This morning we woke up around 6ish and readied ourselves for the last California goodbyes.

Steve & Dad wanted to drive with us out to Jacumba (which is a little over an hour east of San Diego) and spend a little time at a place called Desert View Tower. It was there that we said our goodbyes. As we drove down the road towards the hiway they peeled off one way and we peeled off the other. It was a sad, sad moment for me - I made sure my tear ducts were working for a few minutes until I was distracted by Abby's urgent need to understand how her Dora stencil worked....then, it was back to business. We started the long drive to our final destination: Cottonwood, Az. (about 90 miles or so north of Phoenix). When all was said and done, we spent about 12 hours on the road - that included our Dessert Tower trip as well as lunch, dinner and gas pit stops. By the way - gas is $3.11 around these parts.

We are all cozied into our hotel for the night - looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and taking in some of the local sights here. I did want to mention a little more about the Desert View Tower. This place is a tucked away little gem - my brother turned us on to it and had the idea to drive out w/ Dad to check it out. Here is an excerpt from roadsideamerica, which I thought was a good summary:

"[Bert] Vaughn, who owned the town of Jacumba, built the stone lookout between 1922-28. Its 70-foot tower was dedicated in memory of the area's rough pre-highway days, when the journey between Yuma and the Pacific Ocean took a month across blasted moonlike terrain."

In addition to the tower, there is a very cool boulder park...roadsideamerica writes about that as well:

"The real attraction at the Desert View Tower is Boulder Park, a jumble of rocks weathered by wind into caves and craggy walkways. Kids adore this area, and scramble with sugared-beverage abandon up the switchback path over friendly-looking precipices and outcroppings.

The Depression Era carvings strung along the path are a bonus, hand-carved animals, faces, and folk creatures inspired by the natural shapes in the boulders. Folk artist and out-of-work engineer W.T. Ratcliffe sculpted the quartz granite boulders without any particular theme in mind; but he likely knew kids would love the rocky maze. The carvings and tower are registered as an official California Historical Landmark (#939)."

The place was very, very cool...the views were amazing, the man that was working there (and his 4 friendly dogs) were just part of the scene. The boulders were amazing.


For more pictures of our time at Desert Tower - please click here and enjoy! Stay tuned as Club Amaro experiences Arizona.

Well here it is 11:30pm and instead of doing what I should be (that is, sleeping) - I'm sitting here looking at pictures of our week in SD. It's distracting me from thoughts of the state line that we'll be crossing tomorrow....the one that has a sign that says, "NOW LEAVING CALIFORNIA". Looking back, I think taking the "5 South" from Patterson was more difficult (although we'll see tomorrow)...there was sadness because we were leaving family and not going back to our home on Charlotte. However, there was still San Diego - more family, more familiarity...still California. I'm trying to project what leaving San Diego will feel like.....and, I think more than anything there will be a real sense of stepping out into the unknown. This is what we've ramped up for over the past year - this is the moment of truth. Up till now, there's been a comfort level - our surroundings are known, we have family here to spend time with, sushi is still readily available...well, enough of that - I guess we'll have to wait until the next post to see how it went. For now, how about a recap of Friday?

After having a fabulous brunch at DZ Akins (another family favorite....I guess I can quit saying that, huh?) we said goodbye to Grandaddy (at least for the day) so he could go to work (bummer!). We took care of some errands that couldn't wait any longer...you know, stocking up on a few things for the road. We stopped at Costco for some Airborne (stop believing the hype - it DOES work) and then.......one last stop at TRADER JOE'S to stock up on non-perishable essentials that we love (and that could actually fit in the car). Actually - the road trip route through Arizona and New Mexico that we have planned just so happens to take us right by the only TJ's in both states (hmmm....coincidence? well, yeah it is). Otherwise, if we want anything from TJ's, we'll be traveling 5 hours to St Louis, MO, 3 hours to Atlanta or 6 hours to Charlotte, NC. Bummer. Our last errand was a trip to the Toyota dealership for a great time of wheel balancing ($50 bucks of fun!). An interesting side note: Mike and I spent about 13 minutes contemplating trading in the ol Camry for a Highlander....you know, I DO have the pink slip for the Camry in my possession. We decided that would be very impulsive and we quite like having no car payments anyway.

After a quick stop to base camp, we picked up Uncle Steve and headed off to Boomers for some putt-putt action. Abby has played plenty of golf on the Wii....but now she was able to put all that practice to the test. She wasn't too bad....I would say that she'd be a better shuffle board player than a golf player. She did have alot of fun and I think Steve and Mike did too (I was strictly an observer - I didn't want to make the guys look bad with my mad skills and plus, who was going to take pictures and keep score?) Speaking of scores....I don't think they have a bogey that goes that high.

