40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

We decided to make a journey back in time to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary.

We wanted to go back to San Luis Obispo, CA where we met.

I was working full time at the County Court House and 

Fred was finishing up his last quarters at Cal Poly.

We met one evening at institute at the beginning of Fred's school year.

I was forward and he didn't seem to mind.

First date October 14, 1978.

Married March 24, 1979.

Here is the horizon as we drove south to Las Vegas.

We arrived around 6 pm to San Luis. We ended up at a Denny's because we had no idea where anything was. We went to the old Mall area, but Chipotle and Panera were filled with a bus load of students. We were tired and hungry, but our meal was good.

After dinner, we headed to my birth home. 

This is San Luis Mountain approaching from the back.

 This is Bishop's Peak. They are the landmarks for San Luis Obispo. 

I should have taken a picture with both in the frame. 

This is the backside of this mountain also.

The town is nestled at the base of these two mountains.  

This is the house we lived in when I was born. My Dad remodeled the garage into a big room and added a bathroom. There was a carport at the end of the driveway.

Today's Zillow description:

405 Jaycee Dr, San Luis Obispo, CA is a single family home that contains 1,310 sq ft and was built in 1953. It contains 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. This home last sold for $515,000 in December 2007. The Zestimate for this house is $757,091.

 As you continue to the left, our home is three houses away from my Elementary School.

It was called Quintana Elementary when I attended. Now it is Bishop's Peak Elementary.

 The main building here, I think is different than it was. 

 Classroom arrangements are exactly the same. 

This is the Kindergarten and 1st grade wing. 

You can see the front of Bishop's Peak mountain now.

Friday morning it was Burger King for breakfast. They had no eggs. We had a ham and cheese croissanwich. 

We headed to Solvang. It is a touristy Danish Town.

All the years I lived in San Luis, I had never visited.

Very cute and you could totally spend an ENTIRE day there.

Gift shops, bakeries and restaurants.

We bought a danish here. 

 Here is us near one of the windmills.

 This is where we ate lunch. It was very fancy inside. 

We tried really hard on this trip to keep our eating within some kind of healthy bounds.

We shared a club sandwich and had salads. 

 This is me at the table waiting for our food.

 Here is an inside picture. I'm ashamed that I didn't do better with taking more pictures.

 Here is Fred. Instead of saying where we are, he is holding up a map. 

 Grandpa shopping for grandkid toys.

I think I took more pictures of the scenery. I think I must be starved for green.

Everything was so lush and green. 

 After Solvang, we headed to Avila Beach for food and pictures.

This is the pier that Fred and I walked out to the end of on our first date and had our first kiss.

As you can see it's closed. We were only able to walk out about 1/5th of the length.

 We took all of these selfies to try and cover the entire beach front in the background.

 The Custom House Restaurant is in this shot. Over my left shoulder. It wasn't a big restaurant, but there was a lot of outdoor seating.

 This is a closer shot of the restaurant.

 We were too early to order from the dinner menu. We just didn't time things right.

Fred got clam chowder and a salmon caesar salad. I got prawns and fries. 

Delicious food!!!

 Here are some photos of the inside of the restaurant.

After dinner, we headed to town and walked all over.

Found our way to Yogurtland.

 Here is a little view of downtown.

This is what Saturday morning looked like. 

Very typical San Luis weather. Foggy in the mornings and then it burns off.

 We decided to go back out to Custom House for breakfast so we could use up the rest of our giftcard.

 I got a big bowl of steel cut oats and the big bowl of fruit that came with cottage cheese.

Fred got a ham and cheese omelette with fruit and toast.

Best oatmeal I've ever had. It had pecans, brown sugar and apple slices on it.

Next is the house I lived in when Fred and I met. The cute one on the corner.

It has been painted and improved upon a lot.

Isn't it cute?

Here is Zillow's decription:

898 Mission St, San Luis Obispo, CA is a single family home that contains 1,008 sq ft and was built in 1944. It contains 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. This home last sold for $689,000 in March 2015. The Zestimate for this house is $718,428,

We use to have lawn and a couple bushes out front.

A lot of people are going with zero landscaping to save on water.

I really like this.

 In the backyard is this little apartment. It was an open design with a kitchen area, livingroom/bedroom and a bathroom. I would love to see what it looks like inside today.

I'm sure someone has improved it.

Next we drove to downtown to walk along the creek that is behind all of the shopping.

We went to visit Barbara and Roger Keep. She was my Laurel Adviser and he was our Bishop.

I didn't take pictures of us together. 

We took them to lunch at this sandwich shoppe which was one of the only four restaurants still in business since we left in 1979. Fred really likes this place. We had lunch here while we were dating.

 Pretty unique.

 Next was walking around Cal Poly.

This is one of the main buildings that Fred spend many hours in taking classes.

  Situated across the street from Cal Poly is the Institute Building where we met.

It didn't change.

 This is the entrance.

Saturday night on Facebook my wonderful friend Debbie Nash posted that she was at the airport headed for home to visit her parents. I sent her a message and asked if she was here THIS weekend. YES. So Sunday was pretty special.

Debbie and I were roommates and years later she lived in Oregon and we were in Washington.

She and her family came up to visit us a couple of times.

Fred and I attended her sealing when she met Gary.

I didn't take pictures of anyone else. It just felt awkward.

 I did recognize a lot of people at church. Most people didn't recognize me at least not right away.

Everyone was so sweet and seemed excited to see us.

Again picture taking seemed awkward.

After we changed clothes at Debbie's house we headed to Chipotle for lunch before we left town.

 It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and perfect for eating outside.

 We had a uneventful drive to Lone Pine, CA.

I was so relieved and happy to see our room was really nice.

We were still up way beyond midnight. Fred asked me what I was doing (reading, what else?) He said he had something to give me and to close my eyes. I wasn't sure what to expect.

When I opened my eyes, he had placed a little jewelry box in my hands.

I was overwhelmed when I opened it and found this beautiful ring.

It has a blue topaz stone in it. Topaz is Fred's birthstone. 

How romantic and wonderful is that. 

I really was stunned and so unexpected to receive such a gift.

I love that guy!

 Our last leg of our journey was driving through Death Valley.

Something Fred has been interested in doing.

There is not much there. 

 Well this is the end of my story.

It was such a wonderful journey.

I'm so thankful that Fred choose me. 

He takes such good care of me and I have always received everything I ever wanted in my life.