The Nasty Shock!

Checking into this hotel had a "different feel" than the others we had stayed in. I went to bed and had a wrestless sleep the night before, weird dreams and woke up tired. I told Scootard that I didn't want to stay in this particular hotel again.  It just didn't feel right.

We started our morning in full anticipation of having a great day.  I was packing up things and Scootard went down to the car to get a head start on loading some of things I had packed.  He soon returned with what appeared to be our insurance documents in his hand.

What!!!??  Go figure!

Needless to say, I started snapping these pictures for our insurance company back in Canada....

The glass had been shattered into a gazillion pieces and it was going to take some doing to get it all out.
Of course the hotel didn't want to be responsible for anything.

I was NOT happy......:-(.  Poor Scootard was on the phone trying to get some police officer to answer the phone.  We held on forever before someone actually took the call.  She turned out to be no help whatsoever and merely gave us another number to call.

 I made the suggestion that we make our way to the station to file a report.  We had already spoken to ICBC (Insurance Company of British Columbia) and they had set up a claim file for us and made recommendations.  However, by it being the weekend, it was going to be tough finding someone to take us on such a short notice.

Low and behold...the station was CLOSED!  what!!??  How do you close a police department???  On the weekend no less in a big city like San Diego??   I thought I was back in BC.....

Well since this was a wash, we just decided to let it go.  The cost of the repair was less than our deductible.  And upon careful inspection, we discovered that nothing was missing except a blanket that Scootard had been given a few months earlier for Christmas.  The food was still there, the car had not been gone through at all.  Just a warm, fluffy blanket was missing.  I began to feel sorry for the person who needed it....:-(.  I had the strong sense that they were sorry, but did what they had to to stay warm that night.

We carried on down the road and tried to make the best out of a bad start of our day.

The flowers on the side of the highway were a pleasant sight.  It was now much later than we had planned to be in San Diego and our next destination was many miles ahead of us still.

But we couldn't go on without a window for the entire weekend.  So, after calling all over San Diego we found this place which happen to be a warehouse as well.  yay!

We got there at 1:00 and they had us up and ready to go by 2:30.

I was also very happy that they gave a warranty on their work.

We were on our way! The window was repaired and it worked!

There is a structure similar to this in Paris called The Louvre.

We decided that we needed to get going and was going along pretty good until we hit this.It had us crawling forever.....:-(.

Finally, we got through the "bottle neck" situation and decided to do a little R&R on the way.....

We passed through this little place......

and ran across this shop that had all manner of wrought iron gates, doors and tiles.  The owner told us that he had been there for 7 years and told us when we had a lot of money to come back and see him!  Hahaha.  Now, I knew we looked "relaxed", but I didn't think we look THAT bad!  haha

Now, you gotta know how hard it was me not to picture some of this stuff in my garden...but I know, I know!  I can't stick everything I see in there.

but he was kind enough to let us look around before we left.......:-)

I think they will fit right nicely in my dream home, on my dream property and the entrance of my dream island....:-)

Ever think about making a gazebo out of old doors?  I have....hummm.

We left and continued on to this little shop and I had to snap a picture of this little thing outside

and this little thingee inside.....This one is green and the one across the room from it was dark blue and white.

and I had to laugh at the name of the place.....but I understood why he named it that seeing what he was selling inside and out.

It was a bit of a hodge podge of stuff that looked like it was from the flower children era......:-)

 ok, now we really ain't make any progress here.  Time to hit the road again!

don't you just love these flowers?  I think they are beautiful, but I don't know what they are.

 I was trying to get a shot of this house that looked like an igloo sitting behind this sign, but the sign was in the way.

and get a load of this one!  A castle right on the corner...

 Scoooooterrrr!!!

These particular flowers seem to thrive here.  They are called "Bird of Paradise".

 We put a few miles behind us and I began to notice that the velvet hills that we passed on the way through the first time were starting to turn brown.....:-(.

It was spotty for the rest of the trip.  Some where brown some were still green but not many....

 The day was starting to wind down for us.  Scootard was getting a little tired and so was I. We headed for Laguna Beach anyway.....:-).

It seemed that even the birds were trying to find somewhere to roost for the night.

and the sunset was magnificent!

and peaceful even though the temperature was starting to drop quite quickly.

We stopped in a local Starbucks to book a reservation for the night and have some coffee being finishing the last leg of the trip for the day.

and it didn't take long to go to sleep after having settled in for the evening.  It had been a very long day...

Stay tuned!

Big City Adventure San Diego!- Day 2

It was going to be a nice day.....:-).  We didn't see as many scooters as motorcycles, but it was a nice day to ride either....:-) 

and of course we were starving hungry and decided to try something new.....

The food was marginal and the WiFi was horrible!  We decided to revert back to what we knew worked.

Ye Old faithful......:-)

I think this is the San Diego river, but I'm not sure......sorry...:-(

Our poor car looked like it had been in a mud bath.  We couldn't seem to find a self service car wash.  Everybody wanted $9.00 to do it all for you.  Only problem was we had STUFF in the car and it would have been a hassle to take everything out.  We ended paying for all of the work with only half of it getting done.  But I gotta tell ya that when they got finished, there was nary a bug anywhere!  They did an excellant job...:-)

Scootard is looking for the directions to our next adventure......:-)

and here we go!  Off to the museum quarter......:-).  I love museums...:-)

When we got into the parking lot of the museum quarter it felt like a mixture between Europe and Mexico.  Which in turn caused me to coin the phrase "EuroMex".....:-)

the buildings were stunning, but not as stunning as the ones in Europe that had been there for hundreds of years.

We eventually found our way down this corridor, but not until we had run through every other door that we could in the time that we had left.  We got a late start for some reason.  I blame it on the sucky WiFi and the Corner Bakery that morning....:-(

Before we went in to the first museum, I noticed that the art actually began outside first.....:-).