After putt-putt, the guys took turns taking Abby on the gas powered GO KARTS. The pictures (although they did turn out good) really don't do the moment justice, but if you're interested, take a look by clicking here (you can keep clicking the thumbnails on the right to see the next photo).

After all that fun, we were ready for our last dinner in California.....and, what better cuisine than Japanese? After all, I fear that my sushi eating days are over for awhile....unless I want a catfish roll - YUCK! We went to Osaka and filled up on some really, really good sushi. In addition to enjoying the yummy nibs, I also experienced the worst wasabi head rush ever during one of my last bites. A little something to remember California.

Well, I better take a cue from the other two members of Club Amaro and start sawin' some logs. Next time you hear from me, we'll be in Arizona.

love and unagi,
k

By no means is our San Diego hotel room "deluxe" accommodations...I wouldn't call it shabby either, but let's just say that that we are staying in the block of rooms for the people who managed to find the bargain price that was too good to be true. Little things that to me make a huge difference in the comfort of a room are missing. But, after 5 nights I've come to find comfort and contentment in our room - I've even gone so far as to sing the praises of our mattress (it's actually quite comfortable!)

But this evening, it didn't matter if you were staying at the Motel 6 or the Waldorf Astoria because the Creator of the Universe whipped up a little something special for us that no concierge could hold a candle to. Outside our window was the most spectacular, magnificent, stunning sunset that I've seen in a long time. This picture cannot do this sunset justice...it just had to be experienced. I just imagined what my sunset looked like at the cliffs (one of ours stops from the day before). I thought God might be sitting behind the sun and blowing the clouds our way because the effect was like pillowy waves that the sky could not hold onto. I feel ridiculous even trying to describe it...you just had to be there. Yeah, it was sight to behold.

I mentioned the cliffs...that would be Sunset Cliffs. A place of significance to me when I lived in SD, as I spent a many times there wrestling with things I didn't understand. My favorite thing about the cliffs is the sound and the smell. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful view - the entire Pacific Ocean is before your very eyes (and if the sun is in just the right place, you can watch it reflect off the waves like a golden shimmer). But there's just something about closing your eyes and using your sense of smell and hearing to experience it. It's something that I've missed living up in Northern Cal. and now I will surely miss it much more. I know there will be new things to experience, but there will always be a part of me that's "from the beach city".

While Steve, Dad, Mike and Abby went exploring down one of the cliff areas, I was looking around snapping pictures and something caught my eye. I'm walking on this rocky path...I mean, it's a cliff...it's rocky, dirty, sandy, whatever you want to call it. I'm looking down the nooks and crannies of the cliff and all of the sudden I realize that there is plant life growing out of these rocky areas. Forgive me if you are horticulturally savy with a green thumb....maybe my next comment is ignorant. But I always thought that you needed moist, deep, fertile soil for stuff to grow. How in the world does plant life come out of a rock?

I guess I don't really care about the logic behind why a lush green flowering plant can grow out of a rocky crag (actually, I don't know if this would be considered a "crag" - actually, I don't really know what a crag is but doesn't that sound good?). What I care more about is being open to a spiritual lesson...I think there are many from this scene - but the one that seemed to be highlighted at the time is this: God can take something rocky, rough, dirty, etc. and make something beautiful come out of it. I was also reminded that the place that experienced the growth had to yield to God's hand. Of course all a rocky area can do is yield, but hopefully you get the picture I'm trying to paint. Some of those rocky places in our lives that we have a hard time turning over are just waiting to burst forth with lush, green life...

Ok - enough of that...I know I didn't post yesterday - I just needed a day off. Here's the readers digest version. We went walking around at Seaport Village then went to Sunset Cliffs for awhile. We drove to Point Loma then headed back to base camp to rest. We had late evening dining at Sala Thai (another cuisine that we'll be missing in TN, I'm sure!! Hey S-girl - the Tom Kha here is AWESOME!!)

Feel free to check out the photo gallery by clicking here.

Prayer requests: please pray for Mike...he's feeling under the weather again and he's up against a 3am conference call on Friday morning and MANY hours of driving on Saturday. Also - we've got a huge travel day on Saturday....San Diego to Cottonwood, AZ. Please pray for travel mercies and also for good weather!

