Road Trip

Just got back from an awesome trip to California to visit my family.  I think that was the best trip of my life. :)  Possibly.  The road trip my mom, brother and I took 4 years ago up through South Dakota and Yellowstone was pretty awesome too. :)

For one, all the eating out we did on this trip was just wonderful.  My favorite thing to do pretty much is eat out. :)

We pulled into Cali Wednesday night and we were both incredibly tired.  I think I had driven about 12 hours that day from Deming, NM all the way to Costa Mesa. 

For some reason I thought coming up through San Diego would be a good idea, but it was quite stressful.  I am no longer accustomed at all to that much traffic and being around that many cars at once.   It was like a sea of cars everywhere we went. :( 

There was one close call on the road trip.  A semi truck got closer to me than any vehicle has ever gotten to me and I was so sure he was about to ram into the back of my car.  That scared me quite a bit. :( 

I am somewhat sad to be back.  The adventure is over.  But there will be others at some point I'm sure.  :)  

It was so nice to visit my mom and be back at her condo and to be back in Cali for a bit. :)

Half of the drive home we listened to Cloud and Townsend tapes of the Monday night Solutions they used to do at Mariners church.  Yes tapes, lol my car has a tape player. :)  They wrote the book Boundaries and several other great ones.  The best tape was on the topic of confrontation and how it can improve relationships, if done in the right way.  I think we both learned a lot from listening to that one. :) 

We started our drive Tuesday around noon, got into Deming around 7 or 8, and stayed the night there at a Holiday Inn.  Then Wednesday I drove about 12 hours from 7am to 7 or 8pm.  That was hard. :(

We stayed there Thursday and Friday. 

Thursday we went to Newport Beach in the morning and rode beach cruisers around.  That was fun. :)  We got pizza and then went to Coldstone with my mom in the afternoon.  Then we watched some home videos with my mom of her childhood. 

Wednesday was my husband's birthday so we took him to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the Rainforest Café.  I'd say that is the most special restaurant in Orange County, to me at least. :)
 
The next day we met my best friend for breakfast and Mimi's, then had lunch with my grandparents at Claim Jumper.  Then we went to Huntington Beach and ate at the Ruby's on the end of pier, and then went out to Red Robin with my mom and step-dad. 
 
That covered pretty much all my favorite restaurants in SoCal. :) 

Then we headed out Saturday morning around 8 and drove about 12 hours again to Deming and pulled in there around 8pm. 

The next day we drove from about 9am to 4pm. 

And we made it back to our apartment perfectly safe and sound, praise God. :) 

I'm very glad we went. :)