Travel Plans and Wedding Fun

Things have not necessarily been going as planned (with our travel plans, not my brother's wedding!). After spending so much time working on the VW bus, we got it "purring like kitten", but were never able to get it to pass emissions, and no emissions, no title/registration, no registration, no crossing the border. It was a frustrating last couple of days running back and forth between a VW repair shop (with a not-so-nice owner) and the emissions office (with a very nice and accommodating "Kentucky honey"). Lots of tries, but eventually time and options ran out so we called it quits and went for a nice long walk up into a nearby canyon and did a little work for Paul in the master bedroom he is remodeling. In between working on the car, we celebrated Paul's birthday, Keith's birthday, New Year's, and a crazy night out of bowling (where the girls dominated, thank you very much). Three days before the wedding we loaded up our Honda and headed southwest so we'd be at the wedding in time, sadly leaving the VW behind. Our plans were now completely open.....Central America, South America, Mexico, the SW USA, or just go on back home? How to decide.

On the way up Willard Canyon - about 10 miles north of Paul's house.


The whole group at the turnaround point:


A frozen waterfall.


We stopped overnight in Las Vegas as neither Keith nor I had ever seen the city. It is quite a place. We stayed in a hotel slightly off the strip and spent the evening walking up and down the strip marveling at it all. The only place we could find to rest our feet for a while was in front of a slot machine, so of course we threw a dollar in. Mine was some kind of Keno game, and on the first try I won $27! We are in a state where every dollar counts, so we took our winnings and walked away.

We hit the autobahns of LA the next day. I know everyone says it, but it is so true....the drivers here are absolutely crazy. You can be cruising along at 80 mph and be the slowest one on the road. Blinkers to change lanes? Not necessary, just find a pocket and go. Keith is adapting to this style of driving much better than I am.

We spent the day before the wedding doing some sight seeing before rushing off to the rehearsal dinner. The next day was all about the wedding. And a beautiful wedding it was. A perfect, sunny, southern California day, a stunning couple, amazing food, and some of the most beautiful wedding vows I've ever heard (they wrote their own). Lots of dancing and well wishing and then the couple was off to Kauai and we (Keith and I, mom and dad, and Aunt Irene) moved from our luxurious Hampton Inn back to the Hollywood area for more sight seeing and trip planning.

Everything was so beautiful.


Mom, Dad, Paul and his girlfriend, Heidi, who we had SO much fun getting to know!


Picture perfect.


We finally decided today our next plan of action. It's not much of a plan, but it'll get us through the next two weeks or so. We will leave our car here in LA, jump in the back of mom and dad's Explorer and hitch a ride with them down into Mexico. We'll travel with them for as far south as they are going, then move on to somewhere else from there be it more travel through Mexico on our own via public transport or maybe a flight to points further south. We'll see.

And that's it for now. We'll say goodbye to my aunt tomorrow, then head east and eventually south of the border!