April 16 - United States: Ventura, CA

So we really did leave Mike and Lynn's house today.  We said good-bye to them in the morning and Lynn joked, "So I'll see you tonight?".  We could easily turn into the House Guests From Hell!  But we really did leave, and we hit the road around 11:00 heading north.  

Mike and Lynn's Place

Most of the drive was on the 5 going north.  Since I've made this trip a few times, we managed to stop and get a picture of this crazy street crossing sign we've seen along the 5 (which is NOT a small highway):

Does this sign mean "Beware of families running the border"

Or "Beware of mothers dragging their children across 10 lanes of traffic"?

Around 1:00, we made it to LA and went to USC to meet Ketron for lunch.  She took us to a place called "University Village" which was a food-court type of place.  Jon had Mexican food, Ketron had pizza, and I had Mongolian Grilled noodles.  You'd think that  after two weeks with me Ketron would be sick of us.  But, as Jon likes to say, "You just can't have too much Jon!". 

Outlet Trip

After lunch, we said good-bye to Ketron and hopped on the 101 north to Ventura.  We didn't need to be there until 5:00 so we stopped off at some outlets we'd seen the last time we'd been here.  There, we made the rounds of the usual suspects: Polo, Nike, Cole Haan, Guess?, etc.  Jon found a replacement for the black sweater I've worn constantly for the last ten months.  It's in terrible shape, and the new sweater is almost identical but even better.  I'm so happy to have more than one sweater!

The Anderson's

We followed directions to Rob's house (Jon's cousin) where we arrived around 5:30.  Sandy and Laurie were there, and we got to meet Brian, Rob's son who's a freshman in college, and their dog Sam.  And then we had - GASP!! - a home cooked meal!  Wow.  Incredible.  BBQ steak and chicken, corn-on-the-cob, salad, and a gorgeous fruit salad.  So delicious!

We spent the evening hanging out with the Anderson family and catching up on things.  Sandy had bought a new futon for the downstairs bedroom, and it was soooo comfortable!  We were asleep within seconds of hitting our pillows.