Santa Clarita

Saturday, October 26, was the start of a much needed vacation.  I was going to go to Santa Clarita to visit some relatives, and just relax.  I decided to take the long, scenic route, and I was glad I did.  I hopped onto the 1100 flight to Seattle, and then connected down to Portland.  I was treated to some amazing views of the Cascade volcanoes.

                        (Mt. St. Helens, with Mt. Adams in the background)

                       (Mt. St. Helens, looking at the north side)
I arrived in Portland, and then my final flight was on the "Alaska" side of the airline.  I was connecting to Los Angeles.  That flight was pretty boring, and as soon as I got to the airport, I took the Flyaway bus to Van Nuys.  From there, I waited for my Aunt and Uncle to come and pick me up, and then go back to there place in Santa Clarita.  But not without a stop for dinner at In & Out. :)

The next day was pretty relaxed.  We went to church, and then spent the afternoon at a family's house.  They were celebrating that my Uncle David was approved for a pastoring job in Indiana.  They will be moving later this year.

The next morning when my cousins went to school, Uncle David and I went down to the Simi Valley to visit the Ronald Reagan library.  I had been there when I was a kid, but didn't remember much.  And they had added more exhibits since then.  The museum did an excellent job of portraying his life, and legacy.

                               (Air Force One)

                                  (Marine One)
After we finished the museum, we continued on to Ventura, where we had some pretty good fish and chips for lunch.  We walked along part of the pier, and went to the National Park Visitor Center for the Channel Islands.  They played a great film on all the islands.  I definitely want to return and go onto one of the islands at some point.

We drove back to Santa Clarita, and then later all my cousins and Aunt and I went to an event where they had scarecrow contests, and you could buy pumpkins.  There were some good ones, but I think my favorite was a duck dynasty one.

The next day, I just helped my Uncle pack up some things, and then later that night we all carved pumpkins.  I helped my little cousin Clayton carve his.  He wanted a star wars storm trooper theme.  It seemed that he picked the most difficult design out of everyone's.

The next morning I was up bright and early.  Rather than flying out of LAX again, my uncle took me to Burbank.  The flight was wide open so I had no problem getting to Seattle, and then back to Boise from there. :)