Yup. We went to Cali again. It seems to be becoming a summer tradition. Not that I am complaining. I love the perfect weather, endless palm trees, exciting attractions, and of course, the beautiful beach. If it were up to me, San Diego would be the place where we attend Grad School. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.This year we had 10 days of non stop fun and adventure in SoCal (and a couple other places) with our good friends Jenny and Brandon. We met up with them in Provo and the next day started our journey. We drove separately so that Greg and I could have our own car for the two days we were to spend in Anaheim by ourselves. Driving together, and then renting a car made more sense, but since we are not yet twenty-five, the $25 young driver fee tacked on to each day of a car rental actually made driving our own car cheaper, if you can believe that. Since we decided to drive our own car, my dad and sister insisted that we steer away from my
rattly Kia and take Taylor's sturdy Honda. We gave in. And I have to admit, it was a much smoother ride than my poor car. Well it was until we were thirty miles south of Mesquite and 50 from Vegas. If any of you are unaware of this area, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, between Mesquite and Vegas and it is HOT!! If you haven't guessed it by now, we broke down. At the Carp Eglin Exit. In case you are interested, the picture to the right is what it looks like. Gorgeous isn't it? I thought so. And I got to look at it for the next 10 hours. :) Naturally we had the a/c on, I mean it was only 108, when simultaneously, the air conditioning went out and the engine over heated. Fantastic right? But the part I think that makes it even better was that it was here, on the Carp exit. :) So we pulled over, called Greg's dad
(who by the way knows everything about everything! Seriously, it's astounding, he can literally fix anything!) and followed all his instructions. We had to let the engine cool for a while, at least 20 mins he said, before we could do anything. So while we waited, we played Botchi ball, one of our favorite games, in the middle of the desert. It was actually a lot of fun, and I got to work on my tan. The pic to the left is us getting ready to play. The large rock mound spiced the game up a bit. After the game we got serious and focused on the car. Covering the car and the engine was anitfreeze, so we knew right then that it was the radiator. It kind of looked like one of the hoses came loose and leaked everywhere. So we filled up the radiator with water and prayed that was the problem and were on our way again. It seemed to work, for about 3 minutes. Luckily there was a truck pullout gravel pit thing where trucks could rest or something. Since it was out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't a building, just simply gravel and dirt. We popped the hood one more time to check it out, and discovered steam coming from a large crack on the head. Boo! We were stuck. So I hopped in Jenny and Brandon's car, left Greg with the Honda and we drove in search of some kind of civilization. Several miles up the highway was sign, with a gas station logo on it! It seemed to be a miricale and that it was meant to be! We took the exit and drove for about a half hour before we finally came across this dinky town with a slightly rundown gas station. But they had what we were looking for so I loved them. We brought it back to the car, tried it all out and it was a failure. Luckily my dad gave me my sisters AAA card to use in case of an emergency. Aparently they dont check to make sure it belongs to you (I know this because I have done it before.) We called them. It took another half hour to explain to them where we were and to get a tow truck sent out. Unfortunatly they would only tow us 7 miles for free. After that it was like 25 bucks a mile. Lame. That's when my dad called. He had been talking to his 'friend' who has a brother-in-law that lives in Vegas who happens to be good with cars and has towing equipment. We cancelled AAA and waited for Lee to pick us up. By this time we sent our friends on. They had stayed with us for the last 4-5 hours and since we had someone coming for us there was nothing they could do. A little while later AAA shows up. The guy was really nice and just wanted to make sure we were OK and then preceeded to tell us that if we were just 13 miles further he could have towed us to Vegas. Bummer. He leaves. An hour later a guy shows up with his truck. Figuring it was Lee (my dads girlfriends, sisters, husband) we introduced ourselves and started chatting it up. As our car was being pulled up on the bed, we get a phone call from guess who.. Lee, asking us where we were at. Uhh...... 