Photo Shootout

Here are a couple pictures from my photoshoot today...more to come!

Website

This evening, my new website got published. I'm looking forward to adding more baby pictures in the next week or two...just waiting for the baby girl to make her appearance. Check it out at www.suzannereidphoto.com

Helicopter Flight

This evening, Bob and I went for a helicopter flight...a first for both of us. After the flight, we had a good Italian meal at Ristorante daVinci. We had a great table overlooking the Long Beach Airport. The ship that's lit up is the Queen Mary in the Long Beach Harbour.

Cajon Pass Fire

This evening, Bob and I drove down to Long Beach and saw some of the fires in the Cajon Pass.

LA County Fair

On Saturday night, I went with several friends to the LA County Fair. What a lot of lights! This first picture is taken from the top of the Ferris Wheel.

David and Anne rode one of the faster rides
Waiting to go on the Ferris Wheel
Art displays from local schools
Roasted corn with butter seasoning salt...yummy!
Leila dressed up as the Little Mermaid
Leila smiling as a mermaid

Major Car Trouble...MAJOR

Today, I called the dealership to make an appointment to get my car fixed. With another prayer, we headed the 40+ miles to the dealership. We dropped the car off and drove off with a rental. Later the dealership called to say that the left strut had gone bad. As the car had over 50k miles, then they require changing both as fixing just one puts more strain on the other one. As the car has a whole airmatic system, then the struts are very expensive. In the center of the dial which is normally grey, was a bright red screen with the message "Stop, car too low" The fender hung lower then the tire...can't really tell from the angle of the picture below.

Homeward Bound...the Long Way

Monday morning, we left Monterey early and drove west. We stopped by Lover's Point where I took these next two pictures.

We then drove the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach. We stopped at Carmel by-the-Sea for a great breakfast at Kate's Place and to browse around some of the stores. Whenever I hear or see the name Carmel by-the-Sea, it reminds me of my paternal grandmother as she lived in a little village in England called Knott end-on-Sea, England. To differeniate her from my other Grandmother, we called her Grandma by-the-Sea. My other grandmother lived near a castle ruins, so we enjoyed visiting there too.

After leaving Carmel, we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway and saw miles and miles of gorgeous coastline. Maybe not the best idea with a broken car, but how could we pass up such beauty to drive interstate? We made it back to my house and the first thing we did was say a prayer for the car making it.

Pebble Breach, CA

This evening we had reservations for a wonderful dinner for at Peppoli's at Pebble Beach. We had an excellent meal. We had an excellent Capressi salad with red, yellow and green tomatoes and the freshest mozzerella cheese I have ever tested. We then had a great corn and fennel soup followed by our dinner dishes. We then finished off with a great pear dessert. Wonderful meal and excellent service.

Muir Woods

After leaving Safari West, we drove down to San Francisco and stopped at Muir Woods to see the huge Redwood trees. Their size and age are amazing. We found a shaded place in the woods and stopped for a quick lunch. This morning, we had purchased a sandwich to share at Dean and Deluca...for $8.75. We were both very disappointed with it and neither one of us finished our half.

Safari West, Santa Rosa, CA

Today we went to Safari West in Santa Rosa, CA. We got to see giraffes, gazelles, zebras, rinos and many other 600 animals in the 400 acres preserve. We started with a two hour safari drive and explored the animals in authentic safari vehicles. Then we walked around seeing more animals and birds.

Falling for Hot Air Balloons

As we were headed north, on our way out of Napa, we saw several hot air balloons getting ready to land. We pulled onto a side road to get some pictures. They were colorful against the blue early morning sky. I was talking pictures of a balloon that landed by the road, then turned around to get some pictures of two that were getting ready to land in the vineyard. I started running down a 2-3 feet decline so I could get a great shot before they landed. Next thing I knew, I was flying through the air parallel with the ground then "landed" and slid to a halt. Ouch! A lady came running over and asked if I was alright. I stood up and brushed the dust off me. My camera was also dusty from the cloud of dust I created. Yes, my camera was alright...and so was I.

I like how the picture below captured the red weight in mid air as it was getting thrown from the balloon for a landing.

I didn't realize that in my super hero flight, the lens became a little loose. I took this picture right before it fell off the camera and into my hand. It explains the white burst at the left of the picture, but I like the white burst so included it. The lenses worked fine the rest of the day, so no permanent damage.

Up, up and away

Ubuntu Restaurant

Saturday evening, we had reservations at Ubuntu Restaurant in Napa. I had read about it in a magazine as a "vegetable" restaurant. It was an interesting experience. All the food in the restaurant was vegetarian. We had fresh olives for an appetizer, they were delicious. The salad had greens and flowers on it that I had never eaten before. The flowers were sort of sweet. We had a brown rice and roasted vege's in a broth for our entree, then a cheesecake in a jar for dessert.

Vineyards

After deciding to drive further, we stopped by a vineyard by the side of the road to get some pictures of grapes, olives and other vegetation. Bob snapped a picture of me......while I was taking pictures of these.

Elmshaven

After church and a picnic lunch, we went north to Elmshaven, the home of Ellen White, and toured around. It was there that we realized why a warning light was coming on in the car intermittently. The drivers side fender was lower than the wheel instead of a few inches above it and the car had a serious list to the left. I called my dealer to ask about the warning light and they said don't drive the vehicle, but have it towed to the nearest dealership on a flat bed tow truck. Due to the local dealership being closed the next couple days, that didn't seem like much of an option. We looked and how much we could turn the wheel to the left without scraping the fender and decided to keep driving it and assess if the situation seemed to be getting any worse.

Napa, CA

Today, Bob and I drove to Napa, CA. We had talked about going for a ride on the Napa Wine Train that went through Napa, Yountville and the vineyards. Bob surprised me with upgrading our tickets to the Vista Dome car and it included a five course meal. The Vista Dome car was a two story car with dining at the top under curved windows and the kitchen down below.

We had a great vegetarian meal and since they didn't have any non-alcoholic drinks, we were able to take our own bottle of Navarro non-alcoholic wine...thanks to Duncan and Marlene for bringing some bottles down last Christmas. We had a great time and want a fun and unique way to see some of the valley. Here are a few pictures of the fun experience (double click to enlarge).