Thursday, November 19, 2009

CA trip re-cap, Part 2


The 2nd part of my CA vacation was in San Diego (SD).

My Uncle J (Mom's bro) and his wife Aunt S have been asking me to come see them in SD for years and years. Due mainly to the cost, it's just never worked out. While I was out in their wonderful state, I wanted to be sure to visit them. Unfortunately, Uncle J was called away to China on business at the last minute. He felt badly about it and I was disappointed, but it couldn't be helped.

I had a very nice time with my Aunt S in their gorgeous home--it felt like I was staying at a resort! I got to pick my room and I chose the "Palm [Tree] Room" because it looked the least fragile and just very soothing and inviting. (I'm not very graceful--clumsy should be my middle name!!) Aunt S has a fascinating mini shoe collection that I'd been hearing about (from family that had seen it before), and it was so neat to see all of them (100's) up close...they were categorized by shoe style (flats, platforms, heels, misc.) I also liked Aunt S' "ladies"--they were old women in chairs with exquisite details like lipstick on the wine glasses and headlines from the Harper's mag one was reading. She got them in London on one of their trips there. Aunt S and I had a good time catching up, and Uncle J called from China and we got to talk to him. Then Aunt S treated me to a very lavish dinner and afterwards we went back to the house and watched movies. I'm very glad it worked out for me to visit.

The next morning I made my way to Pacific Beach in San Diego. Just the drive there alone (and all of the drives I made in CA, for that matter!) was beautiful. I never really got pics of the mountains on camera, because most of the ones I saw were from the car (when I was driving) or from the air (where the pic would have never turned out from 1000's of feet above).


I got to my hotel/the beach (100 ft apart!) about 11:00, but check-in wasn't until 3:00. So I just walked down to the beach and enjoyed the scenery, went to lunch and then my room was ready. While the hotel was just 2 stars, it got great reviews on hotels.com, and they were valid. While it didn't look like much from the outside, the inside was very nice. There was even a big flat-screen TV, a kitchenette with microwave, 2-burner cook-top (since I cook so much at home, I'd want to do it on vacation...NOT!), fridge, etc. I was very pleased.


I saw something I'd never seen before (yes, besides the Pacific Ocean!) I think it's called kite-sailing? Very beautiful to look at.


One of the things I wanted to do was put my feet in the ocean. I was warned it would be cold, and it was FREEZING! See here my small wide feet in the frigid water:


While I was sitting on the bench (after drying and warming my feet up!), this guy came up to me...this close! I didn't have any food for him, so I guess he just wanted to watch me journal, think & pray.


One of the visual highlights of my trip was watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I'm a fan of sunsets. I have framed pics that my Grandpa took of sunsets in FL in the early 80's...my bro St has taken numerous (amazing!) pics of sunsets...one of which is also framed in my apartment. I was surprised how quickly the sun went from this:


to this:


to this:


I had a sweet time of reflection, prayer, meditation and relaxation while overlooking Pacific Beach. It was all I ever hoped it would be. After dark, I went up to Cold Stone Creamery for a (so not!) nutritious dinner of Oreo Overload ice cream (hey, I was on vacation!) and then settled in to watch my Monday shows and 'chill' in the hotel room.

The next day I had a leisurely morning, including (minus the whipped cream, in case you care!):


Yes, yes, I know...dull me. I was in Pacific Beach/SD, CA and I ate at IHOP...but it worked well. I had half (the stuff that wouldn't be good cold like eggs and hash browns) for breakfast and then took with me in my carry-on the scrumptious above pancakes and bacon for lunch...yummy!

I had a 3 hour flight from SD to Austin and then a 1 hour flight to Dallas. By the time I got my luggage and took a cab home, it was about 10:30 TX time, which is late for me...I arrived back to my apartment, safe and sound...tired, sore, but thankful for a great trip and wonderful memories.

I'm so glad I went ahead and went (I almost canceled last week in order to save the $$, but would have taken a large hit on one of the flights, so decided to go...not to mention I REALLY needed a break!)

I praise the Lord for safety in all my travels and for the opportunity to visit with friends and family. I'm thankful as well to have been able to enjoy some "me time" on the beach in His presence. I made a major decision there on the bench in front of the Pacific Ocean--an affirmation on a specific issue for me--that God's timing is perfect. Because He's always right on time, I will not go ahead of Him and try to provide what I'm looking for in my own way. I will wait on Him...forever, if that's how long it takes.

When I got home, I checked one of my fave blogs, Beth Moore's...and it was time to enter my Scripture to memorize for the first half of this month. One she had on there is one of my fave's, but I've never memorized it from The Message paraphrase. When I saw it on her blog, and after my decision on the beach, I knew this had to be my verse to commit to memory this time...I'll close with this, because, really, it says it all...thank you, Lord!

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."--Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)


2 comments:

  1. Oh.my.word. Those pancakes look amazing! So did they taste like pancakes with ginger flavor or like gingerbread?

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  2. They tasted JUST like gingerbread--VERY yummy (even cold!) :)

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