san diego baby

We're back! After 9 days of fun, 2000 miles of blacktop, we are back. Not that being back in the real, working everyday life is a good thing to get back to.
This is going to be a very long post because it was a very long, and fun, trip!
We left Friday the 5th at 3:30 for St. George. Orrin made some good time driving just under 90 miles an hour and knocked 30 minutes off of our planned 4 hour drive. We put some laundry in and headed over to see our beautiful nephews. I sure did miss them.

Saturday morning we had a family breakfast. Crepes, waffles, juice.. Yummy. We were on the road by 9:30. Again, with Orrins fabulous (dangerous) driving skills. We knocked 45 minutes of our next trip. We stopped by Glamis on our way to Brawley (Orrins old mission grounds).

Glamis is a random patch of sand in the middle of no where! They filmed the old Star Wars movie here.

After Glamis we headed on over to Brawley where I met a lot of Orrins old friends. Most of them Spanish speaking. They were all SO nice and welcoming. We had so many dinner and lunch offers by all the nice people. The Howards even gave us one of their boogie boards for our San Diego fun.
Sunday after church we went to Salvation Mountain. If you have seen the movie Into the Wild you know about Salvation Mountain and Leonard Knight. Here he is below. He has decked out this whole mountain with adobe and just wants the message "God is Love" to be shared across the world. Good man.

(Orrin, Leonard (thumbs up was his idea) and Raymond)

After all the fun in the sun (it was about 110-115 degrees in Brawley) and visiting all that we could, it was time to hit the road. San Diego Baby! Thanks/Gracia's to everyone in Brawley for your hospitality! Hope to see you all soon.

Monday morning we made it to Sea World 10 minutes after they opened. It was a blast. Orrin loved the Sea Lion show but the Whale show.. not too much. They made it a sappy "Believe" reach for your dreams kind of thing. Cute, but not for us.

This walrus here was a highlight of our day. He had his mouth pushed up against the glass and would spit out his chewed up fish against the glass then suck it back in. After a few times he threw his head back and it looked like he was laughing. I'm sure he was. Gross.

The Dolphin show was exceptional. One dolphin jumped a rope 16 feet in the air. Sweet. They played a fun trick on us. Pretending one of their cast members was really someone picked out of the audience. She "accidentally" was knocked into the water and was screaming as all the dolphins were jumping over here. Really, it freaked me out when she fell in. Then she yelled this obnoxious, over dramatic scream and we knew what was going on. It was so funny though.

We went on all the fun rides we could. The sky scraper and even this ride the took up on this pole so you could see all the views of Sea World and San Diego. It was fun. Felt like we were flying. The last ride of the day was the Atlantis. We, or I, got soaked. There wasn't a line and it was so much fun that we did it again and tried to cheese it up for the picture. Orrin was grabbing something on me he shouldn't have been in the picture but the water blurred it out. haha. That will teach him.

(isn't orrin extremely good looking!? mmmmmm.)

After Sea World we went to Old Town. We walked through some shops and Jeremy and Leslie (did I mention they were with us? Well, they were. My brother and his wife. Best San Diego Trip buddies ever!) got one of the old Saloon style pictures. Fun for them but not fun for me. Orrin is a shit and wouldn't do it. So we walked around and Orrin tried to make up for it and posed for all the pictures I wanted. he even smiled!

Orrin lived just 1 block away from Old Town while he was on his mission so he introduced us to a way yummy Mexican place to eat. It was the perfect 1st day!

Oh yeah.. here is Orrin with a Parrot. He doesn't look it.. but he was terrified it was going to bite his ear off!

Tuesday we went to the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful! Looked like a Castle inside and Out. Seriously. I wish everyone could see it. It was so pretty, clean and peaceful. I loved it. Orrin told me that when they were starting to build it the members declined the plan because they wanted it bigger and better. So they donated money so that this gorgeous structure could be here.

On the way there Orrin said,

"I always wondered what it would be like to bring my wife back to this temple."

After the temple we went down to La Jolla Beach.

Played around in the Ocean and ate some lunch. After lunch we decided this was the day for Tijuana!

