December in San Diego

Whew! It has been a busy couple of weeks, as the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas often is! I thought I should get on here and post something before I'm back in Nebraska for Christmas!

So, December in California feels quite different. The first few weekends, I was running errands on the weekends in a short-sleeve shirt with my car windows down. Rather warm, I must say :). We actually just had a cold front though. I think it was only like 58 degrees during the day and it rained (proper rain, not the misty stuff these San Diegans seem to think is rain). :) Oh so horrible.  It does really cool down at night though. Once the sun is gone, it can get down to the low 50's and maybe 40's. Which is chilly if you have forgotten your coat! But yeah, I know. That's nothing. I'm not complaining, believe me!

So, just like fall, without the cold in the air, it really doesn't seem like December! There are Christmas lights up, of course, lots of lights wrapped around the trunks of palm trees and such. And lights on houses of course. I even got festive and decided to decorate for Christmas! (see the picture below).  I got out ALL the Christmas decorations I own, and it fit all in one picture! Hehe. And yes, that is a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Hehe. Just for the record, the purpose is to look sad. So please don't go make it your goal to buy me Christmas decorations (Melissa already threatened such things). I really just put this up so I can smirk at the thought of the expressions on the faces of all those of you who usually give me a hard time about my lack of decorations!

So what have I been doing?  Well, for Thanksgiving I ended up celebrating at my pastors house with a bunch of random people. I even met a couple from Nebraska! How bizarre. It was a lot of fun. I made this Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake, which was so awesome!  Good riddance pumpkin pie! Cranberry cheesecake is the new awesome! I also have now hosted the first ladies game night at my place with some gals from church. We had a great time playing Crazy UNO. I lost quite badly. But it was fun. And it turns out that they have Ugly Sweater Parties in California as well, so I attended one of those. I don't really have an ugly sweater, so I just decorated this red sweater that I have. I put silver tinsel around the neck and bottom. I got out of the car at the party, and another one of my friends pulled up, got out of the car, and we realized that (without trying) we matched. Great minds think alike! But she did have better socks. Red and white stripeed ones. Next year. . . next year. . .
Additionally, I went up to Escondido one weekend to meet a great aunt (by marriage) that I'd never met before. She and her husband took me to the Safari Park up there and we all had a good time. They were both so sweet. And the Park was really cool. They had baby elephants, and baby gorillas, and it has a whole different feel than the normal Zoo. So, next visitors who want to go the zoo, I may try to convince you to go the Safari Park instead!

Despite all this lovely weather, I am looking very much forward to coming home for Christmas. I really am hoping for a little bit of snow, but am mostly just glad to see my family and whatever friends I can! Merry Christmas!

Two friends and a birthday

Wow, it has been a busy couple of weeks since I've posted last. Here's some updates!

First of all, I did celebrate a birthday. And for all the stink I made about turning 30 (I wasn't exactly excited about it), I did survive and quite honestly don't feel any different at all than I did at 29. Oh so anticlimactic. 

It turns out this is actually the second birthday that I have celebrated in San Diego. I happened to be here at a conference 5 years ago over my birthday. And sadly, I think that makes these two birthdays in San Diego the farthest ones spent from my mom, whose birthday I share. Well, at least we had a great time celebrating last year!

The really great part about my birthday was that my wonderful friend Melissa flew all the way to California to spend it with me! It was truly fantastic. We had as many adventures as we could, and it was a great chance to explore San Diego. We had coffee and lunch on the beach, ate incredible desserts at Extraordinary Desserts, watched the sunset over the Pacific Ocean, saw seals at La Jolla Cove, went to the San Diego Zoo, ate some really good food, and drank lots of Peets coffee! It was just good for my soul to have a close friend nearby. I do miss everyone so much!

And here we are, drinking our Peet's Coffee on La Jolla Shores beach!

And just days after Melissa's visit, I was lucky enough to get another visitor, as my friend Erin came the next weekend. Yay for friends who also get Veterans Day off! Erin and I did some hiking at Torrey Pines Reserve which has some great ocean views, also watched sunsets over the Pacific, spent some time hanging out on the beach, saw the Zoo, took a Harbor boat tour, drank more Peet's coffee, and had a great time. So sweet to have a second friend come and visit and get to do more new things around the city.    

