Vacation Update

For the last few days I've been sooo tired! I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the three hour time difference out here on the West Coast. I'm now in Arizona at Kathy's house, and have regular Internet access. Its been an incredibly busy couple of days finally tonight I'm feeling a little better adjusted and I'm able to update my kind blogger readers!

My flights were just fine on Saturday though it felt like I was on the plane FOREVER! Essentially I first got on a plane at 10am... and I didn't get off until 5pm Eastern time. I had all of 45 minutes between flights so really I wasn't off for long. Neither plane had a lot of space or leg room... and keep in mind gentle readers, I'm only 5ft 2in. My first flight from Syracuse to Chicago was one of those small planes like the one Todd and I took to Atlanta. My plane to San Diego was an old airbus, it had 3 seats on each side of the plane and it was a long one! I was in row 17 and that still put me just at the wing. Since the flight was long enough we got a movie on the plane, Happy Feet... but no food. Thank goodness I didn't have to go running around in Chicago trying to find my gate, it was nearby where my first plane arrived so I had a little time to go to the bathroom and buy a yogurt parfait at one of the stands and wolf it down. The approach to the SD airport was awesome, the plane essentially did a u turn by banking very sharply... it made the girl across the aisle puke, we came in right over downtown. I also have some awesome pictures from up in the air as we flew over the Rockies and the desert! Which for me was quite an awesome experience I've just never seen landscape like that in my life... except for on TV or in National Geographic.

At the airport I was picked up by Cheryl one of the ladies I knew from the stitching BB's I'm on (Hastur Torres is her screen name)... as usual not an ax murderer. For some reason if you tell people you're going to meet someone for the Internet you always get warned that they could be a serial killer??? This just doesn't seem to be the case with stitchers!

Cheryl was very nice, she was visiting her parents in SD with her friend Zari from Texas. Cheryl drove us all over SD, we also went and picked up my free zoo pass for Sunday. The scenery in SD is just gorgeous! There are hills and mountains, all kinds of palm trees and cacti everywhere! We got some fresh strawberries, they were awesome (an impossibility this time of year in Canada)... and had dinner on the bay. I had fish and chips... no where near as nice as The Glen back home.

I didn't get into the Hostel until 11pm. And I was pooped... of course it was 1am at home, and I had been up since about 5:30am. I had a hard time sleeping that night as there were a lot of comings and goings and I could hear people in the hallways and one of the common bathrooms was right next to my room. Finally I had to take some sleeping pills. I woke up bright and early since my internal clock was still on Eastern time.

Sunday morning Cheryl and Zari picked me up again at the hostel and we went to the San Diego Zoo where we met up with another woman from the stitching group we're on. It was so hot on Sunday! I wish I hadn't worn my jeans, but it had been cool in the morning. I thought the Toronto Zoo was big, and pretty cool well you haven't seen anything! There were so many animals at the Zoo that despite staying there until it closed at 5pm we still didn't manage to see everything! We estimate we must of walked about 5 miles! Part way through the day we were met by Jill and her son Luke (another stitcher from the Internet who also gave me the free Zoo pass... thank you Jill!). Her son Luke is a real cutie-pie and I think that day I was his new best friend because he kept talking to me about the animals. We had some interesting conversations!

After the Zoo we went and had cheap fast food Mexican for dinner... I passed on the famous fish tacos and had a burrito instead with chicken. After dinner Cheryl took me up into the area she lived in up in the mountains, again just awesome scenery and the sun was setting at that time. We spent a couple of hours at her folks visiting before she took me back to the hostel. I felt like I was back in High School, Cheryl, Zari and I were closed away in Cheryl's bedroom, sitting on the floor talking!

The hostel was quieter Sunday night and I slept fairly well... but I was still up at 6am! I got myself ready and had a cab called to go back to the airport where I was meeting Kathy and her husband Leo. The drive from SD to Yuma was just amazing, we had to go over the mountains! We went from sea level in SD to 4,128 ft before coming back down again and into the desert. I saw awesome sand dunes (called the Imperial Sand Dunes) there were people out on them with ATV's, dune buggies and sand rails, looked like a lot of fun. The rest of Monday was been spent just chilling, visiting and stitching with Kathy. It was 95F out there yesterday so we weren't out long. I think I really needed yesterday just to de-compress after going non-stop from Friday morning until meeting up at the Airport with Kathy on Monday morning.

Today's activity was local points of interest here in Yuma. We hopped in the car this morning and drove out to the Yuma Prison, it was the first territorial prison in the territory of Arizona in 1875... Arizona wasn't a state yet. It was pretty cool walking around in the sun, and heat... it was reaching 90F by mid morning. I got some pictures of the old buildings, and one of the view from the old guard tower... the mighty Colorado River, which isn't so mighty by the time it gets to Yuma... did you know that just the other side of the river is California? We next went to the Yuma crossing and the Quartermaster's Post. This was how all supplies got into Arizona and were re-distributed throughout the south west in the 1800's. I didn't find it as interesting as the prison, but it was nice walking about in the sun... now at 96F. Once we were done there it was getting close to 1pm and Kathy and I were hungry.

So we went down to the main drag in Yuma and hit Applebees for lunch (my favorite chain in the US). Next we went to a local discount store, kinda like Winners to find me some shorts. I found one pair that wasn't too bad, and got those for 9.99 I'll wear them to Mexico tomorrow. Oh by the way I'm starting to get a little colour in my skin! Yay! After that store we went to the quilt shop where I found 4 dragon fabrics to add to my collection, then to Michales where I escaped unscathed and didn't spend a penny. Finally onto Albertson's where we picked up a few odds and ends for tonight's dinner. Kathy had invited a couple from the trailer park here from BC who are leaving in the morning to head back north. After dinner we all went for a swim in the outdoor pool to cool down after such a hot day! It was lovely to finally cool down as the temperature today got up to 98F, if it wasn't for the girl from Alaska in high school who is visiting her Uncle there I would of been the youngest person in the pool (this is a community of snow birds). After our swim we came back here and we stitched until 11pm... today I finally dragged out Noah's Sub as I had the energy and focus to finally tackle it!

So that was my day for today, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow... Mexico and hopefully get a little more colour in my skin. I've not been sitting out in the sun since I don't want to burn.

I'm told that if I want to buy something I have to barter with the Mexican vendors. Apparently they get quite offended if you don't. I'm going to keep my eye out for either leather goods, silver, oh yeah and a tacky gift for my Mum... she requested something tacky from Mexico!

Its kinda odd when you're driving around here... there are citrus trees everywhere. Kathy and Leo have a pink grapefruit tree on their lot, and there are fruit on it... I got hit on the head by a grapefruit as I tried to pass by the tree! How many people can say that? A lot of the citrus are in bloom right now and it smells heavenly. This is just such an alien landscape to this northerner and I just love it!

Until tomorrow! Or whenever I next have the time/energy to Blog.