{"id":3849,"date":"2026-01-04T04:21:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/?p=3849"},"modified":"2026-01-04T04:25:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:25:49","slug":"heading-to-so-cal-to-see-the-family-dec-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/?p=3849","title":{"rendered":"Heading to So Cal to see the family. Dec 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A little late with this one but it has been a busy holiday season here. Starts with Gabe\u2019s birthday and ended with New Years. Having Cherie and Eric back in California has made it such a delightful season this year. One thing we did just before Cherie starting work and Christmas, was take a quick trip to the San Fernando Valley to see Aunt Chris and Uncle John, as well as visit with Uncle Beany and Edna. Gabe still can\u2019t drive that much without a lot of fussing, so it was just Dave, Cherie, Eric and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We took off around 6 am so we could get to Panorama City fairly early. There was traffic much of the way down Highway 5! In early December during the week!! Sheesh\u2026Dave and Eric traded off driving and we got there about 2 pm and Bean and Edna pulled in at the same time from Buena Park. Great timing. We visited for a while, watched their 2 remaining chickens and had a decent visit. Lots of talking! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We took Chris and John in Big Blue (love the 7 seats!) to their favorite restaurant, El Presidente, for some good Mexican food. Not super authentic but my beef taco was amazing. Then we took Chris and John home and the four of us headed to Ventura for the night. That drive was pretty nice and you could smell the ocean as we got close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"974\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966-1024x974.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966-1024x974.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966-300x285.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966-768x731.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966-1536x1462.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9169481330109373966.jpg 1611w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cherie, Eric, Edna, Eric, me, Dave, Chris and John at El Presidente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We stayed at the Ventura Holiday Inn Express and we were right on the marina. Looks like it might have been a different hotel before but was very nice and affordable too. Woke up to the sounds of waves, gulls and sea lions- what more can you ask for? Then we headed north, past the Channel Islands, on Highway 101 to Pismo Beach for lunch. At Splash Cafe, of course!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3855\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8210.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">View from our room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3856\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_8211.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From our walk on the marina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"936\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584-1024x936.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3859\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584-1024x936.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584-768x702.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584-1536x1403.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2548384550690119584.jpg 1679w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We had a pretty uneventful but trafficky trip home and they went to their new place in Wilton to continue unpacking. All in all a good, if fast, trip to see the So Cal family. Made it safely and had a good visit while traveling. One of the best things my father often said to me- remember the trip is a part of the journey, not just something to get out of the way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little late with this one but it has been a busy holiday season here. Starts with Gabe\u2019s birthday and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3849"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3865,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions\/3865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.murbook.family\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}