MY GREAT WESTERN VACATION - PART 1

It took weeks for me to finally give in and let myself take off out west to Los Angeles to celebrate Tracy's fiftieth birthday with her at our annual Pub Princess January Birthday Bash.  But I am so happy I did give in and take the plunge, or take to the skies, or just get there however I could.  We had so much fun!  

Here's what it look like when I left my little home in Indiana:

The name of this picture is "Frigid," because it really, really was ugly and cold!

Friday morning I got up at 3:30 a.m. so I would not be rushed to make my flight.  I took the time to clean my kitchen all up, dust, vacuum...when I go away I like to come back to a clean house, just the way I left it.  And if I want to continue that tradition, I have to remove the Wii and the 47" HD TV and hide them somewhere, as well as all my food, alcohol, and dishes, because the kids come up with a mentality that if I'm not here, they can camp out here for the weekend, which is fine, but they are a little delusional that it's okay to leave dirty dishes in the sink and the stove a mess as well as toys, games, dirty clothing, etc., strewn around my living room.

But I digress.  It was cold and frigid here when I left.  I got on a jet plane at about 6 a.m. and after a mere five hours or so, found myself sitting outside LAX, the Los Angeles Airport, breathing in the smell of ocean air in the warm sunshine and listening to 500 or so people in cars irately honk their horns and scream cuss words out the windows...ah, I am HOME!

The first people I would be encountering on my big adventure were Ginny from Birmingham and Liz from Vancouver.  Yes, you heard right.  The pub princesses are so famous that they draw even international attention!  I met Ginny at the baggage claim, and we did the obligatory jumping up and down, hugging, and squealing routine.  Once settled down, we set out on the quest to find wine and Liz, in that order.  Liz was obviously running late, so a stop in a bar in the International Terminal seemed just a perfect stopping off point to meet her.  And a couple of glasses of Chardonnay later, with a Southern California buzz going on, we wandered around and asked where to find our friend.  Suddenly, as we walked around a corner there she was!  We did the obligatory second set of jumping, hugging, and squealing, and within short minutes were on the FlyAway bus heading into Van Nuys where yet another princess, Katie, had offered to pick us up and drop us at our respective hotels.  The car was abuzz with gossip and catch-up conversation.  I, as were the other two non-California chicks drunk with the warm air and the smell of the sea...and, okay, the wine. And the birds of paradise were out en force to welcome us.  The air smelled fragrant and winter was far from my mind when I spied my favorite tropical flowers peeping up to greet me.  You see these flowers and you have to say, "Toto, I don't think we're in the cold, frigid, tundra of Indiana anymore!"  Then you really do put on your red sparkly shoes and dance around the desert.

Birds of Paradise peeping over the fence.

 Red Wizard of Oz shoes for transporting us to different worlds...okay, okay...they aren't sparkly, but they were all we had, and I'm jealous of Cathi's red shoes her daughter got her for Christmas, so we had to show them off.  

And getting there was half the fun.  Next time I will tell you all about the Bob Cowsill Band and how awesome they are!  It's like if you have to be a stalker, there's the person to stalk! 

Good night, all, and have a great Saturday!