Anaheim, CA-December 2008

December 12-20, 2008 Anaheim, California trip

Well as most of you know Thomas and I love to travel to California, not only because of the great wineries but it has diverse scenery (which I like to think it has much to offer like Texas). This trip began as a business trip for the 2008 International Respiratory Congress and this is the 54th annual convention. Each year it rotates the location and we lucked out to come to this one in CA. Typically it is held the first week in Dec but for whatever reason this one is closer to the middle of December which puts a rush on Christmas when we get home this year! Since we were going to be gone so long I felt Caitlynn would enjoy seeing Nicole and the kids in Texas so we flew her there yesterday from Greensboro, NC then Thomas & I did a little shopping and stayed the night in Greensboro since we had a 5:50 AM flight to catch at the GSO airport.
I have been a RT for many years (Brandon was a baby when I started school) and I had not ever come to this particular convention until the year I opened the sleep lab (Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc.) in Dec. 2005. The first one I attended 2005 was in Las Vegas but they only had a small amount of classes/seminars related to sleep medicine. Thomas also had never attended this particular conference even though he’s been a therapist for 20 + yrs. Last year it was held in Orlando, Florida so we both attended as the information in sleep medicine had increased. Not to mention VA Tech made it to the ACC Championship game which the announcement was made to hold the game in Jacksonville, Florida. We made that game day one that we were not going to be able to attend any classes and we headed out in the rental car-driving to the game! VA Tech won but it was a struggle…ironically so Helene had gone with some friends from the hospital to also attend so we hung out with her for the latter part of the game and afterwards as we ate. Needless to say our agenda will not be involving a playoff football game this time but I’m sure we’ll find plenty to do while we are here in addition to our classes.
We arrived at 10:45AM into LAX (Las Angeles, CA) and gathered our luggage and retrieved our rental car. As we checked out our rental car at Enterprise, we noticed gas prices to be more than home but much less than when we were in this area for part of our honeymoon 4 yrs ago-$1.71 per gallon currently. We made an immediate stop at one of our local burger joints-“In-N-Out”….it was delicious as we remembered! We had barely driven 3 miles outside the airport property when Thomas stumbled upon it….or did he put it in his GPS (“Karen” he affectionately named her) anyway we are here! So for you to better understand the ‘difference’ of this burger place from others, I will quote their wrappers that come on their burgers:
• The first In-N-Out opened 1948
• All our burgers are made with fresh beef that’s never frozen
• Our buns are made with-out preservatives the old fashioned way-from real sponge dough
• We hand-leaf our lettuce every day
• Our fries are peeled and diced daily from fresh whole potatoes
• We’ve cooked our fries in 100% cholesterol free oil since 1948
**Not to mention they use a dressing that tastes similar to Thousand Island and since I am probably one of the few people left in the country that actually still order that as my salad dressing-I love it!
After we sat outside and ate our meal in the beautiful sun shine and a temperature of 72 degrees, we proceeded to locate our timeshare. Gotta love the LA traffic and its lunchtime so everyone’s out running around.
I like to see the Metro system in use as they utilize it so effectively in this area, it is generated by electricity and the stations are located strategically for public use.

We weren’t exactly sure where the timeshare is other than it’s located within 1-1/2 from the Anaheim Convention Center where our seminar will be held this week. As we neared the address Thomas and I realized much to our surprise since we are not familiar with this area of California that we are in the Disneyland property also. The name of the timeshare is the Dolphin’s Cover Resort. It’s a nice property and conveniently located for our use while we are here. After checking in we got unpacked for the next 8 days and look at all the literature that the resort gave us regarding all the events happening. Later we located the hot tub for Thomas and the exercise room for me (I haven’t been on the treadmill in a week as we stayed very busy getting ready for this trip and also having our Christmas party for our employees as we do a Sleep EZ/Freedom Respiratory party). Since I am contemplating my participation in a 5K on Sunday here, I had better get started! As we returned to our condo we planned our evening. We went in search of groceries and retrieved them then we ate our dinner which consisted of our Macaroni Grill leftovers from the night before in Greensboro. Yes, I hand carried them with us (we hate waste) and we enjoyed them almost as much as the night before. I say it would have been the same if we would have had endless bread being supplied along with olive oil with fresh ground black pepper for dipping that delectable bread in………anyway we did have a loaf with our leftovers so we enjoyed it! I made my way to seek a tub filled with hot water and bubbles-now that was nice. We completed this Friday evening as we watched the brilliant full moon tonight (read attached article relating to it):
Year's Biggest Full Moon Friday Night
By Robert Roy Britt
Editorial Director
posted: 11 December 2008
01:24 pm ET
The full moon Friday night will be the biggest one of the year as Earth's natural satellite reaches its closest point to our planet.
Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days. But the orbit is not a perfect circle.
The moon's average distance from us is about 238,855 miles (384,400 km). Friday night it will be just 221,560 miles (356,567 km) away. It will be 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during the year, according to NASA.
Tides will be higher Friday night, too. Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. Scientists call these perigean tides, because the moon's closest point to Earth is called perigee. The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee.
Some other strange lunar facts:
The moon is moving away as you read this, by about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Eventually it'll be torn apart as an expanding sun pushes the moon back toward Earth for a wrenching close encounter.
There is no proof the full moon makes people crazy.
Beaches are more polluted during full moon, owing to the higher tides.
The moon will rise Friday evening right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes.
At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.
Try this trick, though: Using a pencil eraser or similar object held at arm's length, gauge the size of the moon when it's near the horizon and again later when it's higher up and seems smaller. You'll see that when compared to a fixed object, the moon will be the same size in both cases.
You can see all this on each night surrounding the full moon, too, because the moon will be nearly full, rising earlier Thursday night and later Saturday night.
Interestingly, because of the mechanics of all this, the moon is never truly 100 percent full. For that to happen, all three objects have to be in a perfect line, and when that rare circumstance occurs, there is a total eclipse of the moon.
Gallery: Moon Images
Skywatcher's Guide to the Moon
Top 10 Strangest Things in Space
Then followed by Disney’s firework display they do nightly @ 9:30 PM as we stood on our balcony in fascination at the amazing colors.

Today is Saturday, December 13, 2008 and the weather is expected to be a high of 59 degrees today with cloudy skies. Thomas and I woke and he fixed breakfast and we prepared for the day as we would be walking to the convention center to gather our registration packets. It’s a mild but pleasant day. Thomas had left Dietmar a message yesterday announcing our arrival and dates we would be in the area as we’d love to spend some time with him.
After out down time with Thomas at the hot tub and me in the exercise room we returned to the condo to watch the announcement show for the recipient for the Heisman Trophy. This is the first year in history that there is not a senior nominated and the 3 nominees are from Univ. of Texas-Colt McCoy, Oklahoma Univ.-Sam Bradford, and Florida State Univ.- Tim Tebow. I love football, especially college ball and being from Austin (which is where I grew up) I LOVE the Longhorns so this is significant to me. Plus I truly enjoy watching the program/selection as they interview each nominee and give a little history on their lives. The thing also that I liked the best this year is the fact that all 3 of these amazing young talented men are strong in their faith, family and mentoring. They mentor rather it’s to young people, missionary work, or mentoring the players that they play. The gentleman that won was Sam Bradford from OU. Bradford, who leads the nation in touchdown passes with 48, received 1,726 points. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was second with 1,604 and Tebow—who received the most first-place votes—was third with 1,575 points. Between the 3 nominees their teams were 35-3, now that is impressive. As I have always said since Lynn and I divorced-my daughter is my primary responsibility meaning that it is my job to raise her to be a responsible adult as we live in an atmosphere of mutual respect, love, and accountability in our home. With Tebow’s acceptance speech he said to his parents: “There were many times that you pushed me in times that I didn’t want to do anything and you always expected the best from me regardless of what I was doing-playing or being organized & motivated, for that I love you and couldn’t have done it without you!”
We prepared to leave as we went to The House of Blues as they were holding a Welcome Party for the AARC attendees with John Waite performing live for us. We enjoyed the food and entertainment for a couple of hours then we came back to get ready for bed. I have to be up by 5:50AM to report for the 5K Fun Run the AARC is sponsoring. Lucky me, I registered yesterday when the conference opened and ironically I got my favorite number 8 as I walked up to the booth, it was on top so it was mine…..I’m feeling good about this.

Well I left this morning Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 6:20AM to walk to the Marriott which is where the 5K will begin. I left Thomas in bed to sleep in today. The temperature is 42 degrees without the sun being quite up yet but it feels good, especially for a run. I noticed at the convenient stores around our resort that gas prices had dropped today to $1.59 per gallon.
I completed it with a 37.23 time, not bad considering I haven’t been running regularly since the 1st week of October. Came back to the condo and Thomas was watching the Cowboy news and since the time is 3 hrs behind here from home, that means he’ll be able to catch some of the football games today in between our classes. The Cowboys will not play until 5 PM here. I fixed us breakfast and off for a bubble bath (I never take the time at home to take these so I’m enjoying them here!). Dietmar called and we will meet him on Monday afternoon, we’re looking forward to seeing him as we have not seen him since Thomas and I came on our honeymoon to spend a day with him and Rose. Rose passed away about 2 yrs ago. She had a very charismatic personality while Dietmar was quieter but just as cordial.
