All smiles now!

AJ’s first trip to the vet was a success! He didn’t bite anyone, didn’t growl at anyone, nothing. He was all love to everyone there, and I’m pretty sure he would have gone home with any of them. It’s probably because he wasn’t feeling good and they made him feel better. His problem…his anal glands needed excreting, which is really disgusting. He cried so loud when they did it, but he felt so much better afterwards. And it smells horribly! I had to change my clothes when I got home just from holding him. Apparently, that’s where they store their “scent” to mark their territory, and it was pretty rank. But AJ is feeling so much better, and he’s back to himself.

Pobrecito

Poor AJ is having some problems with his rear, and he hasn't been feeling well at all. Tomorrow we get to experience our first vet visit in San Diego! Pray that it goes well and that AJ isn't too sick! :(

It COULD have been worse?!?!

I guess it’s what you expect when you have the Navy move you. What makes me angry is that if it’s your job…you should do it well. If you’re a janitor…be proud and clean that toilet well! If you’re a teacher…be proud and teach your students well! If you’re a packer…be proud and pack boxes well! It isn’t that hard…James and I have moved ourselves three times with very few difficulties and broken items. In fact, on our move from Texas to Virginia, only one glass broke. Just one! But…apparently getting paid to pack peoples stuff means that you can suck at it because it isn’t your stuff. Movers on both sides of the coast gave us quite the attitudes. Well…let me tell you how excited their bosses are going to be when our claim comes through. Let’s hit the big ones…our TV didn’t show up. Half of our bed didn’t show up and they broke the rest of it (oh yeah…a family heirloom). One of our brand new dining room chairs didn’t show up. They broke our new living room chair. An adorable clear coffee table didn’t make it. A few boxes, etc. That’s the stuff that didn’t show up. Boxes were ripped apart, shredded, crushed, pretty much pulverized. A ton of stuff is broken…I don’t even know where to begin on that one. It’s been fairly entertaining opening boxes labeled clothes to find kitchen stuff, or boxes labeled clothes to find books. I don’t think I’ve opened one box that was labeled correctly or packed well. I take that back…one of the boxes that we packed from Blacksburg with our glasses was labeled and packed well. Oh…wait…we did that ourselves! So…the moral of the story is that we should never let the Navy move our stuff again, and when they do, we are paying for it ourselves and getting reimbursed. Because really… this has been unacceptable.

Come on in!

It feels good to have a place to call our home in beautiful San Diego! Though it took us quite a while to find a place, we have moved into a very nice complex that overlooks Qualcomm stadium. If we are willing to spend enough money, we could literally walk to the games, and it would be about the same distance we used to walk from AJ to class. Seriously…we’re that close! Our apartment is pretty much in the middle of everything in San Diego, and it only takes James about 10 to 15 minutes to get to base, and it took him 9 minutes to get home yesterday. We love it! Our little home is a bit small, but still bigger than we thought we could afford in San Diego! It has vaulted ceilings, beautiful crown molding, granite counter tops, some hardwood floors, built in bookshelves, a huge kitchen, a fireplace, and a Jacuzzi bath tub. And we are on the third floor, so I feel safer (though our movers were really angry about that!). I think my favorite thing about our apartment is that we have an awesome view of palm trees and fun tropical plants. We can’t wait for everyone to come and visit!

Yes...we really bought a lime couch! :)

I am super excited about our new love seat! Though I try to keep it inside as best I can, I LOVE bright colors and fun crazy furniture, and I fell in love with this couch as soon as I saw it. And the best part about it is that we found it on craigslist for only $150! It belonged to an adorable couple in Northpark who are moving to Germany. He was an interior designer and their apartment looked like a contemporary furniture ad. So fun! So now you all have to come and visit just so you can see our awesome new love seat!

Our Fifth Address together!!

We have an actual San Diego Address now! If all goes as planned, we should be moving in this afternoon. We are so excited, and I can't wait to put pictures of our apartment up! :)

Please email me at: aburley@vt.edu for our address and phone number! :)

We are inviting you to come out and visit! This is an open invitation...you are always welcome in our home! :) San Diego has sooooo many fun things to do...we are only beginning to scratch the surface!

