california trip!

i am finally getting around to uploading my pictures from my trip to california.

on the first morning of my trip, i flew from charlotte to dallas. i brought a book, and my first flight was rather uneventful. upon landing in dallas, i was reminded by every souvenir shop and restaurant sign that i was indeed in texas. i had a short layover, and arrived to my connecting gate to see my luggage getting wet in the rain at dfw. good times! my connecting flight was from dallas to ontario (california not canada), and i had the joy of sitting in the middle seat between a talkative older woman (who nearly spilled her wine on me a few times) and a man who was about 6'4'', 240 lb. they were both nice folks, but i quickly realized that i would not get much reading in on this flight and that two men of our size should not sit next to one another on a flight in coach. i hadn't flown in a while, but i'm pretty sure those seats are smaller than the last time i did.

it was a work trip, but i did have a chance during the weekend to do some sightseeing. on saturday, some coworkers and i decided to go hiking in joshua tree national forest.


the park was about two hours from our hotel, so i actually got to know a few coworkers outside of work. a few interesting landmarks along the way: 1) an 11,000+ ft. mountain with snow still on its peak, and 2) a whole bunch of wind turbines (that's right, you guessed it, ge). we ate at a real mexican restaurant along the way - pretty much the same as monterrey.

we wouldn't call joshua tree a forest in the southeast, but there were a lot more trees there than anywhere nearby. it's on the border of the mojave and colorado deserts, so you get the idea. the joshua tree is a pretty cool looking tree that's a member of the yucca family. anway, that's all more than you wanted to know, so i'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures.




on sunday, i went to the world famous san diego zoo. i'll be honest, it was just a zoo, but they did have some cool animals that i hadn't seen before. like a komodo dragon:

no flying unicorns or centaurs, so apparently the world famous part has to do with the breeding and conservation programs. i also stopped off at la jolla beach about 10 miles north of san diego. very pretty beach, very cold water. i like the gulf stream.


the rest of the time was just work, so if you really want to know you can ask. the flight home was as uneventful as the flight there. all in all, it was a pretty good first company travel experience.