San Diego Trip 2009

I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego recently. I was so excited to feel the intense sun of the west coast. I often feel that the east coast doesn't have the same sunshine as the west. I know it is all in my head, but it just seems to be much brighter on the west coast. I arrived in San Diego on July 14th and after a long flight from New York I took it easy for the rest of the day.

July 15th was the day first day we spent at SeaWorld. I have to say that I really enjoyed being up close to some amazing sea life, but my favorite part of that day was going with my niece to the Shamu Show. My niece Maddie was so cute. There is part of the show where they have the audience do the Shamu Slam. You lift both hands in the air in front of you and then bring them down, and repeat. During this time the orca swims in the tank splashing the audience. My little niece who is 18 months old was having so much fun doing the slam. I have attached a video, but she just at the very end.


July 16th I had the opportunity to take the Amtrak up to Dana Point. The ride on the train was beautiful. I got to see some wonderful beaches. I was going up to visit friends that I had while I lived in Salt Lake. Christy Johnson picked me up at the train station, and took me over to visit another good friend from Salt Lake, Barbie Miranda. After a good visit, I went with Christy to see where Christy and Eric had just moved. They have a beautiful view of the ocean.

Then I spent some quality time with Christy and Eric.

That night Barbie, George and their two beautiful children joined us for dinner. We had a great dinner, and then Eric and Christy took me down to the beach to have a nice walk. It was so wonderful to spend the day with such good friends.

The next day Eric drove me back to San Diego and I spent another day at Sea World with Seth, Maddie and Tammy. Tammy and I got to ride the Atlantis and we all checked out the Commerson's Dolphin. Maddie loved the dolphin. It is black and white and a small dolphin. I borrowed this picture from the web. I didn't have my camera with me to take a picture at SeaWorld. They were so cute. I think they were my favorite animal there.


Our last day in San Diego was spent at La Jolla. Terri was meeting up with a friend there and so we went there before we had to go to the airport.

Tammy and I walked a long the coast then we went to the museum there. It was featuring architecture. I really enjoyed it, but Tammy said she would have preferred paintings. I have this fun picture of Tammy in the garden by a sculpture.

Sleeping on the Streets of New York.

I had a little adventure this weekend. Shakespeare in the Park; the "Twelfth Night" with Anne Hathaway as Viola. I really enjoy the "Twelfth Night". I watched in the past at the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival. I was so excited about the opportunity to get free tickets, so my sister Terri had planned to stand in line with me on Thursday morning to get tickets for that evenings show. You can only get tickets the day of the show, so we show up at Central Park at 5:30am and the line is about six blocks long. We ask the people in the line towards the front what time they had arrived and they said 4:30am. We decide there was no way we would be getting tickets that day. I told Terri, that I would come back the next day at 2:00am to get in line.

Friday at 12:30am I begin my trip to the city. I have a sleeping bag, air mattress, food, water, dog, dog food and sewing project. I cross the Hudson on the ferry smuggling Phoebe on. I catch a cab and get out at 81st Street and Central Park West. I arrive at 1:05am. I'm an hour earlier than I plan. I think I'm doing alright. I get out of the cab at the beginning of the line. I start walking down the block. I see tons of people. I keep walking, and I find myself finally at 86th Street. I get my place in line and begin the waiting. I can see people jumping into the line in front of me, but of course it is the honor system and confronting someone will do no good.

I set up and begin talking to the people around me. Just in front of me is an interesting man by the name of Patrick. He is from Vancouver, Canada and is in New York City doing a doctorate in social something or the other. He flies to India to do research. Behind me were two students that were probably writers or actors. I talked most of the night to Patrick, except the two hours that we both try to get some sleep. I only got at the most one hour of sleep. At about 3:45am I'm awaken hearing "Billy Jean is not my lover" blaring loudly. I think it is a car waiting at the light, and I think, okay when will the light change. It is still blaring. Phoebe is visibly annoyed. I look up and see two men walking down the street. One holding a boom box and the other laughing at him. The man with the stereo is dancing and begins yelling, "Michael isn't dead." "Michael lives on!" I look and the guy is doing some vulgar dance moves to a light pole. All I'm thinking is will someone brake that stereo. It took him forever to make his way down the street, I know because I heard at least three songs. You could hear people from the line yelling at him to turn it down.

At 6:00am they let us into the park to form the official line. The employees are trying to keep people from cutting into line as we move to the official line. They walk along and give us instruction of not being able to leave the line and if we let others cut we will be removed from the line along with the person we let into the line.

I find myself in a little area that is wooded and dirt. There is an amazing tree about 50 feet infront of me that would be an amazing climbing tree. I love all of the knots and twists of the tree. I set up and begin working on my sewing project. I find the park much more comfortable than the street. I visit more with Patrick and we take turns holding each others spots for restroom runs. I have to watch Phoebe when other dogs get too close, because she has had a bad night with no sleep and is very territorial of her little space.

Patrick and the two guys behind me feel good that we will get tickets. I'm still nervous. The security begins walking up and down the line telling us that at 12:45pm they will begin giving out the tickets. We all began packing and getting our things ready to move. When we move you can see the line snaking through the park toward the theater. By 1:20pm I'm almost to the theater. I'm so close and then the line stops. I hear them beginning to announce something. My stomach drops. They begin thanking us for coming out, but all of the tickets and vouchers have been given out for that evenings show. I begin counting the people in front of me. Twenty-eight people in front of me. I was twenty-nine people away from getting a ticket after a twelve hour wait. You would think that I would be upset, but I wasn't. I really enjoyed my opportunity to sleep on a street in New York City. I had great conversation's and the weather was perfect for a twelve hour wait in line. Yes, I didn't get the tickets I wanted so badly, but I will always remember the night I camped out on Central Park West.

Lesson learned: Go early in the production. The week before, there were no lines and everyone who wanted tickets got them. Don't wait till the closing weekend.

4th of July

Well I can say for a fact, that last nights fireworks across the Hudson were the best I have ever seen. I had the wonderful opportunity to sit in my sister's father-in-laws apartment on the 41st floor. We had an unobstructed view of the Hudson. We watched as the Hudson River filled up with boats and when it was dark it looked as though the city extended across the water to Jersey, with all of the boat lights. Then it was fun to watch the six barges that were filled with fireworks get into position. We had good food and I was with great company. When the Macy's show started we turned on the TV to channel 4 and had it on in the background so we could hear the Boston Pops play as the fireworks exploded before our eyes. I have never had the opportunity to see them from a wonderful angle, it was amazing. It felt like we were in box seats at a Jazz game. It was so fun listening to Maddie as she ooo-ed and ah-ed over her first firework show.

Happy 4th everyone!