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A BA, a bottle, and three blue men

Contributed by: Tonnie Cremisino on 11/9/2007

I am still recovering from the most eventful week ever! On October 26th, my husband Andy, my son Noah, his girlfriend Kate, and I jumped in the car and headed to California.

We finally arrived in Ventura, CA, at about 8 PM on Saturday, the 27th; meeting my other son, Nathan, and his girlfriend, Sarah, at everyone's favorite California burger joint, " In N Out".

Sunday morning started off in Santa Barbara, with Nathan's graduation from Brooks Institute of Photography, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, an achievement award, and a departmental award. All of Nathan's hard work had paid off . .. what a celebration that was!

I imagine that is goes without saying that we are incredibly proud of him!! After a quick lunch, the six of us drove about 2 1/2 hours to Shafter, for the wedding of friends, Melissa and Nick, which started at 3:00 PM. Quite the full day, for the beginning of our trip!

Monday allowed for some relaxation and visiting time over a leisurely breakfast, time at the beach, and dinner on the wharf . . . much needed, since Tuesday promised to be another big day!

Tuesday morning arrived, and Noah took Kate north to a little Scandinavian town, called Solvang, for the day. Nathan, Andy and I got right to work! We had our work cut out for us.

Little did Kate know, but there was a proposal being planned!! Noah had left us with SIX Pages of instructions, which included a trip to Home Depot, Michael's, Linens N Things, and Trader Joe's. Our purchases included a shovel, a file, Spanish moss, a bamboo pole, cloth napkins, cheese, crackers, fruit and chocolates.

Once the shopping lists had been fulfilled, we headed to Ellwood Beach, in Goleta (near Santa Barbara). Our job was to "plant" a bottle, a flag, a picnic basket, and a locked wooden box. Our work was done, and it was time to sit back and watch . . .

Kate, believing that our dinner plans had changed from 5 PM to 7PM, was happy to stop at the beach with Noah to look for migrating butterflies, and watch the sun set. However, it took some doing for him to get her off the cliff, and down on the beach, as she thought that watching the sun set from the cliffs would be just fine.

Well, he managed, and as they walked on the beach, low-and -behold, they found a bottle with half of a map in it! The map led to a flag, with a picnic basket nearby. The other half of the map was in the picnic basket, along with a key, which upon walking the designated 200 steps, led to a driftwood "X" on the sand.

Digging under the "X" produced a large, wooden, locked box, which Kate promptly opened with her newly-acquired key. Of course, inside the wooden box, under the moss, was a small, black, velvet box . . . with an engagement ring inside! Noah proposed, and happily, Kate accepted.

We celebrated together at a quaint, little Italian Restaurant in Santa Barbara, which closed our third day in California. Wednesday morning, Nathan flew to Florida to do some work for the Aero News Network, at Kennedy Space Center; Noah and Kate headed to Fresno and San Francisco to visit some of their friends, and Andy and I drove south to visit his mom, and then drop him off at the airport to return to Castle Rock, for work.

While Noah and Kate were gone, I visited several friends and did some shopping. On Friday morning, which was Noah's and my birthday, we met back up, had a wonderful breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with some of our dearest California friends, and then hit the road.

Friday afternoon, we were in Las Vegas, and trying to decide how to spend our evening. I spoke with Andy, and he said that he wanted us to enjoy a show for our birthday; so we got tickets to the Blue Man Group. What fun that was!! Very entertaining!!

Even though we were in Las Vegas for less than a day, the show made it well worth the stop-over! I only wish that Andy, Nathan and Sarah could have been with us.

The drive home on Saturday was beautiful, the weather, perfect. As I drove, I reflected on all of the blessings and wonderful experiencesfrom the trip.It was an amazing week, but, as always, it's good to be home. I'm almost rested up from my "vacation".


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Michael Rule
posted on 11/10/2007 @ 9:10:31 AM
Rated Story
Great story! Road trips are a mandatory story/photos here! Hope you keep writing! Always wanted to see "the blue men"
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Tonnie Cremisino

Castle Rock , CO

Tonnie Cremisino has posted 1 story and 0 comments since joining on 11/8/2007. Tonnie Cremisino 's average story rating is 5.
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