'we thought you were already here.' Awkward. Turns out the guy helping us was not Lee, it was AAA, again. I even asked him if he was Lee and he said yes! He must have not understood or something, perhaps his name was actually ironically Lee? I will never know. It was about 10:30 when the real Lee showed up and we were on our way again. About 20 minutes in guess what... I doubt you can guess... well, maybe you can... His huge nice truck pulling our car breaks down... Seriously, so here we are again in the middle of nowhere, but this time, in the middle of the night. (might I add it doesn't cool down there at night... it was still in the 90's.) We sat and waited as they tried to figure out why it had died, and for his brother to come out to help fix it. By the time we finally got going again it was one in the morning. Two our time. But after a long day of sitting in the hot sun, sweating out every ounce of water in our body, being completely dehydrated and exhausted, we had a place to sleep. Lee and his family are probably some of the nicest people I have met. They were complete strangers and he came out and picked us up, a 45 min drive from his house at 10at night, then let us stay in their super nice RV, and the next morning Greg and two of their sons worked on the car. Awesome people huh? I want to be more like them. Since it was Saturday, there was not a radiator shop open, but this guy had a friend. He opened his shop for us, replaced the radiator head, and did it all for free!! Although we had a case of unfortunate events, I'd say we were pretty lucky. Once the boys got the radiator back in Greg and I were on our way again. Well... sort of. For some reason, the a/c not working was not related to the radiator. So we found the only repair shop that was open that worked on a/cs and took the car in. Two hours later we found out that the compressor was shot and that it would cost 1200 buckaroos to fix. Whatever.. we would rather sweat our faces off than pay them that. By this time, my dad was a little nervous to let us continue on our trip in this car he talked us into taking. So he booked us a rental car, we picked it up, dropped the other car off at Greg's aunts in Henderson and were on our way again.. this time for real, at nine o'clock at night. We finally did make it to San Diego, three days after we left from home, and had a fabulous and relaxing vacation!! (I will be posting about it later.)
rattly Kia and take Taylor's sturdy Honda. We gave in. And I have to admit, it was a much smoother ride than my poor car. Well it was until we were thirty miles south of Mesquite and 50 from Vegas. If any of you are unaware of this area, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, between Mesquite and Vegas and it is HOT!! If you haven't guessed it by now, we broke down. At the Carp Eglin Exit. In case you are interested, the picture to the right is what it looks like. Gorgeous isn't it? I thought so. And I got to look at it for the next 10 hours. :) Naturally we had the a/c on, I mean it was only 108, when simultaneously, the air conditioning went out and the engine over heated. Fantastic right? But the part I think that makes it even better was that it was here, on the Carp exit. :) So we pulled over, called Greg's dad
(who by the way knows everything about everything! Seriously, it's astounding, he can literally fix anything!) and followed all his instructions. We had to let the engine cool for a while, at least 20 mins he said, before we could do anything. So while we waited, we played Botchi ball, one of our favorite games, in the middle of the desert. It was actually a lot of fun, and I got to work on my tan. The pic to the left is us getting ready to play. The large rock mound spiced the game up a bit. After the game we got serious and focused on the car. Covering the car and the engine was anitfreeze, so we knew right then that it was the radiator. It kind of looked like one of the hoses came loose and leaked everywhere. So we filled up the radiator with water and prayed that was the problem and were on our way again. It seemed to work, for about 3 minutes. Luckily there was a truck pullout gravel pit thing where trucks could rest or something. Since it was out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't a building, just simply gravel and dirt. We popped the hood one more time to check it out, and discovered steam coming from a large crack on the head. Boo! We were stuck. So I hopped in Jenny and Brandon's car, left Greg with the Honda and we drove in search of some kind of civilization. Several miles up the highway was sign, with a gas station logo on it! It seemed to be a miricale and that it was meant to be! We took the exit and drove for about a half hour before we finally came across this dinky town with a slightly rundown gas station. But they had what we were looking for so I loved them. We brought it back to the car, tried it all out and it was a failure. Luckily my dad gave me my sisters AAA card to use in case of an emergency. Aparently they dont check to make sure it belongs to you (I know this because I have done it before.) We called them. It took another half hour to explain to them where we were and to get a tow truck sent out. Unfortunatly they would only tow us 7 miles for free. After that it was like 25 bucks