Here's a pic of us from the back of the boat from our Harbor cruise overlooking Point Loma and the entrance from the harbor into the Pacific Ocean.

Thanks ladies for coming all the way out to see me!

Balboa Park

I think I'm a bit overdue for a post! I have been putting in some effort to get out and do things with my new friends here, which has been good. Two weeks ago, I ventured with my new friend Grace to Balboa Park, which is a beautiful park here in San Diego. It is home to the famous San Diego Zoo, but also a number of museums, some beautiful buildings, green grass and beautiful flowers. We had a nice time walking around through the botanical garden and the rose garden.

The coolest stuff in the botanical garden were the beautiful orchids (of many amazing colors), and the carnivorous pitcher plant!

 The rose garden was quite extensive and so pretty! I thought the colors on this one were so astounding. So bright and stunning that it was hard to believe it was real!

The architecture is very picturesque. I love it. Very Spanish/Mission style; some of it with amazing detail work. It makes me wish I had hours to spend there (and a really cool camera) with which to get the most artistic shots possible! I think it would be fun.

 

Love the tiling on the roof of this building! There is also an amphitheater at Balboa Park with a large pipe organ, and a free organ concert every Sunday at 2pm.  Who wants to go?  I really want to check it out sometime!

Grace and I topped off our morning at the park with lunch at an Afghani restaurant (delicious!) and pumpkin gelato. Yum.

Since this fun weekend adventure, I caught a virus that was going around at work. I spent last weekend feeling pretty sick, and spent all this week trying to recover. I'm still working on that. I really hate being sick. However, this coming week, I have some fun to look forward to! The first of two back to back visitors!  My dear friend Melissa arrives later in the coming week to help me celebrate my birthday! I am very excited about this.

It's beginning to feel like fall . . .

Being in California has really thrown me off my seasons. Really, it seems like its still summer. It has still been rather warm, which is nice. The days have gotten shorter, along with still being warm, so that's confusing. And I've overheard conversations about how it is starting to look like fall. I think I need to open my eyes wider! I don't really see it! I have noticed some trees loosing their leaves. I just feel so far from fall because it is everywhere in the Midwest! So many trees turning colors, the snap in the air, the start of school, and college football season.  (even if I didn't pay attention to the games, it was still hard to miss!)

I'm so off here because I don't feel that snap in the air yet, I'm very far from college football (I can't believe it is several weeks in!), and the schedule at UCSD is a bit off. The students started last week. I'm pretty sure that still means summer! (doesn't it?) The church I attend had a kickoff for their college ministry for the first week of school last weekend. It was fun! (they invited the church too. That's why I was there. No, I'm not trying to pass as an undergrad!)

We went out to this area called Fiesta Island. It is in the bay, so one can do boating and such, and it is as if one is a lake. Just a saltwater one :). They rented a boat and jetski and we got to go tubing and hang out on the beach. Not such a bad way to pass an afternoon!

I then went home, bought Honeycrisp apples, and baked a pie. Because that helps me feel like its fall! And the pie was greatly enjoyed by a number of people. I'll have to make applecrisp soon. I think its my second addiction (i could eat a whole pan of it myself). And goes quite well with my primary addiction (coffee, of course). But doesn't all dessert?   

One last story - today I had one of those moments, where if you aren't being patient in the traffic, you will be made to wait even longer!! We had church in downtown San Diego as all the associated church plants in my church's network all met together. So I was driving home from downtown, and was trying to turn right. But traffic was all stopped up (due to a trolley track crossing). So I decided to be impatient with some other people and went straight. I passed the street I was trying to turn onto just as traffic started moving. And then I only made it a block forward before a policeman on a motorcycle blocked off traffic for a 10 minute parade toward the harbor. So there I was. Stuck waiting even longer because I wouldn't wait! Oh the city.

Home Sweet Apartment

Ah. I still mourn for my condo. (except for the neighbors). I feel like its just a bit of a blow that I pay twice as much for half the room I used to have. Sigh. I guess I'm paying for the sunshine and the views! (and the pool and spa I haven't even used yet!)

