Pig Races and More

We had a nice trip to California, to visit our son and his family.

A bright, red California Poppy.

We took walks along the ocean and to parks, the grandkids rode their bikes, we went to the harbor, and enjoyed the ocean scenes.

Pacific Ocean

We made home-made cards and lemonade (from the lemons off their tree) with the grandkids. Later the grandkids had fun setting up a lemonade stand on their driveway in front of their house.

A lemon tree.

And, we took the grandchildren to a carnival. That’s where we watched the pig races. At the carnival we went on a few rides (including a pony ride) looked at animals in the animal barn, ate a picnic lunch and finished just in time for the Pig Races.

I am on the roller coaster with our granddaughter.

There was a race track set up for the pig race, and the show began. Eight adorable pigs (I don’t know what kind they were) were trained to run this horseshoe-shaped track. Four pigs at a time were let out to run from one end to the other where their reward of food awaited them. Spectators, young and old, gather all along the racetrack to watch and “squeal” with delight! There is a second race with four more pigs. The first-place winner and runner-up of the two races competed in the final race for the championship title. The spectators were broken into four cheering sections for the final race. I’m sad to say our pig, Strawberry, did not win.  

Children loved to watch and cheer the pigs on, but I think adults enjoyed it too. Just maybe…we might enjoy the races most because we’re with the grandkids.

(Unfortunately, I was not in a good spot to take photos of the pig races.)

Bird’s eye view of the Pacific Ocean.

Earthquakes and Fireworks

Bearutiful Santa Barbara: Ocean on one side, mountains on the other.

We were in southern California last week, with our son and his beautiful family, when a 6.4 and 7.1 earthquake hit, on two separate mornings. The significantly high-magnitude earthquakes happened over 100 miles from where we were staying. We didn’t feel any tremors from either one, but a lot of folks in our area did. It was interesting to find out about the earthquakes simply by hearing others talking about their experiences. I’m grateful there were no injuries, and we were safe.

A view of the rooftop pool area.

Another event of significance on our visit to southern California was the Independence Day fireworks.

We were able to witness some outstanding fireworks set off over the ocean beach, and we were able to watch them from the rooftop pool area of our hotel, one block away from the water. The rooftop area has incredible 360* views and it was a special place to ouuu and ahhh over the stunning display.

Lemon trees growing in pots…their fragrance is delightful.

Various flowers growing all over the waterfront area added additional color to our 4th of July trip to Santa Barbara. Here are a few photographs.