LAPD Wife

Piedras Blancas Lighthouse Tour

Jake's father, a retired Nassau County detective, is the type who would happily live in a lighthouse, away from the world and all of its noisy excess. I wonder if many police officers end up this way. It makes sense to me that after a career of dealing with crowds, noise, excess, violence and chaos that a person would crave peace, quiet, and the tranquility of waves crashing and the cries of gulls to the alternative.

In my father-in-law's honor, we visited a lighthouse in Central California for the grand tour a couple of weeks ago. Piedras Blancas, located six miles north of San Simeon on Highway 1 (near Hearst Castle),  was built in 1874. The lighthouse was originally 110 feet in height, but in 1949 the upper part was removed due to earthquake damage. Current height is 74 feet.

The name "Piedras Blancas" means white rocks in Spanish. The reason for this name is apparent as visitors view large stone outcroppings in the water covered in massive amounts of bird poo. The lighthouse is managed by the BLM and tour goers are met by BLM rangers and led by local docents. Our docent was a semi-retired professor from Cal-Poly who not only was good at reciting the dry facts of the history and use of the lighthouse, but also full of info and stories about local flora and fauna, shipwrecks just off the coast (BEFORE the lighthouse was there, in case you're wondering) and even had some cool skulls of local wildlife for the kids (and Officer Jake) to touch and see.

I had a heckuva good time taking photos. Nothing like lighthouses and the Big Sur coastline to inspire artistic tendencies. And Jake's dad is now contemplating life as a lightkeeper yet again. His Mom? She would never leave her bowling league. But we can let the man have his dream for now.

Descanso Gardens

When Officer Jake has a weekend day off, we like to take family day trips around Southern California. Some days we go to the beach, others we picnic and hike. There is so much to do here around the area that the possibilities are endless. We do have our favorites, though, and one of them is to visit Descanso Gardens, beautiful botanical gardens located in La Canada (near Pasadena). It's a small drive of about 30-45 mins, and we like to make a day of it. We spend several hours touring the gardens, go to nearby Montrose for lunch and do some window shopping walking up and down Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, which has a Main Street USA feel to it.

The scenery at Descanso is amazing. These pictures were taken about 3 weeks ago and show a very small portion of the 150 acres of history and horticultur seamlessly blended into a visually stunning and surprisingly peaceful escape from the stresses of the world for a day. The photo above is in the Japanese tea garden, where they serve traditional tea several times a week. Trails meander all over the park and even when it's crowded, it never feels that way. My favorite times of year to visit are near Easter and again between Halloween and Christmas. They have concerts, programs for children, weddings, etc, but honestly I can just walk and walk and never get tired of it.

 

I grew up in the Midwest and one of the flowers that I miss seeing are lilacs. Descanso has been developing special lilacs that can grow in Southern California and even have a special lilac garden where at least 50 different large lilac buses are thriving. I stand in the middle, close my eyes, take a whiff and am transported back to days of playing clubhouse under the lilac bushes with my sister growing up on the farm.

Descanso also has amazing rose gardens, popular for weddings, a huge camellia forest, the restored home of the original owners whose dream became a reality with creating these gardens, koi ponds, special seasonal displays and avenues filled with everything from azaleas, ferns, hills of clivias and magnificent, majestic oak trees that must be over a century old. If you live in or around Los Angeles, or are visiting our lovely state sometime in the future, this is truly a wonderful place to see and works for all types of groups. Jake and I used to take romantic walks here when we were dating but enjoy it just as well now with the kids as they can run and play and have lots of neat places to explore. I highly recommend it.

Visual Blogathon Entry

It's getting late, I'm a wuss and getting tired. Am about to retire for the evening, but wanted to put at least one last post up for the Blogathon. It's a soothing visual post. Sometimes it's nice to look at sites on the internet and see things of beauty. Reading about politics, life's ups and downs and all is great, but once in awhile I just crave peace. Here some of my peace that I find in my travels and nature that I'd like to share with you.

 

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For more information about the Police Wives Online Blogathon and to learn about how the funds raised during the event will be distributed, check out the Official Blog Here.

Southern California Spring

It's a beautiful time of year here in SoCal. For a short time, before it gets really hot and dry, everything is green and blooming. Jake and I are walking every chance we get. And I'm taking pictures of everything I see. Here are some shots from our garden and front yard. You'll see daffodils and our peach tree in bloom.