Road Trip to San Diego

We departed Nashville on March 31st for the 4 day drive to San Diego. We took 40 West through TN, AR, OK, TX, NM and AZ. The first night we stopped in Russellville, AR. Trip was uneventful except it was unseasonably warm. The next day we went from Russellville to Amarillo, TX. The temps were in the high 80's but did get up to 98 in OK. We continued West from Amarillo to Flagstaff, AZ. As we were dressed for the high temps we had been experiencing, it was quite a shock to the system to run into snow from Albuquerque to Flagstaff. The temps were now in the upper 20's, plenty of snow in the shaded areas.

From Flagstaff we took Rt 17 south to Phoenix. We saw some beautiful mountain scenery.

Mountains along Rt 17

Mountains along Rt 17

We continued to Phoenix and then on to Yuma, AZ. It went from 27 in Flagstaff to 80+ in Yuma. We got to Yuma in early evening and decided to do some exploring around town. We walked the Riverwalk along the Colorado River. Lots of desert and cactus.

Yuma

A little Chapel across the Colorado in CA

Ocean to Ocean Highway bridge in Yuma

 

We departed Yuma on April 4th for the final drive into San Diego (obviously taking the southern route). There was lots of desert and cactus which we did expect, but there were some fantastic mountain roads and boulders along Rt 8. The mountains looked like they were made of huge boulders stacked one on top of the other.

As we were driving we could see this stone tower in the distance, so when we got close we just had to get off the highway to check it out. It was the Historic View Tower and Desert Park. There were some spectacular views from up near the Tower.

View from Tower

Historic Tower

Rusty in Desert Park

We continued our trek into San Diego arriving mid morning in downtown. After lunch along San Diego Bay, we spent several hours walking around Seaport Village and the Embarcadero. It was great getting out of the car and just relaxing and enjoying the day.

Rusty - San Diego

Sheryl - cool tree along Embarcadero

Sheryl - Embarcadero, downtown

We spent the night in Point Loma, which is on other side of the Airport. Tomorrow is April 5th and we board the Celebrity Century for our 15 day cruise to Hawaii.

We were glad we decided to leave a day early as we heard on the news that the Dallas area had a tornado and there was a huge snowstorm in Albuquerque. 

December 2011 MTV Fantasy Factory Wedding

We departed Nashville on December 5th to head to LA for Rusty's 2nd cousin Denise Dyrdek's wedding. The road trip took 4 days. It started off very wet in TN and it was near flood stages around the Mississippi as we crossed from TN to AR.

Pyramid in Memphis

Mississippi River along I40

The weather was rather dreary for the most part, we even hit a snow storm around Albuquerque, NM. The further west we went, the weather began to clear. We saw some beautiful mountain scenery.

Hackberry Mountains

Hackberry Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in LA on the 8th and stayed at the Hilton at Universal Studio. On the 9th we met up with several of Rusty's cousins at the hotel and all had dinner together at Universal. Rusty and I also did a little walking around Universal seeing the sites.

View from hotel

Rusty @ Universal

Rusty Universal

Terri - singers at restaurant

Universal at night

The wedding was held on Saturday the 10th at the Fantasy Factory. Rob was ordained a minister on-line so that he could perform his sister's wedding ceremony for an episode on his show - Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory (MTV). Denise and Jason got ready for the wedding at the hotel. Rob sent a Bentley Ghost to pick them up - below are a couple of pictures.

 

Denise & Jason departing hotel

A couple of buses were sent to pick up all the guests attending the wedding and we were taken to the Fantasy Factory. They did an excellent job setting up the FF for a fairytale wedding for Denise and Jason. All the guests got to walk the pink carpet and have our pictures taken.

Entrance to FF

 

Photo Background

Pink Carpet

The wedding was very unique and unlike any wedding we had ever attended. We got to meet a lot of the MTV FF stars and we had our picture take with several. All in all it was a wonderful experience and we were thrilled we were invited and got to attend.

Denise & Jason - Rob officiating

Denise & Gene (dad)

Denise & Jason plus FF team

Rusty did jump in the foam pit at the FF. Going in was easy, he had a heck of a time getting out - but he had fun.

Rusty - foam pit, letting me know he was OK

Rusty - getting out of foam pit

While at the FF we got to see Scott and Chris's office as well as Rob's and Tracy (Wild Grinders creator).

Christopher's office (Gary Michael)

Rob's office

Scott's office

Tracy

Sheryl & Rusty - big skateboard

Scott & Evi

Rusty, Scott, Christopher

On Sunday we took a bus tour of LA with Terri, Andy, Gary Michael and Scott. We got to see LA, some star homes in Beverly Hills, Hollywood Blvd, the Nokia Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Roosevelt Hotel, etc. Having limited time, it was a great way to see the city.

Beverly Hills Hilton

Farmer's Market

Grauman's

Hollywood sign

Open air mall

Roosevelt Hotel

Our last evening in LA we spent with Terri, Andy, Gary Michael, Scott, Evi and Chris. We all had dinner together and just spent a little time together relaxing.

Chris relaxing at hotel

Terri & Rusty - dinner at PF Chang's

Scott & Evi - dinner

Departed for home on Monday the 12th. The trip home was uneventful. It started out wet when we left LA. We decided to take the southern route home due to expected snow storms in Albuquerque. We did get to drive through Roswell, NM and see some "aliens."

Double Rainbow - CA to AZ

 

Rainy night drive AZ