adventures in CA

this post has been in various stages of posting for about 2 weeks now -
at TVR Christian Camp, where i was with the Youth group for a week, it was all typed out and then my stupid macbook battery died and i lost what had been saved. then, i typed it out AGAIN, and instead of it saving automatically like blogger prefers to do, it DIDN'T save because of some strange internet problem, and when i pressed "post" it lost everything.
Lovely.

so, i have to admit that this version of the 'adventures in CA' will be abbreviated, because frankly i'm tired of typing out these stories. so, if something sounds interesting, ask me about it and i'll elaborate. i'm more eager to get to other posts floating in my brain...

SO...
my wife and i traveled to the OC to visit my dad and his family in good ol' Cali.
my dad left my mom when i was 18, and when i was 21 he moved to CA with his new wife. through my stepmom, dad has a son and daughter-in-law and a daughter, as well as 2 grandkids. over the last 9 years, my relationship with dad has been back and forth, up and down, rife with strife and passive aggressive, and over the last 3 years it has settled into a more functional place. my dad's choices have been poor in several key places, but he chooses to continue in a loving relationship with me and my brother despite the distance and difficulties, and that is a decision i can respect. it has been almost 3 years since i've been to CA to visit him, and since he came here last year for my wedding, i figured it would be appropriate for my wife and me to visit him in CA this year. then, he can visit next year when Sarah graduates, and we can go out there the next year, etc... this year, he was able to pay for our plane tickets, making this a great anniversary gift to us. hopefully, we'll be able to host them when the come for graduation, and maybe even be in a place financially to pay for our own tickets in two years... if there is gasoline still available for airplanes at that point in world events.
we spent 6 days there, but really only 4 because two were on a plane. i have to fight the urge to make the vacation sound longer than it was, because those plane days don't count, and of course they're not exciting. the only notable thing about the flights was that we got to fly home in 1st Class.
now THAT was exciting.
we got the posh treatment for once in our lives, and i have to admit it was nice. free headphones, dinner, large leather seats, no baggage fees (if you haven't flown recently, BEWARE the baggage fees), and this particular plane had screens in each seat. Sarah annoyed the guy in front of her by playing some game where you had to tap on the screen like crazy... she didn't realize that the incessant tapping transferred through the seat into the person sitting there. she just got really excited about the fishy game on her own private screen...

in CA, we were able to do several out-of-the-ordinary things:

eat @ In-N-Out Burgers - you MUST do this if you visit Southern California. the best fast-food hamburger i have ever eaten.

Knott's Berry Farm - the grandfather of all theme parks, literally. Knott's was the first in America, and they still have a great thing going. Some of the rides are trendsetters, so Knott's has always tried to be the innovator. this is where Disney got his inspiration...

the OC fair - i had an authentic Churro, Sarah ate a ginormous Italian Sausage, we marveled at the swipe cards used for games and rides (no tickets here!), and we laughed at the $10 "North Carolina Bar-B-Q" sandwich for sale. Here we are in SoCal, at the Orange County Fair, and out of ALL the foods to have in huge display, there is one specifically serving North Carolina Barbeque. To me, that clearly showcases the supremacy of North Carolina's pulled pork.

Lake Arrowhead - a HUGE manmade lake in the mountains just above the High Desert. This lake is completely surrounded by shops and multimillion dollar homes. we saw a 30,000 square-foot home, that had a 3000 sq/ft MAID's quarters. so basically, you could fit TWO of my current home in the maid's quarters. we found some good deals at the shops, but the boat tour really showed us the ridiculous amounts of money that American celebrities waste.

Corona del Mar - this is a beach, not a drink. there were tide pools, cliffs to climb, and more multimillion dollar homes everywhere. lots of pics, but Sarah hasn't had time to upload those to ol' facebook yet. hopefully soon...

NO YARDS - that's right, no grass to cut. My dad's yard is desert. where he lives in the High Desert, the only people who have grass are morons who want to waste money on expensive water bills to care for an ecosystem that isn't even native to that area. the only native plants are cacti, joshua trees, tumbleweeds, and some other prickly little things.

it was good to get away from NC, but i am pretty sure i prefer living here to living there. sure, the humidity is high here, and the weather is schizophrenic, and Angier is pretty far removed from the beach, and the NC mountains don't really compare to the Rocky Mountains, and the nearest theme park is pretty ghetto,
but my cost of living is around 1/3 of the cost of living out there.
and this is where God has called us to be.