August 2006 my sister Cindy and I took off on an adventure. We drove down to southern California to drop my son off at college. The road trip down there was fun and we enjoyed spending time with David before he started classes so far from home. But, the fun REALLY started when we got him registered and all tucked into his dorm room, said our tearful good-bye's (first baby to leave the nest) and started to plan our trip home to Portland, Oregon and back to our lonely, abandoned husbands and kids. We drove out to the coast via a back road and found this amazing mission. There was so much history and architecture to see! We had so much fun looking at cactus and statues, reading about famous battles that incorporated this mission. It was truly one of the highlights of the trip.
When we got to the coast and the freeway we would be taking home we saw the ocean! It was an amazing sight that captivated us. We found a place to park and decided to go walk on the sand and see it up close. We were two kids just looking for fun, and with that we ended up in the water, clothes and all. We played for a long time, jumping waves, swimming and getting yelled at by the real baywatch babe for swimming too close to the jetty. Our day was complete and we were exhausted! Too bad we didn't think to put on our suits, or bring a towel, or better yet get the hotel room BEFORE we went for the swim. Soaking wet and tired we went in search of a place to sleep. We did find a place after a couple no vacancies (although I think it was because we looked like we were homeless wet drifters) and slept very sound.
One of the other highlights was getting lost at the coast and finding ourselves on the marine base and having to ask directions from two guards at the entrance. (we thought they may take us for spies) And if that wasn't funny enough, the next morning we "accidentally" found the front entrance to the base via a wrong turn made on the freeway entrance. :)
We started home and didn't get far before it was really tiring. I told Cindy to keep me entertained and awake. I made her read from the bible, just picking out some of her favorite stories. She would read for a bit and then give a commentary on what she just read. She would stop and say "you know paster Doug said this passage is blah blah blah" or "I have heard that this means thus and such". It was fabulous and before long we had discussed a good portion of the bible all the way to Northern California. She had been reading and talking for over 6 hours! Well there was the occasional game of road bingo, which we morphed into our own little giggle fest. Cindy had sores on her tongue from reading and talking so long. It was very funny.
The next day we were so happy to get home and be done with the car!! God was good and gave us an amazing road trip. And we made some really fun memories.
