Rush Hour Truly is Horrible

Note for the Reader

*For those of you following this adventure, Chad and I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. We also have not frozen to death in the car, veered off the side of a mountain or eloped. There has been a severe shortage of data as well as time to post blog updates. To my attentive readers and family members, I do apologize.

Let’s continue where the adventure left off…

The day after an intense workout is always full of sore muscles, tight ligaments and thoughts of not wanting to do anything unless forced. The hike in the Sabino Canyon from the day before rang out in every step I took as Chad and I went to have breakfast in the hotel lobby. To my horror, I realized we had committed to going on another short hike with John Meier this morning. Oh well, at least I can have a bagel, part of Chad’s waffle and some fruit to stall my thoughts from the exercise. This hike wasn’t as crazy as the Sabino waterfall hike but it was still challenging. We met John at his resort where he and his wife stayed. Behind the resort grounds was access to trail heads that trek over the surrounding hills and lead you on miles of desert-like terrain. The Meier’s were heading home to Minnesota today and didn’t have a use for all of the food/water they had accumulated for their hiking trips. Happy late Christmas to us! Yay, food! We appreciated their kindness and company while in Tucson, AZ. Chad, John and I spent the morning hours wandering through what I originally thought Arizona would look like. There were chunks of rock here, sand there, giant looming cacti spotting the desert-like hills and black birds circling in the sky. Way to go Hollywood, you finally nailed a truthful reality. Our hiking time quickly flew by and it was already time to depart with the John and Dana. Their resort entry had flavor infused water so we all quenched our thirst before hitting the road. Chad handed me a cup of water he had already filled and I took a big gulp of it. Fire sloshed inside my mouth and quickly burned all the way to my stomach as I swallowed. Everyone grinned because the water Chad had given me was jalapeno infused water and it sure packed a punch. *Side note- Chad enjoys giving his pallet spices from all cultures, especially the extremely spicy ones. I should know by now that all of his food is laced with ranges of spice but I didn’t think I had to watch out for water!

Blink and you miss it

To be honest, I can’t remember much of the drive from Tucson, Arizona to San Diego because the terrain was pretty bland. There was hardly any living greenery due to desert-like conditions, and if there were, the terrian was dotted with the sad looking bushes. We had been accustomed to rock formations throughout the drive so none of the landscape we passed was truly thrilling.

Looking back at the images, the shots are indeed unique and thrilling but at the time we both were saying, "Oooooh another mountain. What a shocker." As for blinking and missing anything exciting while driving to CA, there are a few fun things we did see.

• Border patrol signs
  • This also lead to the “No Hitchhiking” signs
• Random barbed wire fences
• Huge rock outcroppings towards CA
  • They turned out to be mountains…drat
• Miles of pistachio trees in their designated orchards
• Plots of solar panels that stretched as far as the eye could see
• Dirt. Red to be specific.
• Matching the solar panels, giant windmills were planted at the foot of the mountains
• Sand dunes!!!!

San Diego: A city filled with bad traffic, no parking spaces and crazy drivers

Plummeting down the side of the mountains, Chad and I shot into San Diego just after sun set. The city was dark but there were lights everywhere from the traffic, residential homes and shopping centers. To our horror, it was around 5:30pm which explained the stand-still traffic on both sides of the highway. That’s a total of 8 lanes and no one was moving! Unbelievable. I knew traffic was bad in California but I didn’t actually believe it was that bad. We got off at the nearest exit but had to wait 30 minutes to get there (it was less than half a mile away!). This was not a city to park the car and sleep in, especially now that there is no snow/ice to block the windows. Chad remembered he had a friend, AJ, who lived here and called him up. We scored a pull-out couch to crash on as well as information about everything there is to do in San Diego. After hiking that morning and driving 7 hours, we were so beat. AJ was also incredibly tired as he had just stepped off a plane returning from family in Minnesota when Chad called. We sure were a sorry bunch. AJ wanted to help our hungry stomachs and suggested we walk to North Park to get some awesome street tacos. But, first we had to find parking in AJ’s neighborhood. Bah, what a joke. We drove around for at least 20 minutes, if not more, to park blocks away from Aj’s apartment. Apparently, parking is so terrible that when Aj comes home from work he sometimes has to sit in the middle of the street with his truck for over an hour waiting for someone to leave their parking space.

The tacos were bomb and North Park was equitable to what Minneapolis’s Uptown resembles. According to Chad, North Park is a way nicer version of Uptown. Back at the apartment, Chad and AJ caught up while I practically dozed sitting upright. It was also lightly raining outside, which apparently never happens. Chad and I never cease to get all of the wacky weather on this trip. Tomorrow would be the ocean, beaching, swimming, zooing, walking, eating and sightseeing. Fully stretched out on the bed, my lower back protested and rioted because it wasn’t reclined in the leather seats of the car. Too bad back! Yes, this also means both Chad and I earned showers by crashing at AJ’s apartment. Woot, woot!