Being away for 8 months, traveling around 20 countries in 4 continents, can you imagine what an overload of stimulating impressions we had? We experienced many flavors, we listened to a wide variety of music, we lived in many different places, most of them very comfortable, some not so much, but hey! We would do all this over and over again. There is nothing in the world that makes you richer than traveling!

And now we are back in California and do you know why? Check out my photos and you’ll know why…

Thank god for all the rain, because the wildflowers love it. And we love the wildflowers!

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk with company”

Ricky Gervais

We saw a variety of Lupines, Cream Cups, Popcorn flowers, Daisies, Tidy Tips, Sun Cups, Red Maids, and many more.

This whole weekend was so much fun! We hiked at Santa Lucia Memorial Park near the San Antonio Mission. Fortunately the rattlesnake didn’t mess up our dinner plans at “In Bloom”, a new Michelin Star restaurant in Paso Robles, that didn’t promise too much: the food was delicious, the service was professional, the wine exceptional (thanks to Michael!) and the drinks were tasty and fun…

All the wildflower photos were taken around Carizzo Plain National Monument, a short drive East of Paso Robles, where we just experiences a picture perfect day with sun, clouds, happy cows and an abundance of vibrant colors!

Slowly but steadily we sink in to “normal” again! We cook our favorite food, we hike our favorite trails, we visit our favorite wineries, etc. Life is good!

NCNC is the North County Newcomer Group that we joined ~1.5 years ago. Around 400 group members mingle at different gatherings, from hiking to biking, eating and drinking, to photography and knitting. There are convertible car lovers, yoga, book clubs, game groups, line dancing, gardening and interior design groups and all those other groups I forgot to mention 😵‍💫 I’m part of the tangled treasures group (textile art), yoga and book club, Ted and I joined the wine group, hiking (of course), and the AHHH, the At-Home-Happy-Hour group, which is divided up into groups of ~10 people, who meet once a month at somebodies house with an appetizer and drinks to share. Every 6 months the groups will be reconfigured, so you end up in another group and get to know other people. Meetings at our house always happen outside in the garden. Hosting 8 or 10 other people would make our tiny house explode 🙃

Traveling around for 8 month came finally to an end. We were not ready for this, we didn’t look forward to this and we were asking ourselves: why are we going home already?

Returning in January means ( for Edith): it is cold, wear boots and a warm jacket! For Ted it means: California, here we come!

So we arrived at 8am at the cruise terminal in LA when Timo & Dana picked us up and we went to breakfast.

Sticker Shock #1: we ordered 3 breakfast dishes (Ted and I shared one since we have had breakfast on the ship already), we ordered 3 coffees, 1 tea and 1 orange juice. Breakfast was very good, service was very nice, the price was a shock: $100

We love to go to farmers markets, markets, Mercado, Mercado Central, etc. Discovering fruits and herbs, spices and vegetables and all kinds of goodies. Tough was the cruise ship voyage, where the general policy is to not take any food or drink off the ship and not bring anything onto the ship. So our market visits always ended without goodies, the only thing we could take were photos! Being back in California, we immediately visited our local farmers market in Templeton. There we finally could buy stuff to cook our meals and enjoy local fruits and vegetables. But we had forgotten, that out of all 20+ countries we visited these last 8 months, by far the most expensive place is called home!

Sticker Shock #2: we bought 1 spaghetti squash $13, 1 bread $12, 1 frozen chicken $23 and some more veggies. The idea of having lunch somewhere was not so appealing anymore. Better go home and cook some soup!

We also went to a local supermarket where we saw this: next to the cash register are the batteries. And they are locked up! Wonder why? Do people steal batteries now? Or are they afraid that little children will eat them? Or do you have to be 21 years old to buy them nowadays? Questions, we have lots of questions…..

Coming home and getting settled in will take a while I guess…..