Ostriches and Port Towns

Remember the post I did a couple weeks back about Solvang? I am finally going to finish the rest of the adventure!

Three miles away from Solvang is Ostrich Land! Not kidding! Who knew there was such a thing! As soon as I heard about it I knew that we had to go. Kaleb, yet again, didn't know where we were going, until he started seeing signs for it. He thought I was crazy, but also was excited. 

We paid a small few to get in and get feed for the Ostriches. 

They were crazy! And Awesome! It was so fun to feed them!!

Here are a couple videos of the crazy birds!

They give you a warning to hold onto the pan tight! They are right! They will knock it right out of your hands if you don't!

They also had emus, they were also just as crazy!!

And baby emus! They were so cute and fluffy!!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the sign!

Once we were done feeding them, we went on our way to Santa Barbara. This time Kaleb knew where we were going to he took a turn driving. The drive was BEAUTIFUL!! There was a nice glaze of fog over the city as we drove over the mountain into Santa Barbara.

Unfortunately, it was a little too breezy to get into the water. It was still nice to enjoy the sail boats on the waters, though.

There were so many of them! It made us super jealous! One day we will have to take a sail boat out!

We walked down to the pier to see all the boats. There were so many of them docked! It was fun to read some of the names people had given their boats. I am bummed that I forgot them, I will I would have written some down.

It was a pretty sunny day, too bad the wind was blowing!

There were a few sand sculptures that people had created! There was a giant, super detailed mermaid, they were asking for money to take a picture of it. We didn't have any cash on us so I didn't get to take a picture of it

As soon as we walked under these palm trees, I knew it was a perfect picture opportunity!

On our way home we passed Santa Claus Lane!! I was super excited! One day we will have to drive down it! It's probably super decorated around Christmas time!

It was such a fun filled day! The best part was surprising Kaleb! We had a blast together!!

March 29,2015

Day Trip Adventures!!

Beware the Picture Overload!!

Kaleb and I were over due for a little vacation. We were both over stressed from Kaleb job hunting and we both knew it was time that we get away. I told Kaleb that I was planning a trip, the only thing is, that he couldn't know where we were going.

I asked him random questions a few days before we were to leave, such as; ostriches or penguins, if he would like to try an aeblskiver, or if he wanted to meet Hans Christian Andersen. Poor guy was super confused! But he had no idea at all!

I was planning on taking a trip to Santa Barbara! While planning it and looking things up, I found that there is a a little town not too far from Santa Barbara called Solvang. It's a Danish themed town with windmills, Danish chocolate, and fun little shops.

We left early in the morning, Kaleb still didn't know where we were going. It was only a couple hours away and he tried to guess the whole way there. I let him know we were going to Solvang once we passed Santa Barbara but he still had no idea what made it so special until we pulled in.

The first thing I wanted was a Stroopwaffle. They weren't very common so instead we settled for a Princess Waffle. It was filled with marshmallow fluff and super delicious! 

The architecture was super awesome! And Cute!!

We went to the shoe store and they had the cutest wooden shoes in all sizes! Even a GIANT sized in the front of the store!

There were windmills all over the place too!!

We walked all over the place.

Just enjoying the scenery.

I had read reviews to check out The Little Mermaid statue. Apparently it is an exact replica that they have in Denmark. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but still cool!

We decided to have pizza for lunch at the Pizza Tower.

It is also a replica of a tower built in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Pizza was Delicious!!

They had a few of these cute little phone booths everywhere.

A huge map of Denmark!

And the soldiers guarding the streets.

Again, the architecture is Awesome!!

We visited the free Hans Christian Andersen Museum. I had no idea that he wrote The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, and even the original Frozen, but his is called The Snow Queen.

Some variations of his book The Little Mermaid.

Kaleb and I couldn't stop laughing at The Cowboy and the Black Eyed Pea!!!

The town sign was in an odd location in the middle of the city. But at least I got a picture in front of it.

Of course, we had to get Danish chocolate at Ingeborg's! Kaleb says he's not much of a sweets person so I just got a couple for myself! It was so hard to choose but they were so good! 

Off in a little corner, is the Old Mission Santa Ines, there are missions all over California. We walked in the entrance but didn't actually tour the mission. 

Everyone in Yelp was saying to try an aeblskiver, some kind of pastry. We were going to, but we got so full on other things we didn't have room for them. But there's always next time!

It really felt that we had left America and were in another country. The town was so well put together and friendly! We definitely would take a trip there again! 

I still had more planned for the day but since this post is long already, I will continue it in another post....

March 29,2015

Birthday Boy

Since being married, I have learned that Kaleb is the hardest/easiest person to buy gifts for! The hardest because he never knows/tells me what he wants. The easiest because he usually ends up buying his own gifts.

This year I asked him in advanced what he wanted, every time I asked him he would reply with, "I don't know", or "I don't want anything". I was struggling to come up with anything at all. A few days before, he told me that he wanted an Xbox game, that it was on amazon and he was going to order it right then. Whelp, that made it easy, but took away from the surprise factor.

What Kaleb failed to realize, was that I had the only working mail key. I always check the mail right before going to work. The game came on Friday (his birthday was on the following Monday) so I took the game with me to work that night. On my break I called him, he asked me if I had gotten the mail. Apparently, he saw that the package had been delivered. He tried, and failed at using his mail key, and even asked the property manager to try hers out. It, too, did not work. I was laughing hysterically as he told me this story, I let him know that I did have the game but he had to wait until Monday to get it. 

