Arizona side-trip

We ended up in Arizona just before Hallowe'en, so cousin Debbie took us to Schnepf Farm to pick pumpkins. The boys had a great time-- as did Daddy David, who carved his first (and second, third and fourth) -ever jack o' lanterns later that evening!



The kiddos would have stayed in this train all day if they could have! There were a few play areas throughout the farm, along with a small carnival-ride area. Great fun as the sun went down!








And, as ever, the traditional good-bye-we're-about-to-hit-the-road pic taken on the back wall of Yaya & Papoo's carport:

October in California

Having just flown in from UK to attend my brother's wedding in San Diego, we stayed our first two (written off to jet-lag) nights centrally in Hollywood so had a glimpse of "the" sign (afar on hill in background) though none were interested in pursuing anything or anyone famous further than these snapshots at the shopping centre next to our hotel.







This was the actual colour of the sky as we drove out of LA with wild-fires on one side and dust-storms on the other. A picture can't really capture how unreal it all felt, so I haven't put up any of the many others we took of swirling dust trails and fire glow. Just no way to explain how apocalyptic the surroundings seemed...



It was so windy in Cabazon, CA that we could hardly walk from the car to the two giant dinosaurs. We went inside of this one (where there's a gift shop), had lunch at the café next door, then headed out through more miles and miles of wind-farms.



It was bright as well as stupendously windy, so David was able to get this nifty photo of himself under the gaze of the life-sized apatosaurus, built by Claude Bell about 30 years ago.



The 3 boys got out and had a look at Alcatraz from a small beach while in the car mommy made phone confirmations re: our rental flat in San Francisco.



When we finally got to SF, the boys were of course keen to check out and ride on the trolleys!





There was also a great park & playground near our flat, much to our delight!



Can't remember exactly where this was taken, but it's typical of what happens when one tries to snap a pic of Sol!