Vera Gnomad's Life Adventures

Mom's Week - 2005

Mel's mom comes out every year for a visit. I love it, because we do all sorts of neat and interesting things that can be found right here in town and close by.

This year, we went first to the King Tut Exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art.

It was exciting to see all of those artifacts, but a little strange too. Most of the items had been taken out of pyramids (graves) to protect them, and it felt like grave robbing to see them on display. It was a very dark exhibit also - this was very much a culture of death and it seems to me that it would be hard living your life always planning for your death. It definitely lacked the hope that we followers of Jesus Christ have.

After the exhibit, we went to lunch in Pasadena and enjoyed wonderful Argentinian cuisine at the Gaucho Grill.

Mel, Me, Ole, Lena, Mom & Rog

Can you tell Ole is an accountant?

We walked around some fun shops in Pasadena and even saw some mugs that we just had to have! I think the picture looks just like Uncle Ole!

When Aunt Lena & Uncle Ole come to visit, we always eat well. There aren't many good places to eat where Ole & Lena live, so they love to go out when they come here....

Here we are with Mom & Mel at King's Fish House in Calabasas

And with Claudette & Kermaine at Buca Di Bepo in Encino

We also had a fun day at Knott's Berry Farm!

Going to Knott's Berry Farm is just like taking a step back into the old west. The park has several "lands," but the best part is the old Ghost Town. We even got robbed by train bandits!

Fortunately, Uncle Ole came to the rescue and scared them off!

And of course, we had to have lunch at Mrs. Knott's famous Chicken Dinner Restaurant!

Boothill Cemetery was creepy - we even posed in a coffin!

If you placed your foot on one of the graves, you could feel a heart beating!

There was a big old wagon on display too. It was soooo big, we could barely climb up to the top of the wheel!

Bartender! We'll have a Sarsaparilla please!

Oh! And we had a celebrity sighting!

And finally - whenever Mel's mom is here, we always do lots of shopping.....

I've got to talk to Mel about focusing on what's really important......

Mediterranean Cruise - Last Days - August 5 & 6, 2005

Some pictures from Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii

I hope you enjoyed the highlights of my summer 2005 Mediterranean adventure. After arriving at the Civitavecchia port, we traveled by bus to the airport in Rome and flew back to Los Angeles. I had so much fun visiting Italy, Croatia, Greece & Turkey... I would love to go back. I explored lots of fabulous places, enjoyed a wonderful ship, made new friends, and have memories that I'll always treasure.