We changed back into our clothes and hit the road. I was so nervous. A family in Brawley told us not to go there because there had been lots of muggings lately. I left my purse in the states and just brought what we needed. We hopped on the Mexicoach and in 20 minutes we were shopping. Leslie really wanted to get some pure Vanilla. Orrin thought it was a good idea so that was the only purchase we made. It took a little over an hour to get back into the states. It was good to get back though. Got there right at nightfall.

Wednesday morning we went to Balboa Park. I swear that is the only place in San Diego that is free parking. We went to the Botanical Gardens and the Man Museum. It was so pretty all around the grounds and fun to just walk around and see!We drove down to the Tide pools when we were done at Balboa Park. The tide was too high to see anything good but we did get some crabs and Orrin fed them to the sea anemones(I always think of Finding Nemo when I hear that word). Orrin pried off a Muscle (thats the only name we know for it) and we each put it on our finger. It was way weird. Fun time at the tide pools. We drove back to the Hotel and walked down to Sea Port Village for some lunch and pretty views. Then walked up to the Horton Plaza and shopped. At the mall there was a little Kiosk that was selling a "Black Box." It had a DVD to teach you how to do the card tricks and those stupid mind games. Then they asked to see Orrins drivers license or credit card. They threw it out in front of them and it was spinning and floating in mid air! We had no idea how they did it. It was way cool. Jeremy and Leslie said when they went they looked close and saw a little silver circle on the card. There is some "device" that comes in the kit so you can do that but they wouldn't tell us what it was. We were SO close to buying just so we could know the secret! If they stick a silver circle on it, it has to be some sort of magnetic thing....If anyone knows what the "device" or trick is.. TELL ME!

That night we walked down to Petco Park for the Dodgers vs Padres game. We bought the cheap $10 tickets and sat in the bleachers. A ball was hit into our area like 15 feet from us! We were so close. Orrin watched that inning on tv that night and said he saw us. We're famous!! It was a fun time. A little fight broke out behind us as well. Some Padres fans were yelling at some Dodger fans to sit down. Oh man. That was Orrins favorite part of the game. Seeing the "middle school" kids get all worked up and throwing arms all over the place.

Thursday morning we drove out to Coronado and played in the Ocean again. It was overcast and sort of chilly but still fun. Jeremy and Leslie left us that day. Orrin and I didn't know what to do with ourselves! We felt so alone. It was perfect and so fun to have them there as San Diego playmates.

That afternoon we drove up to Pacific Beach. Orrin told me to slow down and stroll with him. He said "Lets just stroll and talk." What he really meant was "Stroll and Gawk!" He played it off like he was being so cute but really he just wanted to check out all the beach bums.. literally. After Orrin got an eye full he remembered where we could see some Sea Lions so we drove there. They are such interesting creatures. Like little dogs that swim.

After long walks down the beach and pier we headed up the mountain to Mount Solidad. Its way high up there and you can see for miles! This is a picture of my favorite view. You can see the temple so good! Mount Solidad is a war memorial. There is a big cross at the very top with lots of plaques for war veterans. It's beautiful up there. Orrin said people are trying to get to cross taken down because of the mix of Church and State. It was beautiful and people, quit pulling all this church and state crap, its old.

Friday we took our time. It was a cloudy and a little chilly all day.We walked the pier at Ocean Beach and played in some little tide pools again. We went to Nordstroms the Rack and bought some new clothes. Orrin tried on some jeans but didn't get them. 3 hours later he decided he wanted them so we went back. Men.

We wanted to splurge that night and go to a fancy sea food (chicken for me) dinner. We walked down to Seaport Village again and picked our place. The waiter sucked and the food wasn't as good as its price suggested. Bummer.

Saturday came too fast. It was time to drive home. Orrin was such a sport and drove almost the whole trip. We switched in Vegas and I drove to St. George from there. My parents took us out to dinner that Texas Road House then we went to Leslies to watch the videos she took on the trip. Orrin just wanted to see the one from Sea World when the Sea Lion screams. He hasn't stopped mocking the noise and its been a whole week. He must have really liked it!

Sunday was church and dinner and we hit the road. I took the 4 hour drive from St. George to Salt Lake so Orrin could have a driving break. I'm a good wife huh? That sums up our whole trip! It was a blast. I wish I could be there now rather than at work.. boring, stupid work.

WE LOVE SAN DIEGO!