Welcome to the Desert:)

We are officially in the desert! The desert is an interesting place. I would never want to live here, but it is a great place to visit. We went to the small town of Campo because they are supposed to have a pretty cool railroad museum, but the museum was closed and there really wasn’t much else to do in the town.  We asked a local what else there was to do in town, but there wasn’t anything else. I guess that can be expected when you are in the desert. We decided to stay at a campground not too far from Campo called Sacred Rocks Reserve.  It was a very well kept campground with nice bathrooms and great hiking trails. 

When ever I think about hiking I think about mountains, dirt and tall trees, but that is probably because I'm from Northern California. In Nor Cal there are an abundance of great mountain hikes with tons of beautiful greenery surrounding you as you hike up a mountain. Well, when you're in the desert there is a lot of dirt with mostly hills to hike and an abundance of boulders. Oh, yeah there are also cactus' and lots of shrubbery. Although, it is not as beautiful as the Sierra's, it still has a beauty of it's own; I think I might be bias to Northern California. 

Hiking

The highlight of the desert for me so far has been visiting the Desert View Tower in Jacumba, CA The Tower was built as a monument for all the pioneers who were able to cross the treacherous desert lands. It was built in the 1800s and it is four stories high built from stone. The view from the top is amazing. Next to the tower is a boulder cave that has carvings in the rocks dating back 500 years ago. The guy running the place said there were hot springs further up the hill, about a five minute hike. Alex and I followed the signs for the springs up the hill and about five minutes into the hike we come to a place with a bunch of rocks. Strangely, there were some metal springs attached to the rocks. I kind of joked and said, "Oh, look Hot Springs." pointing to the metal springs that someone attached to boulder. Alex and I giggled a bit and then kept hiking up the hill. Well, there were no more signs for the springs and there was no sign of hot water springs anywhere.  Very funny....the metal springs we saw were the "Hot Springs." I thought that was pretty clever, but I could see someone not thinking it was very funny. I guess it depends on your sense of humor. 

View of the desert from the tower

Can you see the face?

Boulder Cave

After the Desert tower we made our way to El Centro, CA. It is not the greatest town. It smells like sulfur and cow manure, and they have every chain restaurant and shopping store you can think of. It was nice to have some familiarity, but it doesn't make the place very interesting. We saw the movie "Country Song" while we were there and it was a pretty decent movie.

We are going to the see the Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain tomorrow. Salvation Mountain was in that movie "Into the Wild." I'm pretty excited about seeing it.

I Love San Diego!

We have been in San Diego for the past few days and I have absolutely loved it! San Diego is an amazing place. I have been here a few times before, but didn't really appreciate the awesomeness that San Diego exudes. If you have never been here, then please put it on your list of cities to visit before you die. It's that good! God has blessed us with warm weather and sunshine; that is always a plus. I've noticed that I have more fun when the weather is nice. Funny how that works out:) The reason why I think San Diego is so awesome is because it is beautiful, tons of site-seeing, beautiful sunsets, beautiful parks, beautiful architecture, big city, but doesn't feel over crowded, and the list could go on and on. I don't think I would ever be bored if I lived here. I now understand why the people that live here never want to leave.

Alex and I visited Old Town San Diego, which has been very well preserved to it's original layout and style. The First mission in California was built there, but was relocated to a place 6 miles away from the town due to insufficient water supply. We had a real fun time walking around. Most of the shop keepers and museum employees in Old Town are dressed up in 1800s style clothing, which adds to the old town ambiance. Alex and I learned some old gambling games and I won most of the games; I guess Alex was running bad. We watched a few ladies make a quilt together, watched a black smith pound some iron, and sampled homemade deer and buffalo jerky. All the activities in Old Town were free. I love it when I can be amused for free. It's much more satisfying.

Quilt making

Old Cathedral

Black Smith Shop

Delicious, but weird combo

Gambling

We walked quite a bit through Balboa Park. The Park is right in the middle of San Diego and it is very beautiful. We enjoyed walking through a cactus grove and then walking by the San Diego Zoo. My favorite part of Balboa Park was the part with all the museums because the buildings that the museums are in are magnificently beautiful. Extremely detailed art decorates the outside of the buildings. It was an amazing place.

