Anza

This twentysomething has been a busy bee (hehe) at work. I just got out of a meeting all about blogs so I decided to "practice what we preach" here at work and get to updating! This weekend was another adventure for Todd and I, as we decided to venture out to the desert. Well, actually, we had our trip planned for another weekend, but that's a whole other story. Friday was our packing day and they Saturday morning, we were off! The drive to the desert is a beautiful one, and I'm still always surprised at how quickly the terrain changes. San Diego is just one of those places, I guess. You really can see it all - snow, desert, beach, city - within a fairly short drive. Anyway, our drive started out through the strangely peaceful and tree-line streets of Scripps Ranch, through stop-and-go Ramona and briefly in Julian, where Todd and I made a quick detour at Dudley's Bakery. For some reason, I really had to stop at Dudley's. I feel like I've been going on and on about it ever since this camping trip was planned. I think it has something to do with high school and the fact that we stopped there our our field trip to the desert, but anyway, we stopped and picked up some bread. I got a cheddar loaf and Todd got jalapeno. We also ordered a sandwich for later, which gave us some time to look around the gift shop that was full of Native American nick nacks. After Dudley's we were back in the car and back to winding roads through the beautiful mountains and valleys. I think the drive was something like an hour and 30 mins, and when we finally made it to Anza-Borrego, we realized we weren't the only ones who had the idea of going to the desert! There were millions of people everywhere, and it took us a while to finally find some parking and get hiking. We did the typical Palm Canyon hike, which according to the park ranger, is a 5.5 mile-hike from the visitor's center to this crazy palm tree oasis in the middle of the desert. It's the weirdest thing ever - there's all this sand and cacti and then all of a sudden there is water and trees. It's totally worth the hike! Once we were done with our workout for the day, we headed back to the campground, which really turned out to be nice (I was kind of freaked out prior to checking in since it really was in the middle of nowhere. City girl, remember?) Todd and I had fun doing nothing. We played the game of Life, where I chose to go to college and then ended up being an athlete who only made 20,000 a payday.
Todd, on the other hand, skipped college and ended up as a multi-millionaire. I guess I learned my lesson! We also made hot dogs (I'm embarrassed to say how many), jiffy pop and heated cookies over the fire (the best idea ever). We also watched a movie, because, hey - we're high tech! Todd even made this crazy contraption to hold his iPhone up like a movie screen so we could lie in the tent and have the movie playing above us. He basically kept saying: "Be prepared. It's the boy scout motto," which made me laugh, but it's true. We had all these random things that were really useful! The only thing we were missing were camping chairs. So, all in all, I am going to say that camping was a success! We somehow avoided seeing any bugs, made it through the freezing night (OK, not freezing, but still cold) and made it back to Julian in time to have delicious apple pie and coffee for breakfast!

Next trip stop - Disneyland :)