Here is another shot of the buildings.  This one housed the Museum of Torture.  We didn't go into that one...haha.

Once inside our first museum, there was this room with all of this iron stuff on the floor.  You were free to go in, sit down and make whatever you wanted to build from it.  There were 3 guys sitting at the other end making "something" by stacking whatever pieces they chose.
 

and this beautiful fountain graced the main entry way once you entered....

I loved the fact that they would let you take pictures as long as you didn't use a flash.  I also noticed that security didn't seem to be as tight as in Europe, but you did see an officer every now and then come through the room.

Scootard was going to slow for me so I went ahead into the next room.....:-).

But he followed me!  and look at what happened!  hahaha.

I'm always amazed at how things have been preserved through the years; long after the maker of the object is gone and forgotten.

And a lot of the things that the ancients used in their every day life were not that much different from what we use today.  These look like soup tureens that we would use today for serving guest.

Everywhere I look nowadays, I see stuff that I could put in my garden.  I mean, just look at those chairs!  ha

 I'm not exactly sure of what this was used for, but there was an old artist sitting just feet away from it painstakingly trying to draw what was before her.....:-).  As a matter of fact, there were artist everywhere sitting on the floors with backpacks and pencils trying to recapture the things that had inspired them......:-)

This was a picture that I didn't spent to much time viewing, but the colors were impressive...:-)

I believe this one was done by the same artist, but I didn't catch the name.

I wanted to give you the history of this next piece before actually showing you the picture.

I don't know what a piece like this would cost today, but it must be pretty pricey since this one is sitting in a museum.  I have heard of wedding chest before.

We were about to leave and I remember that when I went into this particular room I saw this painting that was just so striking to me, that I had to go back up into the elevator and take a picture of her.  I thought she was just beautiful and the feet were very well done.  You don't see many artist that can capture the feet of a person without making them look too boxy or unnatural.  Scootard waiting for me while I went to go and snap this one.   Unfortunately, the light was a bit dim and I just couldn't get it the way I would have liked.

Here is the information about the artist and the painting.

Because we had gotten a late start, we only had time to go through two museums.  So, we headed over to our next destination.  We passed this arch way on the way there.  I thought the trees liked like a herd a pitch forks!  Do pitch forks come in "herds"??  ha
  

The detail on the buildings were quite impressive, but still not like that of Europe.

I could use me one of those Juliette balcony style thingees at my house....:-)

We finally arrived at the next stop.  Now, depending on your personal persuasion, you may or may not enjoy the tour.....

These giant pillar thingees were done by the Myans and were found at a temple site somewhere on the other side of the planet. Like other cultures, the Myans used stone to record their history, but good and bad for posterity.

I thought this was funny.......uh...NO.

look at that head!  and the eye sockets.  I'm thinking this one had a face only his mother could love..

and look at that foot/hand thingee.  What do you call it when your foot looks like your hand??  Ambi-handrafoot??

Uncle Guido??  uh.  No.  But this dude was huge!

I don't know if you will be able to read about this guy, but I tried to get a decent shot.  The window behind me was giving me all kinds of trouble with the light coming through on the lense.

Hey, how about that for a planter?  ....:-)

If you have ready any of my other blogs in regard to travel, you will know that I have an interest in Ancient Egyptian culture for some reason.  I have no idea why.

Well, if you ever want to "stuff" something, here's how...ha

They even took their animals with them.  Although just like now, there was a lot of fraud going on.  Some of the coffins were and bandages were stuffed with "nothing" and returned to the families who unsuspectantly thought that their loved ones were wrapped securely inside.

Now, there really is someone in these wrappings.  They had the x-rays there to prove it!

Hey, there is a children's room too.  You get to do stuff in there!

 Scootard was having a blast......:-)

the poor guys was having way too much fun....haha

ok, time to go!  The museum was closing and now we are vanquished to the grounds of the museum square.
This is a shot I was able to take from the second floor of the museum on our way to the elevator.

shot number 2

And shot number 3

ok,  feet are back on the ground now.  Time to head for the gardens.....

I thought this was nice.  Don't you?  I love shots like this.  I wish I was a better photographer though.....

The grounds reminded me of a castle that we visited when we went to Vienna.

this is in my dream garden at my dream house on my dream island.......

ornamental cabbage.  I think it is annual though.  I'm looking at more perennial flowers than these.

 Now, a closer look at that tree seems to be trumpet vine.  Except that I thought Trumpet Vine was....well..a vine and not a tree.  Anybody know what that is???

Here's another look from another angle.

And here is a long shot of what we saw.....

We starting making our way to the main entrance again.....

and we saw this guy on the way out.....ha.  WHAT IS THAT?  haha

on the road again......headed for dinner.

It was very scenic......:-)

The sun was setting quickly.....and the night scenes were very pretty.....:-)

What a unique name for a store.......:-)

La dee da....la la la.....still looking for somewhere to grab dinner.

It was very busy downtown.  The city reminded me of Houston or New York it that they never seem to sleep either.
 

this is an art gallery.....

and this is........art?

You gotta love it........:-)

we passed a hang out for local motorcycle folks....

and a lot of antique shops that were closed.  Thank God or I would have been in a lot of trouble!

I have no idea what this was, but we liked the lighting....

 
Scooooterrrrr!!!!

Funny that the store was there, but we never reallly saw many scooters around town.

We finally found a place to eat.

Scootard and I had the whole place to ourselves which we thought was strange and I wondered if I had picked a "lemon" in regard to the food.

It was nearly a lemon as the shrimp were over cooked.

And so we had our snack, headed back to the hotel and prepared for the next day's adventure!