We went to our classes then back we came for the “big game”. Dallas defeated the Giants 20-8 so Thomas was ecstatic! I thought we were going to get thrown out for disturbing the peace as he was jumping up and down and screaming at his team thru the TV. Dietmar called and we confirmed our place to meet and time for tomorrow. I spent some of my time watching the football game and downloading family pictures on Snapfish. Caitlynn and Nicole called us today as they are enjoying their time together as they rested after church then off to bed. We ordered pizza and spaghetti to be delivered and enjoyed an evening in. We finished the night off watching the magnificent fireworks as Disney’s ritual at 9:30PM.

Monday, December 15, 2008 is another great day in California…though it started raining during the night and continued on through most of the day. The temperature was a high of 56, though it felt slightly cooler with the rain. The people from this area feel as if this is a cold-front so they are wearing coats, no flip-flops (as usual) and some even had on toboggans? Thomas and I went to our classes then returned to get the rental car form our resort so we could make our way to meet Dietmar and his friend for dinner by 6:00PM. We are unsure about the traffic so we thought it best we leave ahead of time as we were traveling on unfamiliar ground for us so we were going to depend on “Karen” to navigate us. Dietmar had given Thomas a cell number to call as we left Anaheim and as I had predicted it was a female’s cell number. Since we were going to be early as Dietmar told Thomas our reservations were not until 6:00PM, I thought we might need to call the restaurant and be sure we are not too underdressed as we were casually dressed. The hostess said it was a casual environment so we felt good about it. Thomas took me to Martin & Kathy’s for New Year’s the last year we dated and he did not inquire about attire, So horrified to my surprise when we arrived at their new home in Chesterfield, they would be dressed formally with a tux and floor length dress for Kathy…we brought casual slacks and winter sweaters-no dress or tux. In deep regret Kathy and Martin dressed down more than they had originally planned but needless to say-we were VERY UNDRESSED for the occasion!
The restaurant was located in a very quaint area of San Juan Capistrano which is located about 25 minutes from Anaheim. We arrived almost 30 minutes early so we wondered into Chico’s which is located in this strip mall area. I love Chico’s but it is really too expensive for me but the signs advertised on the front window was “65% sale”, so I thought what the heck when Thomas headed inside….So I looked around on the sale racks and found a cute skirt and it was originally price at $98.00 and got it for $5.38, that’s right less than $10.00-I love those kind of sales. Thomas just smiled.
Cedar Creek had a beautiful Christmas tree with a roaring fireplace in the area we were seated. Their tag line is: food-spirits-ambiance and its address is: 26860 Ortega Hwy., San Juan Capistrano, CA, 92675, 949-240-2229 www.cedarcreekinn.com. We were fortunate to meet Dietmar there in a timely fashion and be introduced to his friend Marie. We had a lovely dinner and ironically we all ended up ordering some type of fish. There was plenty of good conversation and I shared with Dietmar the story that I so enjoyed writing on our recent trip with Hans to Canada. I forewarned him that there are stories about him in there also, he grinned and said “umm humm”. The meal was great and the company was very pleasant. We told Dietmar if he can’t remember how long it’s been since he came to VA then that is too long-he needs to come visit us soon! Marie told Thomas & I we should come back to this area to sight-see as across the street there is one of the missions that are in CA and they have a good history about it and it is something to see she says.
From the website regarding the missions: Much of California's history began with the Spanish Missions. The chain of 21 missions along California’s El Camino Real (“The Royal Highway”) represents the first arrival of non-Native Americans to California. Life for the California Native Americans was forever changed. In addition to Christianity, the missions brought many other things to California such as livestock, fruits, flowers, grains and industry. This was also the start of the civilization in which we live today. However, as a result of the arrival of the Spanish, many Native American lives were lost. Every one of the California missions tells a story about the history of California. All have been, to some extent, restored and can be visited today.
Dietmar is headed to Albuquerque, NM on the 18th this month and he will be going to the Santa Fe area also while he’s there. He tells us he used to work in the area so he’s familiar with it. Marie has 2 children-1 daughter and 1 son that live in area. The son is an attorney and never married, the daughter has 2 kids which are her only grandchildren. Marie is quite the conversationalist and we had a nice time learning about her. Dietmar told us how much he enjoyed the sibling’s trip to Germany this past May, and yes he clarified that he would like to make the trip again! After our meal we took pictures and said our good-byes to each of them and headed back to our condo in the light drizzling rain. Regardless of the rain everything is so pretty though as the quaint areas are decorated for Christmas. After our short drive back to the resort we got ready for bed and listened to some Christmas music as we wound down. We missed the fireworks but it was worth it!

