Nouveau Riche? Nah, just a suite!

Earlier today I promised an inside look at the splendid suite I am staying in here at the White Jasmine Inn. But let's start from the outside, shall we?

This is the main building (there is a house across the street that is also part of the inn). My suite was actually annexed from the main house; it had it's own private entrance!

I love the old fashioned street lamps in the front yard!
See the large gate in the background? That's the entrance to my suite (it's called the Nouveau Suite).

Actually, it's an interesting story how I ended up in such a fancy suite. I had originally reserved a room that was inside the main house, just a regular single room. I received not one, but two emails from the innkeeper informing me that I'd been upgraded for free! It had something to do with the Inn's summer policy and necessary room-assignment shuffling, I don't remember exactly.

But anyway, my suite is gorgeous, filled with the same Victorian era furniture that adorns the front room of the main house.
I about swooned when I saw the enormous mahogany boudoir in the corner...

...a corner which, to me, looks like a living room set for an olden-days movie!

(You had to know this was coming)...

I'm pretending to me one of those snobby ladies, sitting all hoity-toity in her elegant chair, in her elegant robe, in her elegant room! All that's missing is her hoity-toity cigarrette (one of those absurdly long ones like Cruella de Ville smokes)...but there is no smoking allowed on the premises. Presumably I'm pretending to have one anyway, which would explain the hand gesture!

Moving on!

This old-fashioned fireplace really works (according to the innkeeper...it's too hot to light it!)...

But quite possibly my favorite piece of furniture is the Victorian fainting sofa. I couldn't resist trying it out for myself (or maybe I really did swoon over that boudoir)...

So there's your mini-tour of where I'm staying! I only get two nights here, which means...

Tomorrow I'm en route for my next destination!!

But don't worry. Before I leave I'll make sure to post an account of my Santa Barbara adventures! Possibly later tonight, or tomorrow morning before check out if I have time.

Either way, stay tuned!

"I'm a Barbie girl..." (well, not really)

Yesterday I had a ton of fun playing at the Santa Monica Pier, a youthful pit stop on my way north from Carlsbad.

But where am I now? I made incredible time as I continued up the coast (boy, you should have seen the bumper-to-bumper gridlock going south! Yikes!), which meant I had plenty of time to get checked into my new lodgings and then spend a couple hours wandering around exploring my new surroundings!

Anyway, I know you all want to know...

Where am I now??

For your first clue, over at Meryl's Describetions, I showed you this colorful...uh, object.

If you're thinking What the heck is that??, then you're in luck, because I'm going to show you! Here's a better look...

This chromatic cat (made of porcelain, I'm pretty sure) is just one of the many decorative touches that make my living space feel both homey and delicate.

As for your second clue...

Is it graffiti? Did I get a(nother) tattoo??

NO!! You're looking at the lodgings sign for...

A WHITE JASMINE INN.

Located in the stunningly beautiful Santa Barbara, California!

Here's the outside of the inn...isn't it absolutely adorable?? Wait till you see the inside!!

So there you have it, folks! The (second) mystery is solved!
I am currently shacking up in the beautiful, quaint White Jasmine Inn.
I am in Santa Barbara, CA!!

Tune in again later today for another update! I'll be posting more pictures of the inn, as well as more snapshots of my splendid suite!

"Surf, Sand, Sun, and Fun!"

Late this morning I packed up, said goodbye to my grandma and aunt in Carlsbad, and continued North up the gorgeous California coast!!

Though I was feeling very grown up as I drove, that didn't stop me from making a special detour to have some youthful fun here, at the....

Before I could spend some time frolicking up and down the warped wooden platform, I had to execute some rather impressive extracting-myself-from-the-car maneuvers. Basically, that means crawling across the front seats of my car and exiting from the passenger side door, because the car on my left was hugging the line so closely that I couldn't get the driver's side door open wide enough to squeeze through! There were actually quite a few idiot-parking jobs, including assholes who had parked crookedly, thus putting perfectly good, available parking spaces out of commission.

But anyway, I emerged from my car after a few strategic minutes, attracting only a small audience (a family of 5, all of whom were watching me curiously). I had two hours to play, and I was determined to make them count!

I rode the carousel...

The Pier carousel is 100 years old!

(Yes I rode by myself. Yes, I'm sure it looked strange. No I don't care, because yes I had fun!!)

A nice lady took this picture. It was pretty impressive actually: she had her toddler in an air-borne headlock and was trying to hold on to her, but she still managed to take a good picture of me!

(if you're wondering why my face is so shiny, it's because it was unbelievably humid today! Yesterday was actually worse!)

The Ferris wheel)...

The lady who took this picture is the reason I even got to ride the Ferris Wheel...they weren't going to let me on because I was a "single rider." How lame is that? But she and her two daughters were my compartment sharers.

We were very high up...

The pier!

Can you tell I'm not a fan of heights?

