California Trip

Mark, Allison and I headed to San Diego, CA last week for a Farm Bureau Trip. We had a great time, wonderful weather and lots of very nice people to travel with!  We had hoped to take all the kids or at least the older ones along, but it was going to cost to much, so we left the four older ones with Grandparents and took Allison. She was a great little traveler, and made friends from Iowa to California by smiling and cooing  at EVERYONE! :) Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

 Three tour buses full of Iowa farmers got to visit a variety of Southern California farms on Friday. The first stop was this 138 acre farm. They grew avocados, which are the trees growing up the hill. Grapes growing out of the blue tubes and organic lemons, where in the weeds on right side of the picture. They also had oranges, grapefruit and clementines. These poor farmers have so many regulations to deal with it almost didn't seem worth farming because of all the "stuff" they have to deal with. Mainly the government regulations  but also people stealing their crops at night.

This is a nursery we drove by on the way to another farm. I think these are shrubs, the picture doesn't do justice to how big and steep this hill full of plants really is. 

Our second stop was a mushroom farm. This process is quite a science! They too have tons of regulations, inspections and it's hard for them to find employees because of the hard work that is involved. Notice the plastic around machines and on the roof. It's coated in oil and used to catch a tiny mushroom fly. They aren't considered organic, but it didn't seem like they had to spray for bugs much at all. 

They have six harvests a year. The big ones are ready to go, and the little white ones will be ready soon. We all got a sample if we wanted!

A tropical plant nursery was our last stop. They grew plants like this for stores like Home Depot and other large retailers. It to was quite a process to keep everything healthy and looking good. They have had harder times in the last few years with the economy.

Mark was in charge of Allison at the greenhouse, when I met up with him, this is what he gave Allison for a chew toy.

Saturday we visited a naval ship. This tour confirmed that I wouldn't survive being in any branch of the military! Here we are in front of a plane that on display. 

I thought we could use bunk beds like this at our house! :) 

The Brig at the bottom of the ship. It was a little hot in some area's and I actually felt a little claustrophobic at times. Again, I would never survive the navy.

Mark enjoyed looking at all the airplane controls and thought it would be fun to learn how to fly.

Our transportation for the afternoon! I'm sure any motorcycle Mark saw cruising the streets, he would have gladly traded this snazzy ride for. :) 

Mark looking super cool. :)

One thing I wanted to do was go to the ocean again. It was way to cold for me to swim in, but nice enough to walk along the shore. 

Allison's first dip in the ocean.  

She's the only one of our kids to make it to an ocean so far!

Sunday we had free time until noon so Mark and I decided to go to a church I found online. It's called The Rock and it's sanctuary held 3,500 people! When we walked in we were greeted and had our bags searched before going into the sanctuary. They had breakfast for sale and a huge bookstore to shop in. The service started with very loud music and reminded me of the Conventions I went to as a teenager. This was very different from our Sunday worship, but I enjoyed it!