He was so sad! And I was a horrible person for making him wait all weekend. That Saturday, I was to work all day, 10 hour shift. And Kaleb was going to be home, all by himself. So for his surprise factor, I let him have his game early. He was the happiest kid out there! 

We were going to go to Six Flags for his birthday, but we read reviews that it was extremely crowded since its only open on the weekends during the winter and you were hardly able to go on any rides. We decided that we would wait until the summer to go when it was open all week long. 

For his birthday dinner, he chose to go to sushi! Like I've said before, we love eating sushi!

He's looking pretty good, right?!

Even though his patience isn't very good, its fun to see that he still gets as excited as a child when it comes to holidays. Maybe one day I will be able to guess, before he does, what he wants for Christmas or his Birthday.

March 2, 2015

Farmers Market!

Kaleb and I both have Sundays off so that is when we usually go out and explore. We had driven passed Selma Avenue (a few blocks down from us) on several occasions and there were always tents and lots of people. We would swear we would check it out the next week but always forgot about it. One Sunday, I was determined that we would see what was going on. We first headed to Starbucks to get a tasty treat and went on our way. 

I was absolutely over joyed when I found out it was a Farmers Market! And not just any Farmers Market! It was Huge!! There were all sorts of vegetables, fruits, breads, meats, plants and so much more! I instantly knew I was addicted! 

I was so overwhelmed that I didn't even know what to get. Not knowing that it was a farmers market, we didn't bring much cash so I had to pick out only a couple of treats.

I didn't get very good pictures because I was in Aw the whole time! But it felt like it was straight out of a movie. I know that it is not normal to be this excited for just a farmers market, but I love fresh fruits and vegetables and supporting local farmers! 

Since I got my little treat, Kaleb picked one out as well. They had delicious homemade Pupusas! He had them in Honduras, and I loved them!

He wasn't as amused with the market as I was but still was a trooper in following me around while I ooed and awed at everything. 

My treat ended up being Asian Pears. If you have never had them before get in your car and go get some right now! They are so so tasty! They are a mix between and apple and a pear. I am not a big fan of pears but these have a delicious crisp taste to them.

After this trip we didn't go for a little while just because we were on a tight budget and I didn't want to feel bad that I couldn't buy everything!

The second time I went by myself. They were handing out samples for watermelon basil shaved ice. I thanked them and kept walking on, I couldn't get over how refreshing it tasted that I had to go and buy one. Instead of the watermelon basil I decided to try the walnut one! Loved It! I was super careful not to eat all of it so Kaleb could try it too. We like to share.

This trip I got a giant grapefruit, avocados, and blood oranges. 

My favorite where the blood oranges! They are not only an awesome color but extremely juicy too! I had juice dripping down my face and down my arms. Super sticky but extremely yummy!

I miss not living in Hollywood because of the farmers market. Pasadena has one every Sunday as well. We went and checked it out when my mom came and visited but it was puny! We then hopped in the car and went straight to Hollywood to show her a real farmers market. 

There are a lot of other farmers markets in the area that I am dying to explore. One day I will get to them all!

February 15, 2015

Valentines Day

Kaleb and I usually don't do very much for Valentines Day. It seems like every year in February we are a little tighter on money so we usually do something small. This year Kaleb told me that he had a surprise for me. I love surprises and couldn't wait to see what it was!

He ended up taking me to lunch at Vegie Grill! It was a more pricey restaurant (and by pricey I mean not McDonalds, Taco Bell or Arbys) but I had wanted to go for a while because I had seen Ellen Degeneres say she wished it was in her house.  

I ended up getting a pasta and some portabella mushroom fries and Kaleb got a chicken sandwich. Everything was vegetarian, never having very much vegetarian food Kaleb and I were skeptical, but it ended up being delicious! I liked Kaleb's sandwich better than my pasta but that's the best part of being married is that we always share our food! (Don't worry, I don't always eat Kaleb's food, sometimes I order the better dish so I share with him).

It was nice to splurge a little for Valentines day (and by splurge I mean $30, but to us, that was a lot of money).

February 14, 2015

Ship Wreck Trail

With Kaleb graduated and looking for a job and I, the only one working, money was definitely tight. It didn't keep us from finding cheap adventures, though. We can always find a place to explore and we usually only had to pay for gas.

This time we found a hiking trail on the beach called Ship Wreck Trail where there are remains of a..... Ship Wreck! Of course we had to check it out!

The trail is in Rancho Palos Verde, the ship wrecked in 1961 due to some bad weather and not being able to get the boat back into the water. 

It didn't take us long to get to the general area, the internet directions were unclear so we were driving around neighborhoods until we found the trail.

The view from up top was absolutely beautiful!!

We had to hike down a super steep trail. We don't have the best hiking shoes so it was a little difficult.

It was a little hard to hike on the beach because it was all rocky. We had to be extremely cautious about where we step.

The ocean breeze was extremely nice! So nice to feel the misty air!

It was about a 2 1/2 mile trek to the ship wreck. We thought we would never get there. 

There were dozens of crab traps all along the shore that most likely came from the ship.

I was walking ahead for awhile and wasn't really paying attention to where I was stepping when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye! I about jumped out of my skin, then I realized it was a baby seal! It was adorable! I wanted to help it out so bad. We googled what to do and all the results said it is best to just leave them alone because of diseases and such. It was sad to leave the poor thing.

After hiking for so long we got extremely hot and sweaty! But we made it to the main wreck sight!

There were rusty pieces of ship everywhere! It was pretty cool.

This was the main big piece, there was also a large seal that had died awhile ago that was near here that smelled like rotten eggs so we didn't stay very long!

It was such a fun hike! Nice to get some fresh air and exercise!

February 8, 2015