Movie in the park - 1

Del Sur, our community has arranged for summer movie series in the park. Our first movie in the park experience and we were looking forward to it. This week, they played "Indiana Jones and the last crusade". We had invited our friend Maddy to join us. I was excited to pack my picnic basket. I was thinking Mexican and made fresh guacamole, mushroom enchiladas, rice salad with corn and beans and fruit kebabs for dessert. Maddy bought corn chips for the guacamole.

Food I prepared

All set for the movie

We drove to the park and it was dusk already. Found a good spot to watch the movie and settled with their free pop corn. They had some Indiana Jones props and we took some fun pictures. 

At last, I could use my picnic blanket I got from BB & B! There were lots of kids around and the place was so lively. Every body, I mean the Americans had already finished dinner and we were the only ones having a full course dinner at that time and I could see them drool over our food :P In fact, one guy even came and sat with us and wanted to join us! We had dinner as we watched the movie. It didn't get very cold but next time we would be taking our blankets. Altogether we had a great time and looking forward for the next movie!

San Diego County Fair

I have always loved fairs since childhood. Rides, food, shopping, people-watching, games, photobooths and local animals, arts and gardening! This is my second time to the San Diego County fair and it was fun like last year. This year's theme was "Race to the fair". Our first stop was at the California Cruising Exhibit coz VJ loves cars. Saw some interesting old celebrity cars and the nascar race cars. 

The Nascar car

Coming to food, this is one place I make up my mind to try some junk food without second thoughts. There is the famous Charlies chicken whose menu alone will make u smile serving deep fried kool aid, deep fried oreos, deep fried burgers, chicken kabobs and deep fried frog legs and more! And then there is this heart attack cafe that has deep fried everything! I said to myself, "this is America" where it's a race to be fat and unhealthy :P This time, we tried the chicken kabobs from Charlies Chicken, deep fried zucchini curls, the twisted tater-chips on a stick and the apple tower.

Chicken kabobs on the grill 

Chicken Charlies crazy options

The famous funnel cakes!

Just abt to taste the twisted tator chips

Thoroughly enjoying the apple tower!

I loved the apple tower the best. There were sliced green apples in a tall cup with warm caramel drizzled over the top and oozing deep into the cup covering all the apple slices and some crushed peanuts sprinkled on top. It was so yumm!

We then went for the sky ride and the giant wheel being our favorites in the fair. The sky ride takes you from inland to the other part of the fair and you can see the crowd from top…good thing is you can escape from walking among the crowds. The giant wheel is a romantic ride which gives a spectacular view of the ocean. We usually just prefer to watch all other rides that are heights of madness! VJ and I played some dart games and shooting the balloon games and won some soft toys. Was surprised to see the angry birds stuffed toys which is not a favorite of mine.

View from the giant wheel

Won this Cheetah on the dart game :)

Made a quick visit to the livestock show to see pink pigs and the llamas. Was excited to see the cute llamas for the first time ever. Also enjoyed watching the gems and mineral show. If you are planning to visit the fair, here are some things to know,

• It is the 75th year of the fair this year.
• Get discounted tickets ($11) at Albertsons.
• Park for free at the Horse Park less than a mile away from the fairgrounds, with free shuttles on double decker buses.
• Check out some junk food at the Chicken Charlies and the apple tower.
• Check out the sky ride  and the giant wheel.
• Play some basketball and dart games to win cool stuff toys.
• Take a camera and take loads of pictures and make good memories with ur loved ones.

Will come back again!

Weekend bits - Vol 1

This was our first weekend of summer 2011. I should say we didn't do a lot of adventurous things this weekend even though we have a lotta things on the list. On Friday, shopped like crazy at the Old Navy tankathon sale…now I can say I have tanks in almost all colors! And then got a cute zipper sandals which was a love at first sight. One more addition to my growing shoe collection and here it is,

We stopped by this place called Annapurna for dinner to have some spicy Indian food. It wasn't bad at all. Will go back again but for a take out coz the ambience and service wasn't as good as the food!
Saturday was our house cleaning day and that happens only when we have guests :P Even though we are excited about our new home, the cleaning part is hectic if its not done regularly. And that's going to take some time I guess. Anyway, we did some 4 hours of cleaning and laundry. Did some quick shopping for the long weekend trip. In the evening, we had some friends home. It was fun…finally we got to use our patio for fun get togethers. They loved our place and food. After they left, we spent some quality time with together packing for the vacation! OMG I'm already excited to meet Vasu!!
Sunday was a lot of fun as well :) Started off lazying around, made waffles for breakfast, played non-stop poker on my ipad, cooked a nice lunch. Post lunch, I went for my haircut in Great Clips after 2 long years! I got a layer cut done from Lindsey and am very happy with what she did and so am going write a good review for her :) We headed to the San Diego county fair which we never miss. A fun place to be…big time crowded…lots of crazy rides, food and shopping. So that's how the weekend went! Looking forward for more fun weekends this summer!

