Turkey Break (Oh, and it's closer to 2k+ miles)
Welcome, welcome to another update. Hmmm, the first journal entry written from Chula Vista *smiles*. People go to bed so early here *shakes his head*.
Let me start with the drive down and let the weekend unfold from where that takes me. By the end of this weekend I will have driven enough miles to get me from the Pacific Coast to the middle of the nation; this of course includes the CPSLO trip. The drive down to Merced was a great deal of waiting in traffic because of my idiotic time of departure. Traffic on the Causeway, traffic in Sactown, traffic in Stockton . . . the list goes on. I went and did some Thanksgiving grocery shopping with my uncle for the soiree he was going to be hosting at our house in Merced. *smiles* I hope my relatives in Merced had a great time Thursday night; *frowns* too bad they were so very far away. As for my Thursday night, it started after I woke up from the crash dive I took on my brother's room's floor when I got to Chula Vista. I was watching his fishy fishy fish (note that it's singular . . . the male died *frowns* because the female Beta chewed up his fins *giggles*) and his aquatic frogs then just slowly made the journey to the Land of Nod.
I awoke to help out with some last minute prepping of the table for our guests . . . oh, and the numerous guests from afar we did host. We had family and friends come from Daly City to visit us here in Chula Vista, along with more family the following morning coming in from San Jose and Newark. Gloria and I once talked about family traditions, and I found that I was hard-pressed to think of any. As the holidays come rolling around there are traditions that I notice, and one of these is that I'm always asked to say grace before a dinner party. The sad thing is that even though I KNOW it's going to happen I still do not prepare for it, and for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching me squirm then I suggest you listen to me say grace and stumble on words. This time I came prepared to say grace, and I wasn't asked to say grace *sighs and slumps in his chair*; the Fates love to dick with me, don't they?
Fast forward a few hours and add in some wine to get the fathers at the dinner ineligible to drive. Well, they wanted to go to the Indian Gaming Casino, offered to pay me to drive them, and away we went. *grins* Easiest $80 I ever made. I'm not really into gambling, though I will play a bit here and there. So what did I do while they were giving their money to the Casino? I went people-watching of course. Over the course of the night I counted 12+ different pregnant women. Each of them was smoking and drinking, which left me going, "WTF, mate?" What I assumed were their significant others were there and didn't seem to mind the behavior. Now, I don't mind a girl who smokes and/or drinks, but if she were to be carrying MY CHILD she's going to be clean of anything harmful.
On Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo. The caravan broke off into little groups and walked around once we got there; I was with my brother and Justin (my Aunt Ruby and Uncle Francis's son, think Iroquois system). We saw Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!!! OK, so we didn't see tigers, but that's only 1/3 which isn't so bad. The place is friggin' huge, and if we had more time to walk around I would have liked to see some tigers. I did get to see a bunch of "Endafus" and a Rhino. Sadly, no hippos, I'm sorry Juan, maybe next time. I also saw a dozen or so different kinds of wild boars and pigs, along with a great variety of reptiles. I love zoos. Then there were the Random Peacocks; as I was telling the Elf, they fly about and eat scraps as if they were your average, everyday sparrow. I followed one and got a chance to pet him; they're very docile creatures.
Today we all went to Universal Studios Hollywood. They managed to make some much-needed repairs to the JP ride's dinosaurs since the last time I visited the park. They also took out ET and replaced it with The Mummy ride, which was a short but fun rollercoaster. Another new feature was Dracula's Fortress (Van Helsing), and that was a fun walk-through building. Obviously it wasn't my first time going, but it's great to see other people enjoy it for the first time. Ahh, and to match the 80degree weather that I got to have fun with on Thursday and Friday along with the birdies that fly south we had rain today. Yes folks, we had a lovely off-and-on routine going with the rain. On the whole, it was a great day, even though I did add another 200+mi. of driving to my already lengthy travels.
