Along the way back we agreed to meet with some of June's family that lives in San Diego. We decided to drive out to Huntington Beach and have lunch at Ruby's at the end of the pier. The food was great, and we had a lot of laughs. This also gave us the opportunity to take a picture of the two of us in the Pacific Ocean so that we could show it off next to the one of us in the Atlantic off the coast of Maine.

The Pier at Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach

Jason and Helen in the Pacific Ocean

The Trip Back


I probably don't have to tell you that after the car trouble we had getting to San Diego that we were not at all confident we would get back without more trouble. However, we made it back just fine and the weather produced another beautiful day for us. We stopped in little towns along the way, chatting and filling our cooler with goodies. Helen and I need to take more little day trips like this to remind us why we work so hard. More posts coming soon. Sooner than usual anyways.

Whale Surfing

Three Dolphins Up

Flowers Outside SeaWorld

Paradise Point - Swanky McFancy!

Paradise Point Flowers

Helen Smelling the Roses

Paradise Point Flowers 2

Paradise Point Flowers 3


Our trip to SeaWorld was just what we needed. A little time to stop and enjoy life on the west coast before heading back. A chance to see something we'd never seen before. A quiet moment in life to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Soaked in the water park

Feed Me!!

Crew of the USS Motley - That's a pun son.

Helen and Jason on Vacation

Basking Sea Turtle - Helen loves these guys.

Cactus Picture For Helen

San Diego Bay

San Diego Bay 2

Supa Splash - aka people sitting in the front row and acting surprised!

Flipping Dolphins

Shamu Dive

Shamu Nose Stand

Shamu Cannon Ball

Shamu Bow

Jason and the Walrus - Helen didn't think I would do it!


Ok, if you are wondering how I got all these shots from above I should let you know that SeaWorld has both a Sky Tower and a Skl Lift. The Sky Tower is like a huge circular room that rotates around a pole and takes you up about 150 to 200 feet or so. The Sky Lift is essentially the same kind of lift they use to get you up a mountain. Both offered a chance to get off our feet and a chance to see the park as a whole.

San Diego Skyline

San Diego Coast

Childrens Waterpark - I got soaked playing in here.

Dolphin Show

Sea Lion Show

Well it's been a long time coming but finally I'm posting pictures from our day at SeaWorld. Believe it or not we only spent one day at SeaWorld but it was definitely a full day. We walked to the park from our rooms which was a bit of a hike and even worse coming back after a day of walking around in the park. For the most part I'll let the pictures tell the story and just add a snippet or two of my own for context.

Outside SeaWorld

Helen on the bridge

Dolphin Feeding

Starfish Pond

Starfish Pond 2

Aquarium Fun

Jellyfish Colors


Shamu Stadium - Will the real Shamu please stand up?! Ok I have to write a bit here. This production was high quality and hokey as all get out but still fun. I think it's put together for the 5 year old crowd. Anyways we arrived late enough that we couldn't get anywhere near the front. Not that I would have wanted to considering the electronics we were carting around. And the one thing I couldn't figure out through the entire show was which whale was Shamu. I understand the original Shamu is probably retired somewhere making little baby Shamu's but shouldn't one of the buggers hold the title? Regardless the show was good and the stunts were an eye opener. Imagine being flipped around in the water by a bus and you can get an idea of what these people were pulling off.


Shamu Jump

Shamu Splash

Wow it's been a long night. A night of wrong turns and strange highways. A night of signs lying about the mileage between cities. Hell, part of the time we couldn't tell what city we were in, but we are still having a good time.

We started our day in Moriarty with a good American breakfast at what Dad called a "junk-joint" along Route 66. After that it was a quick and failed search for decent fireworks seeing as we were in New Mexico.

The rest of the day was essentially spent on the road and ended in Elk City at the Econo Lodge. We stopped to get gas when we needed it and I am still fighting something off from before we left so I was the cause of more than a few bathroom stops. I spent more time than I probably should have trying to figure out how to send pictures to Helen using just our phones, but I did manage it.

The big stop of the day was supposed to be Tucumcari but it was basically a ghost town when we rolled in around 10 PM their time. Apparently Route 66 running right through town is under quite a bit of construction there and so the few businesses that would normally be active are dormant and waiting for the roads to be open again. Out of all the places listed in the books I purchased the only two that we could find with any lights on were the Teepee Curio and the Blue Swallow Motel. Dad managed to go into the Blue Swallow and meet the owner who was extremely excited to tell us about the motel and the impact that it had on the movie Cars. According to the owner the Pixar animators stayed at the Blue Swallow for almost two weeks gathering inspiration for the movie and even left caricatures of popular pixar productions in his guest book.

We purchased a few trinkets in Tucumcari and headed east with Elk City as our destination. A few wrong turns, and one very nice gas station in San Jon (with free internet, a lounge, awesome sausage, and cheap gas) later, and we finally arrived. Sure there were the mysteries of why and where lights are placed along the highway, the insanely large texas rest stop we saw along the way, and whether or not we were in fact in the Twilight Zone... but we've managed to not get into too much trouble yet again. Goodnight all, and especially good night to my lovely wife awaiting my return.

One... I am dead tired. But I had a good day. I managed to get awake around 9:30 AM this morning. By 10:30 AM we were on the road headed towards the Grand Canyon. I know, the Grand Canyon is not on route 66. But we decided that a few extra museums or classic cars couldn't compare to the Grand Canyon, and considering it was only about an hour and a half outside of Flagstaff, we just had to go.

Driving north towards the Grand Canyon we were a little worried because the sky was a bit gloomy and it was raining on and off again. When we finally arrived it was close to 2:00 PM and it was still sprinkling but stopped within a few minutes. The sky parted, the clouds created nice shadows on the Grand Canyon and all was well. I took tons of photos which I will get up here once I am properly settled in with Helen again. We had a good time and Dad got to see a national treasure that he hadn't seen since he was a boy. It's nice to know that some things dont change.

We probably arrived back in Flagstaff around 7:30 PM which is when we checked in with Helen who at that point was getting a bit worried. There was no cell phone reception at the Grand Canyon and having not told anyone where we were headed, we were effectively off the grid. At this point we started heading east and decided that Albequerque (which I can never spell right) would be our destination. That would have worked out fine if we had been able to find a place to stay that we could actually get to. Time after time we'd see a place along the highway after having already passed the exit we would have had to use to get to that place. Before we know it we've popped out the other side of Albequerque but running on fumes we knew we had to find something fast.

Finally, we see Moriarty, which not only boasts a variety of motels (we chose Super 8) but also has a sign specifically saying that this exit was Route 66. That's all we needed to make up our minds so this is where we are crashing. Good night to all and thanks for checking in. Honey, I'm coming back to you as soon as I can!

Well we didn't make it as far as I had hoped but we at least made it out of Phoenix today which I was starting to worry about. My plan was to be heading north out of Phoenix around noon today but that just wasn't going to happen with the amount of cleaning my Dad and I had in front of us. Basically my plan was to load up the car, vacuum and be gone. But that plan got shot to hell when reality set in and I realized that the oven cleaning and fridge cleaning, general kitchen cleanup really, was going to take quite a bit longer than expected. Long story short, we did manage to leave Pheonix before midnight so it still counts.

So far we have taken our time, stopped and got a bit of dinner at Denny's and managed to end up at the King's House Best Western in Flagstaff. It's clean and it actually is on Historic Route 66 so the journey has official begun. Now it's time to sleep. I shouldn't post tired but I wanted anyone curious about our adventure to be up to date.