Hello from California!

          Yes, you heard right. This small town, Midwest girl is spending six weeks enjoying the sunny skies, sandy beaches, and so much culture that California has to offer.  I am here with D, and he is the only reason I am here.  D is working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for the summer as part of his fellowship.  He came out here last summer without me and we didn't enjoy those weeks apart at all.  So this year I begged and pleaded for him to agree to bring me along, and he finally said yes.  Ok, so maybe I didn't have to try too hard to convince him, and here we are!

I can see these mountains by stepping outside the hotel.

          One June 26th I met D at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport with my bags in my hands and many suppressed butterflies trying to flood my stomach.  I have never flown before and the thought of it is quite terrifying.  For the first time in my life I am living 100% in the moment.  As I told my dad on the trip to the airport I am not feeling nervous about the flight because it doesn't exist, yet.  3 seconds from right now does not exist or I would be too nervous to handle it.

          D's big smile at seeing me makes relaxing a bit easier to accomplish although thoughts of the next thirty minutes start to stress me out.  I tell my dad goodbye, wish him luck on finding his way back home (driving in O'Hare is madness) and D and I head inside.  The first thing we must do is drop off our check bags, then head through security.  I try very hard to memorize each step since I will be on my own for my flight home.  I am coming back early to make it to my friends' wedding.  Checking our bags is easy and the line for security is right there.

          Getting through security is a bit crazy just because I feel rushed and I have no idea what the rules or expectations are.  What am I supposed to do?  Where is my stuff supposed to go?  Am I sure no one will try to grab anything of mine while I'm not looking? I am most concerned about one very small, very important item going missing.  I take out my laptop and put that in a bin, I put my book bag on the belt, my shoes, and my carry on bag.  D goes through security first and some of his tools from school get confiscated.  Oops, he forgot some machining tools were at the bottom of his bag and security doesn't like them.  I double checked all of my pockets so I shouldn't have anything with me that I don't know about, and none of it seems potentially dangerous to me, so I am not surprised when my stuff makes it through just fine.  My back jeans pockets set off an indicator so a TSA agent pats my pockets and swabs my hands with something before telling me I can go.  I am so curious to know what was on that swab.

          Made it through.  We check on our flight and see that the flight before us was delayed due to weather so we will have to wait for them to leave and for our plane to arrive, disembark and get cleaned before we can get on.  D and I find a couple empty seats and sit.  I must have looked scared because D keeps looking at me and asking if I'm alright.  I feel alright.  I'm living in the moment.  I am not thinking about flying.  I am not thinking about how on Earth I'll remember everything and be able to find my way home on my own.  I am sitting in an airport terminal with my man, and that is all.  Nothing else is happening and nothing else will happen.  I can be pretty convincing when I want.

Then it poured.

          About twenty-five minutes after our boarding time, we are welcomed aboard.  I now only have my bookbag since they checked my small carry-on for free, fearing there would not be enough overhead space for everyone's belongings.  I just hope nothing happens to it since all my clothes are in that bag.  We get to our seats and I take mine by the window and continue living in the moment.  I take a few pictures of the interior and the view of the tarmac and notice that is raining.  Within minutes the rain gets so heavy that it obscures the air traffic control tower and muffled thunder reaches my ears.  The captain announces that we will have to wait at least ten minutes before we can move.

It is strange having the ground look small and the plane stay fully sized.

          Thirty minutes later the plane is backing up out of its spot and getting in line for the runway.  D goes into zen mode as takeoff and landing are his least favorite parts, and suddenly I am excited.  As I watch plane after plane take off before us I begin to wonder what it feels like to accelerate so quickly and then leave the ground.  Whenever I fly in my dreams I just jump: no super acceleration, no wings, no engines.  It's our turn.  We get on the runway and begin accelerating.  The ground is flying by at a ridiculous rate.  The fastest I've ever gone was around 110 mph on a highway with a very daring driver.  I felt much safer going faster in the airplane than I did in that car, although both are quite the rush.

My first time seeing the Mississippi River. I am in awe.

          The plane tilts back and soon we are flying.  My mouth hangs open as I watch the ground leave me.  Soon people are ants, then cars are ants!  How funny.  I take pictures as I stare out the window, unable to look away except to check that D is still in zen mode.  We are in near constant turbulence but it just reminds me of a bumpy roller coaster so it doesn't bother me.

I adjusted the contrast to make this image easier to see.

          Before I know it, houses and huge warehouses are looking like ants and clouds are below us.  Those wispy clouds that look like piano keys in neat little rows.  I see Dixon, IL a town I've been through to visit my grandparents many times.  I see the Mississippi River for the first time even though I've lived about two hours from it my whole life.  I watch Lincoln, NE pass before we are consumed by thick clouds that obscure Colorado, a corner of Utah, and part of Arizona before I see it.  The Grand Canyon stretches out below us and never seems to end.  We are still in light clouds so pictures are fogged, but I take a bunch anyway.

The Nevada/Arizona border.

          The sun is setting and by the time we see the Arizona/Nevada river boarder darkness is falling so quickly that we get to see Vegas all lit up.  The shadow of distant mountains turns black and suddenly Los Angeles lights up the ground below us.  L.A. and all of the surrounding cities melt into each other to make the largest lit area I've ever seen.  As we descend toward LAX the buildings grow again and baseball fields shine out as bright green areas.  Streets full of cars make glowing and moving snakes and now we are so low that I cannot see beyond a few blocks, a single block, the row of buildings, and now we are landing.

Are those big shadows mountains? Yippee!! I was happy we got out of clouds so I could see more.

          I take a look at the terminal trying to prepare myself for my return visit as we make our way to our luggage.  We get our bags, catch our bus, make it to the rental lot and are finally heading to our temporary home.  The pavement is damp and the streets aren't too crowded but I am busy watching for the numerous palm trees and other strange plants along the road.  We drive through tunnels cutting through hills; that is very different.  When we get to our hotel we are exhausted and starving.  We drop off our bags and make a quick trip to a 24-hour Walmart to get enough groceries to last us the night and the next day.  D has to go to work so I will need food.  We will do the rest of our shopping tomorrow.

          Three weeks later we are comfortably moved in and we've already had many adventures.  I will work on sharing those through the next few posts.  If any of you dear readers have any thoughts on things we should see or try while we're here the next three weeks, please let me know in the comments.  We are in Arcadia but we've traveled to Carlsbad, San Pedro, and Santa Monica so we don't mind a bit of driving to get to a destination.  So far we've avoided going directly into LA for fear of traffic but I'm curious to see what is has to offer as well.  If we aren't able to make it to some of your suggestions this year, there is a good chance we'll be back next year and we will be off on new adventures!