Can't wait to see you all!

Always, Angela, James, and AJ

Naval Station San Diego

We made it! Somewhere around 2,000 to 3,000 miles from Coast to Coast, plus sidetrips.

First San Diegan Meal

Apparently you have to ask for your Salmon to be cooked on the West Coast. Or actually smoked. For lunch, we went to a good looking bagel shop, similar to a place we had recently been to in Charlottesville, France, VA. Enjoying the cool air, we ordered sandwiches and ate outside, much to AJ’s delight, as anything was better than being in the car. Angela’s turkey bagel sandwich was great, and mine tasted good at first. Halfway through my bagel, I realized I had not tasted any salmon yet, and I had ordered the SMOKED SALMON sandwich. Opening the bagel, I discovered a raw heap of pink fish, surrounded by fresh lettuce and cream cheese. Everything was so deliberate and of good quality, it seems odd that someone had neglected to actually cook the salmon. We were not at a sushi place, but a regular bagel shop, where salmon was the only seafood on the menu. Luckily I have had salmon sushi and was not totally repulsed, but I doubt this restaurant regularly prepared raw fish for consumption. I was grossed out…

Day 9 – 180 miles

Palm Springs is a beautiful town, with the impressive shadow of peaks always in view. In the Winter and Spring, the wealthy from Hollywood come here to gamble, golf, or take the tramway up the mountains as featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs.” We left our contemporary resort hotel for a peaceful drive through wind farms.These were even more numerous than in Oklahoma, and I’m sure powered the resorts and water parks in the region, so were quite essential. We had hoped to find a good spot on the San Andreas Fault to take some pictures, which is apparently easily defined in this region, but were unable to find it. There was an earthquake survival guide in the hotel, which made me feel very reassured.After a peaceful drive, the monstrosity that is LA reached out to grab us as for the first time since leaving Hampton Roads, traffic snarled us up. On the outskirts of LA we hit merging traffic, and sped south. We entered San Diego County quite a long time before reaching the city. This county is gigantic in land area. I decided that all of California thinks they are in a movie, as we saw 4 Hollywood quality car wrecks in the span of half an hour.One car was completely engulfed in flames while another spun out behind us managing to miss all oncoming traffic in the process. While accidents seem common-place, I was impressed with the merging qualities other drivers possess. In the VA, people approach merging with extreme fear and trepidation. Here, they just zip in and keeps the flow moving. In San Diego city, entrance ramps have stop lights to regulate the flow in incoming merging vehicles, so this idea of effective merging somehow communicates to the masses how to get around.After some lunch, we finally headed into San Diego proper and took a quick tour of what Ron Burgundy has termed, “it’s a fact, this is the greatest city in the history of mankind.” If nothing else, the climate here is really as great as advertised, particularly after the insanely hot desert and humidity filled homeland back in Old Virginny.

Yikes!

