California: I did it my way… Palm Desert & SanDiego.
Borrowing from the blue eyed mayor of Palm Spring’s, we are doing it “my/our way” and slowing things down a bit. Our priority for this stop is time with friends! Tim and Dawn McDaniel are friends from Taylor University and they sang in our wedding but we haven’t had as much time over the years so we are making up for it.
We share a great deal in common, not just an Alma mater. Tim and Dawn started their full-time RV journey about 2 years before we did, we’ve both adopted, both been teachers, both thought our lives could be recorded as a sitcom or soap opera 😳😏🤔 Half kidding but we are open to selling our stories🤪
Thankful to God for these friends and for the chance to reconnect across the country for some therapeutic level chillin ❤️
Tim & Dawn are pastoral care ministers with Standing Stone. Their bios and ministry information is below. They minister and support pastors and pastor’s families so if you know anyone who could benefit, give them a call. They pour into the cups that then pour into so many others so it’s a valuable and needed ministry. If you find their mission valuable we also encourage you to join us in supporting them prayerfully and financially.
https://standingstoneministry.org/shepherd/mcdaniel-tim/
https://standingstoneministry.org/shepherd/mcdaniel-dawn/
While here in Palm Desert we took in some sites! The Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert is a fun stop and one that provides some surprises. We decided to do the smaller local zoo instead of the San Diego Zoo because we actually landed cheaper tickets at Sea World and the boys and Mom wanted to ride roller coasters AND see animals. The Living Desert Zoo offered some typically zoo fun and some gorgeous art installations throughout the park, which I hear are illuminated for evening tours. The zoo also offered a “small world moment” while I was resting my knee as the family ran to another exhibit. As I was ruminating and processing my career in Christian higher education and thinking through some of the mentors and relationships I’ve not kept up with as I should, I thought I saw an old colleague pass by. It’s been over a decade and my mind was wandering so I chuckled at the power of suggestion thinking I was just imagining I saw them but… a quick check on socials and yeah there is a post they were headed to Palm Desert 🤔I walk around the corner and there is my friend’s family at their daughter’s wedding. 🤯 Good to reconnect and to witness their moment & to set some future time aside for a longer catch up when I’m not a wedding crasher 😊
Sea World San Diego was a day trip we added to get a little glimpse of San Diego. It was well worth the drive both for the park but also the coastline visits we squeezed in to the trip. Jayden even got to volunteer to experience an Orca inspired wave 😳🤪 and we saw zoo life in the real world and some California beach time.
Point La Jolla is an amazing coastal stop north of SanDiego with amazing shops, food, cliff clad ocean views, a cave and up close sea life! The bootlegger cave is a mere 145 steps down to the ocean through the cliff. A fun diversion for the boys while I enjoyed the semi-level path atop the cliff. The path flanks some beautiful cliff/seaside homes and a stunning view of the bay while also offering a memorizing symphony of the surf crashing into and through mini caves along the cliffs, it was very cathartic. Highly recommend this stop if you’re ever in the area.
We wrapped our night fighting traffics to get to Point Loma and sat atop Sunset Cliffs Park. Situated right down the hill from Point Loma Nazarene University (a sister CCCU) we enjoyed the sunset with a few hundred locals. Tip: there are multiple spots to park along a roughly mile long section of the beach/natural park. If you go all the way south till the road ends, there are multiple paths through natural foliage to the cliffs, as well as a few washes and attempts at stairways down to the water. Crazy if this is how they take in sunsets routinely 😎 It’s a sunset park meets photo shoot 🤣 with many showing up with pro and not so pro photographers 😂 We were in that latter category but got some really pretty west coast sunset pics 😊 wrapping up quick but awesome mini-trip to SanDiego!
