In the ladies’ of The Field, San Diego:
The most important thing I learned at the SD Zoo:
Catherine and Eric getting sloshed on a Sea World ride:
(Ha! Sloshed! Get it?)
Not nearly as nice as it should have been:
And finally… how to REALLY take it all with you:
More in the next few days…
We return home on Saturday (maybe even Friday night… if we get rained out on the Oregon Coast.)
Can you believe how quickly this went?
I mean, maybe it didn’t for you. But for me? A BLUR.
And look what Cath’s odometer said today:
THE MILEAGE OF THE BEAST.
Ha!
We ended up taking a different route up than we did coming down through Oregon and California. Instead of doing the whole I-5 schtick, we decided to do the US 101 all the way up from around Santa Rosa.
Um.
GORGEOUS.
I’ll take more photos in Oregon and along the end of the Cali coastline (now that the 101 has ended up there), but here’s a sweet little taste:
We were in Fresno last night with Catherine’s friend Mike. MIKE. WE LOVE YOU. SEE, YOU MADE IT ONTO THE BLOG.
Here’s a picture I took while we searched in vain for dinner in Fresno:
And here’s a picture I took on an impossible-to-take-pictures-on Toll Bridge (I KNOW, BAY AREA PEOPLE. I DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL TODAY I WAS DRIVING BY. AND WE DIDN’T GO INTO SAN JOSE OR SAN FRANCISCO… WE JUST BLITZED THROUGH ON OUR WAY TO MEET THE 101. I PROMISE.):
That’s San Quentin.
WHOA.
Now I need to go to bed. But I promise to tell more, more, more…
SOON.
(And I really, really prefer coastal areas to central areas. Anywhere. Just FYI.)
But I made some new friends.
Still, sad to go.
It’s so beautiful here… I don’t think I have ever fallen in love with a city this quickly.
Guess I’ll have to come back.
I don’t travel much.
This has always been somewhat of an embarassment to me over the years.
My friends? Always coming or going or planning or saving for the next big jaunt.
Me? A fervent admirer of photos and keepsakes, and a master at describing exactly where I would wish to go, and exactly why, if I could or would or had the time.
Well enough, as a matter of fact, that people have begun to dream of trips because of my words. Trips they eventually plan and take.
I see them off at airports and welcome them home with clean apartments and mail stacked in the corner and windows opened to get rid of month-old stuffy air.
It’s hard to say why, really.
It’s not like these people always had more money or time than I did — though, to be perfectly honest, I have a tendency to choose jobs that don’t lend themselves to travel budgets or schedules — or that they had more zest for living.
No… sometimes they were utterly malcontented people, with little appreciation for life. Not many of them, but a few.
But, man, they sure knew how to take that lack of appreciation on the road.
I’d choose instead to work ridiculous hours at jobs and spend the money that didn’t go to bills and student loans on heaven only knows what.
Not a house.
Not cars.
Not a wedding.
Not children.
Perhaps coffee?
It’s rather silly, in any case. And — you’ve probably figured this out already — it was my own stupid fault.
So, at 32, it occurred to me that this needed to change. Maybe a small change to start, but a change.
That’s why I’m in San Diego today. That’s why we spent six days getting here and why we’re spending this time seeing everything we can see in the time we have and why I’ve fallen in love with the palm tree and the Spanish tile roof and waves.
WAVES!
We don’t have many of those in Vancouver.
I’ve seen whales and sunsets and brilliant acting and some really attractive waiters and cliffs and beaches. I’ve gawked at stately homes and fascinating homes and tiny, perfect homes. I’ve gazed at vistas entirely uncommon to me and vistas I recognize in a slightly more chilly form. I’ve bought more flip flops and passed out in the middle of Sephora and tried on shoes in a department store with a name I can barely pronounce.
I’ve had a lot of coffee and Fiji water.
And a lot of laughs and grins and “OH!”s.
I’ve loved the time with Catherine, deepening our friendship and being amazed at how irritated we DON’T make one another.
And Eric? A gem. A killer tour guide. And a fervent wearer of white socks.
I love San Diego.
I love vacation.
I love being somewhere other than where I usually am.
And I think I’ve been bitten by the “bug.”
We’ll see. I’ll worry about it later. For now, I have a zoo to go to.
Oops.
I guess I haven’t been doing the best job of keeping in touch. But I promise it’s only because I’m having fun and not because we’ve been tied up in someone’s basement for the past couple of days.
Why, just today, I ate brunch for 3 hours, and then saw an amazing play about quantum theory! And that, my friends, is the goods.
I promise, I’ll actually write soon.
After, uh, brunch.
I’ll do a bigger recap of the past couple of days tomorrow.
But look!
The cutest photo I have ever taken:
Baby beluga!
We’re heading out (sunstroke-y and sunburn-y — even with sunscreen!) for dinner now, but before we go, congrats to Dean and Karen on the birth of sweet Miss Presley Jade!
We can’t wait to babysit!
Man, I hope my future husband likes babysitting.
And it was about as comfy as you would imagine it to be.
Then I got a latte.
Now we’re sitting on Eric’s couch. Because, you know, we made it.
Beaches, restaurants, plays, day trips…
And coffee. Lots of coffee.
So. Since our arrival in the sunny state of Cali-forn-i-a, we’ve noticed five things:
It’s been a trip FULL of new experiences:
First time I ever drove through somewhere excessively covered on CNN and Court TV… Modesto, CA.
First In N Out experience! WOO! And you know what? I LOVED THE FRIES.
Double Double! WOO!
Our first true AUTO COOL ™ experience! NEVER PARK YOUR CAR OUT OF THE SHADE IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.
Tomorrow we make the last leg of our journey to Ericland, which will hopefully be as safe and uneventful as our trip thus far.
We’ve enjoyed our stay with the lovely Mike! We got a free brownie for being Canadian! We even went out for Mexican with triathletes! On the occasion of someone’s half-birthday!
But for now… a movie and bed. We’ve got a long drive tomorrow!
We’re with Catherine’s good friend Mike in Central CA now, and having an absolute ball. In a couple of days we’ll be on our way to Eric’s, and we’ll have a ball there, too.
But let me ask this question in the meantime.
WHY IS EVERYTHING SO BIG HERE?
I don’t mean land-wise or city-wise, because I come from a big country, and I live in a big city.
I mean the FOOD.
Catherine and I now know not to order a LARGE anything, because it won’t be large. It will be ELEPHANTINE.
The milkshakes? TAKE A WHOLE COW TO MAKE.
The fries? Most of an Idaho field for a single carton.
The soda (look! I’m all American… I say “soda”)? ENOUGH TO ENSURE THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO STOP TO GO TO THE BATHROOM EVERY TEN MINUTES.
Big.
Freakin’ big.
Just super-big.
Whew.
