I (heart) California!

Okay, here goes my attempt to tell you about my California trip. It is so hard to do it justice in a post, but I will do my best.
It started at 5:15 am when Robert woke me up! We were supposed to leave at 5:15, but my alarm clock never went off (funny how it does that when you set it for PM instead of AM!), but the years of working for Dad finally paid off! When I would work for Dad, he would wake me up and then wait for me so I had to hurry and get ready and out the door and he has trained me well because I was ready to go in 12 minutes... and that included throwing a couple last minutes things in my bag... I'd say that is pretty good!
We made it to the airport in plenty of time and when I walked in, there stood Jimmy and Allison Crews in the security line so I went over and checked in and then I went through security and then found them at Sonic having breakfast so I sat and visited with them while they ate. We were then on the same (very rough) flight to Dallas where we parted ways. I went to Starbucks and got some much needed caffeine and then went to my gate. After I stood there a couple minutes I thought that it was weird that no one else was there and it was like 5 minutes until time to board, so I looked again and yep... you guessed it... I was at the wrong gate! I was at 22C instead of 2C... opps! So I headed down the terminal at a high rate of speed and trying not to spill my coffee and got there just in time for them to delay the flight 45 minutes... because they had to put a new captions chair in.
I was feeling blahhh since I had not had time to really get ready that morning so I went in the bathroom and straightened my hair and brushed my teeth and I felt much better! Now, this was a big deal because I just don't do stuff like that in public, and yes, I do realize that I will never see those people again, but I am just that way.
The flight to Sacramento was pretty uneventful. I was smashed between two people (one was drinking wine and it was really smelling the place up) so I just read an entire book on the way there... a really good true story.
Terry and Helen were there to welcome me and it was so wonderful to see them again! We went to In-N-Out for lunch and then went by Danny and Terry's store on the way home. That evening Jenny came and picked me up and we went to the Folsom Outlets. We then went and watched a play; Emma, with some of Jenny's friends, and then after that we went to Mel's Diner for dinner. I really enjoyed spending some time visiting with her.
Sunday, meeting was at Wayne and Gigi's and the ladies had planned ahead and brought soup for lunch. It was so neat to see the way that everyone worked together to prepare lunch... even some of the guys were in the kitchen.
After lunch we all kind of went our own ways and Janice and I decided to spend the day together. First we went and put flowers in Katie's grave (because I am sentimental that way) and then we went to The Galleria (the mall in Roseville) and walked around for a while, snooping through some of those stores were you would never buy anything but everything was so much fun to look at... and I got to go to See's Candy, and that is a must for every trip to California. Janice then took me by to see Lake Natomas and then we ran up to the Folsom Outlets to buy a jean jacket at Eddie Bauer that I had talked myself out of buying when I was there with Jenny. We then went by Starbucks on the way back to Wayne and Gigi's, where everyone ended up for dinner and some singing later in the evening.
Monday morning Terry, Helen, Gigi and I walked 3 miles and then Angela and I made pancakes for breakfast that morning... that was an adventure! Then Jenny came over and we went to Grass Valley and Nevada City and walked around, went into several cute little shops, talked, laughed, took pictures, ate ice-cream and just had a wonderful time.
After a long afternoon of walking around we went to Old Town Pizza in Aubrun for dinner. It was so good! We then went home and Danny worked on something for a customer so we just sat around and visited. Talking made us need something sweet... or something like that... so Terry and I made a late-night run to Raley's for ice-cream . When we got back, Wayne and Gigi had stopped by to visit, but really they smelled the ice-cream.
Tuesday morning Terry, Helen and I walked 3 miles again.. by the way, I am very proud of myself for walking so much on my vacation. Later that morning Grandma Harp came and picked me up and we went to Starbucks, drank coffee and visited for about 2 hours. I really enjoyed getting to know her better.
Later that afternoon Jenny met Terry, the kids and I down at the store. Danny and Terry worked on moving stuff around and Angela was making a (really cute) braclet so Jenny and I took a walk through the little garden thing at the end of the building and took pictures of silly statues and talked... a lot. It was fun to just mosey around and visit.
That night we went to Don and Melanie's for dinner. That was a party and a half! It started off with a super yummy dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, salad, bread, blue cheese, more bread, and even more blue cheese... thanks to Don getting me hooked on putting blue cheese on my bread! Then we laughed the rest of the evening... seriously, it was the funniest evening of my life! After a while some of us walked up to Baker Ben's Doughnut shop. Yumminess I tell you! I have so many fun memories from that evening and I hope I never forget them... I think some of them are seared into my brain forever. LOL
Wednesday morning we walked again and then I attempted to re-pack my bag... yeah right! I can't ever get everything to go back in like it came out... and then my suitcase busted between the zipper and the fabric... YAY!!!!!!!! That means that I finally get a new suitcase! It has been a need for some time now but I just really didn't want to spend the money on it but now it will have to happen.
Terry, Angela and Arica took me to the airport that afternoon, and we stopped at In-N-Out on the way there for lunch... so yummy!
On the flight from Sacramento to Dallas I had the row of 3 seats all to myself and that was so wonderful. I wrote in my journal literally the entire 3 1/2 hour flight because I had not written anything while I was in California so I had lots to "say"... and I still didn't get caught up.
I only had a few minutes in Dallas... just long enough to grab a coffee and text Jenny a couple times and then I was off again, for a cozy ride to the grand ol' Oklahoma.

I had an amazing trip and it was such an encouraging time. I hope that I don't wait another year and a half before I make the effort to go back again.
I went out there with a prayer that I would be an encouragement and blessing to those that are still there striving to do what is right and instead I came away feeling like I was the one encouraged and blessed. It meant so much to me the way that everyone welcomed me with open arms and made me feel very loved and a part.

So... there is my long winded version of my trip... actually it probably isn't that long winded considering that I have 35+ pages in my journal about my trip, and that doesn't include the pages covered in ephemera.

Anna Kaye