Joshua Tree

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to visit one of Southern California's desert gems...Joshua Tree National Park. My friend Gene, his girlfriend Bonnie and myself made the 2.5 hour trek out to Josh for a weekend of camping and climbing. Man, the weather couldn't have been more perfect...well all except for the 20-30 mph winds we had Saturday night...wow, that was intense. The landscape out there is like nothing you have ever seen nor will you ever see anywhere else on the planet. Between the hundreds of gigantic rock formations that seem to sprout from the ground, the Joshua Trees seem to go on forever. And the climbing....boy is there ever climbing....you could easily spend a lifetime climbing at Josh and never see everything. At first we were a bit overwhelmed..."what do we do first"?? After consulting our guidebooks, we picked a popular spot and went to it. We did a lot and had a blast!! And we have a complete lack of skin to prove it. The monogranitic rock at Josh is unbelievably coarse and will easily shred your hands (or any other unfortunate body part that touches the rock...ouch!!). I'm not sure we could have lasted more than the two days we climbed. I can't wait to go back!!

Windmills, deserts and snow-capped mountains....ahh....California....

Wowzers!!

Gene and Bonnie...with Palm Springs, the Coachella Valley and Mt. San Jacinto (10,804ft) behind them

Some pretty amazing clouds

That's me trying to figure out how to get down!

Gene atop one of the many boulders in Josh

A beautiful sunset

The most beautiful wedding ever!

Just as JT and I were getting settled here on the West Coast it was time to fly back to the land-o-Caroline for some wedding festivities. Our good buddies Megan Ann and Patrick tied the knot in historical downtown Charleston, SC this past St. Patty's day weekend.

The adventure began Thursday morning as we departed S.D. and headed for RDU via a 3hr lay-over in St. Louis (good thing the NCAA tournament was on to help pass the time). After a stay over in Chapel Hill with the Trice's on Friday night it was on to SC. We rehearsed @ St. Paul's Cathedral and then had cocktails and dinner just down the street @ the Planters Inn and wrapped up the evening on the pool deck of our hotel. The Buddy Girls were lucky enough to steal Megan away first thing Saturday morning for a secret girls only breakfast - what a treat to have the bride-to-be all to ourselves!

The wedding began at 2pm and was hands down the most beautiful wedding I've ever attended. I had to control myself from sobbing as Meg glided down the aisle - what a gorgeous bride! Of course the fun didn't stop there it was on to Mill's House for the reception with the Avett Brother's and lots of dancing as Will, Paul Dow, Bill Sinkovic and even Peej played in between the Avett's sets.

Long story short...the trip home was anything but fun. Crazy thunder storms in Dallas delayed us so we didn't' get home until 2am! But I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

John, Miles, and I send our best wishes to the new Bride and Groom - Congrats Meg & Peej!

Having fun at the reception

John and Jay "rehersing" drinking beer Friday night @ Planters Inn

The happy couple exiting the church

Secret b'fst with Meg....check out those glam glasses!

JT and Kareeen

I think Lizzy missed the memo on wearing turquoise!

The Trice's enjoying the festivities....man that's a good lookin' suite!

One of several creepy old gold mines

I think she may need a ride...

Pure sushi debauchery with Steph and J

That's our place on the right

Our very own kitchen table

The Living Room

Kitchen

Is the bed off-center? Yes. Will it fit any other way? No.

Can you say "closet space"....this is our room

The spare bedroom

Backyard

Backyard (Miles' personal playground)

Our side yard/patio

Miles and the giant pot we bought in Mexico for $10. We told the border patrol that we only bought "the pot" in Mexico...the next thing you know they're searching the vehicle....who knew!?!?

Our first month in San Diego

So it's almost been a month since we arrived. Thus far things have been great, although it seems that we brought a little bit of the east coast weather with us. We've had some rainy spells, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of good weather on the way.

As for events and happenings, there have been many. We've been to the dog beach, we've been to the human beach, we've found the closest Anthropologie (blah!), we've found the closest REI (yay!), we've been climbing, we've been hiking in the mountains, we've been to Mexico and we've done some pretty significant exploring here in San Diego. So far it's been awesome!!

The pictures I'm adding are of our trip up to Julian, CA and the night of sushi debauchery that followed. Also, the long awaited house pictures. Hope you enjoy!