Hi everyone! It's been a while so I thought I'd update you on what we've been up to.
Our sixth week was the most boring week we've had so far (well, at least I was bored)--Patrick had to travel to Washington, DC for work for the week so I was here alone! I'm not too comfortable driving his car, especially in LA traffic, so this meant me coming straight home every weeknight. But, I did order pizza one night, so that was pretty exciting! (Patrick can't eat a lot of pizza because of his stomach issues, so when he's out of town or I'm hanging out with friends I'll get pizza sometimes.) I also met up with a new friend from church for frozen yogurt on Friday night (which required bravely driving the Rendezvous through a parking garage)! It's kind of sad because I feel like we're just now beginning to establish friendships but at the same time already preparing to leave.
Patrick's flight was supposed to come in Saturday morning, but unfortunately it was cancelled and he didn't get back until Sunday afternoon. So on Saturday I went to the mall...and remembered why I hate going to the mall on weekends, haha. But I did get some new shoes and it was nice to get out of the house a little bit. I went to church on Sunday then picked Patrick up at the airport (which was another brave feat, with me driving his car). Patrick was really tired so we just spent the evening resting. I was kind of bummed to have not done anything interesting all weekend, but then again, I was looking forward to the next weekend!
This past week, we had a 3.5 day week--they gave us a half-day on Wednesday and we had Thursday and Friday off. So, Patrick and I decided to plan a trip to go to San Diego. We really enjoyed our time there, and mostly it was nice just to get out of the city for a while and see some trees.
The worst part of the trip was the drive there. A normally two hour drive took us four hours because of the traffic on 405. People really aren't exaggerating when they talk about how terrible the 405 traffic is. But once we got onto Highway 5, the scenery was quite beautiful and the traffic was fine.
On the 4th, we spent the day at Sea World. We didn't take too many pictures because we were too busy enjoying everything, and we had left our camera in the car for part of the day so we could ride rides and everything. We got there about 10AM and didn't leave the park until midnight, after the fireworks and the late night "Shamu Rocks" show. Patrick even convinced me to ride a roller coaster with him!
We happened to get there when they were feeding the flamingos:
Also, here is what a penguin sounds like:
We were really tired on the 5th so it was more of a laid back day. We stayed in the hotel room and watched cartoons until probably eleven or so. Then we went to
Cabrillo National Monument, which was pretty awesome.
Here is Patrick dressed like Mr. Cabrillo (the Spanish explorer who discovered California):
Here are some views from the top of the monument, which is on a point that sticks out into the bay:
There's also an old lighthouse there.
To finish off the day, we met up with my dear friend from high school, Marty, who is in the Navy stationed at San Diego right now. We had dinner on the rooftop of a restaurant called
George's at the Cove.
On the 6th, we went to the
San Diego Maritime Museum, since Patrick really enjoys boats and sailing. It was cool because the whole museum is on an old steamboat, and then there are several boats and two submarines that you can go into and explore. We also did a harbor cruise where we got to see the aircraft carriers and some San Diego landmarks.
We also spent a little time walking around in
Balboa Park, which is a really big park/garden/museum center in the city. We had originally planned on going to the San Diego Zoo, which is in Balboa Park, but since we had just been to Sea World and had recently been to the museum/zoo in Arizona, we decided to pass on that. But the park was still a nice place to visit.
When we arrived at the park, there was an organist rehearsing for the concert the next day. It was really neat to get to hear him play.
The rest of the architecture was pretty cool but apparently I neglected to take any pictures of it :(
We met up with Jonathan, a friend from Clemson, who recently moved to San Diego for dinner that night--unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures! But we ate at this awesome Russian/Georgian restaurant called
Pomegranate. Mmm, so delicious. I think the highlight of our evening was the pomegranate sorbet for dessert!
Sunday was another laid-back kind of day. We checked out of the hotel around 11 and headed back to Balboa Park, where we visited the
San Diego Railroad Museum, which was really interesting. I guess I thought model railroad makers just made whatever railroads they wanted and drove their trains around. But it turns out that it's really intricate and technical. These model railroad clubs made their railroads according to aerial photographs, placing tracks, trees, and landforms precisely where they should go according to scale. And all the switches and traffic coordination that happens in real life also happens in the model railroads! We also visited the Botanical Buidling (pictures below).
We had a picnic lunch and then started heading towards home. But on the way, we stopped and Patrick test-drove a Mazda CX-5, which is the car we've been keeping an eye on. It was a nice car. We're still weighing our options of what to do with his car and how we should get home.
Instead of taking the interstate all the way back, we took a bit of a detour and followed the Pacific Coast Highway for a while. I think it's prettier north of Los Angeles, but we still saw some really nice views of the ocean, and got to see a partial sunset over the water!
Time is marching along! We're beginning to count down the days (28!) until we can come home. We miss our family, our friends, and our church. And I'm ready to be back in our home with its luxuries (air conditioning, dishwasher, more than three pots to cook in!) and into our normal school/work routines. Working here isn't bad, but I do enjoy my work at Clemson more, mostly because I have more invested into it.
You can be praying that we make a wise decision about how to get home. We're seriously considering buying a car, which would be expensive, but is an investment we'd probably have to make eventually, and would solve the problem of us and our stuff getting home. One big thing that's up in the air is the tax laws. If we have to pay California tax, it would be about $3000, while South Carolina tax would be about $300! So, if we have to pay CA tax, buying a new car is out of the question--we'll mostly likely rent a car and drive home, either selling or shipping Patrick's car back. If we didn't have so much stuff here it'd be a viable option to fly, but with all the checked baggage and the things we'd have to ship or get rid of, the cost would be way more expensive than the car rental.
As I write, week 8 has already passed! Hopefully I'll have some more time to sit down and write on Monday or Tuesday night. After being in front of a computer for 8 hours every day to work, it's hard to come home and spend more time in front of one, even if it is for fun.
Take care everyone, and we'll see you soon!
