Saint Diego, which of course in German means....

It’s day 10 and we have officially made it across the country. With 3800 miles behind us, we make our way out of Arizona to a small town called Niland, CA. Here we meet Leonard and visit a place called Salvation Mountain.

Leonard created this mountain of hay and mud over 30 years ago, with no help from anyone. Leonard is a true artist who believes that his faith in God led him to build this masterpiece. As a young boy, he repented his sins and uses this artwork to portray his message onto others.

When we arrived at Salvation Mountain, we were surprised to be greeted by Leonard himself. (he apparently lives in the tent 500 yards away) Leonard was eager to show us around his property and spoke highly of his work.

Everything you see in these pictures, including what may look like trees, is made from recycled tires, mud, hay, and various types of debris found and constructed by Leonard himself.

After given the grand tour, Leonard led us to yellow brick road in which we followed to the top and took a moment to take in all that Leonard sees everyday. This basically was a whole lot of nothingness beyond Salvation Mountain itself.  

Although Leonard lives in the mountains without running water or electricity he is on facebook and needs our support. Congress is in the process of making Salvation Mountain a national landmark to sustain Leonard’s hard work even after his death.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salvation-Mountain/304620534545?ref=ts

Leonard does not take donations, except for cans of paint. However, we were so impressed with Leonard and grateful for our tour and trip to Salvation Mountain that we showed our appreciation with 4 apples, two packages of cinnamon poptarts, and a Daily Bread book (compliments of Ms. Patron).

We left Leonard, and a few miles down the road were once again stopped by border patrol. They asked us our citizenship, to which Stephanie looked confused and could not quite answer the question. Perhaps it was because the four gentlemen who patrolled the border could have passed for male models. This time, we did not mind being held up.

It was off to the promise land, Dinosaur Park!!!!!!!!

We were told that if we shoveled through the Dino Dig and found a rock with a dinosaur name on it we would win a prize. Let’s just say those 5 years old in that Dino Dig didn’t stand a chance. We proudly walked away with two rocks, sorry Renee no prize for you.

After strolling along through paths of triceratops, velociraptors,  and stegosauruses, we came to T-FREAKIN-REX!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With our prizes from the Dino Dig in hand, we drove over the bridge to Coronado Island. Here, Nicole and Walter were kind enough to let us stay with them.

We toured the island for a bit before we caught the ferry over to downtown San Diego. Here we enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner at Lotus restaurant.  We had fried tofu with plum sauce, lady finger (fried shrimp things), spicy coconut soup, pad thai noodles, and the fish of the day.

To keep the birthday fun going, Tiffany told the waiter it was Stephanie's birthday today so tonight's dinner came with complimentary coconut ice cream. This is a great idea to use at whatever restaurant you may be visiting, let's just say the birthday police are rarely around:))

After dinner we headed over to Pacific Beach where we enjoyed a round of Pacifico beer (Thanks Chris!).  With our great timing, it was of course Monday night football and the Chargers were playing. The crowd was rowdy and we, of course, were chanting how much we love the Eagle/Giants. They were loud, but we tried our hardest to get that Eagles flight song to be heard above the noise.

We started the next day off with some delicious crepes from a French Bakery on Coronado. We explored the halls of the “Del” where Some Like it Hot was filmed with the fabulous Marilyn Monroe.

We drove up the “5” to La Jolla where we hung out with some seals and pelicans. 

The Pacific Ocean is like the Caribbean, crystal clear and blue.  Which is nothing like the Jersey Shore that is brown and filled with garbage.

We took in the view and continued our day with some afternoon adult beverages and thrift store shopping.

Our day ended with dinner at Shelly’s in Carlsbad with the company of her four beautiful children. One of which, who is 14, made us some amazing spaghetti and meatball cupcakes!

Shout out to Jill & Nicole for being awesome tour guides!

Stay classy San Diego,

xxoo

the X Country Girls:)

PS. To our first two donators, Dennis & Maureen, we thank you! We can now stop filling up on water and finally eat a solid meal:) and we will be doing a round of shots for Maureen’s bday on the 18^th!!!