Road trip on Highway 1

Our first ever road trip together was on the Highway 1 along the California coast. And that's when I realized how beautiful California is! It was the memorial day weekend and we had planned to go to Yellowstone National park and had made all the bookings. But the weather didn't cooperate and we realized there were snow showers the time we visit. That wasn't good news at all for us. So we ended up canceling our yellowstone trip and re planned a road trip. I planned everything in a day and we were all set to go and explore the coastal California! The Highway 1 stretches from Mexico to Legget in North California. Our trip was from San Diego->Solvang->Monterey->Big Sur->San Simeon->Santa Barbara->Los Angeles->San Diego.
May 27, 8.00 pm - We started off in our rental car from San diego and drove non stop to Buellton where we stayed at the Pea Soup Andersons inn. The stretch from LA to Santa Barbara is called Highway 101 and lies inland. Nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the coastal curve, Buellton is an easy access to wineries and Solvang which is a beautiful Danish community and is just 3 miles away. It was a 4 hour drive from SD to Buellton. We reached Buellton and crashed at 12 am.

Danish inspired buildings in Solvang

The famous windmills

Aebleskiver at the Solvang restaurant

Day 1, May 28 (Solvang, Buellton,Goleta): 
After a good night sleep, We munched on danish pastries at the complimentary breakfast and drove to Solvang just 5 minutes away. To see Solvang properly is to walk it. You can shop, eat, drink and when you're tired, relax and take a break in the Solvang park. This small town is very picturesque with danish inspired buildings and windmills everywhere. Alisal road and Copenhagen drive are places to shop antiques, collectibles and souvenirs. If you're a chocolate lover, make a visit to Ingeborg's danish chocolates. They have many different chocolates to choose from…Dark, milk, white, all nuts and dry fruits, anything and everything! We dined at the Solvang restaurant and was pretty good. The trip is not complete without tasting the traditional aebleskiver which I totally fell in love with! After lunch we visited Ostrich land, a fun place to feed ostriches and was a delight to watch them. After some shopping, we headed to the Circle bar B ranch in Goleta for horseback riding, a short drive from Solvang. My first ever experience on a horseback was very thrilling. It was a 1.5 hour ride through a canyon, waterfall, creeks and then a beautiful view of the ocean from the top. We returned to Solvang at 7 pm and headed to the Nojoqui falls county park which is on Alisal road about 15 minute drive from Solvang. A quick 10 minute hike to the waterfall, it was just the two of us and had a great time. We drove back to Pea Soup Anderson's restaurant for dinner and had their famous split pea soup. After a fun filled day, we headed to King City for our night stay.

Note: Lake Cachuma is a place to stop for camping. We saved it for another trip.

Monterey canning company at the Cannery Row 

Big Sur beaches

The historic Bixby bridge

McWay waterfalls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Day 2, May 29 (Monterey, Big Sur): 
An hour and 15 minutes drive took us to Monterey Bay. Had bread and nutella for breakfast while driving. The route was very scenic with fruit farms everywhere. We took a walk on the fisherman's wharf and the pier was beautiful. After meeting a friend, we headed to the Cannery Row. It's a historic place with lots of restaurants and shops. We had lunch at Bubba Gump shrimp Co which has been my favorite for some time now. Shopped for souvenirs and drove towards the "17 mile drive". The 17 mile drive is a scenic road through the pacific coastline. There is a toll fee but is completely worth it for the breathtaking views. The 17 mile drive connects to Highway 1 and we proceeded to Big Sur. Big Sur was the most dramatic stretch of coastline on the route. It has some 90 miles of road where u drive on the cliffs and can see the ocean down. It is a beauty to just keep watching it all day.  We stopped at the Bixby bridge also called the rainbow bridge has a high arch and a good place to stop and take pictures. We went to explore the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State park to see the beauty of a waterfall plunging directly in to the pacific ocean. We walked the high trail that leads to the view of the McWay waterfalls and the blue ocean. You can stop at the Nepenthe restaurant for food which is high terraced and has some outrageous views of the ocean while you dine. Of all our stops, Big Sur was the hardest to leave behind. We really wished we stayed the night there, but since we planned it in the last minute, there were no bookings available. But we would definitely come back and explore it :) On our way back to San Simeon, we realized that the Highway 1 was closed to proceed towards LA due to land slides. After some research, we found out that Nacimiento-Fergusson Road will take us to Highway 1 and started to drive. But I should say it was dark already and the roads were winding and slopy and the drive of 24 miles was very scary. We safely reached San Simeon after a risky thrilling drive and crashed.

The Neptune pool at the Hearst castle

The twin towers of the Hearst castle

Day 3, May30 (Hearst Castle, Santa Barbara, Artesia): 
We stayed at the San simeon lodge overlooking the beach and was an awesome location for a night's stay if you are visiting the Hearst castle. We biked around along the coast and had a scrumptious breakfast at the San Simeon restaurant and started off to the castle. We had made online bookings for the tour and it was 10 minutes drive to the castle. It's a historic national mansion and is worth a visit. We went for the tour 1 which was an overview of the castle. My favorite were the Neptune pool and the indoor swimming pool. The IMax movie of the making of the castle was too good as well. After spending 3 hours in the castle, we started driving back home which was six hours drive. We stopped at this city, San Luis Obispo for lunch, had mediterranean food, filled gas and moved on. We took a short break in Santa Barbara, the pier is a good place to visit. We drove to Artesia for dinner and dined at The India restaurant. Little India in Artesia is a place we always stop by for shopping and dining Indian food. After a hearty Indian dinner, we drove back to San Diego in 2 hours. What a trip it was! I should say I fell in love with road trips and more to come :)