Day 8 – 300 miles

Aside from the heat, we were able to get some rest and get on the road for a short drive to Palm Springs, finally arriving in California. Deciding to stop and do some hiking in Joshua Tree National Park, we stopped by a Petsmart AND a Petco in search of a more back friendly doggie carrier, but had no luck. It was at this point that we realized Phoenix’s glut of suburban strip malls.One could stand on an interstate bridge, and literally see at least three Target signs, four Best Buy stores, and numerous pet stores. If poor economic times and scarcity of water are really issues, Phoenix seems to be ignoring both! Apparently most citizens cannot be bothered to make the half mile trek from their home any further than humanly possible. And they HAVE to drive to these stores; it is just too damned hot to walk. BUT, we did manage to drive by the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, where the NFL’s Cardinals play, as well as the BCS Fiesta Bowl is now held.The new stadium is a testament to modern construction, needing a domed building in such a god forsaken landscape. We decided that the University of Phoenix, a FOR-PROFIT educational source, is asking too much for tuition if they can sponsor such a massive, brand spankin new stadium. At this point we headed West, to reach the Golden State. First, however, we went in search of the Saguaro. Angela wanted very badly to get a picture of these tall cacti before we left their natural range of arid desert. We found some stately cacti at least 30 feet tall just off the interstate.A short drive later, we came upon the California state line, and an agriculture inspection station. This state likes to micro-manage their citizens with rules, and we broke one immediately by smuggling some house plants into the state. The price of gas promptly rose a bajillion dollars, to nearly 5 bucks a gallon. This place was starting to get on my nerves, but enjoyed a brief visit to Joshua Tree National Park.This is a beautiful state, and drove up a seemingly abandoned incline into barren hills. Instead of hiking, the heat was too intense, we checked out a visitor’s center. This little excursion covered AJ in cacti spurs and a realization that the main entrance to the park was hours away along with the cool things to see, such as 40 foot tall Joshua Trees, a variant of the yucca plant, and oases.Some locals invited us to camp with them, but decided we had enough of the tarantula infested desert for one day and headed into the resort paradise of Palm Springs. Here we encountered rich youngsters from nearby LA, but stayed in a nice Holiday Inn thankful for government rate. During peak season, these rooms could run as high as 600 bucks a night!

Dry Heat

The heat is intense in Phoenix, and illustrative of that fact were a few discoveries we made in the morning. Candy had liquefied in the car from sugary gummies to soup, and shockingly my CROC sandals malted. The sandal literally shriveled up in the direct sunlight magnified by the enclosed space in the car. And this was discovered only in the morning. Amazing! But now I need new shoes and Angela needs new gummy rings.

Cliff Dwellings and Dust Storm

We took off back to Flagstaff to catch up with the interstate south to Phoenix. The plan was to see Montezuma’s Castle, a cliff dwelling, and stay the night in Phoenix. We drove directly into a thunderstorm, and were thankful for our new windshield wipers and RAIN X treatment. A short drive later and several thousand feet lower, we arrived at Apache Nation casino, and turned off into the National Monument.It started to pour and lightning abounded, so we hid out in the car for a bit until the weather cleared. Montezuma’s Castle is a cliff dwelling, but differs from Mesa Verde in Colorado in the fact that these were peaceful people who simply realized that building two walls is easier than four. The homes were cool in summer and warm in winter, and a watering hole nearby was used extensively for irrigation. These natives were relatives of the Hopi, who still come here for religious observances. Unfortunately the weather forced us to leave without truly exploring, and we headed south to the hot, dry, desert monstrosity that is Phoenix. After battling bands of rain, we soon found ourselves in tree-less hills and the first tall cacti came into view. Soon, there were Saguaros everywhere, as well as dust.As soon as we came down from the mountains, the dust arose and whipped around us violently. We were lucky we were not in a real dust storm, as this was bad. We then entered the suburban wonderland of Phoenix. The temperature of 110 and was baking everything. There is little grass here, just rocks and cacti, but the place is booming. New developments were everywhere, modern shopping centers. Exhausted, we heard fireworks in the distance while eating Olive Garden to go.

