Road Trip Recap

At noon on Thursday, February 7, Lynda and I headed south in our 2003 Town & Country for a long drive to San Diego. I was to make presentations at Environmental Connection 13, the annual conference of the International Erosion Control Association. We allowed three days drive there, and arrived at a good time on Saturday the 9th.

On Sunday we attended worship at San Diego First Church of the Nazarene, next to Point Loma Nazarene University campus. Then we toured the campus, which is quite nice, and walked some of the paths down toward the Pacific. After a good Mexican lunch we headed to Balboa Park. Finding a place to park was so difficult on that beautiful winter day that we lost a lot of time. Then we walked in wrong directions, back-tracked, and wasted more time. Consequently all we got to do in the park was buy passes and see an Imax film, The Flight of the Butterflies.

Monday was a full day of conference, but Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to leave a bit early and we took in some things at the park. Thursday was a vacation day, so we were all day at the park. The things we saw on those four days:
- The outdoor organ
- Air and Space Museum
- Automobile Museum
- San Diego Museum of Art
- Timken Art Museum
- Japanese Friendship Garden
- the Botanical "Garden" outside the Horticulture Building (which was closed)
- Model Railroad Museum
- San Diego Zoo
That's a big park and a big zoo. We did lots of walking. It was all good, but for sheer amazement it's hard to top the model railroad museum.

We left for home on Friday morning, stopping at Corona del Mar (south of L.A.) to see Lynda's 93 year old great-uncle (by marriage). We headed east from there, driving through the Joshua Tree National Park. It was about two or three extra hours, included four stops for photos and two stops for features.

Saturday found us in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, were we visited cousins of mine we haven't seen in a half-dozen years. That night we spent in Santa Fe with Lynda's brother. Sunday we drove to Meade, Kansas, Lynda's home town, to visit family there. We were supposed to bring Lynda's mom home from her extended visit there, but she decided to stay on longer. So we headed east from Meade and pulled up in Bella Vista around 8:30 p.m., 3,660 miles later. On the way our faithful van turned over 170,000 total miles.

Tuesday it was back to work at CEI. I haven't yet found motivation to return to my second job, that of writing. Maybe tonight.