Traveling with Megan - Day 25

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

6 August 2014

The Biltmore Hotel (which is a 5 minute walk from Megan's house in Santa Barbara) has a ton of exotic trees. We took a walk around the hotel which has breathtaking foliage. Megan's favorite is the Australian Flame Tree which is the most beautiful shade of red and had strange leaves and funny shaped berries.
There's also a huge old Moreton Fig which is so old and so big. It's really cool to stand by it and think about all it has "seen." 
Megan resisted climbing it... barely.

Moreton Bay Fig tree 

Australian flame tree

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 24

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

5 August 2014

We are back up in Santa Barbara with all of Megan's family. There are 22 of us in total (including me).
We are taking turns making dinner and tonight was Megan's night. 5 people in totally made all the food.... There was a ton of food. 
After that we sat around the fire.
Santa Barbara is lovely.

Kitchen chaos

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 23

Westlake Village, California (USA)

4 August 2014

Me with the wedding bouquets

Wedding day!!!

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 22

Westlake Village, California (USA)

3 August 2014

Me next to the traditional Chinese tea cups used for the tea ceremony

Today after we had a wedding rehearsal we had a tea ceremony followed by the rehearsal dinner. There are a ton of strange wedding traditions in America. Megan was happy because all of her extended family was finally all together.. And if course because there was a ton of good food.

Wedding is tomorrow!!

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 21

Westlake Village, California (USA)

2 August 2014

Today Megan, Fiona, and Oona went to get a manicure and pedicure. After we all went to the pool and Megan hurt her toe (not too bad).

We made a huge dinner which we ate outside because there is a great breeze on the porch. 

We're all playing Charades now.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 20

Westlake Village, California (USA)

1 August 2014

Enjoying the lazy summer days in Westlake Village. We've been going on late evening walks with Grace to avoid the heat. Life is good.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 19

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

31 July 2014

We didn't do a lot today. Megan visited her Grandmother and then bought shoes and then went to get her hair done. We had a very nice family dinner and player Charades. (Oona's favorite)

I hung out with Mia for awhile. She's mad about the new puppy and has sequestered herself upstairs. Love that cat.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 18

Point Dume Beach, California (USA)

30 July 2014

Point Dume is a beautiful beach just half an hour from Megan's house. 
We all drove over and though it was a bit cloudy we all had a good time. We saw a few seals swimming really close to shore. As well as a family of dolphins and a ton of pelicans. Megan went in the water ( no surprise there) with her cousins Fiona and Oona. This part of the 

Pacific is warmer than it was in Seattle. It's also the 4th beach I've been to... So far.

Me at the lifeguard tower at Point Dume beach 

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 17

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

29 July 2014

Grace and I

Grace is clearly trying to get me alone so she can nibble on me. When trying to pose for this picture she kept on biting me. Megan had to rescue me. Her other qualities are peeing on command, chasing her tail, and chewing her toys.... Big deal. 

She is kinda cute though.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 16

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

28 July 2014

We got back from Santa Barbara and I hung out with Fiona... She's a really cool girl. 
Cool shirt.

You should see her shoes. They have devils traps on them.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 15

Santa Ynez Vineyards, California (USA)

27 July 2014

We went to a vineyard today to continue celebrating Chen's bachelorette. The vineyard was about 45 minutes away along a very windy road. It was a very beautiful family owned place with views of the mountains. After all the wine tasting we drove back to Santa Barbara and made a nice dinner and ate outside around the fire pit. Megan and the girls went out to several bars this evening to continue the bachelorette celebrations. 

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 14

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

26 July 2014

We're in Santa Barbara with Chen and Kathryn and a bunch of girls for Chen's bachelorette. We drove up today. Megan seems to be trying to take me to the most amount of beaches possible.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 13

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

25 July 2014

Another day of errands and relaxing. I went to lunch with Megan, Nathan, and Kathryn at a cool restaurant called The Natural Cafe.
Later Megan's cousins and aunt and uncle came in from Geneva. 
All the wedding stuff is starting! 

Nathan, Megan and me with Budda

Traveling with Megan - Day 12

Santa Barbara, California (USA)

24 July 2014

Today was a nice mellow day. Megan did a few errands for her mom and got to drive around town which she loves. ( she drives a little fast if you ask me) David, Nathan and Chen were all around for dinner as well as Megan's dad's godfather who is visiting from Bangladesh.

Westlake is a really nice place to be. It reminds me of The Shire. Lots of green and mountains and a nice lake. 

Traveling with Megan - Day 11

Seattle, Washington (USA)

23 July 2014

More traveling!!! We woke up really early and went to the Ballard Locks. Locks are the connection between fresh water and salt water. It's the device that lowers and raises the boats coming from the ocean into the lakes that surround Seattle. It was really cool to see huge barges being raised and lowered and pulled by tugboats. 
We did all that and got to the airport by 9am and then spent another 5 hours flying to CA.

