Fall into Pilates

Hi All,

I had a most pleasant end of the summer driving down the coast of California from San Francisco to LA. The scenory was breath taking. I spent the first night at a classmates house near Monterey. The next day she and her sons took me in to the town of Monterey to the wharf and we drove down Cannery St. It was as if out of a Disney movie.
We than ventured to the 17 miles road in Pebble Beach. We stopped by the ocean a few times and really had a most enjoyable day. Great company and beautiful scenery!
I continued down the coast past the Big Sur and Hearst Castle (what a sight that was) even from the road.
The next day I went horseback riding at Circle Bar B Ranch. They have a truely awesome bed and breakfast, the riding trails and theatre all back off the highway on a 1.5 lane road.
That night I was in Marnina Del Rae. Since I forgot my swimsuit, I went shopping. I did find a suit for $20 and I visited the Victoria Secrets store. I spent two nights there and got to study with Marie Jose one the the great trainers in the Pilates world. My favourite place by there was Santa Monica, the beach was warm enough for swimming and there were 2 raw food restaurants there. Loveley place to sit by the beach and write. It is currently rated as 1 of 10 green cities in the US.
I left there and went north to Santa Barbara. What a pleasant surprise it was. I was greeted by a fellow bridge player and toured arount the whole town. There was a family event that took place on a little boat ride around the harbour. The boat, the little toot, was followed by 4 dolphins, we would turn to see them and they would turn. It was good fun that lasted about 20 minutes of dolphin entertainment.
I saw some of the wine country with 2 places of wine tasting! Each place had a different flavour. The second the one I perferred was set in New Orleans style with beads and lamps in the tasting room. I had never done a wine tasting before. I was very fearful of being ill, but they really know what they are doing when handing out the tasting in a special order.
After meeting my friends mother Dagmar Hegland, I can never be the same. What an outstanding lady of 86 years. I do wish she would finish her story before it is too late.
I was in Santa Barbara for 3 days and really got familiar with where to drive.
Next stop was LA. It was highly recommended that I see the Getty Museum. What a place! Bought in 1983 it took until 1997 to finish building and opened to the public in 2000. The stones were beautiful. The budget just for art at this place is $20,000,000 per year. The cost to enter $8 for parking. There were buses or trolly. The gardens are spectacular and I never saw grass that green and short. The view of LA was clear that day and the houses in the neighbourhood were something to view as well.
My classmate and her husband, gave me a tour of Hollywood, Sunset Blvd., Malibou, Bel Air and Rodeo Dr.
Overall was a very pleasant visit of which I hope to do more of in the future.

Karen