San Diego

I spent the weekend in San Diego. Originally, my whole family was going to go together to tour my brother's mission, so I bought a plane ticket to meet them down there. But as it turned out, it wasn't the best weekend for my brother, and it was going to cost me $150 to change my ticket, so I knew that I would be going alone. My aunt, who works for Jet Blue and loves any excuse to travel, decided it would be a great opportunity to celebrate my mom's birthday in San Diego and the two of them decided to meet me there.

We had an awesome weekend, full of laughter, relaxation and GREAT food. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if my sisters could have joined us. It would have been a huge party! We spent time at the temple, which was fabulous...

eating at Truluck's (the first REALLY nice restaurant I've ever been to), and being completely pampered...

and lounging on the beach in La Jolla.

It wasn't very warm and sunny on the coast, but that didn't stop us from spending several hours watching the surfers. Just a short distance away from us was a surfer's shack built in the 1960's, and it is obviously a famous location at Windandsea beach. This couple stopped for a few photos before taking five minutes out of their day to get married.

That's right, the lady in the grey suit was the minister. The man with the video camera (we found out later that it was the boy's grandpa) was the videographer/witness. The couple were young (I would guess 18), and the boy was in the Marines, getting ready to ship off to Afghanistan. It made us all a little sad that no one was around to witness it (besides the three strangers from Utah who couldn't stop staring). An hour or so later, another couple got married under the shack, but it was a big wedding, complete with hundreds of guests. Of course we stayed to watch that one, too. It was too much fun.

On Sunday, I didn't fly out until 7:00 pm (and my mom and aunt left at 1:30). I spent some time driving around, checking out the sights in San Diego. I didn't realize how much water I had been drinking until I suddenly realized I needed to pee. And soon! After some driving, I found a Carl's Jr, and hustled inside, only to find that I needed a token to get into the restroom, and the only way to get a token was to purchase something first. Well, I wasn't hungry in the least and didn't think I was THAT desperate, so I kept going. A few blocks later, I found a 711. Now I was really feeling like I might burst and asked quickly where the bathroom was. The cashier informed me that they didn't have one. She thought the restaurant across the street might have one, but she wasn't sure. I couldn't wait, though, and suddenly wished I were a man, and could take care of business in the alley. Instead, I climbed into the backseat of the car and tried to pee inconspicuously into the empty water bottle, only having a little success in actually collecting it. Still, a bit of the pressure was relieved (and I was relieved that the car didn't smell like pee--it was mostly water anyway), and I kept driving. Eventually, by some small miracle, I found a Wal-Mart and waddled inside to finish my business. Phew. I have never loved Wal-Mart more.

Back at the airport, my flight was delayed an hour and a half. And since I was there 3 hours early, that meant more time for me to sit and wait.

Once I finally got home to SLC, it was after midnight, and I made my way to the parking lot, where Jeff's 4Runner was waiting for me, the back door unlocked. I opened it, setting off the alarm, and quickly reached to the front and inserted the key, silencing the alarm. I threw my stuff in the back, shut the door, and went to get in. But all the doors were locked. I didn't know that Jeff's car locked the doors once the engine is running. I was locked out and it was after midnight. I called my mom, who was waiting for me to meet her in Orem, and she helped me find the phone number for the police. Eventually, an officer came out and helped me get the door unlocked. It was late when I made it home, but I made it. And on the drive, I couldn't help but laugh at all the bad luck I had had. What was even more interesting was that I never felt stressed out at all. And that was because I didn't have any kids with me.

It truly was an awesome vacation!