Saturday I waited around all day for the piano to arrive and it finally came at 6:30pm. By this time I had a little cabin fever and Will was over to hang out so we went out driving in the canyons and watched the super moon rise. Was pretty amazing.
Sunday I went to Mariners church in Mission Viejo with my friend, Tammy. Was a great service. Good music, great teaching and it's one of those churches where you walk in and feel like you are welcome no matter who you are. They are comfortable with who they are and not trying to be something they are not. Jeff Maguire, the pastor, worked with James at Saddleback for years so it was good to see him and catch up with some other friends from Saddleback church. After church Tammy and I drove down to Laguna Beach for lunch. Will met us (he had slept through church by accident) and then Will and I went on to hang out at San Clemente pier. Was an overcast day but lots of surfers were out and lots of people were fishing off the pier. People come and set up their spot for the entire day. I even saw one family that had bought along their porta-cot for their baby and set it up. Was fun watching a kid about 8 years old, in a lime green wetsuit, surfing till his heart's content.
Monday my friend and I decided to be adventurous and a little daring. We ate dinner and then got coffee at Starbucks. For something different we decided we needed to drink our coffee while we were in a jacuzzi. Neither of us knew anyone with a jacuzzi so we drove and found a quiet retirement village which has one. So we figured out how to get through the gate and quietly went in and used their jacuzzi, sipping away on our coffees (yes I was actually drinking coffee, or mocha. Hot chocolate is too sweet here). And then someone came down to use the jacuzzi so we decided that was probably our que to leave. Was a fun little adventure, and a very relaxing way to be rebellious.
I've been getting in touch with nature this month and I've started to realise how much I enjoy being outside, when getting sunburnt is not such a huge factor. So on Wednesday Will and I decided to spontaneously go and do some hiking and then camp out. We drove up into the mountains off Ortega Hwy, just before you hit Lake Elsinore and found a camp ground. We set up camp and then found a trail nearby to explore. Unfortunately because of the spontaneity I had forgotten both my phone and my camera, so no pictures, but still beautiful being outdoors. The vegetation is quite scrubby but there were pretty little flowers poking their way through the brush. There are a lot of different trees, and one looks like a big bamboo shoot with funny little melon type fruit growing off it. Was interesting to investigate. Got to see all sorts of weird and wonderful bugs, squirrels running around the trees and even saw lots of funnel webs (the spiders must all have been sleeping). It was a hot day and by the end of the 2 hour hike we were pretty hot and smelly. We got back to camp and went and tried to scout out some firewood. It was still pretty hot and the flies were so annoying so we took a drive down the mountain to Lake Elsinore. We decided to get pizza for dinner instead of cooking the dehydrated food which we had bought on the way. We were both pretty tired from hiking in the hot sun so we made our way back to camp, where Will made a campfire, which was totally unnecessary for heating or cooking purposes, but men do like making fires. After it had died down we went to bed...on VERY hard ground. About this time our quiet camping area (only occupied by 2 other camping parties) was rudely interrupted by a bunch of kids who came driving around. They seemed to be driving between 2 different spots, honking their horns and singing at the top of their lungs. So much for sleeping. They finally settled down and I seemed to drift in and out of sleep. When I woke in the morning my body was so sore all over (and still is) from the hard ground. Lesson #1 in camping: Always bring a mattress or something soft to sleep on, especially if you are bony. Neither of us slept well so we got up and packed up and left for civilisation. We stopped off for breakfast on the way home and I proceeded to spend the rest of the day napping and recovering. I also was on horse feeding and poop scooping duty, and then all the Bradberrys arrived home with a carload full of furniture. They have finished cleaning out Gogo's place and Kari found a lot of furniture she could use.
I slept so well last night, even with bruises on my shoulders, hips and lower back. I LOVE beds. Not sure how I would go roughing it in the wilderness.
The weather is starting to heat up this weekend with tops of 38 & 39 expected. Might be time to move further north. Tomorrow I am catching up with my old friend, Andrea, and Sunday hopefully will train it up to LA to go to my church, Mosaic. Monday is Catalina Island with the Bradberrys. And then Wednesday I fly out to Vancouver. Can't believe I'm 1/4 of the way through my trip. It feels like I have been gone forever, but at the same time that it's only just begun.
Sorry for the delay in updating. I'll try and keep on top of it so it doesn't end up like a novel.
