Today marks the start of an eight day tour of California. What I appreciate most about a vacation is my ability to observe freely. On the way to the airport I was able to appreciate the stillness of the island in the "wee" hours of the morning. No traffic. No noise. No worries. As I entered the airport, such a place of adventure, I saw very large and ashy feet, found myself in between strangers who thought it was normal to exchange food across my lap, was forced to endure the randomness of people entertaining themselves with yoga less than a feet away from me, and had the pleasure of witnessing a fellow passenger have a near panic attack. There goes my precious moments of introspection...
Why do I get the feeling that it will get better from here? Every now and then I just need a greater level of adventure. My goal in life is to live. Not wish and dream about what I shoulda', coulda', or woulda' done if I had this or didn't have that. People are literally dropping like flies around me and though it's disheartening, I am learning more everyday just how abbreviated this thing called "life" is.
My bestie and I always wait until the absolute last minute to plan our "birthday trip". Welp, not this year, we planned ahead for our shenanigans and to make things even more interesting, we opened the invitation up to two other great friends! Girls trip!! If I have learned nothing from this chica, I have learned to never sell myself short in making memories.
We will visit San Diego for the first two days of the tour and move on to Hunting Beach on Wednesday. This will be my second trip to the West Coast. Flying in, I got a glimpse of the mountain tops and looked down to see almost aqua blue water in its natural design. I love visiting a new city and seeing everything that its famous for, along with hidden secrets that locals may share. Luckily, our hotel is in the Gaslamp Quarter which is surrounded by great eateries, shopping, bars/pubs, supermarkets, and all that falls in between. All within walking distance.
Today being the 4th of July Holiday, let's just say we got to see some pretty interesting displays of patriotism! The best part of the evening was going down to the marina to see the amazing display of fireworks. There was a green area in front of the water where people sat on blankets, had picnic baskets, and enjoyed each other's company in cue for the 20 minute firework show to begin. It was worth the sacrifice. I haven't seen that many fireworks, well... never. I always enjoy observing people just relaxing and appreciating the times where all seems well with the world as we know it. Like the rose that grew in the middle of concrete, there is hope for better days.
After fireworks we walked around the city for a night cap and were lured in by the sounds of the 90's. A time when neither of us were in college (smiles). We were creative and used the nostalgia to reminisce on the times we were old enough to attend college and revel in its social pleasantries. Where does the time go?!
What a day! I think we were all asleep before our heads even touched the pillows. Not bad for a first day! May the good times keep rolling in!
After spending all morning and most of the afternoon on the game show set, we all were extremely famished. We came back to the hotel to change out of our costumes and headed to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. That waffle though!! I didn't even bother to take a picture of the food, that's how fast that waffle and those succulent chicken wings disappeared from my plate. Zero time to waste for matters of the stomach.
In the midst of celebrating life, we received word of another life taken at the hands of another human. My friends and I watched the video in utter disgust and sadness. That could have been a male member in either of our families. How do we learn to tolerate differences? Why are we so obsessed with everyone else, justifying our reason to hate who and what we don't understand? We all went to bed with prayers of hope for our black kings.
