Albuquerque

Debbie and I decided that it would be nice to go visit Steve & Jennifer.

 Debbie drove down to an airport hotel near Seatac Thursday afternoon so that she cold get the early flight to Portland.  Even still she had to get up at 3 am to get to her flight.  Friday morning at 6:30 am George drove me to the airport.  I wanted to get there in time to meet Debbie's flight.  I had a little issue.  I got there early enough that I decided to go to the Made in Oregon shop.  I thought it was on the D concourse.  I thought that I could take the connector hall over to D.  I was on B.  But no, I found out that the Made in Oregon was on C.  But I found that out after I had left B.  So I had to go through security again.  This time they did not like my coffee maker.  The food court was also over on C so I texted Debbie to tell her to meet me there.  That worked out well.  We had a nice breakfast at Henry's Tavern.  We each had the classic breakfast, eggs, bacon, biscuit/toast.  It was tasty.  It was too early in the morning so I wasn't thinking about pictures.

Portland Airport

See the fighter jet in the background.  We saw about 4 of them take off as we were boarding plane.    THEY WERE LOUD!!!

Debbie got photo bombed.

Me and Debbie

The flight was uneventful.

Albuquerque

Snow on the Sandia Mountains

Steve met our flight.  

We went to his place, Jennifer was there.  It was nice to catch up a little.

Steve had a picture of mom's family.

Grandma, David, Mom, Grandpa, and Florence.  

Grandma (Barbara) was step-mom to David and mom. After Florence there were two more siblings, Paul & Eleanor.

We then headed to the Embassy Suites to check in.  

Debbie with our rental car, Mazda.  Debbie did the driving.

Embassy Suites

At 5 pm we headed off to have dinner at Perry's, our niece.     It was nicely decorated.

Willa (3 years old)

Debbie, Steve, Jennifer, Perry

Wyatt (5 years old)

Delicious lasagna and salad dinner.

Jennifer brought a Chantilly cake which was gorgeous and delicious.  I thought I had taken a picture of it, but I guess it didn't turn out. 

Perry's husband Dan, wasn't there because he had to work.  He is a doctor.  When they first moved to Albuquerque, his job was in Santa Fe.  But now his job is at a hospital about 12 minutes drive away.  That is much nicer.

We did not hang around long because it was bath and bedtime for the kids.  We stopped at the Embassy Suites bar to each get a glass of wine to take up to our room.   

Monday

 We walked to Porto's again for breakfast.  I had the apple strudel this time. We went back to the hotel, finished packing and checked out.  Nathan came up with a plan of 8 possible stops up the coast following Hwy 1 towards Malibu.

First stop was Los Leones Canyon. Once we parked and started walking we decided that we did not want to hike up a big hill to see a view.  

Interesting location for a sign.

Next stop was the Malibu pier.  

Then we missed a turn for the next stop and the one after that the drive was closed. So far we were not having much success.  

The Malibu bluffs stop had a nice view plus a restroom

The next stop was great.  Point Dume Natural Preserve

Maybe there had been a wedding here.  Nice bouquets of flowers.

195 steps down to the beach

 It was a rocky beach.  It would be very nice to come here when the tide was out.  

Very clear water

Sea lions on the rock.

Now all he needs is the tuxedo.

We had trouble getting a parking spot.  I guess other people did also because when we got back to our car we found that someone had hit our car.  Ugh.  

Dinged car

Sunset Cafe in Malibu

 We had a nice lunch with a great view of the beach.

Nathan's Sunsetcolada

Caramelized onion flatbread

George and Nathan got the fish sandwiches

Brussels Sprouts

Then off to our next stop was Leo Carrillo State Beach

It was a great beach.  We need to come back here again when the tide is out.

Our goal was to either get to Jamie and Pam's by 3 pm or if after that then to Sharon and Michael's.  We got to Sharon and Michael's at about 4:30 pm.  Just in time to order dinner.  

La Cabanita

Unfortunately, the pictures I thought I had taken didn't turn out.   Pam and I went to pick up our order. We had ordered Mexican food.  We sure have been eating well.

After dinner, we relaxed for a little while.  We ended out leaving for the airport earlier than we had previously planned because we thought we might have an issue with the ding in the back of the vehicle. There was no problem with the return process, but we may get a bill later.  

The Burbank airport is small so it did not take us long to go through security.  We had plenty of time to play a round of 10, 9, 8.  The flight was uneventful.  We got to Portland a little after 11 pm.  It was raining.  Rebecca met our plane.  She was a little late because Cider had escaped when she went to the car and she had to retrieve him.  He usually hides under the car when he escapes and it is hard to get him.  We did not have to wait long.  We dropped off Nathan on our way home.  We got home at about 12:15 am. I just went straight to bed.  It was good to be home but we did have a great visit with family.