Crazy cactus tree. I've never seen anything like it

The museum of Man

Indoor Botanical Garden in the background

We also walked through the Gas Lamp district, which is more towards Downtown San Diego. The Gas Lamp district wasn't too spectacular, but still a very enjoyable experience. The bums like to hang out in that area, and it looks much like any other downtown area that has lots of old buildings and sky rises. On our way through the Gas Lamp area we walked through Seaport Village. It's a really cute village with little shops and restaurants. It has small town charm amongst a huge downtown sky scraper area. 

Seapoat Village

We did have a few problems with our van since we've been down here in San Diego. We weren't really sure what the problems were, but something was wrong. We got the oil changed and the mechanic told us that the suspension needed to be fixed because there was abnormal wear on the front left tire. Alex didn't pay much attention and we went on our happy way. Later Alex took a look at the tire to see how much wear it had and he said it looked pretty bad. So, we decided that we would take the van in to get that problem fixed. Then as we were driving the break pedal kept sticking every time Alex pressed down on the breaks. If it's not one thing then it's another, right? We seriously do not want to pour money into this van if more stuff is going to keep on going wrong. Alex said to me. "Anna, before we take this to another mechanic we have to decide how much we are willing to spend and if it is going to cost more than we want to spend, then we might just have to sell the van and take a trip to Australia or Europe." I just sat there silent for a while. I'm not ready for our across country trip to be over, I still have so much more I want to see in The U.S., and I don't want to have to change our blog name. I suggested that if the cost of the repairs are too much, then should we take the train all over America, then we could still see most of the places we want to see in the U.S., but before we start spitting out all these alternative traveling ideas we need to pray and let God guide us. Alex was pretty excited about the train idea. We prayed for a while asking God to guide us in the right direction and to fix our bus and I just felt like God was going to take care of us. I felt okay with whatever direction he was going to lead us.

We decided on a money amount that we did not want to exceed on repairing our van and today we took our van to a mechanic for an estimate. Praise God it wasn't anything crazy! The suspensions were fine, we just needed to re-align the wheels and the brake problem only needed some WD-40. Wow! That was pretty amazing! The cost of that repair was only a tenth of what we were willing to spend. So, we are back on track with our travel plans and tomorrow we head east.

Back to So Cal

Alex and I made it to San Diego okay, but it was quite the adventure. We hopped on a train in Sacramento on Jan 2^nd at 6:30am and arrived in Bakersfield on time for our bus transfer to LA and from LA we were going to catch a train Oceanside. Well, we left Bakersfield at around noon and we got about 15miles away from the grapevine on I-5 and Alex and I noticed that the wind was blowing like crazy. There was a little rain and it was coming down sideways. Alex and I saw a bird trying to fly in the distance, but it was just staying in one spot in the air and being pushed backwards at times. It was actually pretty funny to watch the bird try to fly. I didn’t have internet reception on my phone to check the weather, so I texted my sister to check the weather to see how fast the wind was blowing. The traffic on I-5 was bumper to bumper and people were driving their cars on the side lanes to try to get ahead of the traffic; I hate it when cars do that. My sister texted to me that the weather said the winds were only 14mph, but it looked way faster than 14mph. Later I found out that the winds were actually 50-60mph with gusts of 90mph. So, crazy. If we had of been driving the VW van then we probably would have tipped over.  The rain eventually turned into snow and it was so bad that it looked like we were in a blizzard. I didn’t even know the weather got that bad in that area, but supposedly it’s not the first time that area has experienced that type of weather. I-5 was eventually closed down and we were forced to go back the other way. The bus driver took us back to Bakersfield and then we were rerouted through the Tehachapi Mountains which is in the direction of the Mojave Desert. Traffic wasn’t any better taking the alternative route. As we were driving through the mountains it began to snow and it really came down. 

Tehachapi Mountains

The roads got really icy and at one point the bus wheels began to slip. I thought we might have to turn back, but we made it through. It took a total of 8 hrs to get from Bakersfield to LA. I was so hungry and we had just enough time to grab a sandwich before getting on our train in LA to Oceanside. Our total travel time from Sacramento to Oceanside was 14hrs. I was so exhausted. Our friend Peggy Marinello picked us up from the train station and drove us to her house where our van was parked. It was so nice to see our bus again. 