Today is Tuesday, December 16, 2008 and the day started off cloudy but cleared off by lunchtime and stayed clear for the rest of the day with a temperature of 54-56 degrees. Thomas & I took care of catch up issues with our offices and computer work for the morning as we also had breakfast he prepared. We then made our way to the hot tub and workout room for activities. After we got back to our place we got online to compare ticket prices for the Anaheim Ducks hockey game. This is the last night they will play here until Dec. 31st, we will be home by then and Thomas wanted us to go to a game while we are here. We secured our tickets online so we got ready and planned our bus route after we bought our tickets to take the A.R.T. which is one of the local transportation trolleys for this area. It cost $3.00 per person for the day so we bought our passes at the resort office. While we were in our resort I gave him a shirt that I found at the Marriott gift shop on the morning of my run. It was on the clearance rack and marked down since it was for the “2007 Stanley Cup Champions-Anaheim Ducks” and it in X-Large also. I surprised him and gave it to him as I said, “I figured you’d need a hockey shirt to wear to the game”. He put it on immediately and out the door we went.
It was interesting talking to a lady that came to the same conference we did for Respiratory and her husband was with her-they are also going to the Ducks game. They are from Canada so we got into a conversation regarding the difference in socialized medicine vs. our industry with our government here in the states. Thomas told them that it really bothered him that the US has taken over the NHL. So they talked about that and she told us that we are fortunate to be able to go to game for a reasonable cost as they are unable to do so. She said they’ve been married for 20 yrs and this will be their first NHL game to go see. She felt it was a good thing for the sport that the US took it over as the program needed more $ to make things happen for the players and it has since the US got involved. The game was held at the Honda Center here in Anaheim. It is huge! The building is 650,000 sq. ft. and is lined inside and out with marble and granite from around the world. The building’s roof spans 444 ft. by 329 ft. with more than 100 ft. above the arena floor. It has 3 levels of seating and can hold 17,174 people for hockey games and as many as 18,325 for stage events. Tonight’s game is the Anaheim Ducks vs. New York Rangers. This is the Ranger’s 1st trip to Anaheim since Nov. 1, 2006 so the crowd is really fired up. The goalie for the Ducks is a native of Switzerland who is 26 yrs old named Jonas ( pronounced “Yo-nas”) Hiller and his goals-against average an save percentage both ranked in the top 5 in the league. During the final week of Nov. when he went 2-0-0 with an eye-popping 0.50 goals against and .984 save percentage so the NHL named him one of their “Three Stars” of the week. He won 6 of his final 9 appearances and saved just under 95 percent of the shots fired at him last season. In June of this year the team rewarded his progress with a contract extension that pays him more than $1 million annually this season and next. So needless to say this was a good game but the Ducks lost 3-1.
We caught the trolley back and Thomas had me get off early (before our stop) with him. After we got off he walked right to P.F. Chang’s for us to have a nice dinner. This is one of our favorite restaurants when we are in an area that has them. We counted and we have been to 5 different P.F. Chang’s in different states. The first one we ate at together was when I had husbandnapped trip to Nashville, TN that I totally planned with his office and he knew NOTHING about until I told him at the airport that he was going with me! So for the next 3 days we spent time in a wonderful bed & breakfast that was ran by a grandson to one of the original men who founded Nashville. So of course for dinner our first night I took Thomas to have his first dinner at a P.F. Chang’s…he’s loved it since!
After we finished our dinner, we took a couple of pictures outside and made our way walking the rest of the way back to our resort which was about 6-7 blocks. We needed to work off our meal anyway. Tonight we missed the fireworks but it was a good evening regardless….

This morning we were woke up to the sound of rain and the high temperature for the day was predicted to be only 52 degrees. Today is Wednesday, December 17, 2008. Everyone in this area said that if the rain was so needed they wouldn’t like it. Thomas and I got caught up on office work we both had to do and then we got ready to head out to Temecula for our tour of the wine country. We haven’t been out to Temecula in 2 yrs so we were looking forward to the day. The weather continued to be rainy/overcast with occasional downpours….
As we left our resort and start out on 95-E we passed the Angel’s Stadium. The entrance design on the outside was cool as it had 2 baseball caps facing each other so that all who entered had to pass. It was quite a stadium.
The traffic is 4 lanes each way with an option of 2 more lanes but they are toll roads that you can use at a cost….next we took 15-S about 24 miles from Temecula. At this time the rain is heavy and we came to a community named “City of Elsinore” since we asked “Karen” to find us a post office en route to our destination-this was her choice. It was a good one I might add as this town had a lot of character and very historic. It was founded in 1888 and celebrated its 100th anniversary this year and a little history on this town:
Native Americans have long lived in the area. Lake Elsinore was incorporated as a city in 1888 (even before Riverside County's creation in 1893) but was inhabited well before then. In the 18th century when the lake was natural it provided a spot for Spanish ranchers and American trappers to replenish their supplies. It was named Elsinore after the Danish city in Shakespeare's "Hamlet", which is now its sister city.
