After a week in San Diego for my graduation and moving all my stuff from storage back into the same house and same room from which I had moved it in December, I flew back to San Antonio for a week to see friends and load up my Ford Escape. I spent a lot of time with high school friends -- Emily Harms, Emily West and Susanna in this picture. Emily Harms and I then drove the 1,400 miles back to California. We took our time -- two nights on the road because we were in separate cars. Last time we drove that distance in separate cars we both almost fell asleep at the wheel. We stopped in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the first night and were able to watch a movie and go in the hot tub at the hotel. The second day we spent a few hours in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Emily even got to try on a few wedding dresses. And on the third day, we stopped by the outlet mall in Cabazon, California (near Palm Springs). We drove straight to Long Beach first to attend my cousin Alex's MBA graduation party (he graduated the night before my ceremony).
We spent the night at my Aunt Becky's house and then went our separate ways -- Emily to Santa Barbara and I went to San Diego (that was May 31).
On June 1, I had a job application due to Triathlete Magazine. It was an elaborate application that I had somehow pulled together in a week -- 2 letters of recommendation, cover letter, resume, three editing tests, unofficial college transcript and a writing sample. Within an hour of me applying, I received an email back that asked for an interview the next day. I had a phone interview the next day with four people on speaker phone. It was a little intimidating, and I thought it hadn't gone very well because they asked me what I knew about Triathlete Magazine... "Not much," I said. "I've watched a few triathlons, but I haven't even actually seen the magazine." Nevertheless, they offered me the job on June 4 (and said they would send me a few copies of the magazine so that I could familiarize myself with it before I started). I wouldn't be starting till June 23, though, so I told me friend Sirena, who was stranded with her relatives in Dallas. She lives in Washington, a few hours outside of Seattle, and her husband is in the Navy. He's on a submarine for 6 months, so Sirena decided to take a road trip -- first to San Diego, where she used to live and go to church with me, and then to Dallas. The clencher is that she has three young daughters -- aged 4, 2, and 11 months. She had to have people help her along the way. I called her to tell her I could help drive her, so on Sunday, June 7, I flew to Dallas and drove back the next two days from Dallas to San Diego. (I saw a lot of the same stretch of I-10... pretty boring). We spent the night in Las Cruces at a Motel 6 and then made it to San Diego the next day by about 6 p.m.
We got to hang out a bit in San Diego. Above is Sirena with Ava (age 2) and Bella (11 months). Below, Corinne (age 4) and I are sharing a chocolate milkshake at Hodad's in Ocean Beach.
I had to stay in town through Saturday night, when Steve's family was hosting a birthday/graduation party for me. It was so sweet. Then we left Sunday, June 14, to drive toward Seattle. We made it to Redding, California the first night. The second day was a lot of driving through Oregon, which was beautiful.
The highlight of the trip was stopping in Astoria, Oregon, which is at the very northwest corner of Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River that divides Oregon and Washington. It was incredibly beautiful (and only a 150 mile detour). It was where the film "The Goonies" was filmed, a favorite of both mine and Sirena's. The girls didn't really comprehend the significance of standing in front of the Goonie house, but Sirena and I were so excited.
It looked a little different because there wasn't a white picket fence around a yard, but as soon as I got back to San Diego, I watched the film and realized that, yes, I have stood where Steven Spielberg and Sean Astin and Josh Brolin have stood. It was very exciting.
We got into Seattle that night at about 11:30 and spent the night at Sirena's friends' house. I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep because I had to be on a 7 a.m. flight back to San Diego with a 3-hour layover in San Francisco. I also had a newspaper article due that day, so I spent some time interviewing people on my cell phone shouting over airport announcements. I'm so glad I was able to help out a friend, though, and that we got so much time to catch up. I'm sick of driving -- 5,000 miles in a month is plenty.