We stayed with Peggy for two nights and it rained the entire time we were there. I came to the conclusion that the rain was following us. It rained the entire week before we got back to Sacramento, it rained almost the entire time we were in Sacramento, and then it was still raining when we arrived back in Southern California. So, I think it really was following us. While we were at Peggy’s we visited some more friends that I met at the family camp CFO; the Odash’s. We stopped by their house and it was Dan Odash’s birthday. His whole family was there including his parents. Dan's parents have been married for 58 years and while we were there Dan turns to his dad and says, “In all the years you’ve been married, what is the worst argument you two have had?” Dan’s father says, “We were playing cards and she laid down her hand and then I laid down my hand that trumped her hand. She then said to me, ‘you horses ass.’” Everyone in the room breaks into laughter. Dan’s mom then says with a very serious look on her face, “I was really upset at him when he did that.” They were such a cute old couple. If that is the worst argument they have had all the years they been married, then they have had a good marriage.  

Ocean Cave in La Jolla

Alex and I left the Marinello’s this afternoon and are in La Jolla now. The sun has finally come out and it was actually warm enough today to wear sandals. Our plan is to stay in the San Diego area for a few days and then head east into Arizona. I’m going to try to blog about every two to three days so that my blogs don’t get too long and so that I don’t try to cram a bunch of info in one blog.

La Jolla

Sandal Weather, finally!

meditating

Yay for sun!

We spent New Year’s in Tahoe and here are a few pics from that trip as well.

Cabin view

gotta shovel the snow to get to the door

good way to keep the drinks cold!

so much snow!

awwwww

it's snowing

Back in Sac for the Holidays!

Alex and I have been back in Sacramento since Dec 22nd. I know it is lame we haven't been blogging recently. I was in Huntington Beach the last time I blogged. I'm going to make this one short.
We went to Laguna Beach and that is definitely a place I would love to go back and visit. It rained the entire time we were there and not sprinkles, it was heavy rain. It seemed like a very artsy community. Every store had some type of art gallery along with whatever else they were selling; food, clothes, jewelery, etc. We had coffee at a bohemian-esque place called "The Koffee Klatch." I got an Aztec Mocha, which is basically a mocha with cinnamon added to it. The cinnamon was really peppery. I enjoyed it. Alex and I used an umbrella as we walked around the town and that was quite the experience. It was a rather small umbrella and both Alex and I were under it. Alex was trying to hold it so that the umbrella protected both of us from the rain. Alex is 6'4" and I'm 5'6" so as hard as he is trying to keep both of us from getting wet, he wasn't doing a very good job keeping the rain off of me. I tell him to bring the umbrella close to his head and he says he can't see if he does that. I then tell him that I can still see, so I'll just have to guide the both of us as we walk through the pouring rain. Our walk didn't last very long because the rain was so bad. Our umbrella almost went flying the other direction turning it inside out. We checked the weather and were notified of warnings of flash-flooding and mud slides in the entire area including San Diego area, which was next on our destination list. We spent a lot of time in the bus, taking naps, browsing the internet, and playing games on our phones. There really wasn't much to do aside from trying to occupy ourselves in our van. Laguna Beach seemed like it would be a really fun town to go back to see.

Our last stop before coming back to Sacramento was in Vista, Ca. Vista is about 45min from San Diego and about 15 min from the Amtrak station in Oceanside. Alex and I decided to leave our van with some friends in Vista and then take the train back to Sacramento. That way the whole driving situation wouldn't feel so rushed to get back for the holidays. We stayed with Len and Peggy Marinello and I was so glad that we were able to leave our van with them. They are a couple that I met at a family camp growing up, CFO, which stands for Camps Farthest Out. If you want to know more about it you can google it. I'm trying to make this blog short, so yeah. Anyways, The Marinello's are a very lovely and hospitable couple. Peggy Marinello loves to talk and share all kinds of random stories. She is a great story teller and they are always interesting. There wasn't a dull moment while we were with them.

Our plan was to catch the train the next morning. It poured rain the entire night and at 7am I got a call from Amtrak telling me our train had been canceled due to flooding on the tracks and two reported mud slides. Are you serious??? Canceled?? All trains were canceled from San Diego to San Juan Capistrano. We found out that we could catch the train in San Juan, but that meant our morning was going to be a little more rushed. San Juan was an hour away from Vista. Thankfully, Len Marinello was more than willing to drive us the extra distance.  The entire day was just more stress for me. Alex wasn't really that stressed out, which was probably a good thing, because if both of us were stressed that would be a recipe for disaster. Our train in San Juan was an hour late. Then I was worried about missing out bus transfer in LA, but we made it. Then our train in Bakersfield was two hours late. We got back to Sacramento at midnight and I was so glad to finally make it here.

