UT-AZ-CA-UT

For what was probably my only vacation-style road trip for the summer, I hitched a ride with a friend-couple of mine and a cooler and headed to the beach (by way of Tucson). The first day we drove to AZ to catch a wedding anniversary party for one of Rich and Kirsti's friends. It's a good thing we didn't get to Tucson until the evening since we discovered our a/c wasn't working at all...

The next day while Rich and Kirsti were at the party, I volunteered to get the a/c fixed since we suspected it was just a re-charge that was needed. However, that turned out not to be the case. After taking the car to a couple different shops, I wandered around in the sizzling Arizona heat trying ot find something to do while the car was getting fixed. I settled on a pedicure, then a box of lime popsicles from Trader Joe's for lunch. After about 3 hours the car was finally done and I shared the backseat with the cooler again as we drove a refreshing 8 hours to LA.

Kirsti was nice enough to get me a cup of english mints from the party to enjoy on the trip, two of which rolled between me and the seat and were smashed there for a few hours until we stopped for gas. That was a fun clean up. I had chocolate smashed all across my shorts and on the back of my shirt due to trying multiple times to find a comfy position. Luckily, I had chosen to wear my chocolate brown shorts that day anyway. :)

We surprised Kirsti's mom for mother's day and went to Knott's Berry Farm (I am WAY more sensative to roller coasters these days) that weekend. Being the fan of water that I am, we hit up one later in the afternoon. It ended up being our last. Kirsti and I were having a great time watching Rich get splashed the whole time whiel we stayed relatively dry. We stayed on to go a second time and this time Kirsti got a little more action from the waves. I made it through with the least amount of wetness... until the last 2 yards before the exit ramp when we hit a random lip and a huge wave came up and over our raft and collapsed on ME. I went from being perfectly dry to essentially soaked at the very last second. Figures.

My favorite part of the trip was our afternoon at the beach. We boogie-boarded and roasted hotdogs on a fire (the best way to eat hotdogs in my book) while the sun set. I wish we could have been there longer; I love the beach and Utah doesn't seem to have any. Bummer. Overall, it was a nice vacation away from the valley and I even got to drive on the way back.