Friday, March 28, 2008

Southern California March 18-25, 2008

Eli and I are home from the first vacation of the year, and we had such a wonderful time! If you read our blog, you know how much I love snow, but even I can't adequately express the beauty of the weather there. The beginning of the week was in the upper 60s/lower 70s. By the end of the week it was upper 70's/lower 80's! The sun was out the whole time and there were wonderful breezes. It was fantastic and rejuvenating.

A brief synopsis of our trip follows:
Day 1: Old Town Temecula. Eli was awaiting this portion of the trip for months. As a self-proclaimed rootbeer conosieur, the rootbeer store they have there was more exciting than any other part of the trip. He purchased...and then DRANK...all of the brands of rootbeer he had never had. To give you an idea, in two trips to the store we spent about $70!! In rootbeer!! But it was fun.

Day 2: Old Town San Diego. Lunch at O'Hungrys and then to the Mormon Battalion Memorial. We watched a video presentation about the battalion. During the treck west, the US Government requested a battalion to be formed of Mormons. They didn't see any fighting, but they settled San Diego and Los Angeles because of the march. They also were the first to discover the gold that caused the Gold Rush. You're welcome America! :) Then we took a few photos in a small Victorian village there. That night we colored Easter Eggs.



Day 3: Eli and I did a session at the San Diego temple. This is the first temple I have been to other than the Columbus, Ohio temple. Our temple here, though beautiful, is a "working temple" which means it is smaller. San Diego reminds me of a fairy tale castle. The inside is just as magnificent as the outside, and includes these breathtaking spiral staircases. We had a wonderful time.

Day 4: Oceanside. The beach for those who don't know. Too cold for swimming, but we walked along the pier and had lunch at Ruby's diner. Looong wait though...an hour and a half! Those children were so patient!



Day 5: Joshua Tree National Park! My favorite! We go every time we are out there, but it never ceases to amaze me. It is silent there. And the vegetation is unlike anything else. In fact, Joshua Trees only grow in the high desert. Possibly even only two places on earth! And the rock formations will blow your mind. This time we went in the evening to watch the sunset and star gaze. I saw the only shooting star. :) We went with Debbie and had such a wonderful time and some great discussion. Also saw a coyote. A first for me. Oh...and heard the bats...creepy.



Day 6: Easter Sunday. Church and then dinner at the Slussers. (Jacob's parents.) By now, Clark and Emily are under the weather and Jacob is just recovering. But everyone makes it for Easter Egg hunts and delicious food. Cute pictures too.



Day 7: Eli and I went to Ensign Books, an LDS bookstore. We don't have one here, so we loaded up on books. This was one of my most enjoyable moments actually. We spent about 45 minutes just looking at everything, even though the store wasn't that big. We ate at a restaurant called Pat and Oscar's and then fed ducks at the pond. Other than that, we stayed at Emily and Jacob's and visited with everyone.



Seeing everyone was so great. We laughed and had wonderful discussions about the gospel. We miss them so much and wish that we could see them more often. But the week was wonderful. Mae and Clark are so cute and so smart! Can't get enough of them. Thank you to everyone who made our trip so amazing. We love you.

I had to do multiple slide shows because there were too many pictures! Bare with me.

1 comment:

Jette said...

I'm so happy that ya'll had such a wonderful time. You both are beautiful.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...