The world in 30 days?!

Maybe not the world but several thousands of miles, yes. The next few blogs will be of my trips and my overall experience at each location. So here goes the first one.

July 10^th, 2009 at approximately 9pm, I left for California. My time with the X family was a great one. I enjoyed being with them and I had no idea I would be having a so much fun with them. We made several pit stop and had breakfast in El Paso @ a McDonald’s. We also visited Escondido?? (I think that’s what it was called) We took pictures of the Giant concrete Dinosaurs that come out in Pee Wee’s Great adventure. It was cute. Couldn’t help but think how much my little men would have enjoyed this sight. So I smiled in pictures but felt a pang of guilt inside. We then arrived in Santa Ana, orange county I believe. Stayed in a nice home where my favorite thing was probably their pool. I had fun with the kiddos in the pool and I even had a little moment of panic where I bruised my self diving into the cement cus of the kiddos went off to the deep side. I would’ve dove in but since she was by the edge I just reached in and grabbed her hand. A lifeguard doesn’t sound too boring of a job does it? Lol. I was in total control and felt confident especially because I have my first aid and CPR certification. * stands proud*

Here are some pics of Newport, Beach, which is also, a place i visited. Water was freezing cold, but made me really want a bike. There was tons of people on bikes, classic ones. Also a thing to remember was seeing a a random older man, at the pier fishing and thinking it was someone i knew. a friends dad to be exact.

On a different day, we went to Disneyland. Cue in pang of guilt times 20 once again.

You see, this isn’t my first visit to Disneyland. Its my second. The first time was spring break of 2008. I drove a good friend of mine to Vista, CA where she was relocating due to her hubby being station at camp Pendleton. She, thought it be cool to go so she and I along with her baby boy took off to Anaheim, and visited a place I never imagine going. EVER!

A girl like me only sees commercials and dreams of going one day, but that’s all they are DREAMS, and I having gone the first time, I knew I would return one day with my little men. So there I was, a second time around and with out my little men. I felt horrible, almost like a feeling of betrayal. To my defense I had very little notice that I was going and on both occasions the entrance fee was waived by the second party. Therefore I spent my money on souvenirs.

A friend tells me and assures me that I shouldn’t feel guilty, because its not like I planned to, and he made a good point on how the people at fault for creating this silly dream of ever going to such places is for the most part TV and other forms of Media. They make this place seem so great and wonderful, when in fact its just another amusement park. But maybe I’m saying this because I’m 22 not 7 or 9 or even 10, ages in which I think a child could have loads of fun. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had my little brothers with me.

I had a good time, I was with two of the best kiddos I know, but again and no offense intended, they wont take the place of a my little men. At least this second time around I got on more rides. The first time, we really couldn’t get on, my friend had her baby boy and it was just us, kinda felt silly if I got on rides on my own. Lol.

We also went to Universal Studios, City walk. Again my second visit. My first visit was when Isa took me, Summer of 08 when I decided to hang out a few extra days after putting on NCLR’s Lideres Summit in San Diego. Isa lives in L.A. –well practically LA. And she took me on a few adventures while I stayed with her and her wonderful family.

While there I received a call from Superman, and my reception was bad… and I had very little battery left, I got to hear the message on my VM from him, and tried returning the call but all I got was his VM. I Still got to talk to him later on that night which is what counts but I remember feeling antsy while we made our way back to Santa Ana.

Oh, I the one other thing I have to write about was my visit to a Lutheran Church. I attended Service their and but I figured the good Lord would forgive me so I went to their service and took communion also. Felt a little weird but again it was at least a church of some sort right? They Take communion a little different, and I became very appreciative of my faith and my Catholic Church.

After being in Santa Ana, We drove a few hours to TEMECULA, CA. IT was a very brief stay but the family we stayed with was very welcoming and super friendly. The town, well very small, and I didn’t leave at all, but the view of their backyard was amazing, the mountain range was beautiful at any time of day.

After our brief stay, we drove for most of the night out of Cali, Arizona, and New Mexico, til we hit San Angelo, TX where we spent another day and night, making it our last stop of the road trip before heading home. By far this stay was probably the most fun. Met a lot of great people and they made me laugh so much! I thought about why this was and I think it was because I was so close to home. Lol. They were so lovely and friendly that they even tried setting me up with this guy. HE WAS TALL!!!! Like 6’10 or something ridiculous like that. He seemed nice and enjoyed the entire picture taking to compare how he towered over anybody and everything there. Lol.

I drove the 2 and something hours to San Antonio, came home to an empty house. After a week of being away I was hoping to walk into the house full of noise. They were at a cousins wedding in Atascosa, TX… so I gathered my other suitcase and layed on the sofa and fell asleep. I had to be awake at 4am to be at the airport at 5am to catch my flight to my next destination, the WINDY CITY.