The Great California Adventure

I’m home!!! Didja miss me? This is a terribly long post, but rather than doing multiple posts, I’m just writing up everything now before I forget. I’ve just landed after a 10 hour car trip that took me from Palo Alto, up through Oakland, through Fairfield, up onto I-5 heading stick straight north into Redding, passing through an insanely torrential downpour at Mount Shasta, and into the bottom of half of Oregon. I should be either asleep or unpacking. But I’m not. I’m here, posting on Blogger.

Because I’ve gone SEVEN FREAKING DAYS without posting. Do you know know how long seven days is in Bloggerland? That’s like, at least a year in normal people time. Yep. It’s that long.

Annie (my wonderful friend and top-notch driver) and I left Eugene promptly at 8:30 a.m. last Saturday. We made a pit-stop at Dutch Bros. (those without Dutch Bros., you have my sympathy) before taking off on the Great California Adventure. The weather (which was our constant nemesis throughout the week) teased us with clouds and rain for the better part of Southern Oregon, but finally towards Crescent City (about half an hour into California), the sun decided to grace us with its presence.

The drive down to Mendocino was filled with redwood trees, sightings of the oceans which yielded squeals of delight, and ridiculously curvy roads with Annie going “Wheeeee” at every turn. Oh, and the giant Paul Bunyon and his Blue Ox.

We arrived in the picturesque beach town of Mendocino around 7:00 p.m. Annie’s mother, Katie, and her sister, Sara, were waiting for us with their adorable golden retriever, Bo. Sunday was spent window-shopping and a hike on the bluffs along the beach. We took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, and as usual, I’m horrendously awful about taking pictures on vacation, even though I have a digital camera. So I only have pictures from the first two days and only one picture from San Francisco. Many apologies.

Annie, Katie and I also saw a delightful little play called Moon Over Buffalo. Monday involved some shopping and TV watching (Bring It On will go down as history as Teeny Bopper Classic. Jesse Bradford = hot.). We took off around three and headed down towards the Bay Area. Cue ridiculously curvy roads and redwoods. Oh, Highway 1, how I won’t miss thee…

Arrived in Petaluma, where Annie’s older brother, Jay, lives. Headed over to a little Italian restaurant for some quality family time. Continued the last leg of the trip to Palo Alto around 9:00, drove through suburbs before zipping through the tunnel and rounding the corner to see a beautiful vista of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Annie’s Saab has a sun roof. Can we say “awesome view”?

Tuesday involved much sleeping in (except for that obnoxious dog next door who wouldn’t stop barking for hours in the morning). Katie is starting a new non-profit for women down the street from their house, so Annie, Sara and I went over to help them clear out the back bedrooms of this old Victorian Bed and Breakfast. Lots of ugly lamps and pictures. And pillows. Oh god, the pillows. Sara lives in Santa Cruz, but their good friend Mary was flying in from Pasadena that afternoon, so we hopped in the car and drove the San Jose airport to pick her up so Sara could see Mary before she had to leave. We made a pit-stop at In N’ Out, which was my first time going there. Seeing as how I don’t eat red meat, it was probably less thrilling than if I did. But their “grilled cheese” (hamburger sans burger) was tasty. We also got Krispy Kreme donuts, which of course made everything all better. We got to the airport a bit too early, so we parked. But the security guard asked us to move. So we drove around. And we were still too early. So we drove around again. And we were still too early. So we drove around again. We parked, taking a risk at being carted off to “Illegally Parked Criminals” jail. But Mary arrived! And we drove away, happy and ticket-free.

After Sara left, we took Mary up to Atherton to pick up her car, and then Annie and I drove over to the Stanford Mall and went shopping. Saw awesomely cute things at Bloomie’s, but decided to put the items on hold. Good thing, too. A $32 tank top? Are you joshing me? Eek.

Wednesday was down-time day. Annie went to lunch with her friend Katie, who we hung out with the night before. I spent that hour in the backyard, sitting in the gazebo and reading Through Painted Deserts (awesome book. Two thumbs up.). It started to rain while I was out there, but it was still warm so I stayed put. Later, when Mary came over, I told her I had spent the early afternoon in the gazebo reading while it rained. And she said, “Aw. It’s like you were in your natural habitat.” Yes. Reading and rain.

