Gavin Across America (GAA) - San Diego

Our return to CONUS (Continental U.S.) was a bit brutal. We had a red eye flight that was suppose to leave around 9pm but was delayed until about 10:30pm, way past Gavin's bedtime. He did sleep the whole flight but that was only about 5.5 hours. Meanwhile Carlton and I each got about an hour of sleep - you can imagine sleeping in coach is not super comfortable for Carlton! So we arrived at LAX around 6am, rented a car, got some breakfast, and then we went straight to a dealership to look at a used car! We checked it out, test drove it, and then purchased it! It may have been a whirlwind purchase but we did our research beforehand and it has worked great during our entire cross country trek! Here is our new (to us) car!

We drove this to San Diego and proceeded to have a very busy few days trying to visit with as many friends we could while we were in town! Our first stop was to see my Aunt Carol.

Then we had to do a selfie in front of the produce section at Trader Joe's! Our produce selection was so limited on Guam that we had been looking forward to the variety of fresh fruits and veggies at Trader Joe's for months before we actually left!! Now it's almost overwhelming to go into a "regular" grocery store with a good selection. Too many things from which to choose!

Our next big visit was to my old work place at Cardiac Rehab. I tried to get the word out to as many people I could that we would be visiting on Friday and we got to see a lot of my former patients! There were a few I missed, Tom Klauda, Kathy Corso, Deb Kinney, Don Brenneman and some others that were not able to make it. Here are the ones I did get to see!

Meeting Dick

Steve

Gavin loved meeting all the new people and especially all the attention!

Judy

Mary, former boss

Jack and Jerry

Gail exercising!

The McKinney's

G loved the balloon!

Joanna

Dave

Bud

Wayne

Sharon, former co-worker

Ray

Pat

Asoka and Mary

Asoka

and Mike, former co-worker!

The next day our good friends, The Hortons, hosted a gathering at their place for us to visit with long time friends! It was great to be able to hang out at their house where the kids could run around and play while the adults could relax nearby. Gavin loved watching all the kids running around playing and we had a great time catching up with old friends!! The first few pictures are courtesy of Sam, Brian and Sarah's son, who was thrilled to have a camera to play with (versus using a cell phone to take pictures). He took A LOT of pictures and here are a few gems!

Gavin and Sarah

Sarah in the kitchen - Gavin stuffing his face

Very artistic close-up of celery!

Here is Sam entertaining Gavin with a balloon

Donna and Sam playing with Gavin

Sam selfie!

Joe and Gavin

Deb, Donna, Jeff, and Joe

Gavin making the rounds

Sarah and Gavin

Donna and Gavin

Sarah, Brian, Jen, Carlton, Megan, Deb, Gavin, Joe and Kailey!

Brian playing with Gavin while Sam watches

The next day we had a similar gathering at a local park for people who couldn't make it to the gathering on Saturday. We had never been to Pioneer park in San Diego, so it was a nice surprise that the park was well shaded, had bathrooms, and a playground! Perfect for groups although it ended up being a bit chilly!! I think it was in the low 60's which was much cooler than we were expecting. But we had a lot of people come out to visit with us!

New friends Oli and Gavin

Carlton, Jen, Gavin, Jessica, Oli, & Dan

Bob, Gusti, Carol, Jen, Carlton & Gavin

Pita, Marco, Carol, Madeline, Jen, Carlton, G & Gusti

Mia, Jen & G

Marcy and Bronte joined the party

Brian, Sarah, & Sam joined in too!

It was so great to meet up with so many of our friends and spend some time with them before we left San Diego! We also got to check out the tidepools at Cabrillo! Carlton never got to experience them before we moved to Guam so it was new to him and Gavin!

We also got to see our friend Bill who lives out in Ramona and is taller than Carlton! Gavin had a hard time looking up at Bill when he was standing but had a great time with him once he was sitting down and he could see him much more easily!

We were able to spend a little more time with my Aunt Carol before we left town and Gavin had a great time crawling around her living room and playing with her.

Our very last stop before leaving San Diego was in Lakeside where we met up with my former co-worker and friend Stacie! We found this great coffee shop that was huge and had lots of space for Gavin to crawl around. We had a great visit with Stacie and she got to spend some time with Gavin.

Groupie pic!

Stacie, Gavin and Jen!

We had a wonderful time catching up with friends while we were in San Diego! It was a brief visit and we were definitely sad to leave but also excited to get on with our road trip!

Real time update: We have booked a flight for our dog Edge to leave Guam and return to the states. United was only able to find space for him but not Bubbles. The restrictions that go into effect on June 18th would prevent us from flying Edge though, so it's better that we got a flight for him! We just found out that the truck with our Household goods (furniture and everything) broke down in New Jersey after it left Baltimore. So now we are waiting on an update to see when it might arrive in CT. Meanwhile we are still in the hotel - no point in moving into an empty house when we don't have a place to sleep, dishes, or cookware. We are really hoping to hear about the shipment soon so we can get into the house and schedule the delivery before Edge comes next Thursday! Keep your fingers crossed!!