LOVE GETAWAY. COLLAGE STYLE.

When the appointment was made for the Mazda to be turned in on Thursday at noon, we immediately made a telephone call to the man that had the Land Rover is Santa Monica for sale. "Will you promise not to sell the vehicle out from under us if we purchase airplane tickets for tomorrow to come look at the car," I said over the phone. He promised and we trusted him. It was a little ironic that I had just mentioned to Dave earlier that week that we were in need of a little alone time. This was the perfect opportunity. We booked our flight Thursday night with Jet Blue and their awesome $39 deal tickets and were on a plane Friday morning to the LA area.

On Friday afternoon, after eating lunch at Panera Bread (which I have to say I was a little disappointed after hearing so much hype about how good it was....I mean it was good, but I'm not dying to return....not like Pinkberry), Dave surprised me with a little drive into Beverly Hills. We drove down Rodeo drive, the hills of Beverly Hills, into Hollywood and into the Hollywood hills trying to find the HOLLYWOOD sign....hoping to spot Spencer and Heidi driving down the hill from their house. We never found the sign up close....and we didn't spot Heidi and Spencer either. But we had a great time. We drove 130 miles that day in our rental car. Crazy huh. Have I ever mentioned before that whenever we are in a new location on vacation we spend most of one day driving around checking out the houses in the area. I don't know what it is....but it intrigues us.

Next, we headed into Santa Monica where we were staying the night and getting up early the next morning to check out the car. The Pier was pretty and so crowded. We opted for the drive-by both during the day and at night. We ate breakfast in a little outdoor shopping center, where we were entertained by a lovely girl with long dark brown hair singing and strumming on her guitar. We bought her CD for $5. She had a rich beautiful voice. I took phone video and sent it to Kaia with this message, "Just bought her CD for you. She is a beautiful girl with a dream....just like you." We are all enjoying the CD.

We purchased the car and almost strangled the bank teller because she was wanting to put a two day hold on our CASHIERS Check. Hello, cashiers checks are guaranteed funds lady. After I tracked down our local branch manager back in Napa, the funds were released immediately and we purchased the car. We drove to Redondo Beach to have the car inspected by the local Land Rover Dealer and got "this is a solid car." We walked the boardwalk at Hermosa Beach again with our eyes on the homes that lined the beach. Not the surf and sand. We were most thrilled though by the picture above of the family of four....all on wheels! Check it out. Dad on bike, baby in stroller, toddler attached to stroller on wheels and mom on roller skates! Classic. Our kind of family.

We drove through Malibu that evening and spent the next morning in Santa Barbara and then continued our drive home on Scenic Route 1 for awhile and then hopping on 101 north for the remainder 5 hour drive. It was the perfect little love getaway with ample time to talk and share dreams.