4: San Diego

The week before our trip, we went to visit my grandmother for a few days. My grandmother lives in San Diego, a large city in Southern California only a few miles from the border with Mexico. My grandmother's house is less than a mile from the beach and you can see the sunset over the water from her living room window. When my mom's family first moved into this house over 50 years ago, it was one of of the only houses in the area and the house furthest up on the hill. My mom tells me stories of riding her bicycle up to the top and down the other side to explore the Californian desert. Now a days my grandmother's house is surrounded by huge mansions and the desert has been converted into huge areas of tract housing - each house looking just about the same as the next and taking up an enourmous amount of space for each family.

When I was a kid I loved visiting grandmother. There were so many wonderful things to do! We spent a lot of time at the beach, whether it was summer or winter didn't matter too much: as a kid I loved the water so much, a little cold water didn't scare me off. There was also the San Diego Zoo to visit, one of the best in the world. Zoo's generally make me very sad because the animals have been torn from their own home to be put into small cages. The San Diego Zoo, however, really focuses on rehabilitating populations of endangered animal species and creates larger enclosures that mimic each animal's natural habitat.

But best of all, has always been having time to spend with my grandmother and listening to her wonderful stories. I always love hearing about her own childhood when she would go camping with her family in the redwood forests and you could still drink straight from the mountain streams. The last several times I've gone to visit my grandmother I have taken a video camera to get some of these wonderful stories on tape so that our entire family can enjoy them for years and years to come!

During this visit we shared a lot of stories and went to the beach a couple of times. When Patricia and I were walking in the waves, we noticed that there were lots and lots of little shells beneath our feet. Taking a look a little closer, I suddenly realized that all of these little shells were actually alive and moving!