a mile. Lame. That's when my dad called. He had been talking to his 'friend' who has a brother-in-law that lives in Vegas who happens to be good with cars and has towing equipment. We cancelled AAA and waited for Lee to pick us up. By this time we sent our friends on. They had stayed with us for the last 4-5 hours and since we had someone coming for us there was nothing they could do. A little while later AAA shows up. The guy was really nice and just wanted to make sure we were OK and then preceeded to tell us that if we were just 13 miles further he could have towed us to Vegas. Bummer. He leaves. An hour later a guy shows up with his truck. Figuring it was Lee (my dads girlfriends, sisters, husband) we introduced ourselves and started chatting it up. As our car was being pulled up on the bed, we get a phone call from guess who.. Lee, asking us where we were at. Uhh...... 'we thought you were already here.' Awkward. Turns out the guy helping us was not Lee, it was AAA, again. I even asked him if he was Lee and he said yes! He must have not understood or something, perhaps his name was actually ironically Lee? I will never know. It was about 10:30 when the real Lee showed up and we were on our way again. About 20 minutes in guess what... I doubt you can guess... well, maybe you can... His huge nice truck pulling our car breaks down... Seriously, so here we are again in the middle of nowhere, but this time, in the middle of the night. (might I add it doesn't cool down there at night... it was still in the 90's.) We sat and waited as they tried to figure out why it had died, and for his brother to come out to help fix it. By the time we finally got going again it was one in the morning. Two our time. But after a long day of sitting in the hot sun, sweating out every ounce of water in our body, being completely dehydrated and exhausted, we had a place to sleep. Lee and his family are probably some of the nicest people I have met. They were complete strangers and he came out and picked us up, a 45 min drive from his house at 10at night, then let us stay in their super nice RV, and the next morning Greg and two of their sons worked on the car. Awesome people huh? I want to be more like them. Since it was Saturday, there was not a radiator shop open, but this guy had a friend. He opened his shop for us, replaced the radiator head, and did it all for free!! Although we had a case of unfortunate events, I'd say we were pretty lucky. Once the boys got the radiator back in Greg and I were on our way again. Well... sort of. For some reason, the a/c not working was not related to the radiator. So we found the only repair shop that was open that worked on a/cs and took the car in. Two hours later we found out that the compressor was shot and that it would cost 1200 buckaroos to fix. Whatever.. we would rather sweat our faces off than pay them that. By this time, my dad was a little nervous to let us continue on our trip in this car he talked us into taking. So he booked us a rental car, we picked it up, dropped the other car off at Greg's aunts in Henderson and were on our way again.. this time for real, at nine o'clock at night. We finally did make it to San Diego, three days after we left from home, and had a fabulous and relaxing vacation!! (I will be posting about it later.)
(K, so this isn't a very good picture of our bedroom, but i wanted you to see the ceiling. Oh my gosh..The only downside to this place is having to go to bed starring at a map of Ireland, its not really my thing.)
(My amazing bathroom. I pretty much have a hot tub next to my toilet... which by the way there is a real hot tub on the patio... )
The next day I headed down to Utah. A few girls that I went to China with had a little get together before one of them headed to the mission field. It was great to see them again! That night I met up with Greg, Janica, and Daniel and we started our trek down to California. One of my favorite things is driving and stopping at all the pull out thingys along the way. One stop was St. George. We were on the hunt for a Sonic. After about an hour of TellMe, Chacha, and other navigating crap we found it. Unfortunately it was boarded up and abondoned. With much dissapointment and growling tummies we decided to check out the temple and head off to Vegas in hopes of finding an open one, which thankfully we did after another hour search. Why go through so much trouble to find a freakin Sonic, you ask? Because it is the most delicious fast-food restraunt on the planet and when four hungry people crave it, there is no escaping it's grasp. But hey, we got to see many 'fantastic' sites along the way.
The next two days we spent at the highly anticipated Disneyland
So we strolled down the strip and checked out all the cool sites and Dan found the Go Pool. (Don't worry Melinda he didn't go in, he's not yet 21)
For the Fourth of July we drove down to Utah to the weekend. We camped out in Midway againg this year and went boating with the family. I didn't really get any good pictures.
