Where in the world are Lynn & Matt?

Its been a while and many have wondered where we have been...



...at a beautiful Hawaiian waterfall?







...at a tropical botanic garden?







...at a historic medival castle?







...on a beautiful beach with a view?

Any guesses where we are?

...

...







I bet you didn't guess

Matt and I acted like kids and enjoyed a round of minature golf a couple of months ago--I just never got around to posting the pictures.

Hiking

I am so far behind on my blog posting. Hopefully I'll take the time during my recovery to catch up on some of our California adventures!

Last month, on April 10th, Matt and I took an impromptu trip up the mountain for a little hike around the lake with the pups. Matt wanted to really hike, but I was more interested in taking pictures of our beautiful surroundings. The dogs loved playing fetch in the lake and I loved the light as the sun set behind the mountains. We didn't get much exercise but I hope you enjoy the view!

Mom's Visit - Temecula Wine Country

Mom's last weekend here we decided to go down to Southern California's wine country -- Temecula. Matt and I visited Temecula once in 2005 when I was living in San Diego and we were eager to go back!

The first winery we visited was (in my opinion, the best) Callaway Vineyard & Winery. We got there in time for a few samples, then their guided tour of the winery. After we sampled some more and bought a couple of bottles, we had a wonderful lunch at their restaurant Meritage.

We visited a couple of more wineries then made a trip downtown for some shopping-surprisingly we didn't buy anything else!

I was a wonderful way to end Mom's January visit! We hope she is booking another trip out here soon!

Mom's visit--Surf City USA & Cirque

Mom, Matt and I headed over to Huntington Beach early on Sunday to watch the last Cowboys play-off game (at the time, we didn't know it was the last!).
Matt did a lot of research and found Longboards, which had the perfect breakfast/bar to spend the morning cheering on our team. Much to our surprise, after we ate breakfast and watched the game for over an hour, Mom went out and took a picture of our restaurant---we were at no-ka-oi (which means 'the Best' in Hawaiian) not Longboards (which is next door)! Oh well, the food was great and the waitstaff was very friendly.
By the time the game was over (and of course the Cowboys lost) we had also lost out on our nice sunny weather. The clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up. We still ventured out to the pier and took in all the sights in Huntington Beach (aka Surf City USA).

Our big activity for the weekend was the Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza, under the big tent in Irvine. We have been to a couple of Cirques together and, as always, we were not disappointed! I hope that we can go see a Cirque du Soleil in Vegas soon!

Mom's visit continued...Mission Inn

One Sunday afternoon while Mom was here we decided to go down to Riverside to visit the Mission Inn and shop at a few antique stores. Surprisingly, we didn't buy anything at the antique stores (I was looking for some knobs for my newly painted desk--pictures to follow. Thanks Mom! but I didn't find any.)

We had planned to walk through the Mission Inn Museum and take a stroll through the public areas of the Inn. Luckily when we got to the museum they were just about to start the guided tour so we joined the group. We learned a lot about the history and architecture of the inn and enjoyed our behind the scenes tour.

Mom's Visit

We were lucky to have Mom visiting us for the past two weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't have any extra time off (just the weekends) but we took advantage of every minute we had together to go out and explore!

This picture was taken from our front yard on Friday morning after all of the snow up in the mountains.


I had to show Mom my new stomping ground in Loma Linda. This is the Heart & Surgical Hospital (or locally known as HSH) where I rotated in October and November. It is the newest and smallest of the Loma Linda surgical facilities.



After exploring around town we drove up the mountain to beautiful Lake Arrowhead where we shopped, explored and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.