My first stop was Sacramento, CA to hang out with Mr. Mystery and his family for a few days before we started the drive from CA to SC. Teh MD Adult Roomie was awesome and woke up with me at 2am to drive me to Dulles so I could catch my flight. Did I mention she's awesome? She is.
I didn't get to use the TSA Pre-Check because it was too early for it to be open, which was stupid because then I had to wait in line at security (not that I didn't have time to burn, but still no waiting in line is always better). First things first, breakfast. I grabbed a coffee and a delicious pretzel and took the seat next to the power outlet, because duh.
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| Please note the t-shirt I'm wearing. Teh MD Roomies got it for me since it's so accurate. Lub. |
I watched a middle eastern family while reading confession posts. One of the young boys was out of control and the mom didn't seem to be willing to reign him in and the dad didn't seem to notice the kid at all. The grandmother was there and what seemed to be a brother and another wife.. there were just a lot of family members there that could have told the little heathen to pipe down, but nothing ever happened. I was waiting on him to hit my computer or me so I could have a round with him, but I must have had on my scary face because he stayed away.
I had a quick layover in Long Beach, CA where I grabbed lunch because going from east coast time to west coast time is super tricky, especially when you're on my eating schedule and you wake up at 2am, which just throws everything off. After scarfing down some sushi and making sure my computer didn't commit suicide (I realized about halfway through my flight that my computer was SUPER hot in my backpack like it couldn't turn off for some reason so I took off the battery and it cooled down in a matter of seconds but wouldn't start back up which I attributed to a dead battery), it was time to reboard and head to Sacramento!
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| I did find these at the airport in Long Beach. I said oh HELL NO when I saw they were $7. We pay that much for 2lbs. |
Mr. Mystery didn't meet me in the airport, which was sad, but I got over it when he handed me these when I found him in the pick-up area:
After a short drive around town, we stopped for milkshakes and then headed to his house where I got to meet his mom, uncle, and brother and Molly the puppy for his Baba.
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| Selfies with the puppy were a requirement. |
Our first group activity was lunch. They decided on sushi and I went with an adult beverage since I had already eaten lunch. I was day drinking. Vacation was official at that point. Everyone kept claiming it was hot, which I wasn't really understanding because there was almost no humidity. We decided to go swimming after picking up some adult beverage materials. I proceeded to drink way too much Malibu Black after not enough food and flying and swimming and being awake since 2am, oops. And then I was expected to function for a very large gathering at a Korean BBQ place where I managed to get more and more sober the more I ate, thank Allah.
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| Molly doesn't look impressed, but she was being cute before I started taking photos just laying between our legs. |
When we got back home after dinner, where I had sobered up, it was east coast midnight and I was absolutely exhausted. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and then got up and socialized for a short while before everyone left and it was bedtime again.
The next morning, I got up and went on a short run. I probably could have went further, but being in an unknown area and running an area for the first time always makes it seem like it takes super long. I came back home and was able to sit outside to cool down! That would NOT have been possible on the east coast, ever.
After everyone started to get up, it was brunch/breakfast time at a diner in town. I actually ate an entire omelet, I couldn't even believe it, but it was delicious and I couldn't help it. Mr. Mystery commented when the plate was set down in front of me that I wouldn't be able to eat it all. WRONG. Running also makes me ravenous, so I had that going for me too.
When we got back home, we decided it was a good time to mail off the monies for the SC house, so we headed to FedEx to mail off the checks where we learned that FedEx won't ship to PO boxes, which I guess makes sense when you think about it, but it hadn't ever crossed our minds so we were confused when the FedEx lady said she couldn't do it. Le siiigh.
Instead, we hit up Jamba Juice for a snack and then hit up the USPS, since they do, in fact, ship to PO boxes...
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| So CA healthy. I know there are Jamba Juices in not CA, but I don't frequent them. |
That evening involved more swimming and then we decided to do dinner at Frasinetti's where Mr. Mystery and several of his friends worked/had worked. I watched several of the guys at the bar place dice and I knew better than to even bother because my luck is such crap. Mr. Mystery gave me a tour of the winery, which was old and awesome. Eventually, his brother kicked us out so he could close up the bar. We went home and I ended up taking a nap (yep, at 10pm) until midnight when I woke up and joined everyone for shots and dominoes. The switch to west coast time was very difficult and we ended up going to be around 3am (so 6am east coast time) and all I could think of was how jacked up my sleep schedule was going to be when we got back to the east coast (and oh how right I was/am).
