Our Romantic Get-Away

Thanks to Cara and her invitation to take care of Hannah for the long President's weekend, Mike and I were able to make an escape.

Check out the pictures below and guess where we went.

Did these fields look like pineapple fields to you???

Check out this beautiful ocean - where do you think we were?

If you guessed Hawaii - WRONG!

The fields were artichoke fields and we were in......

Now you're probably saying, "Where the heck is LOMPOC"?

Lompoc (pronounced Lompoke) is 17 miles west of Solvang, CA.

Since it was Valentines Day that weekend we were unable to get a room in Solvang so the nearest place we were able to stay was in this town; which must be a town built from people and families from the Vandenberg Air Force Base which is directly outside of the city.

The day we drove to the beach we saw this sign and walked over to read what was posted. Check it out.

Needless to say - we didn't do any swimming.

Instead, we drove back toward town and noticed this place of interest. We decided not to take a tour of this place. I was afraid they might mistake me for someone that was supposed to be locked up inside.

Those of you who have been to Solvang know that it's horse country.

We happened to drive by this shetland pony ranch.

They were probably at tall as my thigh; I had to take a picture of them to show Hannah.

What Mike and I really enjoyed was touring the mission there in Lompoc which is one of a handful of missions in the state that have been rebuilt and refurbished to it's original condition.

If you have the opportunity to be close to this area, I strongly recommend you take some time to tour this place. I found it fascinating (maybe because Hannah's in 4th grade and that's the year kids study about the California Missions).

I just couldn't resist the opportunity to share this picture on my blog site. Yes - it is what you think. The hides help give some privacy. Above was a VERY LONG HORNED, long horn steer.

Below on the left are burrows - on the right are horses.

Sheep and goats in the field above, a turkey that loved showing his big chest feathers. This mission had the fields ready to be planted, herb gardens, the system used to bring water in, fruit trees, all the rooms were furnished in the way they would have been used back then by the priests, soldiers, travelers, blacksmith, weavers,

cooks, etc. I have many more pictures that could have been posted but I'll spare you. You may not enjoy it as much as I did.

So there you have it. Our exciting escape to Lompoc, California. It isn't a place I would choose to go to again, but I enjoyed the time we were there.