California Dreamin

Day One - Just outside of Albuquerque, we passed a "Big Rig" hauling a "Little Rig".

I'm glad this guy was making good use of the 8 MPG he was getting driving this truck. Now this is efficiency.

We dropped Hannah off at EFY in Flagstaff about noon and headed for San Diego to meet Garrick, Kara and the girls. SEAWORLD here we come!

Day Two - (Back to day one for a moment. Pat's internal male GPS malfunctioned and we ended up taking the "Scenic Route" through Lake Havuasu City, El Centro & Kingman. 13 hours in the truck Monday! It was worth it though because Rylee and Jadyn were still awake when we got there.)

OK, now on to day two. Quick breakfast at the Comfort Inn breakfast room. We had to fight the youth soccer team for waffles, but we survived. We made the assault on SeaWorld at about 9:30AM.

Jadyn liked "Shamu"

Rylee liked the Seasame Street rides.
We had a great time. We stayed until the place closed at almost 10:00PM that night. The girls did fantastic, (the mid-afternoon naps helped), and everyone enjoyed SeaWorld.

Day Three - A quick trip to show Rylee the San Diego Temple, then we visited Pacific Beach.

GrandPa enjoyed having the beach all to himself.

Well, almost all to himself. After all. This is California.

Day Four - We fight the soccer team for breakfast, check the route this time, and we're off for Phoenix. We met Ryan and his girlfriend Brittani, John and Jan at Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner, then it was off to see the D'Backs play the Rangers at Chase Field.

Brittani, Ryan and GrandPa. Yes that is a Braves jersey courtesy of Ryan on Papa.

He didn't get the nickname, "Pesty Uncle John" for nothing. If you look to the left in the picture, you will see John is pointing his camera at Lisa while she is taking he and Jans picture. That's the "Pesty Uncle John" that we love! The D'Backs lost in 12 innings 9-8. It was a fun game and Ryan and the Brewers were troupers because they all had to get up really early the next morning. Lisa and I slept in. AHHH. Vacations. Ya gotta love them.

Day Five - After a nice Hampton Inn breakfast, we made a quick trip to see the Lowders. We were reminded why we miss them so much, but it was great to see them.

After visiting with Fran, Steve and their kids for a couple hours, (so much for a "quick" visit), we were off for Flagstaff. After about 2 and a half hours, Lisa woke up and said, "We're here already. That was fast." Gramdma doesn't do a lot of driving on the trips.

Day Six - We picked up Hannah at the NAU campus. EFY is such a great, inspired program for the youth. Hannah "LOVED" EFY this year. Quotes from Hannah - "Best counselor ever", "Best group ever", My roommate was SO FUN", "Cute guys".

So let me get this straight Hannah, you really liked EFY?

No, these aren't gang signs Hannah and her counselor Sunshine are flashing. It is "F" for FaceBook. Sunshine inspired Hannah to want to be an EFY counselor in a few years herself. Needless to say we heard EFY stories, adventures and learned what a COW is, until about Winslow when Hannah finally succumed to exhaustion. Needless to say, she had a great time, made some new friends and had a spiritual experience. EFY is about one of the best investments parents can make for their children.

5 hours later, Albuquerque on the horizon.
WHEW! A lot of driving, a lot of going, going, going and seeing a lot of family and friends.

It was GREAT!