Day 7 - 364.7 miles

Growing up in VA, the birthplace of the Revolution, it is easy to get patriotic on the 4th of July. Visiting the Grand Canyon on Independence Day gives an American a different sense of patriotism, one of Manifest Destiny perhaps? We left Flagstaff to make a short trek to the Grand Canyon after stopping by a Petsmart to find a doggie backpack to carry AJ around the National Park. We didn’t find one, and settled on a gym-bag type carrier with mesh sides. The day was warm, and we didn’t want AJ to get overheated or jump over the side of the rim. So we arrived at the park amidst a crowd of visitors. Just outside of the park is an airport offering helicopter and plane tours of the canyon, which would be well worth it given some time and money to spend. Apparently, everyone in Arizona decided to visit the Grand Canyon for the 4th of July, so consequently, we could not find a place to stop. Every available parking space was filled, so we joined the seemingly endless line of cars waiting to get a spot. We decided to drive past the first viewing area, and easily found a space. After crating AJ, which was also quite an experience, we got our first glimpse of the great expanse. Pictures cannot truly convey the majestic views we were standing on. The canyon is immense, and our depth perception was off when looking down, not realizing how far down the drop truly is. It kind of makes your eyes hurt. A great vacation would be to camp out in the woods nearby and take a mule ride to the bottom, or go rafting on the Colorado River, several miles below us. We took a great number of photos, and took a small hike away from the crowds. An interesting fact about our National Parks is that more international vacationers visit the parks every year than American citizens.
We heard French, Chinese, Russian, German, and Spanish spoken. The people were generally friendly, particularly the non-Arizonians. For the record – people from Arizona are mean. We met a family from Michigan who we had a random connection to, as their brother teaches currently at the Coast Guard Academy and at least has seen Tony around campus a few times. After a short but eventful time in the Park, we retreated to a nice local village where preparations for a parade were underway. The locals here were great and we got amazing food, and lots of post cards. Angela ordered some prickly pear tea that was surprisingly sweet and awesome.

Seriously guys?

We're still in the car?!?!

The 454.9 miles continued...

I have always wanted to visit Arizona, with so many outdoor destinations, and was excited to be greeted at the border with a cheesy Tee Pee Native stand. While driving we had taken to listening to books on tape and were enjoying listening to author Bill Bryce walk the Appalachian Trail in the lush East when we pulled into Petrified Forest National Park. This park, close to the New Mexico border, is easy to miss from the interstate as the land looks like flat grassland for miles and miles. Just off the road, however, is a painted desert, pueblo ruins, petroglyph's, and some of the largest deposits of petrified wood in the world. Angela bought a cd tour to guide our travels through the park and off we went. Rounding the first turn in the tour we were greeted with an amazing site that made me stop and really realize that yes, I was in the American WEST. I felt like I was in a western, but with driving a Ford Focus with a pink license plate and a poodle for a steed... But the view was breathtaking. Miles of badlands presented colorful pinks and white bands of color along sloping mounds for as far as the eye could see. We stopped at several of these overlooks, encountering birds of prey, and headed to the southern portion of the Park. We stopped briefly at a Route 66 memorial and heard a bit about the Grapes of Wrath, though all I could think about was the modern Disney/Pixar movie "Cars." Next stop was a pueblo ruin, of a native people related to the modern Anasazi, but had left this area due to probable climate change in the 1300s. Strewn about the various boulders were even more incredible petroglyphs than we had seen in New Mexico. One area was referred to as “newspaper” rock for the images were so numerous that they seemed to display headlines. Next we moved into an ancient rain forest where some coniferous trees became stuck in stream beds, preserved by muck and changed by the earth over millennia to rock. We saw badlands strewn with petrified wood. Apparently the park has had issues with visitors stealing wood, which is literally on the side of the road, and has rangers actively patrolling the sites. We ventured out in an area known as the crystal forest, with large logs strewn about that contain crystallized rocks inside. Cowboys used to jam sticks of dynamite into the wood in an attempt to gain access to the crystals, and evidence of the pyromaniacs is still evident. At the southern visitors center we saw a final field full of rainbow colored wood, unique in the late afternoon sun. Being on Arizona time meant we had gained another full hour of time in the day, and could take our time. Arizona has not felt the need to adhere to daylight savings time, so we were now on California times! 3 hours behind home. After leaving the park, we drove through empty land to the crossroads of Holbrook, which sells the largest quantity of petrified wood in the world. Also, for all those who have seen cars, we saw an old wigwam hotel, where you could sleep in a tee pee you drove up to. This was old Route 66. After all this we were exhausted and urged our poor car up several thousand feet to Flagstaff. Here was a wooded ski paradise only an hour from the Grand Canyon. Upon making our approach, we witnessed the sun set behind tall peaks, creating an image of Mordor… and the Wal*Mart in Flagstaff was that bad. Enough said, but we got to sleep in a packed town on the eve of a holiday weekend.