Autumn

Katie, Stephen and I went hiking on Cowles Mtn. It is about a mile hike and you get a great view of San Diego, Mexico, the ocean and the Mtns.


Miss and Stephen on top of Cowles Mtn.

View from Cowles Mtn

More sunset view.

I was on a Discovery team in early Oct. Maria is a homeopathic Dr. and kept me healthy during the whole weekend. I now understand why people pay to have private Drs-it is awesome!

Setting up the room for the participants.

The whole crowd-team members and particpants.

Thinh and I-my team captain.

In early September some friends took me to Torry Pines. It is in a national park right on the ocean. Very beautiful as you can see.

Cali coast.

Sarah and I had some friends: David, Mark, Tim, Stephen, Amanda, and Katie over for a game night. We played Catch-phrase, boys vs. girls. The girls spanked the boys but it was loads of fun! We are planning a rematch soon.

David is our handy man...he fixes lots of things.

Sarah.

David getting "stressed"

Tim trying to help the guys out...Amanda is just laughing.

Hmmmmm

Haha, Tim's very serious game face.

Miss crackin up.

Chris and Max Giarratano introduced me to wiffle ball. It is a ridiculously fun game to play...action shot of me.

Discovery team meeting in Sept.

Winnie Sea, my buddy!

More of Winnie and I.

Late Summer In San Diego

So here are some bits and pieces of my life in SD during the late summer. Labor day weekend I was supposed to go to Vegas with Will but we had just ended it a few days before so my roommate Sarah and I decided to have our own weekend out on the town. We got all dolled up and went dancing:)


This photo actually captures a significant part of SD. There are a lot of transient people in downtown SD, however, minus one crazy guy, I have never had a problem with them. I get hassled more by all the drunk people.

I have found a new hair dresser, whom I love, and this is my style for now :)

I attend a Monday night young adults bible fellowship and it is amazing! All of us got together one evening and went to a Padres (baseball) game.

Sarah and her twin brother (also Katie's husband) Stephen.

Alex is from Columbia, New York and Miami and as you can see she is a lot of fun.

Miss and I

Mike McNair must always be goofing off and rough housing.

Antion and I. I took the trolley for the first time this night-it is very slow.

Earlier that summer all of the youth had put on a dinner for the adults who teach our Monday night sessions. We cooked every thing and served the adults including wine, appetizers, dinner, desert and then we all went around and shared about how they had blessed our lives. It was a wonderful evening. A group shot of some San Diego light bearers.

Grace Davis, one of my good friends, prepping some food.

Sarah and I.

On the 4th of July we all got together at Miss n Stephen's to have a pool party cook out.

T(aka Tiara) who is now also engaged to Mike McNair--yayaayayaya!

An intense game of throw the football-while-someone-jumps-into-the-pool-to-catch-it game started. Mike as the QB

Rachael B doing her thing :)

My Drive Across the United States of America

Ok so I'm months late on blogging but I'm taking it back to May, back when I drove across the country. I had an amazing time and highly recommend doing it. I would loooove to do it again. I made a lot of stops along the way and all and all it took me about 2 weeks to get to San Diego. Most the the pictures where taken while driving so you'll see my car door in lots:) Don't worry mom I was safe!

My last few days in VA I spent with friends and family. I went and saw the monuments again, got my hair cut and of course Kimmy came over my last night to say goodbye and help pack Rya and I pack the car.

James and I-my favorite bartender.

