Sand May be Better than Snow

There is nothing like a nice warm february day. 70 degrees, blue skies, green grass. Of course, to find such a day in northern Utah is nearly impossible. In fear of collective hypothermia setting in on his entire family, Steve Pierson, Heather's Dad, decided on a whim to get everyone out of the cold as quickly as possible. Flights were booked, hotel rooms arranged, cars were rented, well worded excuses to bosses were rehearsed and then delivered all within a week. Steve and Claudia even convinced Emily and Spencer (Heather's brother and sister) to drop everything and hang out with the family for an entire week in California. To add to the chaos, Doug had a training to teach in Northern California the day before the trip was scheduled. Due to the prices in airline tickets, Doug flew out Thursday afternoon, taught his class friday and flew back to Salt Lake, arriving at 11:00 p.m. (2 hours earlier than expected due to good fortune catching standby seats), only to prepare for a departure at the airport at 6:45 the following morning.

In the end, we all managed to board a plane, Audrey in Doug's lap and Bethany in Heather's lap. (Needless to say that before traveling, a great deal of research was done by Heather to confirm that her children would be safe, and to find the best ways for them to be comfortable on the flight.) Audrey found the whole thing very exciting. She kept wanting to see "nother plane," and when she would see one, she would point and say "plane riiiiiight there." She giggled during take off, had fun, looking out the window, coloring, and playing with her dad and Grandparents, and laughed out loud when the breaks were engaged upon landing. Audrey loved traveling by plane. Soon we were enjoying incredible weather and a great time.

The first stop for anyone with any sense when arriving in southern California should be the beach, and so it was with us, where Audrey continued to run towards the ocean and then away as the waves approached until her feet were so cold that her Dad refused to allow her to continue. Sea World was the next exciting stop where Shamu was exciting, dolphins jumping 16 feet in the air were fun, Polar Bears were "wowowowowowowowowow" but above all were the starfish that Audrey got to touch and where she would have spent the whole day had her parents allowed her. To keep the adults entertained, a trip to The "USS Midway," a retired aircraft carrier that is now docked in San Diego and serves as a museum, was really impressive. For Doug, it was somewhat sobering to stand in the captain's meeting room where life and death decisions were made during military conflicts over the last 60 years and to reflect on the heroism of our Military. The last big stop was at the Wild Animal Park, which is the breeding grounds for The San Diego Zoo. The most exciting part was definitly standing 2 inches from the mouth of a huge male lion while he licked and played with one of 6 cubs that were climbing all over Dad and two larger mother lions who lounged nearby.

All in all, we managed to de-thaw, relax and have a lot of fun. We have to give special thanks to Steven and Claudia for their generosity. It was a great time. The pictures below were taken at 6:00 a.m. on the harbor where Audrey and Dad walked every morning on a particularly foggy day.