I also rode the roller coaster...

But the souvenier pictures were like $15 dollars each, so I took the liberty of re-enacting my facial expression for y'all. I know that those of you living vicariously through me wouldn't want to miss out on that!

Yeah, that looks about right! Too bad I couldn't duplicate the nervous lady sitting next to me. She finally lifted her arms up when she realized she wouldn't fall out if she let go of the safety bar.

When the time came for me to leave, I was both sad and excited. Excited because I was resuming the trek to my newest destination, but sad because I'd been having so much fun! When I got back to my car, the same two cars were still parked on either side of me, so I had to crawl in through my passenger door again. Oh, well.

Good bye, Santa Monica!

Tune in tomorrow to learn where I am now!!

Kia Ora!

Today I went to a Hawaiian luau with Mama Cheney and my aunt Charm! We didn't even have to go very far - it was in the backyard of Sunrise Assisted Living (where my grandma lives). The staff started setting up the tents yesterday, but I didn't find out what they were for until this morning. When we realized it was a luau, Charm and I were both very enthusiastic about attending, and encouraged Mama Cheney to consider it, as well. As luck would have it, she felt up to the outing, so we all got dressed up for the occasion! My grandma has never worn anything but elegant, tropical moo moos in my lifetime, so she had a closet-full of wardrobe choices to choose from! I went for the blue, naturally. My look would not have been complete without the two tropical-flower barrettes!

Once all three of us were dressed and ready, we headed down to the backyard lawn. This was our table:

From our seats we had a great view of the beautiful Bird-of-Paradise flowers standing guard over the tasty-looking fruit sculptures.

The food was great, but the entertainment was even better!
There was a band (who taught us that "kia ora" is a traditional greeting)...

there were hula dancers...

there was even a FIRE DANCER!! The announcement that there would be fire caused quite a stir...it was almost a nervous energy, but not quite. I'm sure the residents of Sunrise were wondering what to expect! It was pretty amazing, so hopefully everyone liked it!

Of course, I've saved the best for last. As soon as our little tropical trio arrived on the scene, we were a hit. Everyone complimented us on how great we looked...it was like being famous! Three different people asked to take our picture, including a guy with a fancy camera- maybe we'll have our picture in a local paper! (Actually, I think he was just a relative of a resident taking pictures for the Event Board, but it's fun to dream!). I suppose you could say four people took our picture, if you count the nice woman who borrowed my camera to take these:

The festivities only lasted 2 hours, but they were a fun-filled couple of hours! Mama Cheney even had a Mai Tai (or two...) and was ready for bed by the time we made it up to her room!

Tomorrow I leave for my next city... stay tuned for an update!!

I've arrived!

So here I am, settling in at my first destination of my road trip! I arrived last night, after a relatively uneventful drive (except for the skateboarder on the freeway! Is that even legal??)

Anyway, I know you all want to know...

Where am I??

This was your first clue, over at Meryl's Describetions...

It's obviously a beach, but it's not just any beach!

It's...

MOONLIGHT BEACH.

Located in Encinitas, California!

I absolutely love Moonlight beach, I try to spend some time there whenever I visit...

(this was your second clue)

What IS that thing?? You ask? Let me put it in a better perspective...

Encinitas is a tiny town just a few miles south of Carlsbad, which is where my beautiful grandma lives! (Remember this pic, from the last time I was here?)

So there you have it, folks! The (first) mystery is solved!
I am in Carlsbad, CA!!

Tune in again soon for another update!

Oh where, oh where...

Hello everybody!

If you're reading this blog, it's most likely because I told you about it. Or you may have noticed the blatantly obvious cleverly conspicuous reference I made in my other blog, Meryl's Describetions.

Either way, welcome to Meryl's Meanderings! I created this blog for the sole purpose of keeping you all updated on my continual progress up the West coast! I thought about just using my other blog, but decided that it would be more fun if I gave my upcoming- and unprecedented- adventure its very own endorsement.

I've already given the long winded de-scribe-tion of why I decided to take this road trip...but if you'd like to take a moment to detour back and refresh your memory, go ahead. I'm patient, I can wait...

Are you back yet?

Yes? Then you'll find that this little map looks familiar...

To give this blog a nice long lifespan...and not to mention to make my journey all the more enticing and exciting...I am not going to give any more glimpses into my more detailed itinerary until I''ve actually reached my destination(s). I like the sense of anticipation that's built by keeping my location a secret until I myself have arrived there...it's kind of like you guys will all be along for the ride! I'm going to do my best to update as frequently as possible, too.

With that said, don't forget to keep checking back here to see what I'm up to! You will find those little glimpses of each of my destinations by referring back to Meryl's Describetions, which will then direct you back here for the fully disclosed location(s)!

I leave tomorrow (finally!), so until then...

Leave a comment! Let me know that you're following along as I trek up the coast! It will be fun, and it will make me happy!!