Annie and I took a tour of Palo Alto in the afternoon. We went to Peet’s (our coffee haunt while in California. Those without a Peet’s, you have my sympathy) and then drove around town. Drove through the Stanford campus and saw a couple of Annie’s childhood homes. Then while Annie and her mother went to the spa for Mother/Daughter time, I watched Elizabethtown (and cried a bit).

Thursday was San Francisco Day! Very exciting. We left around 11:15 and arrived in The City at noon. We were scheduled to rendez-vous with our friend Sabrina, who also goes to U of O, but she and her roommate, Molly, were still at the Museum of Modern Art. So Annie and I parked downtown and had lunch and then went shopping at Macy’s, H & M and Urban Outfitters (where I broke one of my cardinal traveling rules which states: Thou shall not buy items at stores which are located in Oregon. This is because Oregon is one of the few states sans sales tax and I honestly cannot bring myself to buy something I know is cheaper at home. But this was a cute knee-length denim skirt that was on sale and sales are not guaranteed in Oregon, so I thought this was an okay exception). Sabrina and Molly finally made it over to Urban, and from there we headed to Haight-Ashbury, the uber-trendy-former-Hippy-Central-district of San Francisco. It’s still pretty hippy, and we did quite a bit of vintage shopping. And, of course, we stopped at Amoeba Music, which is apparently World Famous, though I hadn’t heard of it. Ah well, I already knew I was culturally disenfranchised. But I did pick up: Snow Patrol, Frou Frou and Switchfoot.

Then Jon (from Diabetes Talkfest) and his son, Chris, finally made it over to The City (after a completely horrid commute through evening traffic which I still feel guilty about). We went to dinner and then we went to Ghiradelli Square! Wahoo! Ice Cream Sundaes! With Ghiradelli chocolate! Very exciting. I bought some chocolate from Mumzie and Father, and I got a free little box of chocolate in a pretty pink box. Jon and Chris were very fun to hang out with and we drove around The City in Jon’s red Mustang.

Friday was the Amy Day. I took the Caltrain from Palo Alto up to Burlingame to see Amy (she doesn’t even need a last name anymore. It’s just Amy. Like Cher. Or Madonna. Or Oprah). It was amazingly awesome, despite the torrential downpour that was the Bay Area this week (everyone kept apologizing to us for the rain. It was kind of amusing- I *am* from Oregon. You don’t know rain until you live in the Pacific Northwest). Amy and I went to a cute little café/bakery near the train station. We vented about absentmindedly forgetting supplies, people who assume we know everything about diabetes just because we have diabetes, people who ask the wrong questions or give the wrong answers, and the O.C. Of course. Time went too quickly. I need an encore.

The sun peaked out again in the evening, and Annie and I walked to California Pizza Kitchen to get pizza (obviously) and two chick flick movies. We watched Just Like Heaven. Which was more like Just Like Every Other Chick Flick, but it still made us cry.

We bade our good-byes this morning to Katie, picked up our Pete’s and scones and drove off into the wild blue yonder (a.k.a. the mindnumbing drearyness that is Central California). We discovered an In N’ Out and Pete’s in Fairfield (we spotted the In N’ Out first, but when I discovered there was a Pete’s in the same parking lot, Annie literally squealed and waved her hands in the air while driving, nearly giving me a heart attack.)

The drive was mostly clear until we got onto I-5, and as we approached Northern California, ominous dark gray clouds loomed in the distance, almost seeming to scream “Turn back now! It’s not too late!” We should have listened. By the time we hit Mount Shasta, we could barely see the roads from the rain and the snow level and temperature continued to drop. We stopped at a McDonalds to grab some dinner, but the lady at the counter said there was no snow at Mt. Ashland (the highest point of the pass) and the rain appeared to be moving the opposite direction. Thank. God. Did I mention the Saab is a manual and Annie’s never driven in snow. And we didn’t have chains. Today was the day for Close-Call Heart Attacks.

The only redeeming factor of our 24-hours in the car was our Music. Cue Big Announcer Voice: The Great California Adventure Soundtrack includes hits from Ryan Adams, Imogen Heap from the duo Frou Frou, The Postal Service, Halopaw, Snow Patrol and Beck, plus many more of your favorites songs.

And now I’m home. In my chair. Feeling like I’m still in the car (the room is moving, I swear.). With a sore neck and an even sorer bum. With my large suitcase stuffed with dirty clothes and used pump sets sitting next to me, waiting to be unloaded.

But that’s why God created Tomorrow.