Apple Picking in Julian, California

Over the weekend, we went apple picking with some friends at Calico Ranch Orchard in Julian, CA. Julian is a cute little town in the mountains and is the home of several apple orchards. I was very excited to drag my Fall boots out of the closet. Yahoo weather said that the high temp for the day was going to be 70, but it was definitely 82 degrees. I had to lose my scarf!

Trying to get on Duke's shoulders. Haha!

I. Can't. Reeeeeach!

The product of our apple picking. Yummy applesauce!!!!!

Here's the recipe for the applesauce I made. It was so easy and delicious. There is no Fall season here in California, but it sure smelled like it in our house while this was cooking all day!

Point Loma, California

Today, we went to Point Loma to see the lighthouse, Cabrillo National Monument, and the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

It was beautiful and amazing.

Here's the view of San Diego from Point Loma.

Amazing, right? See the Clipper (ship).

Point Loma lighthouse

Inside the lighthouse.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

Hollywood & Burbank, California

Ok. Here is comes. The most exciting news of all. Me, Duke, my friend and her husband all went to the Ellen Degeneres Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ellen is such an inspirational person and I have been watching her show for years. I was SO, SO, SOOOO excited to get to watch her show in Burbank. Whoa. I still can't believe we went. Such an amazing experience. We stopped at Hollywood on the way. Traffic was horrendous in Hollywood. We were all pretty stressed out and just ready to see Ellen! Here are some pics:

Warner Bros. Studio. So cool.

Our giveaways from the show. LOVE New Girl!

EEEEEEK!!!!! So excited at this point.

Is this really happening!!!???

Hollywood Blvd of course.

Walk of Fame.

Chinese Theater

La Jolla, California

I have been having trouble with Blogger whenever I try to add pics from my phone with the Blogger App, and then go to the computer to type it up. It makes the spacing crazy, the pictures get out of order, and it won't let me add text between pictures or text at the end. It's a little annoying. Vent over.

I had a very good friend, K, and her husband come and visit us over the weekend. K is so cool to be around, so I knew we would have a blast. The weekend surpassed any amazing hopes I had. We did so many fun things, including going to La Jolla. We have wanted to go to La Jolla since we moved here. It's so close to us, that I don't know why we waited so long. La Jolla is very close to San Diego and it is a beautiful and hilly seaside community. Apparently, there are usually lots of seals on the beach, but we only saw about six.

I have to add that there is a story to the photo of Duke playing the xylophone. We had been walking barefoot on the beach, and we walked up the coast to the park so Duke could put on his sneakers. He sat down on a bench next to this lady and she asked if he wanted to lay her xylophone. Of course he said yes! Haha.

Stuff like this happens to Duke all the time. He is very social and seems to attract very social people. It's absolutely hilarious to me.

Rose Bowl Flea Market

Today we went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California! Eeek! I have been wanting to go ever since I moved here in April. Our time here in California is running out very soon, so Duke and I decided not to wait until next month to go. I was very excited.

All in all, it was fun. It was so hot today in Pasadena. It made me super thankful that we have been able to live on the coast all this time where there is always a nice, cool breeze.

To compare the Rose Bowl to other flea markets, there are definitely better ones to go to. Like the Long Beach Antique Market. Overall, I would say that the Rose Bowl has more clothing than anything. There's also a ton of junk. And not the good kind. Long Beach has way more antiques. And that's basically what I am all about when I go flea marketing....errr...whatever it's called.

Here it is. What you can't see are the HUGE mountains all around it. So cool.

Four lemonades, one taco, and a lot of walking later, here are my goodies. Two pieces of vintage Pyrex and a vintage mod enamel Dutch oven. Love. Duke put the handle back on, but I forgot to take an "after" photo.

Here is the new home for this guy.

And this guy. And I'm super proud of Duke for trucking through hours of junking and feeding me lemonade. Thanks for reading. :)

San Diego Zoo

For Labor Day, Duke and I decided to go to the San Diego Zoo. He took me last year, but I love the zoo, so I have been driving him crazy to go back. We are from Asheboro, NC (home of the NC Zoo), but it's still fun to go to the zoo here because it's so different. I didn't take as many photos this time because I took a million last time, but here are some anyways. :)

Duke getting into character at the Sabertooth Grill! :)

Amazing Panda!

I love Pandas.

The Koalas are my FAVORITE!

Sky Tram

Red Panda.

Where's Santa?

What a face!!!

Duke was a little scared to ride on the sky tram. I made him do it THREE times!!!! Haha!

Petting Zoo

Elephant!

Hello, there.