Thanksgiving in LA and the Way Back

I just got back from the annual Thanksgiving trip to LA. It was a good time to see family and contribute to the big Turkey Dinner. As usual I'm photo-blogging.

Here are the things I was in charge of: candied yams, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes--the mushy stuff. I forgot to add sugar to my pumpkin pie (yuck!). I marketed it as diabetic pie and the the old folks LOVED it. Spread a bit of ice-cream and cool whip on it and it actually didn't taste half bad.

I also got to see my niece, Jellybean, who of course loved Thanksgiving dinner so much she got it all over her face. She's my kind of people!

Here she is with her Dad, my little bro, who I still can't quite grasp as being a Papa, but he's a good one! She has her father's, uh, teeth!

Also found a pic of my Mom in her wedding gown. She's pretty.

And NO trip to LA would be complete without a piping hot bowl of menudo and my Mexican side:

Or biore with the bro(?):

A highlight of the trip was actually making my way back. I caught a flight down, but the trip back up was with dear friend Coke in her car, Meeps. We took our time on the great Highway 101. I usually jet back up the 5, but 101 meanders by the seaside part of the way. We found our own secret beach, after winding through suburban neighborhoods. This place wasn't even on the iphone map, which made it even better!! We spotted an unmarked staircase on the way to getting lost:

It was deliriously beautiful down there.

There was a tree that had fallen off the cliff that we wove our way into for funny pics:

And a rock I did my best to pose mermaid-like upon:

Coke just wanted to see where I came from:

Pretty, light-filled day:

And then long hours in the rain, listening to roadtrip music, and a stop at Starbucks and that M-place for french fries. All to get back to this guy, who I'm sure missed me, but isn't spilling a bean about his adventures. He just wanted to know where I'd been: