Due south

What a diff'rence a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain
Dinah Washington 1959

Tuesday 18th
Left Lorettas for the long journey south in the rain and the rain and the rain.
It didn't stop all day.
Highway 101 is a pretty road in places but we saw little of it.
Spent the night in San Louis Obispo and went back to the Apple Farm for dinner.
Bad move.
They say never go back for a good reason. It never matches up to your memories.
Too true. The menu had changed, the waiter was snobby and the food was adequate.
We did manage to retake some photos which we lost last year.

Weds 19th
Woke up to glorious sunshine and drove down the rest of 101 in fair weather.
Stopped in a lovely town called Arroyo Grande where we saw yet another pretty little church.
Back on the road again we got as far as Santa Barbara and decided our appetites needed obeying so we pulled off at the next available junction posted Summerlands.
Would you believe it? Exactly the same place as we'd stopped last year after travelling down Scenic Route 1 from Monterey!
We ate in the same place too and that was as good as before.

Thurs 20th
Went to Nancy & Michaels and met up with Harvey & Sheila (Val's brother & wife) who had arrived from their travels earlier in the week. (They'll pop up more often in our tales later).
That night Val & I went to visit the Pasadena Barbershop chorus.
We got to their regular meeting place to find a school disco in full swing.
Luckily I was able to log onto the 'net on my laptop via someone else's unsecured wireless link and eventually managed to find out where they had moved to.
We arrived just as they were reading the notices and I was immediately given a seat with the basses.
I had a great night's singing both with the chorus and in quartet, octet and whatever 'tet we could get together.
Thanks guys for a real warm welcome.
Before we left we had been invited to a carol singing get together on the following night and also to their Christmas get together next week.
Oh. I nearly forgot to mention that the Crown City Chorus are mighty fine singers too, under the strict, funny and loquacious leadership of John Minsker.

Friday 21st.

Had a walk around Pasadena today. Visited the Town Hall and the nearby Library which was the most beautiful we've ever been in.

Back to Mike & Nancy's where we had an early dinner in expectation of a trip to see the lights in Griffith Park. This didn't pan out so Val & I left for our carol singing instead.
We found the house which is in the Hastings Ranch area. Virtually every house in every street had joined together to provide a feast of Christmas lights the like of which you've never seen.
Each road had a theme and very few householders had not joined in the festivities.
Mike & Marlene were our hosts and their house faces a tee junction.

This is the house opposite

About 30 of us stood on their lawn and sang carols to the audience, passing in a never ending stream of cars. We were accompanied by one of their daughters on her flute. Magical.
We even had a cabaret spot by Sprite the puppy who 'sang' to Mikes harmonica.
The Cider punch went a good way to restoring the warmth to our bodies once we got indoors.
Another memorable evening.

Sat 22nd
Another day of wandering and sightseeing and getting this blog updated.
Hard work this blogging!