Since we've been in Sac it has been great. We had a wonderful Christmas with family and we have already been able to catch up with friends. Not everyone is reading our blogs, so I've re-told a lot of the stories I've already blogged about to friends and and family, which is fine. Re-telling these stories actually makes me look forward to getting back on the road. After the Holidays we will be headed east. Alex and I leave again on January 2nd. So, I won't be blogging again until after the New Year. Thanks for reading!

The big city of LA

Alex and I are now officially in the LA area. I find it to be very over-crowed and too big. It's such a large area that its is hard to find some thing to do. I know that sounds weird, right? Well, after leaving Santa Barbara we went to Ventura, but decided not to stay because it didn't look like that great of a town. We found a 24hr fitness in Oxnard. Have you ever heard of it? I had never heard of it, but it has a population of over 100,000 people and that's a lot of people. We worked out for a bit. It was basically a stopping point before going to Malibu/Santa Monica. We stayed over night at a fairly decent part of town, so it seemed. The houses looked nice, the shopping center was well taken care of, but then I used a bathroom at the Subway Sandwich store and there was a ton of vandalism. I thought, "Wow, I wouldn't have expected the bathroom to look like this in such a nice looking shopping complex."  Then later that day I used the bathroom at a Vons store in the same lot and it was even more vandalized than the Subway store bathroom. Graffiti all over the walls and the mirror entirely scratched up, the toilet paper dispenser completely torn off the wall, and the toilet seat cover dispenser burned in some places. I almost took a picture.  It looked so out of place compared to the very well kept shopping center.

Malibu

We drove through Malibu and tried to find a place to park along the beach, but the entire beach front in Malibu is privately owned. So basically no access to the public. We then decided to go straight onto Santa Monica. We rode our bikes along the Santa Monica beach strip and spotted some dolphins playing the water. I was hoping to see a celebrity, but no luck there. I think I might have seen Germaine from the T.V show Flight of the Conchords, but I can't say for sure. I'm like 50% sure. Who knows. Alex suggested we stay at a hotel for the night and I was all for that. We found a Best Western in town and Alex has Best Western points from staying at the hotels while traveling with his old job, so we got to stay at the hotel for free. It was so nice to sleep in a normal bed again and watch T.V. We saw the movie Black Swan that night and it was really good. I don't want to give any of the movie away, but I loved the symbolism. It keeps you thinking after the movie is over and I always like that when a movie is made like that. Anyways, if you don't mind violence and sex then go see it.

Santa Monica

Taking a break from our bike ride

Universal City Christmas Tree

Then the rain began. Southern Cal hardly ever gets rain and the rain had to come while we were down here. We still wanted to venture out in the Hollywood and Beverly Hills area even if it was sprinkling. We spontaneously drove to Universal Studios and paid fifteen bucks for parking only to find out that the actual park was going to be $150 for the both of us. Yeah, that's a little too much to be spending. So, we didn't go and I was sad about that. We did take a few pics of Universal City and Hollywood.

Universal Studios Globe

Universal City

In Hollywood baby!

Can you see the Hollywood sign?

It's really all a blur of what we did after Santa Monica because we haven't really done much. It's been raining for the last four days and most of our time has been spent in our bus or at a coffee shop.

Today we are in Huntington and this morning I googled "church" and found the church Calvary Baptist. It was close by to where we were staying and decided to go. It was definitely a good choice. It is a bigger church so I didn't think we would get noticed, but I was wrong. People welcomed us and noticed we were visiting. We met a very friendly couple, Jake and Rachel, and Jake invited us to his house for lunch. We had lunch and chatted for a long while. In the afternoon we went to a church service with Jake and some people from the church. It was in Riverside and we took the church bus over. The church was called Harvest Church. The pastor brought a really good Christmas Story message and I loved the way he told it. The title of his message was "A (messed up) Christmas Story." He started off talking about the genealogy of Jesus and pointed out that Jesus came from a pretty messed up family lineage; full of liars, murderers, prostitutes, and whores. God still blessed those people and sent Jesus to save us from our sins. It was a great message and very biblical. A ton of people accepted Christ into their hearts at the service, too. I was blessed.