The Locks

We are VERY tired of planes and looking forward to relaxing in CA for awhile. Though with all the wedding prep I'm not sure how much down time we'll have.
Megan's house is awesome and the new puppy is pretty damn cute

The view from Megan's backyard

Not bad, I think I like LA

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 10

Seattle, Washington (USA)

22 July 2014

Seattle has turned out to be an almost magical place.  The nature here is stunning, and though Megan joked several times about Edward and Bella showing up, there were many parts about Anderson island that were so picturesque they seemed unreal and as if we were in a movie.  The water in the Pudget Sound is full of plankton that glow at night when they are agitated.  Last night Megan went night swimming and though it's hard to describe, it's like every time she moved any part of her body the water lit up and glowed.  It was like living in the movie Avatar.  It's called phosphorescence. After she was completely numb (the water was 10 degrees) they all got out and went round the bonfire.  Oh yeah and Megan got stung by a jellyfish. 

So we left Anderson Island today.  We picked the ripest juiciest blackberries at the wild patches they have all over the island.  

We took the 14:30 ferry and drove into the city centre of Seattle.  It was such a beautiful day and they walked all around the market called Pikes place  and watched the dozens of ferry boats going in and out of The port and also went to the market where the first Starbucks is.  Megan forgot me in the car ( the idiot) so there is no picture of me at the Starbucks.  :( she was also very upset by this but here's not much else to do.  We reluctantly leave Seattle for LA Tuesday morning.  Megan's pretty convinced she'll move here one day.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 9

Seattle, Washington (USA)

21 July 2014

Me at lake Josephine

The wedding was amazing!! I will have Megan show you pictures when we get back. We slept in today and took it easy after the long wedding celebration that lasted late into the night. 


After lunch we went to swim at Lake Josephine. It's a clear water lake that was a lot warmer than the ocean we've been swimming in. 


Megan was the only girl who jumped off the two story wooden platform into the water... that girl. 
Tonight we're making s'mores ( marshmallow, chocolate an graham crackers ) and sitting around the bonfire right outside our house. And later they're going to a beach to swim in the Atlantic. It's going to be freezing!!

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 8

Seattle, Washington (USA)

20 July 2014

Me on the balcony overlooking The Puget Sound

The day of Molly's wedding! The room we are staying in is on the second floor with a balcony looking out on the water and Mt. Rainier. It was cloudy and grey in the morning and Megan took a walk along the water. It was low tide and there were a ton of dead jellyfish on the rocks. They were red and clear and the size of dinner plates. This was enough to convince her not to swim. Since there are only rocks on the beach and not sand there's a lot good rock skipping opportunities.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 7

Boston, Massachusetts (USA); Seattle, Washington (USA)
19 July 2014

The storm has finally cleared. It left in its wake a ton of fallen trees that were pulled up by their roots. The trees crashed into a few houses ruined a few fences and smashed a car. They say it was a micro-hurricane. 


This has made the whole town covered with stray tree branches and rubble from the wind. We did more relaxing today and they played pool. 


It's our last night in Maine. We are going to a pub for dinner and then a movie. 

We woke up at 3:30am and drove from York to Boston to make our early 6 am flight. The first flight was from Boston to Minneapolis and then Minneapolis to Seattle. 7 hours in total. What's crazy is because of the time change we arrived in Seattle at 10:37 am.

In the airplane at Boston

Well, at least we are in the city that invented Starbucks. Megan desperately needed it because as soon as we landed we took a taxi to 

We crossed the Pudget Sound on a ferry. It's amazing here. Our house is on the Sound with water views and the Mountain Rainier. It's so beautiful it doesn't look real. 

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 6

York, ME (USA)
18 July 2014

The storm has finally cleared. It left a ton of fallen trees that were pulled up by their roots in its wake. The trees crashed into a few houses ruined a few fences and smashed a car. They say it was a micro-hurricane. 
This has made the whole town covered with stray tree branches and rubble from the wind. We did more relaxing today and they played pool. 

It's our last night in Maine. We are going to a Thai restaurant for dinner and then a movie. 

The fire station on the way to the movie with Jared

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 5

York Harbor, York, ME (USA)
16 July 2014

The Wiggly Bridge and river at low tide

The house lost power from the storm and we didn't get it back until the next morning. This is normal here and Bonnie had electric lanterns for everyone to carry around as it grew dark. The kids didn't know what to do without electricity. After the huge storm passed the sky brightened back up again and Megan and I went for a sunset walk along the river. (I think Megan just wanted to put her rain boots back on so she could walk through the puddles and not around them.) We followed the river north west and ended up at the Wiggly Bridge. Megan can barely say it without smiling. "Wiggly bridge Wiggly bridge" It's aptly named because it is indeed wiggly when you walk across it. It runs across the river and onto a small forest covered island.

It's so foggy that you could hardly see the bridge as you cross it. And all the trees in the backyard are completely hidden by fog.

Eika

Traveling with Megan - Day 4

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (USA)
16 July 2014

We went to New Hampshire today. Megan is trying to take me to the most states as she can. We drove to a beautiful town called Portsmouth on the Piscataqua river that also had a port onto the Atlantic. We walked along the brick sidewalks looked at the picturesque, old (well they think it's old poor people it's only 150 years old) buildings. 

We walked by places called Stawberry Bank, Badger's Island, and drove by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard which is on a man made island on the river. 

Megan bought frozen yogurt and a juice smoothie (when is that girl not hungry?)

It's thundering outside now and raining. Megan is going outside for a walk in borrowed rain boots. (You can't stop her once she's determined.) I'm staying inside nice and dry.

Eika