Anyway, I have had requests for an "apartment tour" up here, so here it is! Some pics of my new home. Here is my bedroom, and the sliding door out to my porch (pictured alter), and my closet door in the corner there which is actually good sized, and then the bathroom and the big wall storage closet that I do like. (without it, I'd be in trouble - not enough kitchen cabinets!).  

 Here is the living room. I have one window in the living room, and my view is other buildings/parking area, and a big green leafy plant in a planter and some Eucalyptus trees. And look - the shelf is full! Also, there is another door that goes out onto my patio in the corner you can't see near the window. And the front door is to the left of the shelf unit.

Also  - note my awesome Ikea couch that folds out into a cot. So if you come visit me, its your bed!

The kitchen, as you can see is behind the living room. There is a little desk area which is nice. And right now the only thing I have that resembles a dinner table. And then the porch, where my bike currently lives, and also my two plants. My plumeria plant is from Hawaii and is doing really well! It grows so fast. I'm really excited about it. I think I'd like to get a hibiscus plant to put out there sometime, but I can wait a bit for that!  :)
 

 

So that is it.  The other cool thing is that around the corner of my building, there are a couple of big planters with Birds of Paradise growing in them. They were blooming the last two weeks (sorry didn't get a pic before they got trimmed back). Several times when I have walked by them on my way somewhere, I have seen a hummingbird flitting here and there feeding on them. So Cool!!! Its not even in zoo! So I guess that's a neat thing about this place too. I guess I should have done a front of the building shot too. I'll add one later. :)

My family visited!

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't posted since the beginning of August. Seems like it can't be right. . . Well anyway, this is long overdue! My house is in much better order now, and I've had requests for pics on the blog, so I'll try to get to that this weekend.

Otherwise, not too much has been going on. There was a fun trip to a farmers market in San Diego's Little Italy district called the Mercato with some girls from church, but I need to get some photos from one the ladies I went with. The post just can't do without. :) hopefully you will all soon see why!

Other than that, I haven't really done much up until last weekend. Truth be told, I was starting to get pretty homesick and missing everyone pretty badly. So somehow, instead of trying to go and hang out with some of the new people I've been meeting, I just ended up staying home and drowning my sorrows watching Downton Abbey (2nd season) and reading Mansfield Park, the last long Jane Austen novel I had left to read. Probably would have been more helpful for morale to hang out with people. At least it would have given me something to report here, besides TV and reading. Oh well.

I made up for it all when my family (dad, mom, Nick and my aunt Glenna) all came for a visit! We did a lot of fun things and ate a lot of good food, and I got all the hugs I've been missing. So that should hold me over til my next visitor!

Here are some pics of the fun things we did! We went on a trolley tour of the city that started in the Olde Towne area and goes by 9 or so different stops. We got off at Seaport Village, the Gaslamp district, and Coronado Island!  The pics on the left are from Coronado - the top one is the Hotel del Coronado, this famous huge (and expensive) hotel, and then bottom is a view of the San Diego downtown skyline from the Coronado Bridge. Middle is the Gaslamp district sign. We also saw one the best sunsets over the La Jolla Cove that I've seen since I've been in California while the family was here. The grapes are from a winery we visited in Temecula when we went and visited a cousin of my dads, and the bottom right is my cinnamon french toast with blueberry paste decorations that we had for breakfast one day. So yummy!

We also visited Point Loma where there is the Cabrillo National Monument. It also afforded great city views, and had some great rocky coastline with tidepools where we found the little crab (if you can see him - upper right)! The statue is a statue of Juan Cabrillo, who was the first European to land in that area.

We had a great time, but sadly, I did not manage to get a picture of us all to prove that I really did have visitors. The best I have is this picture of Nick on the rocks at Cabrillo Ntl. Mon., looking out into the ocean, perhaps pondering the vastness of the Pacific, or how much he wants to move to California to be with his favorite sister, or something of the sort!

