Sand & Snow

You may be slightly curious about this title. It will soon make sense. I just returned from my weekend trip to Southern California. I had a blast! Here's how it went:

I left work around 1:00 Friday afternoon. I had a 3:00 flight which left pretty much on time. I had an hour and a half layover in Dallas, so being a little late was no big deal. Three hours later, I arrived in Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport. I got some dinner and waited for my next flight to California. We left the gate for an on time departure, but just as we were about to get on the runway, we had to turn around and head back to the gate. Apparently some important documents (perhaps the instruction manual) had been taken off the plane. So we had to go back and get them. We started to head back to the terminal, but there weren't any open gates for us to go to, so we sat for about an hour. Finally, a gate opens up. When we got to the gate, we also had to pick up a new flight attendant and refuel. While we are waiting, we find out that the new flight attendant is not qualified for this particular flight, so they had to call in for a new one. Finally, 2-1/2 hours after we were scheduled to depart, we have everything we need and we can FINALLY take off. We arrived at Ontario Airport around 10:00 pm (CA time - which means to me, it felt like 1:00 am). Becky was there to pick me up and we headed to her apartment in Corona, CA.

We slept in a bit Saturday morning and then made our way towards Los Angeles. Although she doesn't live all that far away, it still took us nearly 2 hours. We passed the downtown area and I gazed up at the nearby hills and pointed out, "hey, there's the Hollywood sign." We both thought that was pretty cool. Our first stop was at the Getty Center. It is an art museum complex that sits atop a hill that overlooks Beverly Hills and the greater Los Angeles area. The museum only holds art that predates 1900. The real significance of the place for Becky and me is that it is designed by the famous architect Richard Mier.


After the Getty Center, we went to Santa Monica to go rollerblading on the beach and watch the sunset. Instead of taking the 405, we decided to take side roads. We drove down the very winding Sunset Boulevard to the Pacific Coast Highway and found a place to park. We walked towards the beach and saw a film crew filming something or doing a photo shoot of some sort. Only in California! We started rollerblading towards the Santa Monica Pier. It was really windy. While heading south, the wind was at our backs and we harly had to work. The wind just coasted us along the path. But on the return trip, we had to blade head on to what felt like atleast 20 mph gusts. I couldn't get any momentum going and the sand was blowing in my face. By the time we returned to where we started, I was completely exhausted!

After blading, I had to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean. I knew it would be freezing cold, but I had to do it anyways.

On Sunday, after church, we went on a hike. First, we stopped at Becky's office where she showed me where she worked and we met up with one of her coworkers who was going with us. We went to Forest Falls in the San Bernardino Mountains.

This was a little more than just a hike. I climbed a mountain! It was so amazing! I don't know that I can truly express it in words, but I will try. We started out along the trail and followed it until it ended at the base of the waterfall. But we decided to keep going, "off the beated path." We climbed up the rocks, higher and higher. There were a few times when I almost lost my footing and started to slip. I was able to catch myself, but wasn't sure that I could go on. Becky encouraged me to keep going. When ever we reached a ridge and looked out into the valley, it was absolutely "breathtaking." So just in case no one believes me, here's my proof:

So going back to the title of "Sand & Snow," where else can you go to the beach one day and the next be hiking in the snowy mountains? That's California!