The lake went dry in the 1930s and was refilled in the early 1960s. More than a week of heavy rains in 1980 flooded the lake, destroying surrounding homes and businesses. Since then there has been a multi-million dollar project put into place to maintain the water supply at a consistent level allowing for homes to be built close to the lake. Unfortunately there are no provisions to allow the water to spill out via a river, so the overflow must be diverted into the Temescal Canyon Wash. In 2007 there was an aeration system added to help with the lake's ecosystem.
This would be a nice place to spend a little more time in…maybe next time. As fate would have it, the rain almost stopped in time for Thomas to drop me off to mail all 14 of my postcards I had gotten finished yesterday and wanted to get them in the mail to our loved ones.

As we drive into Temecula we located their Chamber of Commerce for free maps of the wineries. Our goal was to go to different ones than we’ve already visited. Evidentially when we were here originally as we drove through here to go to Las Vegas on our honeymoon, we stopped at Callaway’s and then go back on the road for Vegas. A good memory of Callaway’s was when I discovered that Thomas had never tasted a pomegranate. As we drove up the driveway to the winery, they were hanging from trees along the drive. I told Thomas what they were and he didn’t even know what a person would do with them. I explained to him that as a kid my parents would give them to us for snacks to eat. Ironically the winery as we went inside for the tasting, had a wine made from pomegranate and we sampled it. As we departed I asked one of the employees if they minded if we got a pomegranate off one of the trees-she obliged so we did just that. Thomas pulled the rental car under one of the trees on the driveway and I assisted hoisting him up (from the car door on the passenger side) and he collected one for us to sample (him initially) the rest is history.
Then 2 yrs ago when we were came to Carlsbad, CA and toured the Baja of California we also took a day during that stay from Christmas Eve thru Jan 2nd to drive to Temecula for the day. We enjoyed it tremendously as it is much smaller wineries from what we saw in Napa Valley (on our honeymoon) and the people took a lot more time to explain processes, etc. to you. We when we here before, there were some wineries that we WERE to only ones there at that particular time. Thomas found his most favorite Port (he LOVES a good Port) at a winery named Palumbo, we did not purchase it since it was $85.00 bottle but the winery only made less than 1,000 bottles to sale. But he remembers it every time he tastes another Port-anywhere, never found one better to date he says! On that visit we ended our day with a wonderful dinner at a steakhouse in historic downtown Temecula and Thomas vowed we would return at that time.
We gathered our maps and off we went in search of a new winery. The weather was still balmy but only mildly sprinkling now as we called and made reservations for our first winery as it was by reservations only. It’s named Briar Rose and was only 10-12 minutes from where we left town. We took Rancho California Rd, Calle, and then Madera DePlaya Dr and then another turn to the winery located at: 41720 Calle Cabrillo, Temecula, CA, 92592- It sits on a small mountain that overlooks a valley: Located on the grounds of a former Disney set designer's home, and named after Sleeping Beauty's alias, this magical winery is modeled after Snow White's cottage, and produces all estate-grown, moderate-level production wines (about 2,400 cases per year). Copper walls and wood furnishings give the tasting room an "inside the barrel" feel; VIPs are led into an adjacent space, which is outfitted with plush couches, a river stone fireplace and offers herbs and flowers at an essence table for a multisensory experience. Fun Fact
The property boasts one of the oldest olive trees in Temecula that was planted by one of the Valley's early pioneers.
Many years ago before developers discovered Temecula, the valley was dotted with small, family owned farms, orchards, and vineyards. Briar Rose Winery marks a return to those idyllic times as Temecula's first, reservation only, boutique winery. It is the fruition of a lifelong dream. In a sense the owners, the Linkogle's, have come full circle and want to celebrate the return to a small, family-owned business. They welcome you to enjoy their wines, wander the gardens and savor the enchantment. They are dedicated to producing small lot, limited production wines made from the most intensely flavored grapes from their lush vineyards. Annually, they produce about 2400 cases. Specializing in red, the estate-grown offerings include an intense award winning Estate Zinfandel, award winning Viognier, Orange Muscat and Reisling. Other offerings include a lively, fruity Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sherry, Chardonnay, Sauginon Blanc and a special Reserve Aleatico Port.