Getting more settled

Well, I was successful. I got the shelf put together, and found some help to help me get it upright. Below is the finished product! Only took about a week. And a little bit of a sore lower back. But I got it! Followed by a decision to try to only buy furniture items that I can handle myself from here on out. Which was a good thing to decide before I went to Target this weekend to buy some *more* shelves (I don't have enough kitchen cabinet space and I have too many books!). I had to decide between this  tall shelf/pantry thing I really wanted - which came with a warning that it was a buddy item (meaning it takes two people to lift it safely) and another one that wasn't really big enough but I could lift on my own. After I got the big one by myself onto the bottom of my cart (not an easy endeavor) and walked around the store with it for awhile, I came to my senses and realized that I'd never get that thing out of my car and into my apartment. I put it back. :)

With the shelf up, I was able to get all but 2 boxes unpacked. Yes! I'm finally almost there! this weekend I hope to acquire the couch/bed that my future guests will sleep on when they come to visit me! (hint hint - please come have fun with me in California! I'm almost ready!) I will use it to sit on too.

I also did have some weekend fun again finally! My new friend Rebekah and I went for a hike in a beautiful nature reserve park (Torrey Pines State Park) just north of where I live and work. Its got beautiful ocean views. We followed our scenic hike by putting our feet in the ocean! Ah refreshing. I still have yet to get all the way in. The water is a bit chilly. . .  and it doesn't seem so fun to go hang out on the beach and in the ocean alone. . . surrounded by all the tourists and fighting for a place to park. Sigh. I'll get there eventually.

And then there was internet!

Finally! I got internet today! This is the reason. . . mostly. . . why I haven't posted in weeks! I'm sure I could have written a post at home, and taken my laptop to work, gotten online, and put something up. . . but that didn't happen. Obviously.

So anyway, to catch everyone up on things - I found an apartment and moved in. Yay! Now I have a living room half full of boxes, 2 1/2 weeks later. Someday, I will get them unpacked. I seem to be having some circular problem where to unpack the boxes, I need to put up my shelves, but there really isn't enough room to assemble the shelving unit until I unpack the boxes. . .  But I'm hoping that with my brain that managed to get a PhD, I should be able to sort this one out soon :).

It's a one-bedroom. It's an okay size, and it is pretty updated inside, so that's nice. I just keep thinking that I'm paying twice what my mortgage used to be for just over half the amount of space. Sigh. Its quieter here than I expected it to be, for which I am very thankful. I'm working on getting a couch/thing guests can sleep on, so soon I'll be ready for visitors! Oh, except I probably have to unpack my boxes to fit the couch in here. Well, guess I'd better get to work! I really don't want my lack of a couch to be what stops you all from coming to visit! (hint hint)

I'm now nearing the end of my 4th week of week in my new lab. I gave my first presentation at lab meeting this week. The "what i'm planning on doing" talk, cause I haven't really done any science until today. :( I've been reading/planning a lot, which is needed, but really not as much fun.

I'm not sure there is much to report on the adventure front. Besides that I figured out how to use the card (not coin) operated washer and dryer at my apartment. (sigh, $2.75 for a load of laundry). And I can now get to Trader Joe's without my GPS. (it's only about a mile away - I'd really hope I could figure that out!) These are my current excitements. Hopefully I will have more time to go check out more San Diego soon.

The Laguna Lodge and starting my job!

Last week was my last week without work. Tomomi's condo was being fumigated for termites, so we had to vacate for two days. I took the opportunity to go on a little adventure out of the city. Turns out there is a National Forest (Cleveland National Forest) that is only an hour away from San Diego. And I found a lodge there that rented out cabins. So I got one for two nights and headed out to the mountains! It was a really nice little retreat. There were probably 15 cabins - I think I was the only one there. The only person I talked  to or saw was the guy that owned the place. Absolute solitude. It was nice just to be alone after a couple weeks with people everywhere! It was rather pretty as well. There were tall pine trees, and a family of woodpeckers outside my cabin. It still did have a desert look though. But a nice getaway that wasn't so far away!

But back to reality.  Monday was my first day at my new job. I work in a beautiful new building across the street from the Salk Institute and very close to the ocean. :) Some of the lab windows have ocean views. We are very close to the San Diego Glider Port, so those lucky few get to watch people hang gliding too. I can catch a far off glimpse through the window in the bay next to mine. But my desk is on the opposite side of the room as the window in my bay, and our view is blocked by an office anyway. They made all these offices in little squares that line the outside of the building floors, so you have to go outside to go see the boss. Its an interesting set up.
Anyway, things are going well. I'm just doing a lot of reading at first and trying to get all the proper usernames and passwords and email accounts and orientation classes. I can't wait til I really get to do Science!

