Let me begin by saying that this past week has been a dream come true! Last October during my ACTS training in Washington D.C., I met a crazy awesome girl named Holly from southern California - she and another fellow ACTS guide were my first favorable impressions of the residents from "the land of fruits & nuts." Ever since then I've had a yearning to visit the distant and unfamiliar western land of California! Additionally, throughout the tour season, I had several schools from various parts of Cali, and my impression of the state grew ever more favorable with each group of 8th graders (and teachers, parents, etc). And with each query about my having ever been to the west coast, my response became ever more resolute "never been there, but plan on going this summer!" Well, if you've been keeping up with my posts, you'll know that my summer has been BUSY, and before I knew it, I'd booked my whole summer with adventure - leaving no room for my much anticipated quest for the Pacific Ocean! However, God was good (as always) and provided a week off from Costco for Holly & an under-budget July road trip for me which left just enough $ for a plane ticket west! And so, last Monday I departed from Green Bay for San Diego!!
Monday: San Diego
I landed at 6:30 PT - Holly arrived just in time to pick me up at SAN (believe it or not, I packed for a week with only a carry-on! So I saved $50 & time at baggage claim!!) Then we hit the road (and didn't stop for a week!) We went straight to Seaport Village to feel the sweet salt breeze on our faces & grab some dinner at the Greek Village Cafe. I was beyond ecstatic at that point to be hanging in Cali!! After dinner, we drove over to the Gaslamp Quarter - the historic heart of San Diego - to walk about & get a feel for the night life of the city. It's cool but not really our scene (made clear to us when a couple of visiting Danish guys asked us where they could meet girls not watching the football game: we were clueless & less than helpful on many levels! :) We eventually made it to Holly's house where I met her fantastic parents who made me feel right at home! We stayed up & talked till late (2 am or so my time!).
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| Flying over some state and/or county park into San Diego!! |
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| Somewhere near Seaport Village |
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| Tuna Harbor Park & U.S.S. Midway |
Tuesday: Oceanside & Carlsbad
Rising late & a bit foggy from the lack of coffee & jet lag, we hung around the house for much of the morning - Holly showed me their fruit trees out back: strawberry figs, avocados, grapes, mulberries, etc. For lunch we headed to Oceanside - the "Jacuzzi of America" :) "Legit" Mexican food + the beach = bliss! Finally, I touched the Pacific! After our glorious afternoon on the beach, we met up with Holly's grandparents in Carlsbad for some pickle ball - apparently I'm a natural! lol We were taught by and played with Holly's grandpa & the sweetest people from their "over 55" village. After our aggressive games, we returned home for dinner & stories with the parents & grandparents of Holly.
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| The Pacific Ocean!! |
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| Holly & me at the Oceanside Beach |
Wednesday: Disneyland & California Adventure
Wednesday dawned bright & beautiful - a great start to the best day EVER!!!!!! Finally my dreams were about to come true: I was going to Disneyland!! Holly's cousin, who works for Disney, got us free passes for BOTH Disneyland & California Adventure; additionally, his wife joined us for the day and gave us a wonderfully magical Disney experience. I may be 26 on the outside, but I was definitely 6 on the inside that day!! First things first, upon entering the park A.J. took us to guest services where I received my "1st Visit" button which I proudly wore all day. Then it was off to Splash Mountain. The rest of the day, as you may have guessed, was simply too wonderful for words at the "happiest place on earth." We truly *saw most of the park - including all 8 theme lands & iconic must-sees like A Small World, Aurora's Castle, ...gosh, and so much more - and a show at the Fantasyland Theatre before heading over to California Adventure in the afternoon; not before, however, we bought some ice cream and stopped near the entrance to watch the salute to America: it being 9/11 the day we were there. California Adventure was awesome, but the most magical moment of the day had to be without a doubt World of Color (I won't say how many times I've watched it over again on YouTube!)! I couldn't catch my breath or shake the goosebumps from excitement for the entire show (like I said: 6 year old at heart!!)! Twelve hours of wonder & sheer happiness at Disneyland finally came to an end as we drove through four levels of the parking garage with the windows down & voices raised in Disney song!
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| Holly & me at the Disneyland entrance |
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| Sleeping Beauty's Castle |
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| I nearly had that Sword out of the Stone! |
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| Minnie Ears! :) A.J. - our fabulous guide through the most Magical place on earth! |
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| Belle's (*cough* my) library |
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| World of Color!! |
Thursday: Reagan Library, Simi Valley and Balboa Island & New Port
The night after Disney, we stayed with a family friend of Holly's in Fullerton. She is one of the sweetest, most generous women on earth! Though we arrived late & she had work in the morning, Cheri insisted on walking us down the street to see the 9/11 tribute one of her neighbors puts up annually (check it out for yourself -
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?id=8344222 ). Then she helped us make plans for the next day. Seeing as Holly & I are both Educational Program Leaders with ACTS, Cheri suggested we adventure north to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. So we did. And adventure it was! Trying to avoid LA traffic we veered east on our way to Simi Valley... but with my telling stories & Holly's need for food, we ended up missing our exit...3 times! The adventure was a bit more than we had anticipated, but in the end, when it was all said and done at the end of the day, we were glad we'd gone! And we learned some important lessons about our friendship that day as well! :)
After the long day - much of it spent in the hot car - we seriously needed to chill. Cheri to the rescue! She agreed to meet us & take us to Balboa Island & Newport - two places on my Cali bucket list! We walked around the island at sunset, took the ferry to the mainland, then walked the Pier in the dark with the stars above and the sound of the waves around us. We'd hoped to eat at Ruby's Diner on the pier, but it had closed. So we settled for chicken-bacon-ranch pizza at BJ's! Great end to the day. And because we were both far to weary to travel back to Vista, we stayed one more night with Cheri.
