Day 2 & 3

Day 2

Sunday, August 14th

The jet lag had kicked in but that didn't stop us from getting up somewhat early. We had a loooong day ahead of us - but a fun one!

We parted ways with Robyn and Chris, who went for a jog. Or as Chris put it, "She jogged. I walked." Haha....Chrissy and Andrew had a baptism to attend that morning. My aunt would be the godmother to a friend's daughter :-)

We found a Denny's nearby. Fuel for the road was needed.

A preview for the next day's activity...

On the way out, I saw a pretty sweet looking car. If that were mine, I wouldn't feel safe leaving it in the lot!

And we were back on the road...

There was a heavy fog at one point heading up to L.A

And the usual traffic.

There was a line to get into Staples Center by the time we got there. It looked like it would go on forever but luckily, it moved quickly. Still, that took us by surprise. Thought it would be a little like Madison Square Garden, where you walk right in.

First glimpse of a packed Staples Center for SummerSlam 2011!

We were in for a treat: Adam Jones from Tool performs The National Anthem via electric guitar.

The Miz's entrance really is rather awesome.

John Morrison can do no wrong.

Cee-Lo Green performed SummerSlam '11s theme song Bright Lights, Bigger City followed by Forget You. He definitely knew how to work the crowd! He was great live.

Punk did his thing...

...and Cena did his...

But ultimately, Alberto Del Rio came out with his Money in the Bank suitcase and swiped the title. Whoops. Sorry, fellas.

With the lights on and the crowd emptying out, Staples Center looked like a shell of what it was just minutes before!

It's too bad we didn't have more time to check out what the area had to offer but we had a 2 hour drive back to San Diego and we couldn't risk getting home too late.

The drive back was definitely tough, because unfortunately I don't have my license so Jonathan was the only driver at hand. He started to feel sleepy halfway so we stopped at a rest stop to wake up a bit. Despite that stop and then missing our exit right as we entered SD, we still got back before everyone else! They were having a blast at SeaWorld. Next year, I will definitely make time to do that.

The boys passed out early but Robyn, Chrissy and I stayed up late to catch up. We filled each other in on the events of the past few years, including things that had happened right before she got married and left New York. It was a much needed heart-to-heart that I thank God we had the opportunity to have on this trip! Despite the late bed time, we all managed to wake up at a decent time because it was off to the San Diego Zoo for all of us.

Day 3

Monday, August 15

The outside of their place was cute, with the decorations.

It was hard to make this photo less overexposed because I only have the iPhoto editing program not Photoshop. I do love it though :)

We stopped for lunch first but the parking lot was not what we were used to. Each car space got a number and you had to put $5 into whatever # your car was parked in.

We were in for a real treat with this place.

The detail in this place was ridiculous! Sidenote: we have that photograph "American Girl in Italy" at home in the room we share. That was a nice surprise, since I never see that photo anywhere!

What a great nod to all things Yankees!

We were greeted by this tough guy when we entered the zoo. Would you believe he's only a baby? Apparently he has much more growing to do. Yowza.

It was intimidating when he looked right at you!

That day we saw many different animals...

Rob & JD gave us a glimpse of what we were about to see...

Monkeys!!

This shy koala stole my heart.

Baby giraffe!

Beautiful artwork.

Not sure why I thought this was a face a butterfly makes...

Haha...

They even had some non animal things to see...

We pretty much spent all afternoon and evening there. I can see why Andrew & Chrissy are members of the zoo...so much to see & do.

We ended the day with a visit to Claim Jumper and by the end of night, I was in a serious food coma. We crashed pretty hard once we got home, on which would be our final night in San Diego :'(