I have much to think of on the drive back to Merced and Davis tomorrow/today. Hopefully I don't fall into that road trance; I'll have to continue singing loudly and off key for the entireity of the trip.
Let me start with the drive down and let the weekend unfold from where that takes me. By the end of this weekend I will have driven enough miles to get me from the Pacific Coast to the middle of the nation; this of course includes the CPSLO trip. The drive down to Merced was a great deal of waiting in traffic because of my idiotic time of departure. Traffic on the Causeway, traffic in Sactown, traffic in Stockton . . . the list goes on. I went and did some Thanksgiving grocery shopping with my uncle for the soiree he was going to be hosting at our house in Merced. *smiles* I hope my relatives in Merced had a great time Thursday night; *frowns* too bad they were so very far away. As for my Thursday night, it started after I woke up from the crash dive I took on my brother's room's floor when I got to Chula Vista. I was watching his fishy fishy fish (note that it's singular . . . the male died *frowns* because the female Beta chewed up his fins *giggles*) and his aquatic frogs then just slowly made the journey to the Land of Nod.
I awoke to help out with some last minute prepping of the table for our guests . . . oh, and the numerous guests from afar we did host. We had family and friends come from Daly City to visit us here in Chula Vista, along with more family the following morning coming in from San Jose and Newark. Gloria and I once talked about family traditions, and I found that I was hard-pressed to think of any. As the holidays come rolling around there are traditions that I notice, and one of these is that I'm always asked to say grace before a dinner party. The sad thing is that even though I KNOW it's going to happen I still do not prepare for it, and for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching me squirm then I suggest you listen to me say grace and stumble on words. This time I came prepared to say grace, and I wasn't asked to say grace *sighs and slumps in his chair*; the Fates love to dick with me, don't they?
Fast forward a few hours and add in some wine to get the fathers at the dinner ineligible to drive. Well, they wanted to go to the Indian Gaming Casino, offered to pay me to drive them, and away we went. *grins* Easiest $80 I ever made. I'm not really into gambling, though I will play a bit here and there. So what did I do while they were giving their money to the Casino? I went people-watching of course. Over the course of the night I counted 12+ different pregnant women. Each of them was smoking and drinking, which left me going, "WTF, mate?" What I assumed were their significant others were there and didn't seem to mind the behavior. Now, I don't mind a girl who smokes and/or drinks, but if she were to be carrying MY CHILD she's going to be clean of anything harmful.
On Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo. The caravan broke off into little groups and walked around once we got there; I was with my brother and Justin (my Aunt Ruby and Uncle Francis's son, think Iroquois system). We saw Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!!! OK, so we didn't see tigers, but that's only 1/3 which isn't so bad. The place is friggin' huge, and if we had more time to walk around I would have liked to see some tigers. I did get to see a bunch of "Endafus" and a Rhino. Sadly, no hippos, I'm sorry Juan, maybe next time. I also saw a dozen or so different kinds of wild boars and pigs, along with a great variety of reptiles. I love zoos. Then there were the Random Peacocks; as I was telling the Elf, they fly about and eat scraps as if they were your average, everyday sparrow. I followed one and got a chance to pet him; they're very docile creatures.
Today we all went to Universal Studios Hollywood. They managed to make some much-needed repairs to the JP ride's dinosaurs since the last time I visited the park. They also took out ET and replaced it with The Mummy ride, which was a short but fun rollercoaster. Another new feature was Dracula's Fortress (Van Helsing), and that was a fun walk-through building. Obviously it wasn't my first time going, but it's great to see other people enjoy it for the first time. Ahh, and to match the 80degree weather that I got to have fun with on Thursday and Friday along with the birdies that fly south we had rain today. Yes folks, we had a lovely off-and-on routine going with the rain. On the whole, it was a great day, even though I did add another 200+mi. of driving to my already lengthy travels.
I have much to think of on the drive back to Merced and Davis tomorrow/today. Hopefully I don't fall into that road trance; I'll have to continue singing loudly and off key for the entireity of the trip.