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| View from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library |
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| me with President & Mrs. Reagan |
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| Replica of President Reagan's Oval Office! |
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| President Reagan's Airforce One |
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| Glad we made the journey! |
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| BEAUTIFUL Balboa Island |
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| Balboa Pier |
Friday-Sunday: San Onofre
Since we were in the neighborhood, I thought it would be sweet to pop in for a visit at one of my favorite schools from last season (see
http://crazycorrieschronicles.blogspot.com/2013/06/crazys-back.html ). Unfortunately, all of the kids had moved on, but a couple of my favorite teachers were still there. Definitely glad we stopped! Especially since my fantastic experience with them in D.C. was highly influential in my desire to visit southern California! While at Zion, I was posed an interesting question by my friend, Mr. Lofink: a question which I have been pondering ever since: "sure, you like it here, but could you
live here?" Mmmm food for thought (possible post to come :-).
Anyways, from Fullerton, we finally returned to Vista to pack for BEACH CAMPING!!! Holly's church had reserved several sites on the San Onofre beach for the week; and Holly had signed us up for Friday & Saturday night. So we gathered everything from food to boogie boards then hit the beach - arriving just in time for the sunset. The next day and a half were sweet - cooler than expected - but I finally got my beach bum on! No schedules just sun & waves (actually, more mist & fog than sun...). We watched Hurley surfers, walked the beaches, took a nap in the sun, finally tried (& loved) Boogie boarding, sang around the camp fire, made friends all along the beach front, and ended the weekend with a beautiful worship service Sunday morning!
(side story: while trekking to the Hurley Pro area Saturday morning, I happened upon a lone set of car keys in the sand. Holly was sure that some dumb surfer had left them there on purpose, but I was not convinced: not even surfers are *that dumb to leave their keys half buried in the sand with no marker! So I determined to turn them into the next lifeguard shack. So we walked on. Sometime later, we began our walk back to camp. Nearing the place where I'd found the keys, we saw a surfer dude kicking around the beach - clearly looking for something. We knew exactly what for! Once within speaking distance, I asked if he were looking for keys. Yup. He was. And a look of panic and frustration pained his face. Reaching into my sweatshirt pocket, I pulled out the lost keys. Never have I seen a man so relieved! Yes, I saved the day! We then got the 10 minute story of how he lost them/looked for them mingled with a redundant tune of gratitude. Okay. I'm a hero. No big deal! :)
Anyways, it was pretty epic! There's nothing like falling asleep and waking up to the crash of the waves on the shore! Beautiful. And there's nothing like the beauty of the body of Christ - far from home, I was still able to worship my God in his magnificent creation with His children! Sweet!
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| Our tent :) |
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| The fire pit we shared with the pastor & his family |
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| San Onofre...it was sunny. for a few hours at least |
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| me boogie boarding!! |
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| early morning - note the swarms of surfers in the distance |
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| All ready for the worship service! |
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| Morning on the beach |
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| We survived! :) |
Sunday: North Coast Church and Encinitas
After the beach service, we packed up and headed back to Vista. We arrived just in time to pile into the family van and head to church at North Coast for the 12:45 Live service! I was slightly blown away by the magnitude of the church, but challenged by the diversity of their body. It's so easy to stereotype what a Christian "should" look like in America - this place blew those stereotypes out of the water for the glory of God! I loved it! Not only did I feel at home in the midst of strangers (going to church in a foreign place is always like coming home! They're just extended family!); but the greeter was wearing a Green Bay Packer jersey, so I REALLY felt at home! :)
After church, I finally got my taste of In-N-Out - a California staple! Not bad for a fast food burger (similar to Wisconsin's Culver's). From there, it was off to the beach for the last time. Holly wanted to show me stereotypical beach culture, so she took me to Encinitas. Gorgeous! We swam till the sun set and I thought my eyes would burn off my face from the salt water!
Then that was it. Back to Vista to pack. Then up at 6 to leave for the airport at 7. By 9:30 I was taxiing down the San Diego runway on my way to Chicago. And by 5:30 CT, I was again on Midwest soil.
The End (Yeah, I know: anticlimactic. But aren't all vacations?!)
But let me just say (it cannot not be said too often) that God was GOOD!!!
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| Sunset on Encinitas |
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