Ladies Retreat 2016

As you all know, at the end of September I had the opportunity to go to my church's Ladies Retreat. This year, it was held in Eureka, California, our annual vacation spot. I was so excited to connect with ladies from our church and other churches, and to visit my favorite beaches once again. :)

I brought Little M, my plushie unicorn, as my traveling companion this time. Mom R, Mimi, Patti (our pastor's wife) and I all rode over together and had a great time together. The time flew by as we chatted and laughed. :)

We stopped for lunch at Tops in Weaverville. :)

We got to stay at the Bayshore Inn in Eureka while we were there. I shared this beautiful room with Patti. 

Little M approves of the bed. ;)

The other side of the room.

The awesome spa tub that we never used. ;) 

Our bathroom.

We had a lovely view from our big sliding glass door. The balcony was pretty funny, though. It was barely wide enough to stand on.

The view below:

Little M above the koi pond.

The pond was beautiful, but the koi fish were ginormous and kind of creepy looking. :}

Our retreat took place at one of the local churches. We gathered for meals, singing, and uplifting messages from our special speaker.

Little M at our table:

One of our other yummy meals. The ladies changed the tablecloths and table decor between each meal.

One of the things we were looking forward to the most was introducing Patti to two of our favorite beaches, since she'd never been to Eureka before.

Our first stop was beautiful Moonstone Beach. :) The sky was cloudy and overcast (my favorite type of beach day). ;)

While we were on the beach, we wanted to get as close to a group picture as we could, so each of us took turns taking pictures of the other three in our group. Then another beach visitor kindly offered to take a picture of all of us together. 

And a close-up. :)

One of the reasons I love Moonstone Beach so much is that it holds a very important story location from my book! :)

This cave plays a crucial role in book two. ;)

I had a lot of fun taking pics of Little M on the beach:

Me and Patti :)

After the beach, we headed over to another of our traditional stops, "WindanSea," or as my girls call it, the shell store. ;)

Little M enjoyed exploring the shells for sale inside:

Once we'd finished at WindanSea, we headed to Trinidad Beach.

By this time, the sky was a brilliant blue, and we got some stunning pictures:

My pretty ring from WindanSea.

Mom exploring the beach.

I love this picture I got of Patti and Mimi! :)

We had a wonderful time on both beaches. I'm so glad we got to share these special places with Patti. And it gave me another great shot of inspiration for my writing. :)

Little M during our last session of Ladies Retreat Saturday morning.

When the retreat was over and we'd checked out, we stopped by the Bayshore Mall, and then headed to Old Town Eureka to check out a few of the shops.

Little M outside the mall...

...and Booklegger.

The pretty gazebo.

Patti and I wanted to get a picture together this day because we were twinzies! ;) We found these matching shirts at Kohl's a few days before we left.

On our way out of town, we stopped at a little market for a bathroom break and a snack. I have to admit, this dark chocolate was a little too bitter for my taste, even though it's supposedly better for me than my preferred Ghiradelli "Sea Salt Soiree" bar I love. ;)

We had to stop for construction a few times on the way home, but at least the scenery was nice! :)

All in all, we had a wonderful trip and made lots of wonderful memories. It's been so much fun getting to know Patti over the past year. I've always been in a church where my pastor's wife was older than me, a mentor and teacher. While she grew to be a friend as well as I grew older, it's entirely different to have a pastor's wife just my age going through the same stage of life I'm going through. Patti has three girls, just like me, got married the same year I did, and takes my gym class with me, so we have a lot to talk about. ;) I'm so very thankful for her friendship. It was great to share this trip with her, Mom, and Mimi. :)

Hope you guys are doing well! More posts to come as I have time. :)