San Luis Obispo

This past week we took a short road trip to San Louis Obispo. We drove up late Wednesday night and Thursday morning after breakfast we explored downtown. We found Bubblegum Alley first. Hannah said the name reminded her of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. It was fun to see, but not quite as cool as Diagon Alley.

As we were exploring downtown this young guy came up to us. He told us that he is the bell ringer for the church and it was almost time for him to ring the noon bell. He asked us if we wanted to come up and see the bells.

It was such a cool, random experience! He told us about some of the history of the church (it was founded in 1772) and bell ringing and then right at 12:00 he did this thing.

Then we got a sneak peak from the balcony right before mass started.

After our spontaneous tour, we headed to a restaurant that some friends recommended to us. They had great Tri-Tip sandwiches!

Thursday evening was the real reason for our visit to San Luis Obispo. Andy's dad's brother and son both live there. Andy hasn't seen his uncle or cousin since he was 12! Andy's parents were going to be in San Luis Obispo for a friend's daughter's wedding so they planned to visit Uncle Frank. It ended up turning into a whole family reunion so we were excited to join in.

Andy's cousin Brian has two kids, Kieran (6) and Keely (1). The second cousins all got along well!

After happy hour at Uncle Frank's house, we went to a restaurant. One of our favorite quotes of the trip was when Ellie found out that we were going to an Italian restaurant. She said, "Oh, so they'll have quesadillas!" Her Italian ancestors were rolling over in their graves.

Our big group for dinner included:
Uncle Frank
Papa J and Peggie
Ken (Frank's best friend since college)
The Donaldsons (Mike is Papa J's best friend since childhood. His daughter is the one who was getting married that weekend.)
Terry (Brian's mom) and her husband
Brian, Emily and their two kids
Our family

It happened to be my birthday that day and Brian's birthday was the day before so we got serenaded with "Happy Birthday" by the bartender who had an amazing voice.

All the Lanzones related by blood

All the women who married Lanzones

The next day we got up and explored Avila Beach and Pier. It was cold and cloudy when we first got there, but thankfully the gloom burned off before too long.

The Avila Pier has actually been closed for four years so we drove down the coast about a mile and went to the Harford Pier. We found a group of loud sea lions. We walked all the way down to the end and saw all of the fresh fish and crabs for sale that had just been caught. Very cool (and smelly).

After our trip to the beach, we headed back home with a quick trip to In-N-Out for lunch. Then we made our way down to LA to meet up with our old, dear friends, the Spears.

We were originally friends with them in Albuquerque in our newlywed days. Then they lived in LA for three years so we met up with them on a fairly regular basis. They've been in Florida and Germany for the past eight years but just moved back to LA for another three years at least. We were so pumped that it worked out to see them on our way home. Last time they lived here they only had two kids, but since then they've added three more!

The kids don't remember each other, but they instantly reconnected and had a great time together.

After our fun time with the Spears, we drove the last hour and a half home. What a fun, whirlwind trip!