Chi-Chi-Chi-chester

Last weekend, I went to West Wittering Beach. it's just south of London on the coast near Portsmouth. I am the Activities Committee co-chair in my ward so I helped plan the trip.

Actually, to use the word "plan" is a joke. The weather here is incredibly unpredictable so if you are doing something outside, you gotta have a couple back up plans.

On Saturday, we packed up the beach stuff and left a London on a beautiful sunny morning. It takes about 2 hours to drive down. The weather was great until about 15 minutes before we got to the beach. Dude. It started pouring buckets. A bunch of people were determined to still go swimming despite the weather so they stripped down and ran out to the water. The water itself was surprisingly REALLY warm- warmer than the air outside actually. The problem was with the wind and rain. I was trippin on the weather pretty bad during this time. The air was... heavy... but it wasn't just raining water... it was raining sand too. It was so weird! The rain eased up but then it just got misty.

Until now, I have never understood the true meaning of my name. I mean, I grew up in California- mild weather all year round- maybe once a year it would rain lightly and I'd say, "it's misty outside!!" Boy was I wrong. Misty weather sucks. It's not like rain at all.

It drifts from the sky at a slow rate. The air moves the mist easily so you can't escape it by covering with an umbrella. It comes at you from every direction! The thing about mist is that it covers you. You don't realize how wet you are and how much it's seeped into your clothing until you get out of it. This video is one of my roommate Larissa and I complaining. I love this girl...

This picture of me is when I was skillfully driving a friend's car down the road. Skillfully you ask? Yes. They drive on the wrong side of the road here. Actually... I only drove about 300 feet... but I still drove... from the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road!

Anyways, the weather was terrible but it was good to go and hang out with everyone. Since things didn't work out on the beach, we went inland a little.

We went to the cute little town of Chichester. (I seriously cannot say that word... I can't say Southwark, Edinborough, or Trafalgar like they do either. Meh) This town had a little strip of shops and a cathedral. Yep, that's about it. We were all starving and everyone was getting snappy at each other so we pulled together and got a nice pub lunch. Mmmm... Beef burger with chips and vinegar and ketchup. What more could you ask for? Soooo good.

After lunch, we walked around this lovely Cathedral. The architecture is amazing! Most times walking random parts of London, I see some buildings that blow me away so there is definitely something to be said about buildings that were meant to be beautiful!

The English people got really excited that the Krispy Kreme factory was along the way home so of course we stopped. It is a little known fact that if you go into the factory while they are making them fresh, you get one right of the line- for free!!!! They are warm and delicious! I highly recommend stopping. It was such a familiar smell when I stepped in the doors that I exclaimed, "It smells like America!!!!" A few people looked at me strange... but it felt good.