Friday, we got up and Mr. Mystery decided that we were going to go into San Francisco to meet his Baba (grandmother) and some other relatives and have dinner in "The City." I learned that "The City" in CA is San Francisco, where "The City" on the east coast is NYC. Los Angeles is NOT "The City" because it's "LA." There's your west coast education of the day.
The drive was a little over an hour and we got to pass through the golden hills of CA and through the salt flats. I've done the drive from San Jose to San Francisco, so it was just Highway 101 all the way, not really many vistas to look at. It was the opposite from Sacramento to San Francisco. All the pretty things to look at!
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| Salt flats. |
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| Of course, photos of the Golden Gate Bridge were a requirement! |
After we found a place to park, we made our way to Baba's house so I could meet her and we could hang out for a little bit. Eventually, I needed to be fed, so Mr. Mystery led us to Pasquale's a most delicious pizza place. Over dinner I got to learn about Mr. Mystery's family and how they came to San Francisco, I was quite enlightened. I people watched the passersby outside who were wearing jackets because of the breeze, which I thought was silly.. until we left the restaurant.
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| NOMNOMNOM sourdough bread. |
After dinner, I should have asked if they had a cannoli, but I didn't. This is actually relevant. We headed back to Baba's for a bit more socializing and then we finally headed back to Sacramento since we didn't want to be out too late since we were starting the cross-country drive the next day. On the way back into town, I found a bakery that claimed to sell cannoli's so we stopped in and the girl at the counter proceeded to tell me that they don't carry the mini-desserts in the bakery and cannolis were a mini dessert and the more she talked the more the urge to smother her with a cake got stronger. Mr. Mystery was able to get his dessert though and I gave up my cannoli requirement for the evening. When we got home, Mr. Mystery's brother found another bakery that was open till 1am that sold cannolis and we talked about going to get some, but then after several shots, it never ended up happening.
After socializing till 0230, I finally had to call it quits and crashed. I didn't even hear Mr. Mystery come to bed I was out so hard. The alarms started going off around 9 so we could get up and get the truck packed up and hit the road.
It was very strange to me to see my behaviors in someone else. Mr. Mystery didn't seem to want to leave. He kept finding things to clean and he watered the yard and rinsed off the truck and kept getting distracted by all the things. It took me at least 30 minutes to figure out what was happening and then I finally got it. I finally started bringing things out to put in the truck and with great hesitation he finally started loading his stuff as well.
Not gonna lie, I didn't really want to leave either because being in CA was relaxing and fun and there wasn't really any responsibilities I had to attend to (except for SC house issues because that damn relator /grumblegrumblegrumble). I did manage to get the internet/cable installation scheduled and got the electricity and water switched over into our names while I was in CA, so that was helpful for our imminent arrival.
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| Mr. Mystery finally upgraded from a 2009 Blackberry Storm to a LG G3. He then refused to pull the sticker protectors off and so it looked like he had the Guiness World Record's Fingernails coming off his phone. It was so gross. No one was allowed to pull them off. The first one finally vanished when we hit TN and the other side was removed by Mr. Myserty in SC. I was never so relieved over stickers before. |
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| This poor guy was T-boned coming back from San Francisco. He never fell off and Mr. Mystery had to actually remove him because he wouldn't come off when the truck was rinsed off either. Apparently he had wanted a ride to SC. |
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| Of course I'd drop my suitcase on my foot 10 minute before we leave. Le sigh. |
We finally got on the road about lunch time and our first stop was lunch at In-N-Out, because that's a CA requirement that I hadn't checked off yet.
We finally got on the road after picking up beverages.. and ice cream, in my case. I spent most of the ride across the country with ear plugs in because Mr. Mystery likes to listen to his music at decibels that make my brain hurt. Actually, I could understand the words better with earplugs in and the bass wasn't making me regret life and I could block out the noise when I wanted to concentrate on my reading, so it worked out nicely.
I'm glad meeting the family went well! I would kill to live in a place with no humidity. ;)
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the CA "city" lesson. I mean, I've always known LA was LA, but wouldn't have thought San Fran was "the city".
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