Searching For God Knows What

Day 8

Current location: San Diego

We finally made it to California! Hooray, a round of applause, it took us seven days, but we made it. I am currently typing this blog from a small cafe in the center of San Diego...delightful.

Tuseday night Katie and I stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel, the tallest hotel in Las Vegas with a rollercoaster on top. I would like to quote my grandmother, Nana, to describe Vegas. "Vegas is so bad, that it's good." And this is so true. The strip certainly is over the top. We spent Tuesday afternoon and night walking up and down the famous Las Vegas Boulevard taking in the sites and the people...from the cracked out homeless, to the over-sized, fake breasted, blonde women who are trying to re-live there youth. Our favorite hotel was by far the Bellagio, and we were able to see the famous fountains just as the sun setting behind the colossal hotels, and they were magical. Katie and I seem to have impecable timing, and we always find the most interesting things when we are not even looking for them. God has truly been with us and watching our back this trip, and I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us, thinking about us, and checking the blog. We have made it almost 4000 miles without one incident with the car...knock on wood, which is amazing in and of itself, my little rabbit knows how to drive.

Katie and I saw Cirque De Soleil's Mystere on Tuesday night, and it was amazing. It was our first cirque de soleil experience, and we are hooked. From the music, to the stage, to the performers, it was over the top. The show let out at 11 30, and we drowsily headed back to our hotel, lost three dollars in some slot machines, and then called it a night.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we left Vegas and headed for the desert. On our way to california we stopped by Death Valley...and they call it that for a very good reason. Shrubs do not even grow in this barren waste land. We got a big rock for our friend Coleman who is a die hard Clemson fan (Clemson's stadium is called Death Valley for those of you who don't know). We spent the rest of the day running from the desert moving full steam ahead into Cali. We escaped the heat of the desert and descended into the smog of LA, hitting the city right as five o clock pulled around, but luckily californians are crazy drivers and we got to San Diego around 7. We touched the pacific ocean, for the first time, and then ate a baguette and cheese on the Imperial Beach pier. We are staying at Bud Sutherland's cousins house, Tim Sutherland, and he is an amazing guy. He in his early thirties with a sweet little house right near the beach overlooking the Mexican border. He fed us plenty of beer and homemade mexican vegetable soup and we talked about surfing, carpentry, and our trip, and then called it a night. One of my favorite parts of the trip is meeting new people and making new friends, and Tim is certainly a friend.

I was woken up at 8 this morning by Tim yelling, "Charles, the surfs up. Wake up, we are paddling out." And paddle out we did. We surfed by the same pier Katie and I ate at last night, and the waves were amazing. I borrowed a a double fin 5 8 shortboard from a local with about a hundred surfboards in his backyard, and paddled out with Tim who is an amazing surfer, and did i mention he only has one leg...that's right, and he rips. he is the best one legged surfer I have ever seen. We surfed overhead waves for two hours with his yoga friend, and then he went to work and Katie and I went on a bike ride to the border of America and Mexico. We found this cool bike trail in the marsh and enjoyed the sun while huge military helicopters flew overhead looking for illegal immigrants.

Anyways, we are heading to the zoo, and then off to LA tomorrow. Sorry this update is so long, but it has been a busy week. Hope all is well for everyone, and I will update soon.

Peace