Adventures in Southern California - Part 7 (Finale)

Click here to see a random collection of photos we took from our iphones/itouches during our ten days in Southern California.  It was a great trip!

Over the course of the past 3 summers, we happen to have visited 3 of the 4 corners of the continental US - Neah Bay, Washington, the most northwestern point, in 2010; Key West, Florida, the southeastern-most point, in 2011; and Border Field State Park south of San Diego, as far southwest as you can go before crossing the Mexican border, in 2012.  Looks like we need to head northeast and add Lubec, Maine to our list of places to visit!

Aventuras en el Sur de California - Parte Seis

On our last full day of vacation, we took a drive to the US/Mexican border and hiked along the border fence to the ocean at California's Border Field State Park.  We could see Tijuana through the fence and got to speak with both a resident and a border patrol agent.  (Apparently the speaking-to-Tijuana-residents-through-the-fence-thing is not something all border agents allow, but the person on duty while we were there was comfortable that we were not trying to pass anything through the fence.)    

As we headed back north, we stopped at Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma and spent a lovely afternoon.  Click here for photos.   Also included in the album are some photos from our last day in CA, which included a stop in Dana Point on the way to Long Beach to catch our flight back to Oregon.

Southern California - Part 5

While in SoCal, we spent a lot of time at the beach... the home we stayed in for our house-swap was just a mile from the ocean.  The water was much warmer than off the Oregon Coast, though we were still happy we packed wetsuits. Oceanside and Carlsbad both had great surf for boogie boarding.  Click here to see photos. 

(We're not done posting trip photos yet - 2 more days to go - but this is where our camera broke, and we had to switch to iphones.)

Southern California - Part 4

Click here to see a photo album from our day in La Jolla.  We started with some sea-kayaking (video of that coming soon), then visited one of La Jolla's 7 caves, checked out the resident wild-life, and drove up to Mt. Soledad.  Along with Torrey Pines, La Jolla Shores was among the most scenic spots we visited on our trip.

Southern California Adventures - Part 3

We spent a day of our vacation exploring downtown San Diego - Balboa Park, the Embaradero, and the Gas Lamp District.  A portion of our tour of the city was accomplished by Segway, thanks to Another Side Tours.  Pat and Drew rode Segways on Solomon's Island a few years ago, but for the rest of us it was a new way to travel.  Click here for photos. 

Southern California - Part 2

Click here to see photos from our amazing day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido. 
We took a safari ride through the park which included the opportunity to feed giraffes and get up-close with lots of animals.. so much so that many of the photos in this album were taken without the help of our telephoto lens.  The Safari Park definitely ranked among everyone's top activities of our vacation!
 

 

Adventures in Southern California - Part 1

We're just back from 10 days in Southern California - via home-exchange - to kick off summer vacation.  We swapped with a family in Oceanside, CA, in North San Diego County.  It was a lovely home and a great home-base for exploring the area.  Click here to see photos from the first few days of our trip.  Lots more are on the way!

100th Rose Parade

Today was the 100th anniversary of Portland's Rose Parade.  Click here to see photos.  It's a busy weekend on the waterfront with a fair, fleet week, dragon boat racing and more. 

Twin's Mock Trial

Yesterday was mock trial day for Judge Jake, attorney for the plaintiff, Emily, and their block class in the case of Lee Cavanaugh v. Cup of Joe, Inc.  Drew also served as judge when he was in 7th grade and doing mock trial.  

Pat was able to get a courtroom at the Federal Courthouse for the occasion. Click here to see photos of the kids in action, and here to learn more about Oregon's Classroom Law Project.  

A group of 6th graders served as the jury at trial, but Emily also had a jury at home on which to practice her closing argument.  School wraps up for the summer on June 13th... just 3 more days! 

Sailing, Starlight Parade & More (updated)

June is off to a good start. Drew had a great finish at Friday night's Johns Landing Regatta and is spending this weekend and next getting certified at as US Sailing Instructor... not to mention getting ready for his freshman finals. 

We attended the annual Starlight Parade last night, which is always festive and nice preview to next weekend's Rose Parade.

The twins are busy getting ready for their Mock Trial this week... Lee Cavanaugh v. Cup of Joe, Inc.  Their preparation included a field trip to the Multnomah County Courthouse.  Only 8 more days of school!

Click here for a few miscellaneous photos from the week.  And here for more.  If you have Instagram, Drew, Jake and Emily all post regularly and would love for you to follow them (emily_zigzag, jaetheboss, and for Drew his firstlastname).