And the nice part is, I got a holiday in my first week! Happy 4th of July! I decided to go on a little biking adventure. There is a mount called Mount Soledad. On the top is a war memorial. Its an 822 foot hill with great city views. I said to myself, "Well, Its only a 3 mile ride to the top from where I am. I don't know any other bike routes, I should just try it." I used to think that hill on Benton Street in Iowa City was killer. However, after I got slaughtered by this one, I think I little more kindly of Benton street. I did make it to the top, with rubbery legs and all. Unfortunately, it was little cloudy today, so the views were not spectacular. However, I shall include a couple anyway.
So the 3 mile hill up probably took me 45 min to an hour. I got home in about 12 minutes. It might be a while before I try that one again! :)

Some thoughts on California

Well, I've officially been here about a week and a half. I thought I'd post some thoughts on my first bit of time here.

Driving:
I've been learning how to get around here and there with the help of David, my British Garmin voice. He has trouble saying Boulevard. There happen to be a lot of Boulevards that I've driven on lately. Its a bit amusing. And he has not yet directed me to drive into the ocean, which is probably a good thing. Hehe. (that's for all you "The Office" fans out there) Unfortunately, I don't listen well sometimes. Or perhaps its more like I don't judge distance well sometimes, and make lots of wrong turns too early, so David has done a lot of recalculating. However, I can now make it to the grocery store and home again without David's assistance, so that's progress! There's a really funny story about how I missed the car wash and how I managed to drive back again, but you might have to ask for that one. :)

Driving really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Perhaps it is because I've done most of my outings during the day, when people are at work, but the freeways don't freak me out like I thought they might. I don't really go very far, so I'm doing okay with normal streets as well. Especially now that I'm getting the hang of which ones I actually want to be on. :) I think I've pulled more U turns in the last 2 weeks than in the last several years combined. Although, in some areas, the lanes are small. We all fit, but sometimes I'm just not sure if I want to try. I like my mirrors. . .

Parking:
Parking, on the other hand, is ridiculous. Parking lots do kind of freak me out. They are all very full and very small. And the parking spots are even smaller than midwestern parking spots. Narrow little spaces you are supposed to be able to navigate into. . . I think it takes some getting used to.

And the parallel parking. Because you might not have a lot to park in, or find a space in a lot, so every bit of the side of the road that can be parallel parked on is. (so many cars! so many people!). And that is probably where a spot will be found, so I've been honing my parallel parking skills. Its exciting (sarcasm). I still need to get a bit better.

The weather:
I arrived in June. Sounds like a great month right? well apparently they have this "May Grey - June Gloom" thing. So since La Jolla is so near the ocean, this marine layer comes up in June in the AM and PM and it is more chilly than you might think. I think it struggled to reach 74 some of the days when I first got here. Days which I hear were 90 in Iowa! So it was only sunny some afternoons. And everyone apologizes. But June Gloom is better than -20 degree February and hot humid August in Iowa any day! But now it is getting warmer and sunnier as the month ends. But since La Jolla isn't inland, it should not get too hot, even during the summer.

The ocean:
So I'm a few blocks from the beach (only for a little while longer - I can't afford an apartment over here, I'm still staying with a friend). So I've gotten to take a few jogs down by the beach. And sit on the rocks and watch the ocean and the surfers - we have quite a few on this beach. (yes, I'm trying to make you jealous). However, with the marine layer stuff, it has looked more grey and cold. Not so inviting for a swim. And there is quite a bit of seaweed. And honestly, sometimes it just smells funny. But all in all pretty nice.

Tomomi has been showing me around on the weekends, and this weekend we went to visit Old Town and Coronado Island. Coronado Island has a nice beach! Less seaweed, long sandy shores. Someone needs to come visit so I have an excuse to go back! Additionally, you have to drive across this really awesome bridge to get there and on the bridge is a great view of the city scape of San Diego! Here is a really cool sandcastle someone was building there this weekend!

California!

Here is the last post of Christy's and my journey to California!

