A Trip With the Queen

 

Elinor did a little mother/daughter get away/senior trip this weekend to Southern California.  As I type this, we are in the airport awaiting our flight home.  We have had such a fun, relaxing time.  We have laughed and talked and it's been just what I hoped it would be.  Elinor has the most off the wall sense of humor and she kept me in stitches.

There will be a lot of selfies in this post.  We had a truly delightful, smooth, uneventful flight early Friday morning.

Elinor got quite a kick out of being as tall as the average man in the country with the tallest people in the world.  Note the loud Hawaiian shirt from the men's section at the local Walmart.  You can imagine the scene when we passed an actual man wearing the same shirt at the airport.  I concur with Elinor--- she wore it better:)

First item off business--- get Elinor to the beach.  It was glorious.  It was warm, but not hot.  There was a pleasant breeze.  The sound of gentle waves lapping the shore.  Perfection.

Note the white legs.  Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding about just how much sunscreen was necessary for effective sun protection.  We don't need to talk about it here, but Elinor's sunscreen was a factor for the rest of the trip.  It didn't ruin the trip, but the trip could have been more comfortable.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

Her dream of swimming in the ocean came true.  I believe she was disappointed that the ocean salt water was markedly worse tasting than the Olympus High School Aquatics Center salt water pool.  

Yes, I'm sure it was.  

Note:  As Elinor threw herself with abandon into the ocean and swam out farther than I was comfortable with, two grow men who were in the water up to their knees watched her-- appearing to be somewhat shocked and awed with her fearlessness.  They turned around to find me as if to ask-- how far is she going to go?  I couldn't answer that question and I myself was internally freaking out.  I turned around and walked back onto the dry sand because it stressed me out to watch her go so far away from the safety of shore and me.   Next thing I knew she was paddling safely back to shore-- satisfied with herself and her adventure.  I'm pretty sure there is a young adult parenting lesson for me in there somewhere.

And thus began the sun baking-- oh, I mean basking.  Nope.  I mean baking.  She says it was worth it.  Note:  This might be my all-time favorite picture of Elinor.  

And it was so, so lovely and I wish I was there right now.  Note:  We love, love, love Elinor's sunglasses.  How fabulous is she?

All right, all right, all right... I'm pretty fabulous too!

We got hats because... well, because we wanted to.  

Another one of us in our hats with the Santa Monica Pier in the background.  After we ate some lunch we enjoyed a walk on the beach where we saw....

...a washed up jelly fish!  At least that's what we think it was.  Whatever it was, it was very cool.  

We checked into our hotel around 4:00, rested for a bit and then headed to the outdoor shopping/dining promenade area.  We got Bibibop for dinner, which I understand is kind of like Cupbop back home.  We quite enjoyed it.  We walked along the path just above the beach for a while as well.  Lots of walking-- which as you know I am extremely fond of.  

This dress, which we purchased at a store on our walking/dining/shopping excursion, proved to be Elinor's salvation the next day as she dealt with the sunburned legs.  Better pictures of the dress to follow.

Confession:  I've always wanted to walk along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  

Check.  It was pretty crazy.  Actually, it was pretty bougie (as the young people say), but I don't think I ever need to go there again.

Just like when I fulfilled my lifelong dream of being in the audience outside the Today Show a few years back.  Never need to do it again.  But I'm glad I've done it.  For the record, I haven't watched the Today Show for many, many years.  Why did I even want to do that?

We drove to the Griffith Observatory-- the one in La La Land.  At least that how I know it.  It was beautiful.

Note:  Did you know that La La Land is a nickname for Los Angeles?  I just figured out that's why the movie is called La La Land.  

We saw the Hollywood sign.  

We walked along the beach a lot more because it was beautiful.

We visited a British Shoppe and thought of Abe.

We spent a few hours at Downtown Disney-- which was so fun and so clean and so nice.  

We got a picture of Elinor by Darth Vader because it reminded us of the time when she was about five years old and she was Darth Vader for Halloween.  

Note:  After Elinor did her evening gown walk at Miss Riverton, Clark leaned forward and said his mind was a little bit blown because for the first time he realized Elinor wasn't "Kooky Nooky" anymore.  Rather she was a grown up woman.  It was definitely in her Kooky Nooky stage that she was Darth Vader.  

Her super cute (super overpriced) Minnie Mouse chocolate caramel apple.  Totally worth it.

Now for the best moment of the day-- we drove out to Glendora, California in the hopes of making contact with Sister Schramm-- or as we know her-- Corrine.   She'll be home in November, but I couldn't stand the idea of being so close to her and not saying hi.  It almost didn't work out, but we were so glad it did.  I gave her a big hug from me and a big hug from her mom!  This was a highlight!

Sister Schramm and Sister White.  It was so good to see them and now tomorrow morning I can report to Camille all about it.

Okay, well it is time to get on our flight home to the place we love the most and the people we love the most.  There's no place like home:)