Getting There

Words by Shannon, Images by John

Our drive out to California - was long, tiring and yet a lot of fun. We left about 8 in the evening and drove all night practically until we reached San Diego the next afternoon, around 2. We decided to take the long way around and so instead of going Denver to Vegas to San Diego, we headed, Denver to southern Colorado to New Mexico, to Alberqurque to Phoenix and then on to San Diego. All in all the drive took about 18 hours. John did most of the driving, with me manning the CD player and trying to keep myself awake to keep John awake.

But the drive wasn't without stories to write home about. Around 1:00 in the morning, John was pulled over by an New Mexico police officer, for speeding. So while we waited wondering how much the ticket would be I fantasized about going back to sleep. I had just settled down for a wee nap when BAM! flashing lights appear in the side mirror. The officer was nice though, I think in light of the recent events and the fact that a lot of families had recently taken to the road, and let John off with a warning. The remainder of our travels through New Mexico were exactly at the speed limit.

Unfortunately, we started pretty late that, seeing much of New Mexico was lost, since the sum went down before we even broke the border of Colorado. But every now then I would catch a glimpse of a mountain in the reflection of headlights or miles of unused land, open to the sky. It was definitely mystical. As we were leaving Alberqurque, I turned and looked at the city resting in the valley and the sky was overwhelming. The colors were so amazing, I don't think I had ever seen anything like it.

As the sun was coming up and the work day was just beginning for many, we were just starting to get our second wind. We made a stop at a scenic overlook in Arizona - not much to see in the end and the cool temperatures were making it difficult to enjoy the view. So after a few quick snaps we hopped back in the car and were off - bound for our next milestone - Phoenix. Just as we were entering the city limits the morning rush hour seemed to be in full swing. The highway was already busiling with morning commuters and traffic. We felt as though we had been driving for several days and the traffic didn't help. We still had about 6 hours to go before we reached San Diego and it still seemed an eternity away.

So we continued to trudge on and navigated our way from Phoenix to the tip of southern California. We came to a border stop where the agents questioned us about where we were coming from and whether we had any fruit to declare. All in all it was quite amusing. We could have been lying but they didn't seem as though they were even interested. Eventually we passed over the mountains and seemed closer to our final destination. All along the way noting whether we had driven this far when we had lived there. We soon hit upon a familiar landmark - Viejas Casino. As we passed by it the relief that our long 18 hour trip was drawing to a close at least for a week or so.

Saturday we awoke with the idea that it would be fun to go down and do a bit of shopping at where else, but Viejas. In the end we didn't buy anything so I guess that was good - saving our pennies for Vegas. The remainder of the day went by uneventfully, we were still pretty tired from the day before and we had another drive to look forward to on Sunday, so we decided to call it an early evening and get some rest.