Friday, April 27, 2012

Christmas 2011 Travels - Observances and Butterflies


Although it has been a few months since our travel to the Santa Barbara California during the Christmas holiday to see our daughter, many of the activities still are fresh in thought.

Some observations

ŸTraveling during the Christmas holidays has never been fun.  It still isn’t.  We did try to eliminate some hassle by driving to Midway Airport in Chicago to fly on Southwest Airlines non-stop to Los Angeles, eliminating cramped commuter planes and running through airports to make connections! It worked well.

ŸSouthwest has a unique way of loading their plane.  You are given a “place in line” number based on when you book your flight and also if you are willing to pay more to get on early.  You pick your seat once you get in the plane.  Surprisingly, it worked well, with little confusion.

 ŸA TSA screener found a small bottle of water in my carry-on.  It had been left over from my train trip last fall. Of course he kept it, but said next time to pour the water out on the dozens of potted trees and plants coming into the area.  They don’t confiscate empty bottles.  Then he said you can go fill it up with free water at one of the drink stations in the food court.  I did that coming back and also when I flew through our airport going to Florida recently.   Saves money, plants, and meets federal regulations!

ŸHave you ever noticed how beautiful the airport and public decorations seem prior to Christmas?  They don’t look as great between Christmas and New Year’s.  And they look down right bad and out of place after New Year’s!
 
ŸWe thought we were quite smart and frugal not taking a commuter flight from LAX to Santa Barbara, instead renting our car there.  NOT.  The commute of just 15 miles up Interstate 405 took an hour and 45 minutes.  But it was the Friday before the Christmas weekend…and Fridays are always a “get out of town” traffic event in Los Angeles.  I have an app on my “smart phone” called SigAlert, which shows traffic issues on freeways and major roads in major cities across the US.  If they are flowing well, the map shows them as green.  Orange means slow…and red is backed up.  But the time we got on our way most of the LA freeways were red!  Oh well, we weren’t in a huge hurry.  I have used that app on our return trip in LA and Chicago and again a couple times in Chicago.  It is helpful.

Christmas

We spent a great time with Lauren, went to a nice Christmas Eve party at nephew Steve’s.  On Christmas day we drove to Bakersfield and spent two days there visiting with sister-in-law Jean and nephews Brad and Tom and families.  Brad had everyone over and prepared a FANTASTIC meal…with a little help from other family members.

Butterfiles etc.

Of major interest to blog readers was our visit to the Ellwood Butterfly Grove near Santa Barbara. http://www.sblandtrust.org/coronado.html   As a Midwesterner, I just assumed all Monarch butterflies migrated to Mexico for the winter.  Not so. Monarchs in the western 1/4th of the US migrate to the California coast.  The Ellwood site is one of the larger gathering places.  The butterflies cling together to protect one another from the cool nights.  During the day, many of them will fly around the area, coming back to their pod frequently.  It was quite a site to see and is well worth the visit.  The height of the viewing period is December and January.

































We also made a quick visit to the Santa Barbara mission.  Seeing the nativity scene in front on Christmas Eve day gave great emphasis to the season!



One afternoon the three of us went our separate ways.  I spent some time in the Reagan Ranch Museum at the south end of downtown Santa Barbara.  The Reagan Ranch was purchased and is maintained by the Young America Foundation.  The ranch itself is not available to the public, but is frequently used for dignitaries and students of the YAF.  The museum is run by them and contains artifacts as well as quite interesting videos about the ranch and President Reagan.  It’s well worth the visit and is free!  http://www.yaf.org/TheReaganRanch.aspx





Of course you can’t go to Santa Barbara without a walk on the beach!  Although Lauren is a long way from us, we can’t feel too sorry for her, given the natural beauty of the area and the more moderate climate!

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