I left Va for good on Memorial Day. It was weird to think that the Runkle residence was no longer my permanent home. Even months later I still miss being close to family. Rya and Ben thank you so much for opening your home to me. I love you all tons and tons. Rya, I miss our kitchen floor chats-always will! David and I had a lil photo shoot right before I drove off.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend Rolling thunder was in town. I passed many, many bikers along the way. I also go my first speeding ticket ever about 6 hrs into my trip in the hills of West VA. I was clocked doing 72 in a 55. Well it was 55 cause it was a construction zone and that just means that hey had signs up about construction but no construction. Anyways the trooper who pulled me over was really cute and just wrote me up for 72 in a 65 with no points on my license-wooohooo. Although since West VA is so behind the times I couldn't pay my ticket online because they don't have online services so I forgot about it and almost got my license suspended for not paying my ticket-oooppps. My first stop was Cincinnati OH to see Tina Marie Clinton. We had a great time hanging out and even made it to the Dinosaur Museum. FYI they now think that velociraptors were covered in feathers and about the size of a St. Bernard.

I got bored some times.

The Cincinnati sky line.

We packed a lunch and had a picnic outside the dinosaur museum.

Originally I was going to drive to Omaha Nebraska next to see Sam Pray but in true Sam fashion he decided that day that I should drive to Hayes KS-his home town. It was a really long drive and I have to say that the middle of the country was a bit on the boring side as far as scenery goes, at least the parts I saw. Although I did really enjoy seeing the arch in St. Louis. So I arrived in Hayes after about 14 hrs driving and Sam gives me directions to his location-a bar. For those of you who know Sam this makes perfect sense. I had a blast in Hayes KS and loved that it was so flat, it def made running very easy.

Kansas did have some really cool wind farms. However, according to one of Tinas professors the use of too many wind turbines might slow the earths rotation and we will all die.

Farm country!

I didn't know the bible belt included Kansas :)

Sam being a good sport and getting a practice exam-he is alive

Sam n Eric, my Hayes KS hosts, on the way to a dive bar after playing a very short drinking game. Sam lost.

Dive bars in KS are great!

After I left Hayes I headed out to CO to see Megan. The drive was absolutely beautiful and you really feel closer to the sky out there. Megan and I both went up to see Julie and the kids. Uncle Matt was in Wyoming so I didn't get to see him. Of course hangin out with the Payeur/Lucy crowd is always a blast.

What is big enough to need tires like that??

I love the sky out there. I decided that if I ever live land locked CO is going to be the place.

Along the way I also got to meet up with Erika Harris. She and I have been friends since elementary school. Megan and I met up with her and her boyfriend for brunch.

Joette happened to be driving across the country as well. She was driving from UT to FL so we met at a subway in CO for lunch.

Megan, Julie and I all went out for a drink. I really enjoyed the downtown area. You could eat all the peanuts you want and throw the shells on the floor and another bar had swings for seats.

I left CO and headed out for Lehi UT to stay with Seth, Lindsay and Caleb. I decided to drive through the Mtns. It was such a beautiful ride. Well worth it. I also detored and went up to Flaming Gorge.

There were some pretty amazing storms in front of me but I missed them all. I also realized in CO that the car shop in VA had not changed my rear tires like they said but instead had replaced the front tires which were fine...grrrrr.

Saw lots of wild life but only managed to catch a deer on camera. This is up in Flaming Gorge.

This portion of the drive was very beautiful and relaxing for me.

Strawberry Lake in UT-sooo beautiful.

I had a great time hangin out with Seth, Lindsay and Caleb. We just relaxed and had fun. One of the days we rented a jet ski and went out on the lake. It turned into quite the adventure of ripped bathing suits, locked cars, sand storms and park rangers. It all worked out in the end:)

Left UT and headed for Cali! I drove for over 500 miles through Nevada. It is alllllllll desert...oiy. Oh and crossing into CA is like crossing the border. They stop you and ask questions. I was proper and declared my banannas. I drove to Sacramento to participate in a Breakthrough training. It was a wonderful experience and I met some great people. Will and I started a realtionship but it didn't work out and ended in late August.

Holy Cow I made it!!

Will, Barbera and Lance at the end of a very intense 4 days.

The very last portion of my trip took me to my new home-San Diego! I would just like to say THANKS to everyone who opened their home to me on my journey. I had a wonderful time. I love you all very much! God Bless.

San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.