i'm sorry? time zones? you must be some kind of crazy person.
anyway, king gorilla and i took a trip to san diego to visit my brother matt and liam's cousin gabe. you see, i finally got tired of liam woefully lamenting, "i never get to see my cousin gabe!" so we planned a trip, crashed at johnny and erin's for the night, and got a convenient ride to the airport from erin (they live a short drive from midway).
the plane was on time, liam got his window seat, and after a minimum of fuss, we were on our way to the left coast.
the view out the window had liam transfixed for a while. then he remembered he owned a ds, and that transfixed him for a longer while.
we made it to san diego with no complications and were met by matt and gabe. we first drove to matt's house in nearby el cajon. fun facts: el cajon (translation: "the box") is located in the big box valley. back in the mission days, the padres (not the baseball team) utilized the valley as pastureland, as the surrounding hills both prevented cattle from straying and gathered the minimal rainfall to irrigate crops at the valley's center. now you know something you didn't know 1 minute ago, unless you already knew that (and if my fun facts are wrong, blame the city of el cajon's website, not me). after dropping off our gear and making a phone call, we went out for quesadillas and burritos, then journeyed to the fantastic san diego zoo. that's right, people: we had lunch around noon and before going to the zoo. nutty, but that's southern california for you!
some weird facts about san diego: people there change lanes with the frequency of a ham radio yet never appear to check their blind spot, they find philip rivers to be a person to emulate and respect, a lot of them remove the grass in their yards and install astroturf (honest), and they take urban sprawl to such a ridiculous extreme that it makes carpentersville seem like plymouth. but lordy, do i wish there were hills like that around here.
here's a pic of liam and gabe, taken during a brief stop on our drive:
so we made it to the zoo. animals were viewed. liam liked the pandas and polar bears, while gabe favored the yellow boa (python?) and meerkats. both loved watching the monkeys that chased the otters around their shared habitat, and the koalas were a big hit. and that weird thing that looks like a zebra on the bottom is called an okapi.
this pic is cool, as gabe looks like he's patting the submerged hippo on the nose. well, i think it's cool, and i can post whatever pictures i want. deal with it.
some other pics: liam is a harbor seal, the boys fly a helicopter, the boys ride a smilodon, and the boys sample some tiger language.
after that, we went back to el cajon to grill and put two exhausted kids to bed. the next day: the beach!!!!!1!11!!1!eleventyone!!
liam has been to the beach a number of times, but that beach is on lake michigan (previous posts). he's never experienced salt water before, and when a wave dumped him and he got a mouthful of water, he was shocked. "the pacific ocean tastes awful!" after a while i heard his teeth chattering, and i realized the kid was BLUE. so i took him out to warm up, and that's when the sand castle construction began. well, to be more accurate, it wasn't really a sand castle, but a series of raised roads, ramps, and bridges connecting numerous rocks. the construction occupied the boys (and adults) for a couple of hours. it might be kinda hard to see in these pics, but take my word for it that it was IMPRESSIVE.
neat: the coastal amtrak line passes through the estuary just to the east of the pacific coast highway which borders the beach. see the cool wooden trestle bridge? then it proceeds under the pch and up the coast on tracks set right up on the cliffs.
after traveling back to el cajon, lunch, and naps, matt had to go do his radio show, so the boys got some serious purposeless hanging-out time. they spent it playing liam's ds. shocking, i know. then gabe, liam, and i took matt's 4-runner to the radio station (matt had driven his sti). the trip took much less time than anticipated, so the boys killed some energy playing football and other games outside the building housing the studio.
we then went out for pizza and beer. man, did those kids drink a lot of beer. then home for sleep. the next morning was spent playing soccer, wrestling, taking some brotherly/cousinly pics, eating a late breakfast/early lunch, and shopping. then it was off to the airport for the journey back.
on this flight, liam and i traveled forward in time. so strange. but the plane was on time, johnny gave us a ride to his house and our car, and we were back to plymouth in a couple of hours. a quick but exciting trip, and one i hope liam doesn't forget for at least a few weeks. thanks to j&e for helping out, and especially to matt and gabe for being such welcoming hosts.
oh, and dolores and charlie say hi.
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