In May, the week after graduating, Chuck and I travelled to San Diego, California with our friends Emmy and Aaron Barker. It was a spontaneous trip planned in three days and well worth it! We first stopped in a town near St. George to break up the drive and stayed at Emmy's Aunt's house. We continued our travels the next morning, stopping in Wendover so the boys could gamble and in Las Vegas so the girls (and the boys) could shop. We stayed in Mission Bay in a timeshare condo. That evening, we played some bocce ball on the beach and enjoyed to setting sun. It was a fun new game to learn and play for me! I wasn't very good at it, but it was really fun. There is a carnival set up there so we walked around even though it wasn't running at the time.
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| Mission Bay in the evening |
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| Aaron, Emmy, MacKenzie & Chuck | | | |
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The next day, we ventured up to Magic Mountain Six Flags for a day full of amusement, fear, joy and motion sickness. Emmy had never been to Six Flags before, and tends to get motion sickness. But she was quite the trooper and went on a few rides. It was exciting to ride some rides new to me since going there several years ago. Tatsu was one exhilirating ride! You practically fly as you are strapped in facing the ground and pass through corkscrews and loops. At one point, I choked because of the speed and quick change of direction! And of course, our favorite the X2 Xtreme. Chuck took some great pictures at the top of X2 just before flipping backwards.
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| View of the Tatsu Ride from X2 |
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| The X-tremists | |
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We also attended an a few innings of the Anaheim Angels Game. It was pretty cool to sit in a baseball stadium like this. Definitely a different experience from the local Bees Games. I learned a lot more about baseball having Chuck by my side sharing his knowledge and love for the sport.
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| Angel's field behind us |
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For our next adventure, we visited the amazing Sea World. Another place Emmy had never been to... and going with someone who had never seen the ocean wonders that Sea World provides was like taking a kid into a candy store. It was so much fun! It had been over 10 years since I had gone to Sea World, so everything was new and different. We saw some amazing ocean animals, including our favorites- the dolphins, seals, killer whales, penguins, polar bears and manatees.
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| Emmy and MacKenzie watching the dolphins at play |
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| Seal showing off his good looks |
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| The Shamu Family, the baby is my favorite |
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| Chuck picking up a star fish before we saw the sign that says not to |
That evening, we walked along Crystal Pier and watched to surfers surf in wet suits. We also ate at a place called Luigi's where the boys were in heaven with six different televisions on the wall feature different sports channels. They loved it and the food was great! The next day, I began feeling the repercussions of nursing school... the stress cold of all colds came on and I was pretty miserable. Everyone was so kind to consider me and how I was feeling, however I felt like I was dragging the trip down. For some enlightenment, we traveled to La Jolla to do a session at the San Diego temple. What a glorious sight to see inside and out! And it is very special to us because Chuck's dad did some of the carpet carvings inside the temple. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning there. We spent to rest of the day waking along Seal Beach in La Jolla, resting in the condo, and playing games. That evening, we traveled to Coronado Island, an island that looks at the San Diego skyline at night. We enjoyed a fancy and delicious meal at the Bali Hai Restaurant while looking out across the bay towards San Diego. It was the perfect ending to a much needed and fun trip!
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| We Love To See The Temple |
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| Our delicious selections |
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| Chuck and MacKenzie in front of Bali Hai |
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| A view of the Bali Hai Restuarant at night |
The next morning, we began our drive back home reaching Las Vegas around 3 pm. We were all exhausted and ready to go home so we decided to grab some gelato and run! We got some gelato from the Bellagio and pulled an all-nighter driving through St. George for dinner and finally reaching Salt Lake around 2 am. It was a fun and exhausting trip! We are thankful to the Barkers for taking this journey with us and for being such great friends.
