Started From the Bottom Now We're Here

I recently visited one of my close friend and her family up in Guistine, California.  I don't expect any of you to know exactly where that is located along California because I've never heard of that place myself prior to her moving there with her husband.  Trust me when I saw it's in the middle of no where.

Guistine is located towards central California surrounded by nothing but farmlands.  It's about an hour and a half south of Francisco.  When I first arrived the first thought in my mind was I can probably be killed out here and no one will ever know.  There is nothing in Guistine.  The nearest Target is 40 minutes away.  The nearest grocery store which is in Newman 10 minutes away from Guistine has extremely expensive groceries.  If we want reasonable priced groceries we had to drive 30 minutes to one.  It does not make sense to me that they are surrounded by farmland and they grow the food that gets transported all over the states yet groceries are overpriced there...  How does that make sense?

Well, now that I got my complaining and the cons of my trip out of the way I can get on with the rest of this blog.

Despite all those terrible traveling for food I found myself feeling at peace and relaxed.  There may not be any malls, movie theater, or kbbq places around, but that was the highlight of it all.  I got the chance to concentrate on spending good quality time with my friends, time reflecting, and living life at a slower and less chaos pace.

I was falling asleep at like 9 pm which is surprising because here in the OC I wouldn't be able to fall asleep until 11 pm or after.  When I woke up I would feel refreshed and well rested.  My mind was at peace along with my body.  Even when I'm down the OC and slept for 12 hours I still feel groggy and tired.

I was raised a city girl and never thought that I could adapt to town located in the middle of no where so well.  At moments I saw myself wanting to move to a place like that to live for the rest of my life.

After a few days my friends and I traveled up to Oakland, CA.  It was a quick 2 hour drive.  We got a chance to visit the Oakland Temple established by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  By the way did I forget to mention I'm LDS?  and before you even bother asking NO, my dad does not have thousands of wives.  

I swear the temple was a beautiful sight, and so was the city itself.  It was so treeish ;)  I got a chance to babysat my friend's baby girl Alene.  She is so adorable and it made me realized how much of a privilege it is to have children.  Being at the Oakland temple and walking around the grounds with Alene was one of my favorite peaceful moment.  

This trip was amazing and as much as I love the city the peacefulness of the rural area made me not want to leave it.  I can't wait to visit again soon!