Harvest Church Sanctuary

On the way back to Huntington a woman from Calvary Baptist started talking to us and we found out her husband used to be Mormon. Mormonism has all kinds of secret stuff, so of course we had to ask her about it. She actually knew a couple who used to be Mormon that worked in the Mormon Temple and before they announced to the church that they no longer believed in the religion they hid microphones in the temple and recorded some of the Mormon ceremonies. She told us about the marriage ceremony and it sounds pretty bizarre, but supposedly the different ceremonies are originally Masonic. Joseph Smith took the Free Mason ceremonies and started using them in his new found religion and the Free Masons didn't like that very much. They then sought out to kill Joseph Smith. The Free Masons have a phrase they call out when they need a fellow "brother" to help them,"My God , My Lord." As Joseph Smith was being shot at by some Masons he called out "My God, My Lord." Interesting, right?

The woman then began to tell us about her husband's conversion story to Christianity. It was an amazing story. Her husband had grown up in the Mormon Church, but she had grown up in a Christian home. His mother had tried converting her, but she wasn't having it. After about three months of marriage he came home upset and depressed. Mormons believe they know the "whole truth" while all other religions only know a smidgin of the truth. He looks at his wife and says, "How come I feel so empty and sad when I'm supposed to know the whole truth and you are always so happy and you only know a little bit of truth?" She looks at him and says, "You just need to ask Jesus into your heart." He looks at her and sarcastically says, "Oh yeah, and how do I do that?" Mormons believe they have more of Jesus in them than any other person. So, her response to him seemed very silly. She was 18 years old at that time and had never led someone to Christ before. She wasn't really sure what say. So, she ran next door to get a neighbor that went to her church to lead her husband in the "sinners prayer." The neighbor tells her husband to repeat the "sinners prayer" after her. As the neighbor starts praying the husband's facial expression gets really weird and he can't repeat any of the words she is saying. His body is thrown to the floor and his wife and the neighbor had no idea what was going on. The wife had grown up in a Penecostal church, so she thought maybe her husband was demon possessed. He had felt like something very dark had come over him and it was pulling him to the ground making it so that he couldn't speak or even breathe. At that point he knew he deserved to go to hell and that God was a just God if he did go to hell. His wife was so scared and she yelled out "Help us Jesus!" Then the husband was able to get out the words, "Jesus save me." At that moment he came out this agonizing physical state of darkness and pain. He ran to his room and started ripping all the pages out of his Mormon bible while laughing. He was a "free" man. Mormonism no longer had a hold over him. He had finally found real truth. From that point on he has been a man who is constantly studying the word of God and that was 30 years ago. After hearing that story both Alex and I were amazed and said, "Wow, that is such an awesome story!" She replied, "Oh, that's actually a common experience for most Mormons who convert to Christianity."

The couple we met earlier invited us to stay at their place for the night. They are so hospitable and it is such a blessing. God has been very good to us today despite the bad weather. We have truly enjoyed good company, good conversation and good food. There is so much more I could write about today, but I'm going to end it here. 

Enjoying dinner with some new friends

More on travel with a bit of emotional stuff. Enjoy!

