Parents' Visit

In July, my parents came to visit for a few days.  It was wonderful having them here, spending time with them and getting to show them all the fun things about where we live.  We were very busy packing in a lot of site-seeing and ocean adventures into just a few days :)

Friday

My parents got in Friday around lunch time.  We took them down to the beach to one of our favorite on-the-beach restaurants for lunch.  Then we walked the beach path back to the pier, explored the Santa Monica Pier, walked back through the Downtown Santa Monica area and promenade before heading back to the apartment for a little break.

Friday night we went to the Griffith Observatory as I had a great idea to watch the sunset and then look at the stars.  Of course, this seems like a very popular idea in LA for a Friday night; I really don't know why I was naive enough to think this was only my bright idea ;).  Even though we fought traffic, parking lines and crowds, it turned out to be a pretty magical evening with twinkly night vistas of LA, good views of stars and planets in the sky plus a really cool look at Saturn's rings through a powerful telescope.

This was way cooler (and prettier) in person, but the moon was a really pretty sliver in the sky and those other two dots are Venus and Saturn :)

Saturday

Saturday was water day.  We spent to morning parasailing and the afternoon whale-watching.  It was a little overcast in the morning and even rained on us in the afternoon on the whale-watching boat, but it was still a fun day.  All of us elected to go on the high parasailing option, which was 800 feet in the air.  It is quite surprising how quiet it is up there, so beautiful and serene.

My parents...still in love and so cute :)

The whale-watching turned out to be more of a dolphin-watching excursion, as only one whale was spotted and only once.  The whale never resurfaced, and none of us actually caught a glimpse of him/her.  However, there were several schools of dolphins close by - hundreds (not exaggerating).  The captain said they must be fishing/hunting together because he had never seen so many dolphins all together in one place.  Often, they came right up next to the boat; it felt as if you could just reach out and touch them.  It was pretty a fun excursion, albeit a little wet ;)

So close to the boat!

This doesn't even come close to showing how may of them there were.  You could see them from all over the boat - jumping and playing.

Sunday

Sunday we drove out to Simi Valley to visit the Reagan Presidential Library.  The library itself is a very pretty space built in traditional California architecture style, and the surrounding grounds are gorgeous.  The library/museum is very interesting with all kinds of fun and informational exhibits about Reagan's presidency.  Also, there are a few old models/replicas of the different presidential aircraft, secret service vehicles, parade vehicles, etc.  It is definitely worth a visit if you are in the Southern California area.

On the way home from Simi Valley, we stopped in Malibu to take my parents to another of our favorite ocean-side restaurants, Duke's.  We actually got a window seat where you can see the waves crashing right up next to you, AND we saw more frolicking dolphins outside of our window during dinner :)

Monday

Monday I took my parents to our favorite local diner for breakfast while Matt had to make some business calls.  After that, we all headed off to the California Science Center where we took in the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and the Jerusalem 3D IMAX movie, got to see the Endeavor space shuttle plus some other fun science-y stuff.

I love aquariums! :)

By the time my parents left Monday evening I think they were sufficiently worn out ;)  It was a great weekend and I can't wait to show off our city to our next visitors!