keep us warm.

While we were bundled in our sleeping bag trying not to freeze, we noticed this goat

 {there was also a baby goat that would come up every once in a while} 

on the side of the hill.

It had a collar and a leash... later we saw the owner appear and it looked like they were just on their morning walk...

It reminded us of the Arroyo Grande police blotter that we read they night before...

apparently two goats were found roaming the beach while their owner 

went for her morning run. 

Only in AG.

{train time}

As soon as I decided to go to school in LA I had been pining over taking the train home- 

at least once...

However, taking the train home is no small ordeal:

First, I have to get myself to Union Station {thank you Lauren!}

Then, it is a whopping 12 and a half hour train ride. 

yeah, a little more than half a day. 

Then, it's still an hour+ car ride from the train station to home.
yikes. 

I was crispy by the end of the day- but I loved every minute of it

 {seriously}

I had a really nice window seat, where I got to look out the

 window all I wanted til the sun went down.

 My seat partner resembled the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. She was all in black, rather gruff and when I asked her where she was going she sighed- as if I was twisting her arm- and explained that she was on a long journey ending up in Copenhagen.... and that really she was a nomad and lived her life in airports. It was clear she didn't want to be chatty, which was fine by me 

{last time I took the train up to SB, I had a REALLY chatty older fellow....}

What on Earth did I do for 12.5 hrs?!?!?

I read, slept, readsomemore and sleptsomemore. 

I stayed in my cozy spot {the train provides pillowz... without an extra fee!!!} 

and  really only ventured out to the dining car- 

where I was seated at the "youngin'" table with two other college aged kids. 

The science nerds' opening line was: 

{he works at a biotech company developing cancer tests....} 

*glimmer in his eyes* 

"If you could choose two animals to combine to make your ideal ultimate pet, which ones would you choose??? I would choose a cat and a tiger.... so you would have a miniature tiger!"

{If you're wondering: I chose a mini lap-giraffe, but then 

discussed how we could engineer it so it wouldn't be super fragile.... 

yeah, two can play that game....} 

Anyway, I had the honor of seeing California- 

beautiful, beautiful California. 

♡

{who's attle?}

Chloe and I wanted to embark on a mini-adventure/trip, so we hopped on a plane to “see Attle" for a few days.

{we were chatting about going to Seattle with our friend Marco 

and he promptly asked "who's Attle?"}

We stayed with Chloe's fantastically sweet and amazing grandparents Shelia and Herman {we slept in Shelia's quilt-collection room and watched movies with them each evening} 

For the second evening we there, we went off to a beautiful beach park to an event where we sat and watched the sunset while listening to a local artist's song. It was a whimsical song and a beautiful sunset.

I must note that we had amazing weather the ENTIRE time we were up in Seattle, it was sunny everyday... {one day it did rain a bit in the morning} Everyone we talked to kept sayin that the weather was deceiving us.... 

➵

Of course we did things like visit Pike Place Market, where we bought flowers wrapped in brown paper, tied up with strings.... 

   

My mom grew up in Seattle and I had never actually been though I have grown up hearing stories about the city. 
I can't wait to go back and see the city with her 
and do what the Seattleites of the 70's did. 


 She gave us a list of suggestions, including taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island.

We went up to Volunteer Park and Shelia took a photo of Chloe and me in front of the statue Black Sun by Isamu Noguchi.... it was where my mom took her senior photo for High School and I felt that it was really touching that I was able to visit her old neighborhood. 

Chloe and I also went exploring on University of Washington's campus and we saw 

Mount Rainier poking his head out of the clouds. 

Apparently it's a rare occasion. 

  

On our last evening Herman took us up to Kerry Park, on Queen Anne Hill to see the sunset over the Seattle skyline. 
Our last shebang in Seattle....just majestic.  

Overall it was an amazing trip and Chloe and I were just reminiscing about our buddy Attle last night and agreeing that we were both so happy to have seized the opportunity. 

I loved Seattle and I hope to go visit again soon.

♡