Lastly - today I had to take a ton of clothes to the laundromat in La Mesa. Fortunately, I had the company of my bro and daughter to take the edge off. Leave it to them to find something goofy to do at the wash-a-teria!

Missing you,
k

In case you were wondering - yes....it was weird leaving Patterson and taking the 5 South on-ramp instead of heading north.

But, 426 miles (and about 8 hours) later - we arrived in sunny San Diego. I love this city....my favorite part of the long drive (which by the way only seemed like an hour to me - of course I can't speak for the driver!) is the 5/805 split. It means we're close to the Hwy 8 which is MY freeway, baby. Good grief - enough about that.

On our way down, we took one of those "vista point" turn offs around the Camp Pendleton area...it's basically a parking lot, then a sidewalk, then some dirt, then some iceplant, then a cliff, then this road that tanks and other military road vehicles do practice ops on, then OCEAN. Oh and by the way, the sidewalk and dirt area are covered with 2 things....seagulls and seagull poop. If you look beyond that, you get an excellent view of a piece of God's amazing handiwork - the Pacific. This particular day was overcast, but there were a few holes in the clouds where beams of sunshine were breaking through to hit the water....it was beautiful.









Once we arrived in SD, we got checked into our hotel, set up camp then headed out for some grub. We turned in early - we were all tired and poor Mike had a headache the whole drive (staying up until 1 in the morning playing the Wii with me was partly to blame).

This morning we woke up, well rested (except for a me - I had a slight "pillow headache" which is what I get when I sleep on pillows that are not mine). Grandaddy came over to the base camp and we hung out for awhile before going for morning grub at a cafe in La Mesa that served Gyros omelets. Yum-o.

After brekke, we headed over to see TapWater rehearse in their "practice facility" (some room in a business park that's shared w/ a few other bands....interesting place with some slightly unsavory wall decor!) - we always enjoy seeing Uncle Steve and the TW guys play and today was no exception. We finally got to meet Simon and Rudy (although we already briefly met Simon at the Jupiter show in Bezerkeley last summer). S & R are AWESOME additions to the band - man, I couldn't believe it! For those of you following the adventures - if you were TW fans before, you will love them 10x more now. I can't even tell you all the instruments they play (some that I actually recognized: trombone and steel drums...then there was that xylophone lookin thing - I think it was called a miramba). The only thing that was missing was Tim, the keyboard/accordian player - he was out of town.

Abby, Mike and Grandaddy also did a little Frisbee with the guys outside of the practice joint. You gotta love a bunch of musicians playing Frisbee in a business park parking lot.

After the jam session, we stopped at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum. The museum consists of an outside park with a bunch of old aircrafts and helicopters from Vietnam & WW2 - as well as a great museum that had memorabilia, movies and the sweetest little old men docents you ever did meet. I'm discovering that Abby loves aviation...you should have seen her take in all the airplanes. She walked them all 1 time with Grandaddy (Mike and I were in the museum checking out some of the stuff there) - then when we came outside, Abby took Mike around to each of the planes sharing what she had learned the 1st time around. She walked that thing like she was the tour guide...quite a sight. Even the little old docent man was impressed.

Next, we got in a little kite-flying session at the Allied Gardens park (a park that I grew up playing at.....yes, they had parks in those days). Abby REALLY loves flying kites....2 buck kite + breezy San Diego day = lots of fun for the family. Grandaddy and Mike got things all set up then Abby got to fly....I sat on a park bench and observed my girl squealing her heart out at the 2 dollar fish kite flying through the sky...I love that she loves that.

Uncle Steve showed up at the park a little later and although he missed the kite-flying, he played with Abby on the structures....Steve and I got to reminisce a bit about those Allied Gardens Rec Center days gone by.

Before heading out for dinner - we took a little drive through the old hood....(Mom - we totally forgot which house on Rodman you lived in!). Vandever looked JUST the same! The old rocks were still out there and the hedges that Steve planted were full grown. The basketball hoop was still in the backyard. Great memories in that house - a time when you could yell to your mama that you'd be home by dinner....you could play in the street with all the other kids in the hood and not worry about a thing. These days....well, don't get me started on that tangent. Anyway - after our trip down memory lane, we headed over to Tio Leo's for dinner. Mike and I are coming to the realization that sometime in our near future, good Mexican, good Chinese and good Sushi will no longer be available to us. So we're trying to stock up a bit before we cross the state line. Tio Leo's is an old family favorite.

No time with Uncle Steve would be complete without goofy pictures of him and Bita...so, I'll leave you with one of my favorites from tonight.

cheers from SD,
k