Driving through California with California poppies, lupins, daisies, ice plants and more colorful flowers is unbelievable. Now driving through California with all the crazy drivers and interstates is another word.

First stop was one of our favorite towns, Temecula where we stayed at beautiful Lake Skinner, a county park that is a must stay if in this area. We thought the sunsets in Arizona were great, well the sunsets over the lake were just as beautiful. We visited Old Town Temecula, another one of our favorites, as well as touring the country side with all the orange, lemon, grapefruit and avocado trees.

We traveled on to San Diego and spent a day at Legoland. Legoland is really geared toward the kids but we did enjoy the Miniland area where they used legos to replicate the different cities – such as New York City, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington DC. It was amazing to see what you can do with the legos. Next day we traveled back to San Diego to see the tall ships and took a 2 hour harbor tour in San Diego. Every night found us around a campfire enjoying the evening.

Next we traveled north to Ojai, but had to drive around Los Angeles which was not a good experience. Fortunately we took a break and stopped in Simi Valley to see Ronald Regan Presidential Library and Museum. This was a very special place where you not only were told the story of Regan’s life, but felt their love for each other. While the girls were in awe over Nancy’s dresses and jewelry, the guys almost ran through the building to see Air Force One. Nixon was the first of seven presidents to use the Air Force One 27000. It was quite an experience to see inside of the plane as well as the Marine One helicopter. The view from here is breath-taking.

We arrived at Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA. Now we thought Lake Skinner was beautiful – Lake Casitas is even better. The perfect place for a wedding and where we will return in August for Chad and Katy’s wedding. After spending the day at the lake with another campfire that night, we drove to Ojai, CA the next day for a great shopping adventure in the specialty but very expense stores. Raines was especially interesting as it was clothing, kitchen and hardware store in one! Both husbands and wives were happy.

Again traveling north, we made a short but fantastic drive to Buellton, CA and enjoyed the flowers, ocean and countryside. It seems every day we ate lunches at great restaurants in the area. Today we walked to Andersons restaurant noted for Split Pea Soup. The next day we all went to Solvang which is a neat Danish community with many wineries, specialty shops and of course restaurants. One thing you have to have while here is an Aebleskiver, a Danish round donut with raspberry sauce. While the girls visited the various specialty shops, the guys tried to go to the motorcycle museum but it was closed. Instead they happen to find the Elverhoj Museum, a Danish house built in 1950 by Viggo Brandt-Erichsen and wife Martha Mot. The house was built in a style derived from the large farmhouses of 18^th century Jutland in northern Denmark. They incorporated elements of Scandinavian architecture with ornamental wrought ironwork, a carved redwood main entry door and hand-painted panels. When the museum was open to view you would find two leather strings out of a hole in the door – which you would pull and the door would open. When closed, the couple would pull the strings. There were no door handles, locks or anything on the door except the leather strings. Inside the kitchen the cabinets and tables were very colorful. Unfortunately the girls only saw pictures of the unique house, but we did find several neat shops.

More adventures to come……