Fact: Planning a trip makes you 8% happier. Scientific study has shown that the intention itself or the plan to go on a holiday makes vacationers to be almost as happy as the trip itself. The study compared vacationers to non-vacationers, and the results showed that vacationers had an 8% higher pre-trip happiness score than non-vacationers. Other studies have also confirmed this psychological phenomenon.
We got bad (for us) news from Chuck and Lisa. They are leaving California and going to North Carolina. Dang we will miss them!
Great friends for a long long time!
Lisa, my niece, is getting married tomorrow, and we are going to San Jose to participate in the activities. This visit will be Mary’s first time visiting them at their home, but she knows them through our wedding last July.
We departed at 10:00 AM, and I was planning to go up I5, but ten minutes out changed my mind, and decidied 101 would be the best since the day was beautiful, that cost us about an hour.
On Our Way To San Jose (Sounds like a good name for a song!)
Our first stop was at Taverna Tony’s. The gang used to go all the way to Malibu for Greek food, and Irene always did the ordering! We have lovely memories of that place. You can see our 2015 adventure on our website.
The first stop was Taverna Tony’s!
On the patio, we have several statues, and the three monkeys were always one of our favorites.
Yup!
I recreated the statue.
We had a great meal with me doing the Greek pasta and Mary being a good girl and going the Greek salad. This dish is so good; it’s pre-pasta-rous.
Paul did the pasta and took 1/2 with him!
We had a glass of wine and enjoyed our meal before heading out for leg #2 of the adventure.
Lunch was terrific.
Of course, we had to have saganaki or flaming cheese. Mary is getting used to me and my love for flaming cheese; we’re going to make it at home in the next week or so.
Quick, call the fire department!
On the road again for a couple of hours before we hit Buellton, California, the home of Anderson’s split pea soup. We stopped there, and Mary had a bowl of split pea soup while I enjoyed a big chunk of apple pie.
We had to stop!
We had to go to the gift shop to see if there were any goodies we needed to bring her friends. Mary met up with Happy, the famous Anderson chef, and posed with him; I was happy he didn’t have his ex with him, the one he used to split the peas.
Chef Andersen with Dr. Mary
We didn’t take any more pictures for the rest of the trip because Highway 101 is narrow and getting dark. Great having Mary with me on these trips because she is the head navigator making sure that I don’t go off the highway on some side street. With her excellent help, we made it to the hotel right about 8 PM and settled into our room to read and watch TV to get the latest on the war.