Thomas & I BOTH enjoyed their cabs and I usually don’t like cabernets but their production is smooth and clean tasting. They have a unique wine that has a very slight hint of lemon and it’s very unique as it finishes crisp and clean-a good all around wine to share with others, it’s called Citronier. Needless to say after we sat around for a very extensive wine tasting and a nice talk with the winemaker (the husband-Leslie, to the lady Doreen that assisted us) we joined their wine club. He and Thomas had a lot in common as he is a German also. They’ve been married for 31 yrs and bought this place in 1985 but grew and sold grapes from their land to other wineries until 1998. They started the process of acquiring all the CA license, etc. and it took 5 yrs to finalize all the requirements the state mandates. In 2003 they had their vintage year and just recently did a press release as they were chosen by the Indians in this area (The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians has called the Temecula valley home for more than 10,000 years) to make a wine for the mission grapes that only the Indians have the rights to and the vines are 120 yrs old. After the Indians approved the production/taste this winery made this summer, they were allowed to produce less than 200 bottles. The winemaker opened an unlabeled-private bottle to allow us to taste it and share our thoughts of it with him. They are waiting on the artwork for the label to be approved by the Indians and then they will name the pricing for its release. How cool is this to be trying such an exclusive wine with this couple! Since the “mission grape” was used and the Indians are very traditional with the worship, they are leaning toward naming the wine “Sacrament” as long as the Indians approve the name also. We will watch their website for any updates regarding this….. www.briarrosewinery.com We laughed together as we walked out since Jason had been texting me to ask about details for Dickens of a Christmas at home in Roanoke. I guess he has never been and was looking into taking Lauren but was unsure due to her busy work schedule. It’s funny because my daughter prefers to talk to him and his son typically texts me more frequently than his dad-funny how that happens but not at all bad…at least they contact us!
As we depart and drive to our last winery, since we started after lunch and we spent 2 hrs and Briar Rose (but enjoyed every minute of it-education & all) it has started to rain again. We proceeded our drive to Maurice Car’rie Vineyard & Winery located at: 34225 Rancho California Rd, Temecula, CA, 92591, www.mauricecarriewinery.com . It is a much bigger winery but no one was there but us, just like the previous winery. I’m sure a lot of it is to do with the weather and the fact that it’s in the middle of the week, not to mention Christmas holiday time. We were greeted with a most pleasant older lady who spoke with a very strong German accent. Thomas asked her where she was from and indeed it was Germany. Of course he then had a lot to talk about with her-including the history of all his siblings (and his own) names and where they came from. They were having a end of the season sale of 20-50% off on all products (other than wine) in their winery so we found several things we felt like we’d enjoy taking back to VA with us. A little history: The Maurice Car’rie Vineyard & Winery is nestled amidst the rolling hills of beautiful Temecula Valley. The winery was founded in 1986, and designed after a Victorian-style farmhouse. The 46 acres of vineyards were the first vineyards established in the region in 1968. Owners, Buddy and Cheri Linn, and winemaker, Gus Vizgirda, are focused on wines that are ready to drink at a fairly early age. They handcraft 14 varietals that have received hundreds of awards and accolades in a long list of competitions.
After a relaxing afternoon in Temecula we are now in search for Penfold’s Cattle Company in historic downtown Temecula. They are located at: 42072 5th St., 3rd Floor, Temecula, CA, 92590. Description: A study in dark woods and warm lighting, this romantic eatery and special occasion favorite plays host to mostly locals enjoying splurge-worthy lunches and hearty steak and seafood dinners. Faded sepia-toned photographs of the Old West hang over high-backed booths and regally upholstered Victorian-esque chairs inside, while an expansive deck overlooks the street below. It is more expensive than we typically treat ourselves to but we feel since we only come every 2 yrs (if we’re lucky!) then we can splurge this evening. We are celebrating some down time together after our conference and recognized how blessed we both are in many areas-we toast to this together to start our quiet evening filled with great ambiance. Penfold’s has recently undergone a new management team (according to Doreen form Briar Rose) and they have now decided on which local wines to carry for the restaurant. Since Thomas really liked their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon he bought a bottle to bring in with him and had our waitress open it & pour it as he also expressed to her his great interest in Briar Rose. The waitress laughed and said “the couple that owns it comes in frequently to eat and always ask if they are carrying their wines yet.” She stated they are very nice and also make very nice wines. First we ordered an appetizer of scallops (Thomas’s favorite) but they had an awesome sauce that was slightly sweet and tasted wonderfully! Next we ordered our meal and Thomas had their Ribeye and I had their filet with a lobster tail-umum good! We closed our meal off with Bananas Foster-we paid our debt and off into the rain we went…..
On the drive back to our resort Thomas said that if he didn’t know better he’d think it was snowing as we moved through the mountain areas headed back to Anaheim-about 78 mile drive for us to our resort-we missed the fireworks but what a great evening we spent together!
Today is Thursday, December 18, 2008 and we woke to see snow on the mountains that are off in the distance-not sure how far but they have not had snow on them during our entire stay until now? As I turned on the FISH (Christian contemporary music that is carried on satellite also) radio station they have been playing Christmas music this week as I listened and they made an announcement that CA had snow for the first time in 3 decades in the Malibu area-so it is snow! It is sunny today but the temperature is only 48-52 degrees. Thomas and I opted to just hang out in our resort and relax. So we went to the ice cream social 2:30PM at the snack bar here at the resort ($1.00 per scoop/$1.00 for a brownie). Afterwards Thomas got into the hot tub while I worked out, had to counter the brownie I had split with Thomas…I talked to Caitlynn & Nicole several times today and they are making Christmas desserts and had lunch with Justin at school today. It’s so hard to believe he’s in the 2nd grade already-where does the time go?