We were excited that the last day of car riding had come. We had been having a great adventure, but man, we were both ready to be done driving. In addition, we had not done a good job of our last leg of the journey homework, and we thought we had only about 3 hours to go. Turns out it was 5 and half. That was a bummer. It was hot when we left Las Vegas (prob in the 90's in the AM and to be 100+ later that day) and hot through the desert, although temps in La Jolla were supposed to be about 67 degrees! Talk about a change! 

Anyway, we were happy to be in California! Although this is where it really began to hit that this wasn't a roadtrip that had an "on the way back" as Christy and I kept joking about. I was far from home, and I wasn't going back. A sobering thought. A bit of a scary thought.

The drive was pretty uneventful, although once we got out of the desert there were some really pretty mountainous areas with tons of trees! The only real event was that Christy almost got herself left in California, a little over two hours from the destination :). So she held out days past the prediction of getting left in Colorado! The story is that she called me a nerd at lunch. Perhaps it was deserved. . . but still! I told her I was leaving her there. She said it was okay, she would just go back to Zion. :) 

Anyway, we moved on closer toward the outskirts of LA and San Diego out of the lonely desert. Let me tell you, there are a lot of lanes of traffic! This is something I'm just going to have to get used to.

But we arrived safe and sound, just a little nerve-wracked after the traffic that I'm not used to, and reunited with our friend Tomomi in San Diego. She showed us around La Jolla, and we all went to the beach so Christy could put her feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was cold. Both the weather and the ocean :). But it was a good end to a great journey! Thanks Christy, for going along!

Zion and I-15

Well - we've actually arrived safely in La Jolla, but that story is for the next post (but just in case you were wondering. . . )

First of all - Christy and I had an AMAZING time (albeit a short time) at Zion National Park in Utah. All I can say is. . . I'm going back. If you'd like to sign up for that trip, please let my secretary know and we'll get planning! (um, yeah, I am my secretary).
Here is Christy and I in the canyon, and some shots of the canyon.  Really, these pictures don't even come close to capturing this sight. Here you drive into the park and you are in this canyon with majestic rock walls (made of layers of sand) towering above in reds and tans and dotted with green from vegetation. A river runs through the canyon - here is a small waterfall we hiked to along the river and some views of the canyon walls. It is Breathtaking. And there are areas where the water has seeped through the pores in the rock walls and it drips down the sides of the walls near the bottom, and plants (like columbine flowers) literally grow right out the rock wall. They call them hanging gardens. So cool.

 

 Sadly, we had to leave. If we had realized how cool it was, we would have skipped Vegas and stayed! The Narrows is begging to be hiked (or waded through - as we hear there are creek crossings)! Nevertheless, we proceeded on toward Las Vegas. We got to travel through both Arizona and Nevada to get there adding two more states to the list. And I just have to say - Nevada - not the prettiest state ever. I think Iowa beats it. At least Iowa has rolling hills of green farmland. Nevada is just piles of sand. And not even pretty sand like Utah. Ugly piles of sand.

 We stayed in Henderson, so not really in Vegas, as it was on the way to our next sightseeing spot -the Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool - a marvel of civil engineering right?  But really - it was huge! Amazing to think about how they built it. You can see the Colorado River behind Christy and I. The upper right picture is of Lake Mead on the other side of the dam. And the panoramic at the bottom shows only the top portion of the dam. It is too huge for one photograph and extends further down where at the bottom is the power plant and the Colorado River.

Stay tuned for the arrival at our destination!  (sorry I'm so far behind - we just had way too much fun to keep up)

Fun and scenery on I-70

Well, after we left Denver on Sunday we traveled along I-70 through Colorado to Utah. Man! We saw some awesome scenery! I've been through Colorado before, so that was expected, but this was my first trip to Utah besides being at Four Corners. I didn't expect it to be so beautiful!

Here are a few pictures of the scenery from Colorado. A beautiful mountain peak with green trees and some panoramic scenery from a scenic stop by a little mountain stream.

We stayed Sunday night in Fruita, Colorado. Mostly because we wanted to check out this local statue of Mike the headless chicken.  You can check out the story online - there is even a festival and a 5k for Mike, but we missed it by several weeks. We got our picture taken with Mike, and decided to not let him be headless alone!

After staying in Fruita, we continued on I-70 to Utah!

