One more month...

The title refers to our time left in Phoenix. Abby and I are both ready to get out of here and venture into California. Things have been pretty boring since we last spoke, well I should say until this past weekend. We got back from the Grand Canyon and it was back to the grind of working, sleeping, sweating, and running from scorpions. Work is work. Not much going on there. We are both really tired of Phoenix Children's Hospital. We have come to learn that this hospital is more about the paperwork and JACHO, then their interest in the sick kids. A sad but true realization. Kaiser Permanente here we come! Once again Abby and I found ourselves in need of a break from the daily grind that only Phoenix has to offer. Like I mentioned in my last blog, I surprised Abby with the tickets to go watch the Panthers take on the San Diego Chargers. We left Friday afternoon and arrived in San Diego around 9:30pm. It was a nice drive, and a bit lonely at times. Abby tried to stay awake after working the night before. She went to get a pedicure, went shopping at ULTA (for the guys out there, ULTA is a girly girl store; full of makeup and girl products). She made it home, showered, then fell asleep on the couch for about a half hour before I came in trying to wake her up to get on the road. She figured it would be easier to just get everything done before leaving and just sleep in the car.

She slept all right, but a sacrifice I was willing to take for her to get packed and on the road in time to miss the afternoon traffic. About half way into the trip we arrived in Yuma, AZ. Have you seen 3:10 to Yuma? If you haven't, see it. If you have, that is what Abby and I were expecting. Silly us for thinking that because it was closer to a hillbilly town in NC then what we had envisioned. You are not missing much my friends. After getting lost in Yuma, trying to find dinner, we made it the rest of the way to San Diego. Needless to say we crashed early that night trying to rest up for a fun filled day of touring San Diego.
We tried to wake up early on Saturday because we knew we wanted to try and visit the city and also tour the possible apartments that we could potentially live in when we head there in October. To make a long story short, we made it to Ocean Beach, CA around noon. We were amazed by the beauty of the Pacific. The sand was soft and pure and the air was actually cool and fresh. There was a dune right where we parked. On the right side of the dune was a dog park. We were amazed by the number of dogs and their owners having the time of their lives. The dogs were running up and down the beach, splashing in the water, and chasing each other all over. On the left side of the beach we found countless beach volleyball courts, surf boards and people laying out. Abby and I quickly moved down to the water so that Abby could step foot in the Pacific Ocean for her very first time. The water was cold but tolerable. We then decided to toss the football around for a bit. What is a trip with me without throwing the football?

We stayed and took in the sights for a bit, then heading to Newport Ave to look for surf shops in hopes of buying something cool. No luck there, but it was neat to just walk around this neat little surf town. After enjoying Ocean Beach we decided that it was time to check out all the apartments. I won't bore you with the details of that, so moving on....

That night we decided to get dressed up and head downtown San Diego. Before getting dressed, Abby cut my hair. My genius brain thought it would be a good idea to use the towels as a catch all for the hair, then wash the hair down the drain of the shower. You probably know where this is going. After I took a shower, I noticed hair backing up. Yep, you guessed it, I clogged the shower. Knock Knock, Abby frantically tries to hide (due to the embarrassment of my feat), it's the repair man for the hotel. Yep, I had to make the call to the front desk because I could not fix the problem myself. It was an easy fix, but embarrassing as I watched this man pull clumps of my hair out of the drain. I'm not the brightest man. Come on now, I know you all have tried that. I thought if you washed bits at a time, it would easily flow down the drain. Let's just look at this as a learning lesson for all those reading. It kind of reminds me of Petedude's story of flushing Q-tips down the toilet. If you haven't heard this story, 1. try to hear it, 2. don't ever do it. Enough said. Abby quickly got ready and we headed downtown. From the area we will be living, downtown is about a 10 minute drive. Very pretty downtown and neat to walk around. We headed to the Gaslamp district and ate dinner at this quaint Italian Restaurant. Incredible food, but still not as good as Casa Carbone! We stuffed ourselves, walked around a bit more, then headed home because Sunday was shortly upon us.

As you probably seen from the picture above, we made it to the Chargers vs. Panthers game. Abby was decked out in her Peppers Jersey and as you can see I tried my best to dress as a tried and true panters fan, but we all know where my allegiance lies. We quickly heard boo's and shouts about our choice of team. We arrived at Qualcomm Stadium about an hour before kickoff. We walked around and watched the panthers warm up. We were surprised with how good our seats were, but we were still surrounded by Chargers fans. The game was the most incredible football game we have ever witnessed. An instant classic and a shot to the egos of the chargers and their fans. We left quickly, watching our every move. Everyone was yelling at us and the other panther fans, but we simply smiled and moved on. The stadium was extremely loud, and a very fun atmosphere to experience. We hope to catch a few more games when we move out there.

We made it home around 11:30pm. Now we are just sitting on the couch watching TV. What are we watching you might ask? Well, let's just say it's unfortunately not ESPN. (our apartment is like living with the cavemen. Since Jay thinks I'm a direct descendant, I guess that analogy is only that much more fitting. Only basic cable, a constant cat pee smell, the most uncomfortable couches, and extremely grumpy neighbors) As you can see, we are ready to get out of this place. We work tomorrow night, then Wednesday and Thursday, then 3 more weeks left. We are heading to NYC come the beginning of October for another football game. This time, we are heading to East Rutherford NJ to watch the NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS!!! We plan to spend about 4 days in the city, then head to upstate NY to spend some quality time with my grandparents, aunt and uncle. Should be an incredible vacation before coming back to Phoenix to pack up and move to San Diego. 4 more weeks people, that is it! How exciting. I guess that is it for now. Thanks for reading. It is about time to head to bed. We hope you all had a great weekend, and we hope you all have a wonderful week. We love and miss you all.... Till the next post...

In His Peace,

Love to all,

Michael and Abby Lee...