Off To California & Hawaii for Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for family vacays and the chance we had to go to California and Hawaii.  Our trip this year wasn't planned very far in advance, it just sort of happened.  We had to use the flight vouchers we got from our trip this summer when they overbooked our flight home from Maryland.  We wanted to go to Hawaii, but Frontier doesn't fly there, so we chose California since the Redwoods are there which we'd like to see, and there was also the possibility of finding affordable flights to Hawaii.  Well, after talking with Joe, my brother in Hawaii, he said we could stay with them if we were able to make it work, and he also said he'd look for good flights.  Well, he found a great 2-day deal on roundtrip flights through Southwest from California to Hawaii.  True, we'd have to take a lot of flights to travel from Utah to Las Vegas to California then to Hawaii, but the fares were less and we could make it work.  YAY!  So, it was off to destination Sacramento, California first, then off to Hawaii 2 days later. We were gone 10 days: November 20-30.

We actually went to church in the morning before driving to April's church in Springville to have her drop us off at the airport.  Our timing worked out perfectly.

Desert Mountains from the airplane window

PS- We had a 6 hour layover in Las Vegas, so we arranged to have dinner with Doralee's family while we were there.  It was awesome, except that Doralee was fighting a cold, so she kept her distance and wore a mask.  Isaac picked us up from the airport and Steve Gull made dinner- a delicious Kirkland lasagne and salad.  Steve then took us back to the airport.  We only got to visit for a couple hours, but it was sure nice to have that opportunity!  

Sacramento airport, Steve chivalrously carrying Lily's heavy load along with his own.

California Trip

We were blessed to stay with my Aunty Cheryl and Uncle Bob in Vacaville, California.  They were so kind to be our airport cheuffer and give up their living room to be our Airbnb ;)

Hanging on the door at Aunty Cheryl's is this sign.  She said it was rumored to have been made by my great-grandpa, Papa Lauret (Henry).  I love it!

Aunty Cheryl, Amara, and Frannie (dog) admiring the backyard lemon tree.

Aunty Cheryl and Uncle Bob created this fun yellow brick road in their front yard, and their wishing well planter box has a basket hanging with toto in it and some ruby slippers hanging off the edge.  I LOVE their creativity!

These types of pine trees don't look like Utah pine trees.  The needles are soft, too!

Aunty Cheryl made biscuits, recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, for breakfast! YUM! My favorite!

The backyard lemon tree was loaded and beautiful!  

After brunch, we got dressed and helped out with some little projects while there.  The weather was fantastic! Steve hung Christmas lights around the perimeter of the awning, we did some cleaning and weeding, even helped install a new outdoor light, and Steve helped sand down the bathroom door so it would close better.

Amara beating the dust out of the door mat

The oranges were just beginning to be in season.  We picked a few and ate them fresh from the tree.  They were SO GOOD!  Aunty Cheryl cut up a few more and we took them on the plane to Hawaii to share with Joe's family.  They loved them, too!  

Steve using a special "picker" to get the oranges that were high up

As evening approached, we took a 15 minute ride to go see grandma and grandpa's gravesite.  I had never been there before.  Grandpa's name is on one side of the stone, grandma's on the other.  The markers at this military graveyard all looked identical and lined up perfectly.  It was a humbling sight to behold, and the cemetery was peaceful, immaculate, and beautiful.

I wanted to see where Aunty Cheryl worked, See's candies, and it did not disappoint!  It is situated in a cute strip mall lined with trees that were every shade of fall foliage.  It reminded me of a Hallmark movie set!  It was awesome to meet Aunty Cheryl's boss and coworkers.  I picked up a few of their nostalgic suckers to gift to my nieces and nephews in Hawaii, and they gave me her employee discount.  How generous!  I've always loved See's because my grandma Lauret would always bring us kids See's suckers when she'd visit.

For dinner, we went to Black Bear Diner, a delicious experience.  Everyone liked their food, and it was the perfect meal to end a perfect day.

Aunty Cheryl impressed by the size of her taco salad, Uncle Bob enjoying his Salmon and pesto pasta.

Steve said his meal was really good and he'd order it again.

I love me some slow cooked pot roast! This was their light portion!

We crashed for 2 nights in the living room on air mattresses and a couch. Aunty Cheryl was a saint for rising at crazy o-clock AM to take us to the airport.  God bless her and Uncle Bob for their kindness and sacrifices for us!