Malibu Beach, California...

I love the Pacific Ocean.  My heart belongs to the area around Northern California and Oregon, but I've got love for  the Southern California beach.  This is Malibu Beach.  

This is some kind of cool kelp that was all over the shore.  When you stepped on it, it made a popping noise.  I have plans to figure out what this is exactly.

I could have sat there all day long and watched the girls play had it been just a little less windy.    I still sat there for as long as I could.  Closing my eyes with the wind in my face and the sun on my back.  Breathing in the salty, Ocean air.  Pure Heaven I tell you.  Pure Heaven.

San Antonio Texas Y'all!!!!

xxx
The girls at the Alamo.

Really, I grew up in Nevada, and I don't say "y'all" at all...but, this post is so Texas that I really have to say y'all to keep with the whole theme. :)

On May 30th, my oldest daughter had her First Holy Communion. My parents came from Nevada especially for the occasion. They were staying for the next week, so we made plans to go for a mini vacation in the Texas Hill Country. We stayed at a really cool place, Roddy Tree Ranch. The best part about it was that it is situated in a spot where you can hit a lot of tourist attractions within an hour or so..

The first day we went to San Antonio. Oh, how I love San Antonio...there are a few places that you have to go see. We hit them all! We started at the Alamo.

I could tell that my Mom wasn't really impressed, but my Dad seemed to enjoy it. I mean, how can you go to San Antonio and not go to the Alamo?

Here is a picture of the stereotypical cactus that you would expect to find in Texas. Which is weird because I only see cactus every once in a while.

Here's a picture of the girls in front of a cool mosaic. I wish I had written down who made it, and what the history was behind it, but I didn't. Also, forgive any of my pics that are blurry. (I'm shaky)
A super cool glass sculpture.
Cool bust outside of the Aztec Theatre on the Riverwalk.

After the Alamo, we headed down to the river level and had lunch on the Riverwalk. San Antonio has this river that runs through the middle of down town. There are walkways on either side of the river, and all kinds of little restaurants and bars, hotels, a mall, shops, all kinds of things all up and down the "Riverwalk".
The view from on the river. There are these river tour boats that you buy a ticket for about $8 and you get a little tour down the river walk. The following pictures are ones I took while on our river boat tour.

Musicians from Lima, Peru performing on the steps outside the Riverwalk mall. I love their music, especially the pan flutes (I don't know if that's what they are really called. They look like they are made out of some kind of round reed pipes in all different sizes).
Some theatre and stage that is supposed to be in several movies, and where national morning shows have filmed from.

This post is getting monstrously long. I'll save the rest of it for the next post. I have a couple of ear wire orders to fill, yay! and, a couple of custom orders from my mom to fill. She's into peace signs for some reason. On a thumb ring of all things... she's getting wild in her old age! ;)

On the Beach

A wee hermit crab that my husband found in the Gulf of Mexico. My daughter had a blast playing with it, but just for a little while! We soon returned him to his watery home!

This is the Pensacola Lighthouse in Pensacola, Florida. It was cloudy the day of our visit, but the view of the lighthouse from the beach was still awesome!

I have long had a thing for lighthouses. I dream of one day going on what I call "The Great American Lighthouse Tour". I would love to go all along the eastern seaboard from tip to top stopping at each lighthouse along the way. This of course also entails eating seafood at every stop!

It seems every beach we went to along the Alabama and Florida coast had these rickety little fences. You can see the lighthouse in the upper right hand corner of this picture. Look at that white sand!!! Yes! It is as soft as it looks! Super fine white sand, felt really great on the feet!

These are just a few pictures from our vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. I highly recommend it! It was definitely the best beach experience I have had along the Gulf of Mexico. I also enjoyed eating the fresh seafood everyday. Especially the stuffed crab and crab cakes. Mmm, mmm, good!!!