When we end up in a sweet little town (and we know one when we see one) Rory says, "Oh, I have to get an ice cream cone here." And then we venture out to find him his treat to honor the charming, quaint town we find ourselves in.
It was another beautiful day. We walked the shoreline for a while and took in the fall colors.
I think the pictures paint the best picture of this magnificent place:
We spent the past two nights at Troll Knoll, gorgeous in every way. John and Anne, parents of my sister-in-law Stephanie, graciously welcomed us on our road trip. I had heard stories of this glorious place, seen pictures before, but wow was it something to behold! There are paths that cover all 20 acres that are filled with gardens, orchards and witty humor. We lodged in Annesville, down one of the paths on their property, in this lovely home in the middle of this mining town.
Annesville is located just down the path from a state of the art Squirrel Socialization Center and just before hitting Pinky's Trailer Park. Here is the Squirrel Socialization Center and a sign to help you get around:
The gardens are filled with these clever destinations that left me smiling a cheesy grin everywhere we walked. There was a beautiful article written about Troll Knoll in August and since then, John and Anne have welcomed hundreds of people to their gardens. This year they have had over 4,000 visitors! They just hired some help, but mostly this is entirely the fruits of their own labor.
Check out this news segment that aired at the beginning of October. I think it paints the best picture of the joy and whimsy found in this place. The segment will appear in a box above the ant pictures...just give it a minute to load. It is completely worth it:
http://www.news10.net/life/entertainment/story.aspx?storyid=48968&catid=34
And the website for more pictures is http://www.trollknoll.com/
Thanks to John and Anne for incredible conversation and delicious food in a glorious setting.
We have been living in Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jon's home for the week as they visited more Groves family in Southern California. We loved having a home base for the week that was actually a home. We spent much of the week working, and I got a lot of time in with Rory's cousin Laura. We spent a day at a local farm with a beautiful Victorian home to tour. It was so great to have some girl time on this trip. As much as I love talking politics with Rory (which happens very, very frequently lately)...it was so great just to be a girl hanging out with a girlfriend. We also got lots of time in with her family and had some more birthday celebrating for their family friend Maria.
Yesterday we went to Alpha and Sunday worship with Jon and Carolyn, out for lunch with Laura and John's family for more birthday celebrating, and back to their church for evening worship. I loved their church and it was a really powerful evening for me... a good night of song and prayer and I felt filled up when we left.
We were greeted by dolphins and a few sea lions and spent a glorious day enjoying the sun. It was 81 degrees, and actually got so hot we had to leave the beach for a while to get out of the sun. But before we left, Rory announced that the ocean was calling him.
The water was very, very cold, and I did not hear the ocean calling me.
We came back in the afternoon to watch the sunset...now that is the beauty of the west coast. The sun always sets on the water. It actually took me a while to realize that this would happen everywhere as we drove down the coast.
Rory is 31 today and we are celebrating! Last year I asked him how he felt turning 30 and he commented, "I have been waiting to be 30 my whole life." So 31 is just one better than 30 in his mind.
And we got to celebrate with family! We are in Fremont, California for the week staying at Rory's Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John's. They graciously opened their home to us while they are in Southern California visiting family.
Their daughter, Laura, lives a few miles away. I first met Laura while working for Sara and Troy when we came out to California for a women's conference. Laura and Aunt Carolyn met us at the conference and after a few conversations Laura announced at the dinner table that she thought Rory and I would be good together. (This was before I had ever met Rory!) But she was right, and I love her for seeing it before we did!
So here is Rory's cake this year:
His new product, Weather Defender will come out in a few weeks. It is incredible ... each version I get to see is astounding. This shield is his new logo- so I thought this would be a fitting cake to celebrate his 31st year. I had to go from memory, so the shield isn't exactly the same, but it's close.
It took me two tries to make the cake! I added extra pineapple to the carrot cake recipe, buttered the sides of a cookie sheet and hoped that the cake would be 1 1/2 inches high when it came out of the oven. (I envisioned a very large shield.) But between the larger pan and the buttered sides and the pineapple addition something went terribly wrong. It came out 1/4 inch thick!
Our great friends John and Shannon told us a few months ago that they would be in San Francisco mid-October and thus, Rory and I began planning this road trip adventure to time with their trip. John and Shannon are Minneapolis friends, looking to move out to Marin County, in the San Francisco area. We had a fantastic weekend with them, driving all around and getting acquainted with the towns they would possibly live in. It was so good to be with them and it left me bummed that they are going to move.
We had dinner in China town at "Seafood and More" after we read this compelling sign. It was really good, and left Rory with a baby bump like Shannon's. (Shannon's is legit, Rory's is not.)
These pics were taken at a little local market where Shannon will get to shop. Lovely.
Lots of good memories in this rental..we just may have been the largest car on those San Francisco streets :)
We spent a few nights in Crescent City (this is their light house...beautiful) and hit the road to get a bit closer to San Francisco. We spent the night in Santa Rosa home of the E Myth Worldwide!
When Rory realized that Carlson Business school was geared more towards large business ladder climbing, he left the school to look for something that was aimed towards small business owners. He began a curriculum through E Myth Worldwide that largely shaped the way he set up, organized and runs his company. This is a picture of him with Bill, his main contact at E-myth.
(In a nutshell, E-myth stands for "Entrepreneurial Myth." The teaching is based around the premise that you may love fishing and tackle with your whole heart, but that doesn't mean you would be happy opening a fish and tackle store. You need to love business, marketing, risk, PR, and goal setting as much as you love fishing and tackle.)
We were then onto San Francisco!