We decided afterwards we would walk to Downtown Disney to ESPN Sports so we could watch NFL game tonight. Due to us being on PST (pacific standard time) that is 3 hrs behind us while in VA, the game would be on at 5:00PM. We did just that and walked back to our resort and ended our evening by watching Disney’s fireworks then watching a Christmas movie on the Family Channel together on the couch. I fell asleep at the very end so afterwards Thomas woke me so we could go to bed……
I woke this morning and called Nicole and Caitlynn, they will go to see Marcus and his family as they drive to San Antonio to spend the night tonight. Juan has his office Christmas party there so they will stay the night then head back to Pflugerville before lunch so they can put Caitlynn on the plane by her flight tomorrow at 5:40PM. We will leave at 1:40PM from here then we change planes in Dallas where we will meet up with Caitlynn there so we all fly into Greensboro, NC together. Thomas and I went down for the continental breakfast the resort provided today and met a really nice family form Utah that are vacationing together for the week. They are Mormons and the parents we spoke with have 6 girls and 1 son, the grandkids are also with them. He has traveled extensively and has recently been researching the possibility of buying land in Belize. He says he just bought a book to study the land that is “2 ½ inches thick”. So we talked about our experiences when visiting there, etc. They had a 2 yr old grandson named “Carter” and he was a cutie. Carter is next to the youngest (being 3 months old) and before him is his sister that sat next to me. She had 2 older brothers there also but she was the talker-I guess since she was the only girl out of 5 kids. She had a lot to tell us! Afterwards we said our good-byes and headed back to our condo. I researched the Crystal Cathedral as I thought I saw a sign and did not know that we were less than 2 miles from there! Caitlynn & I have watched Dr. Robert Shuler from the cathedral for years on TV. We packed a couple of boxes that we were mailing home to ourselves (airlines charge $15.00 per bag checked on American Airlines nowadays) and then I googled the information and off we went to the location: 12141 Lewis St. Garden Grove, CA 92840
Constructed from more than 10,000 plates of glass, the Crystal Cathedral is packed with more than 3,000 seated worshippers every Sunday for service, as well as hundreds more who experience drive-in worship in the parking lot, via a nine-storey tall sliding glass doors which allows them to view the service. The cathedral is also most famous as the filming place of Dr. Robert H. Schuller's "Hour of Power" TV show.
Building History
Dr. Robert H. Schuller said, "When the local congregation reached 10,000 and we needed a bigger church building, I remembered how wonderful it had been at my little drive-in church (where the ministry began in 1955) where there had been no walls or ceiling-it was there I fell in love with the sky! And that's why we built the Crystal Cathedral with walls and a roof of glass-crystal-clear glass that lets the sun and sky sparkle through our wonderful sanctuary." On September 14, 1980, in Garden Grove, Calif., Dr. Robert Schuller dedicated the Crystal Cathedral "To the Glory of Man for the Greater Glory of God."
Affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, the church then known as Garden Grove Community Church was founded in 1955 by the Reverend Dr. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, and is considered the world's first "seeker sensitive" church. The first church services were held in space rented from the Orange Drive In Theatre. In 1961, the congregation moved to a new sanctuary designed by famed architect, Richard Neutra . Construction on the Cathedral began in 1977 and ended in 1980. The initial estimated cost of the church was $6 million, but the final cost was over $17 million (about $55 million in 2007 dollars). One way Dr. Schuller found to help finance the construction of the Crystal Cathedral was to invite donors to give $500 for each of the 10,000 rectangular panes of glass, which raised over US$5 million by its completion. The entire building was built to be “green”-eco-friendly. Upon moving from the old Neutra sanctuary to the new Johnson sanctuary, the congregation changed its name to the Crystal Cathedral Congregation. One of the church's mission statements is, "Find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it." The Crystal Cathedral organ is one of the world's largest pipe organs, located at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. The Cathedral pipe organ, made possible by a gift from the late Hazel Wright of Chicago (viewer from the Hour of Power), is the third largest church pipe organ in the world. Conceived by famed organ virtuoso Virgil Fox, the organ unites the Aeolian-Skinner organ from Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center in New York City with the Ruffatti organ built for the former sanctuary in 1977.