Utah was pretty awesome. There were a number of overlooks in the beginning of the state. Christy was driving and I kept telling her that we probably wouldn't need to stop at most of them, but then I would catch sight of some amazing views at the last minute and I had to change my mind!
Here is the view of Black Dragon Canyon (top one) and some other views of scenery along I-70.

And here's Christy and I to prove we were really there!!  Next time I'll have to post some pictures from our adventures in Zion National Park!

California or Bust

Well, I meant to put up some stuff each night, but our days have been packed with driving and our few little adventures! So here's our adventures since Friday.

On Friday afternoon, I finished saying goodbye (sniff, sniff) and packed up the car, picked up Christy and we hit the road. We stopped for dinner in Des Moines with our friend Erin before heading out to my parents for the night.  The car isn't as packed as I thought, but I still feel like I did really bring everything but the kitchen sink!
Here's us all ready for traveling!

Saturday was the longest day of driving! We had to drive across the lovely state of Nebraska along I-80. For all those of you who have done that, you know how boring it can be. So to break up the trip we stopped at the Great Platte River Road Archway to go through the museum. This archway looks pretty cool. It spans I-80 near Kearney. We actually enjoyed the museum and learned some cool info about transportation across the United States over the years.  Makes me so thankful for interstates and cars and that I'm not heading to California in a covered wagon or on a dirt road! We got our picture taken with this pioneer man at the arch.

The other highlight of the trip was entering Colorado. The motto is Colorful Colorado. We got an awesome picture taken with the sign!  However, the highlight for me was Christy's first take on entering Colorado.  She thought it was rather brown, and that it was flatter than Iowa!!!  But she perked up once we spotted mountains in the distance.

So I only sort of hurt my foot walking into a metal framed teepee, and we only sort of got directionally confused once. Overall, a pretty good day :)

We stayed Saturday night near Denver with my good college friend Cari and her family and so we got to enjoy a bit of downtown Boulder for lunch today (Sunday). The crazy things they have down there. This couple below (with the digery -do like instruments) would give you a "brain massage" if you wanted it. This involved them play into a microphone and you putting on earphones to listen.  Hmmm. Really??

 I would also like to report that I successfully made it through Colorado without wanting to open the door and push Christy out of the car. . . but we still have three more states to go! We'll see what the next days bring. :)

The last Hawaii pictures

Okay, I'm going to post the last set of Hawaii pictures, and then I can get on with other life stuff! Like the fact that tomorrow afternoon I leave for California! Stay tuned for those adventures :).

One of the other great parts was the Napali Coast boat tour/whale watching. We got to go snorkeling  in maybe 20-30ft of water.  Swimming with fish! Awesome.  There were some amazingly colorful and beautiful fish out there.  I want to snorkel again!

We saw some humpback whales and dolphins (spinner and bottlenose) on the boat which was really neat to see!  I think both pictures might the the spinner dolphins. The top and bottom left whale pictures are of the back fin, but the one in the right corner is of the mouth! 

Here is some of the beautiful Napali coast scenery from the boat.  Gorgeous, sparkling blue water, endless green cliffs, and quite a few waterfalls along the way. 

We saw a couple waterfalls that were not on the Napali coast as well. One we saw from afar (Opaekaa waterfall - on left), but the other we got to swim in the pool beneath (Secret Falls - on right). It was awesome. We did this kayaking adventure where we kayaked up the wailua river (shown in pic on bottom) then parked the kayaks, and did a little hike to the falls where we enjoyed lunch and swimming (although it was really really cold!), then went back.  Great little adventure. 

And Lastly, a few more flowers from Kauai. I won't bore you with the tens of different hibiscus pictures I took, but these were pretty. 

The first is the Lilikoi  flower - or the flower for the passion fruit. So very different looking! Then another hibiscus, and a bunch of plumeria. They make the leis out of these flowers, and they smell so good!  And the only one I can name from  the bottom row is the very right flower - these are african tulips. they grow on these big trees and then have bunches of these bright orange flowers. It is really a neat tree. 

Well, that concludes the pictures of the family trip! If you are dying to see more, I guess you'll have to visit me in San Diego!

(or ask the rest of the family if you visit Nebraska, I suppose. Although, really, visiting me is the more fun option right?)