My Ramblings - Southern California Trip

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Hello there, reader. So nice of you to pop in and read about my trip to Southern California! I will be trying to describe all parts of this trip day-by-day, with lots of detail, and many pictures. So sit back and enjoy!

At 7:00 am the alarm was blaring in my ear. Actually, it's not a real alarm. I turned the alarm off and made it so the radio turns on when I am supposed to wake up. I slapped it and all was peaceful once again until a cardinal outside my window started chirping nonstop. *CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!* Certainly not the most wonderful thing to wake up to when the chirping feels like it's right in my ear! (This isn't just a morning thing either. It's chirping as I type this. It chirps ALL the time. *sigh*)

Just as I tried to get back to sleep because waking up at that time is too early while on summer vacation, my mother comes in and says, "Time to get up! Remember? You're going to California today!"

Now, of course, you would think I would jump right out of bed, rush into the shower, and be all ready to go in a matter of minutes, right? Wrong. Since when have you seen an 18-year-old jump out of bed at 7am on a Thursday morning while on summer vacation? I crawled out of bed, into the shower, got dressed, and stumbled downstairs to eat my breakfast. Tasty. After that, I waited for my father to do the same. We're not morning people normally.

Once he and I were finally ready to go, we packed up the car with the suitcases and were off to the airport. We got their early, but the wait to board the plane did not feel long. I think was about an hour or so, but it felt like only a couple minutes because my excitement level was rising. I love flying. I don't do it very often, so when I do, I get quite excited. While on the plane, I got out my handy dandy digital camera and started snapping pictures. There were very few clouds below us while flying so I was able to take some pretty cool pictures of what was below us. All of the pictures are links to a larger size of themselves.


Quite a nice shot of the plains flying to California. I think the clouds compliment it very nicely. Sorry about the small part of the wing in there. My window was like right on the wing of the plane.	Another cool shot of the plains flying to California. Only a small part of the wing in this one. It's actually pretty clear. Check out the larger version.

I simply love this shot. Great shot of the Rocky Mountains. I think that's what it is of. No wing parts in the picture and the clouds go very well with it. Email me if you want this in a size for your desktop wallpaper and I'll get it to you. ^_^	I want to say this is the Grand Canyon, but I'm not 100% sure it is. I think it is...if the Grand Canyon still has water running through it. ^_^ Really great picture.

Now, this is indeed the Grand Canyon. I remember the pilot making an announcement about the Grand Canyon being to our right, so I immediately snapped a picture.	Maybe the Grand Canyon, maybe not. Not sure. Whatever it is, it's really nice.

Now, aren't those pictures cool? I was really surprised by the quality of them when I got around to viewing them. They are somewhat enhanced with the program that came with my digital camera. If I didn't enhance them there would be this odd-looking haze over each picture and the colors would not be as vibrant. I realize that there still is a bit of haze on each of them, but that can't be gotten rid of. Trust me, it's like four times better now.

Okay, I did take other pictures on the plane, but some of them may scare you a bit, so don't be alarmed. You have been warned.


Hungry? Too bad! This is my lunch! Actually, some of it's missing. See that silver foil up in the left-hand corner? That was around a really good chicken sandwich. Very tasty. Airplane food has certainly gotten better over the years.	Not the scariest picture, but it's not one of the best either. Just thought I'd put it up for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Please do not be alarmed! This is just my father acting a little crazy during lunch on the plane. Three and a half hours on a plane can do that to a person. ^_^	Ugh! Not my favorite picture. Possibly my least favorite picture from the whole vacation. Yes, this is me acting a little odd...(VERY ODD)...during lunch as well.

So that was the fun and crazy trip on the plane. The flight was very nice and there was hardly any turbulence. We were quite pleased. When we got to the airport, we got our rental car and drove to my Uncle Brian's place. I love going there. It's such a wonderful house. We spent some time there and then went out and had dinner at a nice sea food restaurant. After that, we walked out on the long pier that the restaurant was next to. The sun was just setting, so I got some AMAZING sunset pictures! I mean, truly amazing ones. Below are some of them. I have many more, and if you want to see them, you can email me. Now, when they are enhanced a bit, there are vibrant oranges, yellows, and reds, but I thought I'd leave that up to your imagination (and I have lots more pictures to show you and I need the space!). But some of them don't need enhancement. They look great just the way they are.


Out on the pier. This was truly a gorgeous sunset!	I zoomed in as much as possible on the sunset while trying to get the reflection in the picture too.

The two silhouettes in this picture are my Uncle Brian on the left and my father on the right.	While driving home, we stopped at a small clearing and I took this picture and the next two.

Believe it or not, the sun is indeed still visible in this picture. You can see it in the bigger version just barely. Amazing sunset.	This was the last picture of the sun I took before it disappeared below the ocean. Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous!!!

Well, that was just the first day of my vacation! Don't worry, I think I took the most pictures on this day. I just went trigger-happy with my camera. ^_^ Believe me, the camera doesn't do justice to the beauty of that sunset. Looks like it's time to go on to Day 2 of my trip. Day 2 was a VERY special day for me. You'll see why when you click below. ;)

For any questions or comments, please email me here:
Gandalf1210@attbi.com
Feedback is always welcome!