Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Our Golden Wedding Anniversary Weekend


Sat.-Tues., July 17-20, 2021 

What an amazing weekend!

It started with a reminder from the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.

A Day of the Dead tile

Why the tile you ask?

Simple answer . . .

On July 17, 1971, we were married

Yes, I had hair once upon a time.

Laurie looks lovely, don't you think.

As Jacob reminded me at lunch,
it meant that Saturday was our
50th Wedding Anniversary!

On July 17, 2021, we were still in love!

As I said earlier, AMAZING!

It must be noted that after our lunch
Jacob had the chance to meet the
author of this cool science book
at Camarillo's The Bookworm bookstore

We enjoyed a great meal to
celebrate our special day at
Ventura's Cafe Fiore

Cafe Fiore serves solid
Italian cuisine . . .

. . . and a sparkling tiramisu

On Sunday, we headed north to extend our special day with a mini vacation.

We saw this trailer when we stopped
for lunch in Orcutt just south of Santa Maria

A pizza oven on wheels

That's a first for me.
 
Our wonderful home base for
a couple of days in Avila Beach

The Avila La Fonda Hotel has
a great Mexican resort vibe

Being only a short block from the Pacific Ocean is a plus as well.

This large animal crawling on our
room's wall was a negative though
 
Laurie wanted to bring this sun
home with us

Cooler heads prevailed.

Avila Beach south of the pier

Avila Beach north of the pier

The Pier

A "NO FUN ZONE" if that sign is to be believed.

Lots of bikes in Avila Beach
which reminds me . . .

. . . this is a cool, bicycle related
wine tasting bar . . .

. . . with an interesting racing
bicycle gear bar motif

This place woke both the Ice Cream
and coffee Krakens within us

Laurie in front of the
Avila La Fonda Hotel

Another sun worshipping
piece of art in our hotel

At 8:00 p.m. each night, the
Avila La Fonda offers their guests
delicious homemade mini-pies

My blueberry-peach pie is on the left next to Laurie's olallieberry pie.

A little whip cream never hurts.

A view of the off shore Fog Monster
on Monday morning

We decided to drive north about 15 minutes to the city of San Luis Obispo before coming back to Avila Beach for some afternoon sun and surf.

Cool SLO fountain

SLO's original Public Library

SLO is an artsy city

See what I mean?

We passed on eating here today
but would not say no to their
Pismo Beach branch on Tuesday

Part of the quaint Avila Beach
boardwalk area

The Avila Beach Pier as seen on
my early morning walk Tuesday

Port San Luis in the distance

Anybody want to rent a kayak?

Seals resting at Port San Luis

The Billy Boy was parked on
land this morning

Port San Luis with not one
artsy ceramic . . .

. . . but two!

Apparently there is a lot of
crabbing in the area

After checking out of the Avila La Fonda Hotel, we stopped in Pismo Beach for that great BBQ meal at Mo's and then headed on to one last stop in Santa Barbara.

The classic entrance to
Santa Barbara's Arlington Theater

The Granada Theater is a grand
one in Santa Barbara as well

Art is a staple in this great
Central California Coast city too

Live turtles

A mysterious, unidentified
Native American statue

Our final stop was at
Santa Barbara High School

They have been renovating venerable Peabody Stadium for about three years now and we wanted to see the final finished product today.

It looks GREAT!

Again, we had an AMAZING and relaxing time celebrating our 50th over the last few days.

Meanwhile, in the world of EuroBall . . .

What does this mean?

Ah yes, the 40th Italian Bowl with
the winner taking home the
DI National Championship Trophy

Played in a neutral site, Stadio Garilli in Piacenza, it featured the 9-0, #1 seeded Parma Panthers vs. the 7-2, #2 seeded Milano Seamen.

The two teams had met twice during the regular season with Parma winning both times, 24-20 and 30-27.

It promised to be a good one for all of the proverbial marbles . . .

. . . and it was, in Overtime this time

Three close wins over the Seamen
cemented the Panthers claim to the crown

On to the ELF weekend . . .

It was Week 5 of the ELF's
inaugural 12 week season

Our Dragons came up short again
but by all accounts fought to the end

Big Game in the North this coming week,
Hamburg Sea Devils (4-0)
vs.
Wroclaw Panthers (3-1)

The Galaxy continue to be the
team to beat in the South

Week 6 is the halfway point
of the EFL's ten game,
12 week regular season

The Frankfort Galaxy (4-1) and the Leipzig Kings (1-4) finally get to both enjoy a bye this coming weekend.

50 years . . .
. . . AMAZING!

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