There have been numerous additions and refinements by noted organ builders. There are 287 ranks of pipes and over 16,000 individual pipes, all playable from two five-manual consoles. White oak cases hold the nearly 11,000 pipes in the chancel area. Included there is a rank of forty-four 32-foot pedal pipes, originally in the organ at Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California-a gift of the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church of La Crescenta. The South Balcony divisions of the organ contain 5,000 pipes, and in the East and West Balconies are 549 horizontal trumpet pipes-the largest collection of such pipes in the world.
The statues (there are around 20 total inside & outside) are all donated among the campus which is now 40 acres. They were preparing for the play “Glory of Christmas” that is performed live before Christmas, with live animals performing. It was a very good tour provided by Bill Russell who is a current member of the church and is retired.
We left and found a UPS shipping store and then….you guessed it-a “In-N-Out” burger restaurant and we indulged ourselves in the rental car. Off we headed back to the resort and I started packing while Thomas went to the hot tub for a bit. He came back and we watched the Richmond vs. Montana in the Football Championship Subdivision title game with the University of Montana-Richmond won. We then watched several Christmas shows on the family channel here in the condo, then to our surprise as we had lost track of time the fireworks were going off outside our balcony door so we again watched for our final night. I talked to Nicole as they had driven to San Antonio for the night since Juan’s office was having the Christmas party there and Caitlynn wanted to watch all 3 kids. She said Caitlynn did very well with them! Nicole text me to say “good birth control”-I agree! Off to bed after gathering things to pack and preparing for our final California morning……
Good morning-December 20, 2008 today will be the warmest day since the day we arrived-looking to be 60 degrees for the day. We got up and Thomas fixed breakfast that was pretty much a smorgasbord as we were eating the last of our breakfast fixings and any other leftovers we acquired the last couple of days. It was all good and we got our bellies full and put the finishing touches on getting ready and packing as our flight is at 1:40PM but the rental car has to be checked in by noon. Off we head in the CA traffic headed towards L.A. and as usual there is quite a bit of traffic even on this Saturday morning. Thomas is thinking maybe because it’s the last weekend before Christmas? Maybeeeee but I’m thinking this is just L.A. Everything is on schedule as planned until we get to LAX (airport) and when Thomas used the kiosk as I waited in line with the luggage he came back to me and said “we need to talk to someone because when it printed our tickets it shows our departure time as 8PM and we are supposed to change planes in Dallas at 7:45PM”. So we waited our opportunity and spoke with an American Airlines ticket agent and she explained to us that they took 2 planes out of commission due to “mechanical issues” this morning so several flights had to be cancelled and are backed up to get people out. That made us confirmed on the 8PM flight but we could go on stand-by before that flight if we’d like. So with much effort on Thomas’s part as we were ready to get home AND the Dallas Cowboys play at 8PM tonight (but it’s only on the NFL Network) so it will be very difficult to watch unless we are somewhere where the game is be televised, we made our 2nd flight attempt on standby. Meanwhile I got hold of Jennie (our niece) and she will pickup Caitlynn in Greensboro as we were originally scheduled to change flights in Dallas along with her from Austin so we would be flying into Greensboro all together, now our plans are changed. I spoke with Nicole to be sure Caitlynn knew what was going on with us and everyone’s good and squared away but us. As we fly into Dallas, much to what I expected, the football game is on every TV in the airport-after all we are in Dallas. Thomas & I saw on the boards that display all flights coming or going that there were no more going to Greensboro tonight as we arrived at 8:15PM so he sat in front of one of the TVs and watched the game while I confirmed we had no other options for today and confirmed our options to resume our trip tomorrow to go home. We are scheduled to be at Louise’s for Christmas dinner/gift exchange at 2PM. We are confirmed for the only flight with availability tomorrow which will get us into Greensboro at 11:15PM but we decided to come into the airport early to go on standby for the only other flight tomorrow which is at 8:15AM. If we make it we should be able to make the Rothe Family Christmas celebration!
The airlines put us up in a Holiday Inn Express by the airport and gave us food vouchers for tonight and tomorrow for breakfast. We get $10 each for dinner tonight and $5 each for breakfast. Since it is 10:50PM as we catch the shuttle to the airport, we decided to order food in the room to be delivered. Of course we have none of our luggage as it went on from LA so we will wear the same clothes tomorrow and the hotel gave us a toothbrush & toothpaste for our personal hygiene for the night.
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 Thomas and I catch the airport shuttle from the airport on a nice brisk windy morning at 6:05AM. We get to the airport nice and early to try to make the first flight on standby. After we get thru security we decide to go have a nice breakfast to kill some time. I chose burritos and Thomas had a regular full line breakfast-both were great! Much to our delight we made the standby list and we were the only ones since there were 2 seats left only-good choice to get up early!! So we landed at noon in Greensboro and made the Rothe Christmas Family celebration at 2:20 PM. I love this time of year as we spend time with all our family, it’s great!