Of seashores and high altitude matrimony

My trip to California, pictified.

I flew in to LAX, met by Christine (the bride-to-be), Sarah G. (her sister [we have another friend named Sarah, so we always call this one Sarah G.]), and Pam (Christine's supergood friend). Oh, and Pam's new baby, Joie (pronounced "Joey") -- she's a girl.

Our first stop (after being lost and turned around eight ways from Sunday) was the Santa Monica Pier. It was amazingly beautiful and sunny and fun. They said the day was remarkably clear, so I feel pretty lucky to have these great pictures.

I splashed around in the ocean despite the cold, so that I could say I have been in TWO oceans.

I had forgotten my sunglasses at home (naturally, as I was traveling to the Sunshine State) so I bought some on the pier, and they are crazy and green (!) and have rhinestones. Heehee!

We stayed in Bakersfield (where Christine & Matt live) the first night, and as I was running on Chicago time I crashed pretty much right after dinner.

The next day we headed up the mountain, where Christine & Matt were going to be married (in Sequoia National Forest, where they have all the nature). Bakersfield is about 200 feet above sea level. The wedding location is between 5500 and 6000 feet above sea level. The distance between the two points is given as 40 miles. There was much eye-closing on this drive.












We drove through the Kern River valley, where part of the road was missing due to rain washing it out and/or an avalanche. (This is weird to me on many levels -- (a) because in the Midwest we don't have to worry about the weather moving large parts of our land around, just the houses; (b) we were still driving on the road.) Click on the picture of the sign and see how many people have died in the river in the last 30-odd years. Fun!

On Saturday, we saw Christine get married. She looked beautiful, she smiled a lot (an anomaly for this week -- she was pretty tense), and she didn't know about the tablecloths that arrived in Orange when they were supposed to be silver, until after the reception (with appropriate linens) was underway.

It was amazing to see my oldest friend get married. I was one of two matrons of honor (matron!?), a fact I didn't find out until after I got to California. Sneaky.


On Sunday, SarahG and I headed back down the mountain on the early side (8:30am) and got some amazing pictures of the mountains dressed in fog. The glittery thing in the middle is Lake Isabella. It was beautiful, and pretty darn awesome for my first ever mountain experience.



And then I came home. Not much knitting to report, except a wee bit of the waiting-in-airport variety, on the Mistake Rib scarf so I didn't have to pay attention.

It's nice to be home.