Looking Back, Looking Forward

Shari and I got back into Iowa City around 3:30 Tuesday morning. We hung out in Iowa City for the day, and Shari left Wednesday morning. It felt a little weird having her gone, especially since yesterday was my first full day with no Shari in . . . 13 days? And we had spent pretty much every hour of those days together and still had plenty to talk about on the last day! I guess we really are talkative people . . .

We left from Iowa City on August 1st and drove about 18 hours to Salt Lake City. There, we saw the Mormon Temple, Brigham Young's house, and the view of the city from the state capitol. It was really neat to see the city--it's absolutely beautiful and has tons of flowers everywhere--but it also made me think about how many people do not love Jesus and believe the truth about him, and that made me sad. It also made me sad to think that it took me going to a city that's mostly Mormon to realize that when I live in a city where just as many people do not love Jesus.

That night (Aug 2), was Vegas night. We drove six hours to Vegas, got ready in our beautiful hotel room, and went to the top of the stratosphere for dinner in the revolving restaurant. I was adventurous and ate quail. Then, we drove down the strip and saw all the Vegas sights.

The next day, we drove to San Francisco, and we spent one full day in the city. I really loved San Francisco. The weather was perfect--high 60s/low 70s--and the city is absolutely amazing. I loved the hills, and the cable cars, and how nice everyone seemed. We had lunch at the fishermen's wharf, hung out eating chocolate and drinking coffee in Ghirardelli square, had dinner in Chinatown, and saw the bridge at night.

The next morning, we stopped by the bridge to see it in the daytime. Then, we drove to LA where I spent about an hour and a half with Oscar Wilde's manuscripts!!! I had no idea how amazing they would be. I actually got to touch the books in which Oscar Wilde had written. And doodled--Oscar Wilde was a big doodler. I filled about eight notebook pages with notes, and then Shari and I went to the Grove for lunch at the farmer's market. After walking around a little, we left for San Diego. We got there just in time to go to Wicked, and I loved it!!! It was so absolutely amazing, and I even cried a little.

Our first day in San Diego: we went to Balboa park and walked around, and then spent most of the rest of the day trying to get to Coronado Island. It was really fun once we finally got there, and really pretty. The next day, we went to the beaches at La Jolla, which were also great. There was a lot more wildlife there (we mainly just saw birds, but we heard rumors of sea lions at another cove). That night, we drove through the night to the Grand Canyon. It was pretty intense getting there--there's a part of CA where you can drive 300 miles with no gas stations to stop at. How that works, I'm not sure, but we ended up going 45 miles on empty before we finally got gas. There was a lot of prayer those 45 miles, and lots of hugging once we got there-hehe.

The Grand Canyon at sunrise was amazing. We sat for what felt like half an hour but really was three. I always heard people talk about how awesome the Grand Canyon is, and I had seen pictures, but I thought all that would have built too much anticipation and that I might be a little disappointed. Really, though, it was so much more amazing than I could have imagined! We sat and talked a lot about God, and how awesome he is, and how in control, as we watched the sun rise. We also took a lot of pictures.

From the Grand Canyon, we went to Albuquerque to visit Shari's friends, the Schenks. We spent an afternoon and the night with them, and it was great to get to meet a family I had heard so much about. From there, we left for another 18 hour drive. We stopped in Lawrence to see my cousin Paul, and then continued home to Iowa City.

Now, I'm getting ready to teach my first semester of rhetoric! In a week and a half, I'm going to be teaching college students . . . I still can't get my mind fully around that. I am really excited, though, albeit a little nervous. I think it will be a great experience, though.

This past summer, God's taught me a lot about trusting him, and this trip helped me to solidify some of those thoughts. It also helped me realize just how amazing God has been for me, and how even the stuff that seems least enjoyable in my life is being used to turn me to Jesus and show the world just how awesome he is!!