Summer Time Fun

Since I've been MIA all summer, I thought I'd do a coupe recap posts of our summer.  We have been extremely busy.

Our summer began with some sad news.  My grandpa passed away after struggling with many health problems following his surviving mouth and throat cancer.  We were planning on heading down to St. Louis, and quickly cancelled and scheduled a quick trip to California.  In true Grandpa fashion, we spent most of our time out vising with family and friends.  He would hate it if we traveled all the way out there and didn't have some fun.

With a very inexpensive upgrade, we were able to rent a Mustang.  Dan was really excited, especially since we flew into San Diego, and had a 2 1/2 hour drive into Victorville.  After a minor set back of delayed luggage, we were all checked in and settled into the hotel.  Unfortunately, we missed the services, but were able to make the BBQ Celebration of Life afterwards.

The next day, Dan found an good hiking trail into a 6000+ year old crater, Amboy Crater, that happened to be right off route 66.  It was a really great hike and we were able to make our mark in the volcanic rock.  It was also really interesting to see the old Route 66 towns, or what's left of them I should say.

 We were also able to meet up with some of Dan's family close to San Diego.  It was great to meet even more of Dan's family and nice to know we both have so many ties to Cali.  After lunch, we headed up the Pacific Coast highway into LA to meet with with Dan's college roommate.  We headed to Santa Monica Pier, ate wonderful sushi, and got a little more than our feet wet. 

 Even though the trip was short, we really squeezed a lot in and left itching to plan our next trip back.  Now we have a lot of family to visit and many many more sites to see.