California Trip

I've been on vacation at my brother's in Pasadena. I have a lot of thoughts but just haven't found the time to write anything down so here are some short snippets of a lot of things.

There is a lot of traffic here but not as bad as I was expecting. The drivers here are a lot more laid back than what you see on the beltline in DC during rush hour. It is frantic though so you have to pay attention.

GPS is cool. It takes a lot of the stress out of driving. We usually go places in 3 cars and it is hard to keep in contact with someone with all the traffic. The GPS may not take the same route but it gets you there.

It is hot during the day but cools down at night. i would compare the heat to a hot summer day in Indiana but what's the point. it is dang hot and you are better off inside or at least in the shade.

We went and watched the LA Galaxy get beat on Friday and then watched the fireworks afterwards. The Home Depot Center is a great soccer facility though the traffic is really bad. The fans are ridiculous in their worship of David Beckham but he did score so I'll give him a few props for producing.

We've been to the LA Zoo, the Autry Museum, and the Natural History Museum. I liked them all and I think the kids did too. To top it off the museums are air conditioned so that's a plus.

The William Carey University campus is a hodge podge of buildings filled with all kinds of different ministries. I think there are something like two schools and three churches that rent facilities here too. This morning I'll be going to church at Mosaic which meets in a nondescript auditorium across the street from my brother's house. They also rent office space here.

There are hills behind the campus but I don't know which ones they are. One of them has an observatory on it and was used by some guy names Hubble who discovered, or helped discover, an expanding universe from there. I know I should probably be more respectful about all of that but I'm not that interested.

There are a group of Micronesians having a basketball and volleyball tournament here this weekend. I guess they do this every 4th of July weekend and apparently a lot of them come up from San Diego. I haven't had the nerve to go over and ask but their BBQ smells delicious.

My niece introduced me to some new food last night. You take corn on the cob, slather it with mayo, roll it in some Mexican cheese called Cojita (kind of like parmesan), and sprinkle it with chili powder. I love it. Apparently there is some place in LA where they sell it off the street.

It never rains in southern California. Seems like I've heard that before. If you want a lawn or landscaping you have to water it. If you don't water the grass will die. If your sprinkler system is off a little you will quickly know it because the unwatered grass will die in a hurry.

It is wierd being on Pacific time. Everything is over a lot sooner than it should be. you can't check baseball scores in the morning because they've already put in today's box scores, ready for todays games. Wimbeldon is practically over before I get up.

That's all I can think of for now.