California or Bust!
I have to say that traveling non-stop (well, except for fill-ups - both the car and ourselves, and restroom breaks) out to California with my mom and three of her siblings is not the most enjoyable 37 hours I've ever spent. But it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. In fact, it was a fun trip. I guess if you're trapped for that long in a vehicle with four other people, you're going to have a bonding experience. I'll never think of fruit in the same way. Uncle Bruce waited until the day we were to enter California to tell us we had to go through customs and they wouldn't let us take in our fruit. We proceeded to spend the latter part of Colorado and most of Utah eating grapes, bananas, pears and apples. Uncle Bill swore that he ate at least three bananas that day and that he's not going to eat another banana for at least two years. And in the end, they waved us through the checkpoint.
We left Michigan on Tuesday morning, got into LA on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, I got to make the menu and the placecards (with help from Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill) for my Uncle Bob's wedding (on Saturday). On Friday, after Robin flew in, we made the two hour trek down to the San Diego Zoo in spite of an earlier scare by my aunt of it going to be over 100F that day. (It almost never gets above 80F there because of the ocean, and was actually a thoroughly pleasant 75F). That was a lot of fun. We sped around the zoo and probably got to see about 80% of it. The pandas were my favorite. We went in search of dinner in downtown San Diego (the Gaslamp District) but forgot that it was a Friday evening. Downtown San Diego is the most frustrating place I've ever driven in. Most of the streets are one-way and most of them have no left turns (which means no turns at all). So you have to drive about six blocks (out of the Gaslamp District) before you could turn. Mix that with the milling crowds of people and not knowing where we wanted to eat...we gave up and stopped at a very nice place on the way home.
The wedding was enjoyable even though Uncle Bruce misplaced his tux vest and no one could find it. (We later found it under a chair at the apartment...after the wedding). The food was the best I've ever had at a wedding reception. I suppose that's one of the perks of getting married when you're older. I amused myself by making my sugar packet pagoda while waiting for the dancing. No one is ever as amused by that as I am...*sigh*. And the next day we made the trek back. Somehow we always hit the Rockies after dark. Colorado and Utah are beautiful. And Nebraska looked surprisingly lush on the return trip. But it is good to be back in "leafy" Michigan.
And Joshua trees are weird.
We left Michigan on Tuesday morning, got into LA on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, I got to make the menu and the placecards (with help from Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill) for my Uncle Bob's wedding (on Saturday). On Friday, after Robin flew in, we made the two hour trek down to the San Diego Zoo in spite of an earlier scare by my aunt of it going to be over 100F that day. (It almost never gets above 80F there because of the ocean, and was actually a thoroughly pleasant 75F). That was a lot of fun. We sped around the zoo and probably got to see about 80% of it. The pandas were my favorite. We went in search of dinner in downtown San Diego (the Gaslamp District) but forgot that it was a Friday evening. Downtown San Diego is the most frustrating place I've ever driven in. Most of the streets are one-way and most of them have no left turns (which means no turns at all). So you have to drive about six blocks (out of the Gaslamp District) before you could turn. Mix that with the milling crowds of people and not knowing where we wanted to eat...we gave up and stopped at a very nice place on the way home.
The wedding was enjoyable even though Uncle Bruce misplaced his tux vest and no one could find it. (We later found it under a chair at the apartment...after the wedding). The food was the best I've ever had at a wedding reception. I suppose that's one of the perks of getting married when you're older. I amused myself by making my sugar packet pagoda while waiting for the dancing. No one is ever as amused by that as I am...*sigh*. And the next day we made the trek back. Somehow we always hit the Rockies after dark. Colorado and Utah are beautiful. And Nebraska looked surprisingly lush on the return trip. But it is good to be back in "leafy" Michigan.
And Joshua trees are weird.