I am going to start off this blog entry with some emotional stuff I've been dealing with. Well, it's kind of emotional, but it depends how you look at it. Anyways, it is emotional for me. Before leaving Sacramento in November I had lost about 30lbs. In August I was the heaviest I had ever been. I felt ugly, fat and I was disgusted with myself for "letting myself go." That is when I set the goal to lose 50lbs. It was August 2nd to be exact. I was very dedicated and strict with my eating habits and exercise. I was losing almost 10lbs a month. That is pretty good for anyone who is trying to lose weight. I wasn't starving myself or exercising at the gym for 5 hrs a day. I simply walked for 4 miles six days a week, which takes about an hour and 15mins to do, and didn't eat over 1500 calories in one day. I never missed a day of walking and I think I might have went over on calories once or twice in a three month time span. I was eating a ton of fruits, vegetables, and nutritious stuff. My clothes started to feel comfortable to wear again and I even was able to get rid of some clothes that were too big. I had a really good routine that worked for me. Well, now that I'm on the road traveling that routine has basically dissolved. I haven't lost any more weight for about a month now. I have been fine on exercise because Alex and I walk or bike ride everyday pretty consistently, but the eating hasn't been so good. We have been eating at cafes and restaurants almost everyday. Eating out is almost always more calories than making your own food. It is hard not to eat out when traveling. I also haven't been as self-controlled when choosing what to eat on the menu. The other day I got fish and chips, that is a horrible thing for someone to order who is trying to lose weight. The entire meal is fried and then the tartar sauce is loaded with more fat. So, I'm feeling very conflicted. I love food so much. Everyone has some sin that they struggle with, whether it be gossip, stealing, lying, lust, or whatever, and mine is gluttony. Food is always on my mind. Alex has really been a nazi when it comes to eating lately. He has lost about 40lbs now. We both started our weight loss venture at around the same time. He is the one putting on the kibosh when I want to get a pastry or a cheeseburger. He makes me feel really bad for wanting to eat out so much and that's where the emotions come in. The other day I suggested going somewhere to eat and he got in a really bad mood. I asked him what was wrong and he was mad at me because he felt like I have given up on losing weight. Then I got upset because he was upset. Ugh. I reassured him that I haven't given up, but that I am struggling. I'm actually glad that he has been there to keep me in check, although it is not always fun. I really hate it that I love food so much. My twin brother is the opposite. He actually forgets to eat sometimes. Obviously food is not always on his mind. Well, that's the end of my food/emotional rant. Now on to more of our traveling adventures....

San Luis Obispo was fun. It was graduation week for the college students. The city was a little more crowded than usual. We headed down to Pismo Beach and that was a ton of fun! The sun was out. It got up to 80 degrees. Alex and I laid out on the beach for a few hours. It was so awesome! It is December and we were able to lay out on the beach in our bathing suits. It makes me wonder if people in SoCal know what its is like to experience different seasons. For the most part the weather is always warm. We watched the sunset on the beach and it was a beautiful thing. Another cool thing about Pismo was we went to a church service and almost everyone in the church went out of their way to introduce themselves to us. They were very friendly. We talked with the pastor for a little bit about our trip and he took us aside after the service to pray for us. I thought that was really neat.

Soooo sunny

Cool spider webs

Pismo Beach Sunset

After Pismo we went to the little town of Solvang. My Road Trip book calls it a "Tourist Trap Town." It was established in 1919 by Danish emigrants. The entire town is designed based on Danish architecture. It felt like we weren't in America anymore when we were there. I would definitely recommend going there if you have never been.

Danish Architecture church. Built in 1919

One of many windmills in the town

Before going into the town we went to Anderson's Pea Soup restaurant. I think that is where the restaurant first originated. They have many restaurants around California. I had to get their famous pea soup and it was good, but not as good as my Mom's pea soup.

When we were in Solvang we went to The Hans Christian Anderson museum and learned a little bit about his personal life. He is famous for all the fairytale stories, like Princess and the Pea, Hansel and Gretal, Cinderella, etc. He had a rather lonely life when it came to romance. He fell in love with three different women during his life and all three of them rejected him. He was a handsome man, but I think he was too subtle in showing his affections. He would write letters and poems to these women that hinted at his love for them, and in the meantime the were off getting ready to be engaged to someone else. Then when it was too late Hans would openly express his love. He died a bachelor, never to be married. By the way, that is a true story, I didn't make this one up:)




We have been in Santa Barbara for the last few days. It is a very beautiful city. It is known as the Red Roof City because most of the buildings are  of Spanish architecture. In 1929 there was an earthquake in Santa Barbara that devastated most of the town destroying over 600 buildings. After the earthquake the town decided that the buildings had to be rebuilt in Spanish style Architecture. It give the town a Mediterranean feel. It has been overcast yesterday and today, so that is not fun, but no rain. We met up with an old friend of mine from high school, Sarah Davis. It was really cool seeing her. We went to a lovely Mexican Restaurant. We rode our bikes down the beach trail and went by Ty Warner's house. He is the maker of beanie babies. His house was pretty big. We actually found where he lived from a local, I didn't actually know who Ty Warner was until the local told us about him. We have a week of traveling left until we will be back in Sacramento for Christmas and New Year's. I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends!   

Maander's cousin

On the wharf

You can see some of the red roofs in this pic.