Welcome to San Diego!

Well, my welcome to San Diego, was... you could say... a bit "delayed." As my plane was landing on Monday night, and descending to land on the (short) runway at San Diego airport, we got within 500 feet of the runway... and then... instead of continuing to land, we accelerated back up! A few minutes later, the pilot came on the air telling us that apparently there was some sort of mix up on the runway, and another plane was still there or something... so the control tower told him to go back up and circle back around and try landing again.

Let's just say, more than a few of us were a bit nervous about this... despite the fact they were probably just taking the necessary precautions. About 10 or 15 minutes later, after rejoining the flight pattern, we finally landed. After seeing the SanDiego airport during the day - and the flight pattern that takes planes right next to (or through?) downtown San Diego, I don't like what I see. I don't want to predict a catastrophe, but there looks like just a little room for error there. I think they should build a bigger airport out more in the burbs somewhere, away from all the commotion of downtown and a place where they need a bigger runway. It'd be safer that's for sure.

Other than that... San Diego is beautiful. On Tuesday, I dropped off some materials to some conservative student's mailboxes at the University of San Diego (another Catholic school out here) and then headed for the beach for a few hours. WOW is the place AMAZING. I do in fact think this is the best city in America - weather, climate, people, everything. It was about 77 degrees, no rain, no clouds, clear sky, and no humidity... and beauty all around me... with cliffs and mountains overlooking the beach. Surfers were having their kicks with the waves, and a mild number of people were laying out on the beach enjoying the paradise they were given. It truly is paradise... and as I sat on the beach myself, I could only think that perhaps scenes like this are just a glimpse of the paradise that awaits us. And if this is just a glimpse, I can't imagine what eternal paradise is like.

Ok, enough thinking on my part... after the beach it was time to get ready to meet with the conservative students at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD). These kids are lucky. Their school is about a mile from the beach, in fact the "oceanography" center of UCSD is actually on the beach! It's hard not to feel envious.