A surprise trip with our daughter
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
Eugene, Oregon
December 29, 2015 10:41am CST
She has this week off and lots of "miles" due to her extensive business travel. So, first she wanted to take us to DC. I have never been there and would love to visit the Vietnam Wall Memorial and other historical places, but the weather and flights can be iffy during the holiday season. I thought the idea was dead until it occurred to me that Monterey, CA was pretty easy to get to and would cost a lot less as well.
Both my daughter and my wife agreed, so tomorrow morning we will drive to Portland very early, meet my daughter at the airport and catch a Delta flight to San Jose and drive the hour or so to Monterey and a hotel on the beautiful bay.
This is great for me since I was stationed at Fort Ord back in the 1960s. Though it is gone now I want to see what the site looks like and visit Carmel, Pacific Grove and Monterey. I have not been back since 1987 and know much has changed. Monarch butterflies are wintering in Pacific Grove too and that is a site worth seeing.
We return on Saturday, so it will be a short trip and a great time. What a great Christmas present!
13 people like this
16 responses
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
29 Dec 15
This is a great trip. Good luck with the weather. We have some storms off the coast moving south. Enjoy your time up north (down south).
I took this photo last week in Key West.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
That is a great photo of a beautiful Monarch! Thanks!
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
Oh, forgot to say the forecast looks good, as warm as 60 and sunny. It is still pouring in Eugene tonight after 13 inches or so this month.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
30 Dec 15
@JamesHxstatic I was surprised to see them in Florida.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
30 Dec 15
Hope you have a great trip. I have never been to California. I have been to Oregon and Washington.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
The whole west coast has so much to see and northern and central California are great.
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40850)
• Laguna Woods, California
30 Dec 15
@JamesHxstatic - I agree completely, of course!
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189932)
• Boise, Idaho
30 Dec 15
Sometimes those short trips are best. I haven't been to those areas. Mostly in Northern California and the beautiful redwoods.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189932)
• Boise, Idaho
30 Dec 15
@JamesHxstatic ...Sounds like you had a memory making trip.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
@celticeagle it will be for sure. Up at four in the AM to drive to Portland for the plane.
@LadyDuck (502729)
• Italy
30 Dec 15
@JamesHxstatic That area is beautiful, I was fascinated when I visited.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
That area is magical to me. I almost moved there when I left southern California.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
That is one reason we are going, to help get her mind off work while she has the week off.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40850)
• Laguna Woods, California
30 Dec 15
Have a wonderful time! It has been years since I have been in Monterey! That sounds like a great time. Enjoy being with your daughter, too.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
6 Jan 16
It was a lot of fun really, despite some airport delays.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40850)
• Laguna Woods, California
6 Jan 16
@JamesHxstatic - I'm glad it was a fun trip. It seems like everyone I know who traveled over the holidays experienced airport delays. So frustrating!
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
30 Dec 15
that would be a trip of a life time for me, I don't get to travel very much.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
4 Jan 16
you are going to some of the most bea utiful plac es in C alifornia.
Re Monarchs I was fortunate to see outside o ur library i nTu stin
Calif a huge mass of monarch butterfliies st pped in a huge tree in
our parking area. A man told me that they were on their way to
Pacific Grove. Then like a huge colorful cloud they were u and away had never seen anything like that and they were truly beautiful.
Every year Tustin is hit in winter time by this huge group of wild and ame parrots of every c olor. some say that they are formed form lost pet parrots but for whatever reason they stop kn T ustin on their way to I am told Mexico. I know there is a write up about them on the net someplace.
@changjiangzhibin89 (17243)
• China
30 Dec 15
All sorts of feelings will well up in you mind as you revisit old haunts .Hope you have a great time !
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
4 Jan 16
You are correct, all sorts of feelings indeed.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
29 Dec 15
I hope you have a great time on your mini vacation.,
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
Thanks, I think it will be fun.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Dec 15
It sounds like a great tip and I know the area pretty well too. My wife actually has a friend that lives in the area, a woman she knew when she taught on AF bases in Turkey.
@Marilynda1225 (91150)
• United States
30 Dec 15
Enjoy your trip!!! sounds wonderful 
1 person likes this
@jillybean1222 (6406)
•
30 Dec 15
sounds like a fabulous way to spend time with your daughter! enjoy!
1 person likes this
