Day 41-43: Glendora CA (Eric)

Day 41-43 (July 9-11, 2021): If you have driven from northern or central California into Los Angeles on Interstate 5, then you’re familiar with the Grapevine Pass that takes you over the mountains that border the LA area. It is a crowded freeway that climbs around 1,500 feet at a fairly steep ascent. There are numerous signs that warn of overheating. As we passed the top of this pass, we noticed smoke and flames coming over the top of one of the hills. Traffic slowed and numerous fire trucks showed up in the area. We got the impression that the fire had started recently. We definitely have had enough of fires during this trip. 

Anyway, despite the fire, we made it into town safely and checked into our hotel in Azusa, the town next to Glendora. We met up with my parents at their favorite Chinese restaurant, Town Sent, in the town of Covina for a fabulous meal. It was nice to see them and enjoy some wonderful food after another stressful travel day. 

Bitey settled into his new surroundings as well…

The next day involved a visit to Huntington Gardens in San Marino. If you’ve never been, this place is an amazing collection of art and plants in the midst of beautiful scenery. 

The Chinese garden is particularly impressive…

A view from behind a waterfall…




















We stopped by the scenic Japanese garden next. Jenny and I will always have a soft spot for anything Japanese as we met there…

We finished our visit to a few of the art exhibitions scattered around the gardens. Some of the exhibits do not allow pictures which is probably for the best as some of the modern collections are a little disturbing. I found them kind of interesting, but Jenny and my mom’s reactions were a little mixed…

We were allowed to capture images of the famous “Blue Boy” and “Pinkie”…




We ate lunch at a ramen restaurant after our visit that had fairly good food. 

We finished the day with dinner at my parents’ place where my stepsister and her husband joined us. It was great to spend time in my parents’ beautiful backyard and catch up with my family. The yard was swarming with hummingbirds, and I managed to get some good pictures…

My family…


Sunday 7/11 involved a morning of playing tennis and hanging out in my parents’ pool. The afternoon involved going to see the latest Marvel movie, The Black Widow. It was the first movie we’d been too since the pandemic started. It was a fun movie and a cool thing to do on a hot day. We finished with a wonderful meal at a Japanese restaurant, Little Tokyo, in San Dimas. 

The next day involved a 10+ hour driving day to get to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Our initial plan was to spend two long driving days to go straight home, but we spontaneously decided to spend two nights and visit yet another National Park, White Sands. More on that in the next post…

Day 39-40: Pacific Grove CA (Eric)

Day 39-40 (July 7-8): As we left Sonora, we had heard from Alex and Melissa, dear friends of ours who live in the Bay Area. They agreed to meet us in Oakdale for a picnic lunch. It was nice to see some more familiar faces, and we realized that we probably should’ve made more time to see other friends that are scattered around the country. Unfortunately, our agenda didn’t really leave a lot of downtime, but it was definitely nice to spend time with a few friends. 

We arrived in Pacific Grove and checked into the pet friendly Sea Breeze Inn, which was an anniversary gift from Jenny’s parents. It was a nice place with a fire pit that was close to Jenny’s parents and the beach. 

We spent the short time we had in Jenny’s hometown exploring the beach, spending time with family, and catching up with our friends, Gen and Jeff. The whole visit was nice, and it was good to be back in Pacific Grove and have a little more downtime before another long driving day to go visit my parents in Glendora, California in the Los Angeles area. 

Those are harbor seals in the picture below…

Jenny’s parents, grandma, and uncle…


Jenny’s 92 year old grandma…


Gen and Jeff (our dear friends who we have known for years)…


Every time we leave Pacific Grove we think about trying to move back, but housing prices are definitely ridiculous. A small house down the street from Jenny’s parents was being sold for $1.6 million, a little out of our price range. But it was nice to be back in another familiar place. 

Bitey also seemed content to be back in his hometown…

Next destination, my parents…