What has happened since our car fiasco?
We've gone on some adventures, which I have explained and posted pictures of below, just after the update on our car.
We have decided to keep Gemma. She caused us some major problems, yes. And twice we attempted to purchase a different car, but both times drove away in our little green one. And we've come to accept it. We got brakes and rotors replaced, a new clutch, and a new throttle body. Gemma drives much better now (though I'm still having some trust issues). But the fact of the matter is, she's a car with just over 32,000 miles on it at this point, and while it may have some issues in the next few years that could come up sooner than a different make, this car will get us through those years just fine. Unsuccessfully buying a different car, twice, helped us come to that realization. So for now, Gemma is still our car. And instead of trading it in for another car in its (cheap) class now, in 6 or 7 years (once we've paid off all our student loans and have established some savings) we have our sights set on trading up.
Plus, also, Gemma is like our child, since we don't have a kid, and we don't have a dog or cat or bird or fish to fill the void. Gemma is ours. And so the thought of trading her in so soon was a tad bittersweet, and now we'll keep her around for a while and that's a happy thought.
See, look at all these pictures of Gemma and how happy we are with her:
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| Here is Gemma in Sequoia National Forest. |
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| Here is Gemma and a redwood. |
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| Here we are while Gemma hangs out under a fallen tree. |
We do love our car. We really do.
And now, for some recent adventures:
We went on a hike at Griffith Park, which is one of my most favorite places here in LA.
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| Here is the observatory from our vantage point up on a hill. |
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| Here we are on our hike with the Hollywood sign just beyond. |
We also went camping the first weekend of November with some great friends. We drove 2.5 hours east to Joshua Tree National Park. It is a desert. But we had a really neat campground. Jeremy took some pictures after climbing up some tall rock formations:
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| You can see where we parked to the right of the center of this picture. We cooked over a fire just to the left of that, and farther down in the shade just under center you can make out the tents were we slept. |
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| Making camp. |
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| This desert, like any good desert, had an oasis. Palm trees in the middle of nowhere and a small pond of water. |
Also, we went to Disneyland this past Saturday, thanks to a birthday present for Jer from his parents that benefited BOTH of us, and we had such a wonderful time!
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| Enjoying our overpriced Dolewhip. |
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| Storm Troopers in real life, aka all of Jeremy's dreams coming true. |
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| Partaking in the mad tea party. |
Now we're getting ready for the crazy party that will be happening in our one bedroom house from November 22nd-29th: seven of the Witzers will be in town. Watch out- they just might take over LA!