Road trip.
Until I got married, I didn't truly appreciate what it meant to share your life with someone. Sharing my life with someone as awesome as Naomi has its perks, but it also means that if things are going badly for one of us, things are going badly for both of us. So when I have to stay late at work, we both end up tired and hungry because neither of us has dinner until I get home. And when Naomi has to suddenly fly to Boston to interview replacements for her favorite coworker, we both end up lonely and bereft. And when the cats have fleas, we both have to do our share of flea-combing and vacuuming and feeling grossed-out, though the fleas don't seem to find me as tasty as they find Naomi.
So last night, after a frustrating night of train delays, unsolved work problems, and fleabites, we decided we needed to share something awesome instead. Xena and popcorn on the couch? No, let's get out of the house. Dessert downtown? No, something outdoors. "Wanna drive to the Central Valley and look at the stars?" Naomi half-joked. "...Yeah," I said. "Let's go."
It was 10:30, but we got into the car and got on I-80, driving away from the fog, following a star beckoning us on the eastern horizon. We didn't talk much; Naomi put on a set of spare guitar-and-vocals tracks by a very talented high school friend of hers, and we just listened.
We were nearly to Davis when we turned off the highway, heading deeper into farm country as we fled from the light of the cities. We pulled off the road next to an apple orchard. There wasn't an artificial light for miles. But I had never appreciated how much light a full moon sheds. It made seeing the stars difficult (we could see the Summer Triangle but not the Milky Way), but lit up the apple orchard and the few wispy clouds with a silvery glow. We stayed long enough to watch a truck drive in empty and leave loaded with fat apples, bright red even in the dim light.
We headed to Davis for a late-night snack. Our favorite Thai place apparently turns into a nightclub on Friday nights, but we were able to find a relatively quiet Chinese place that was still open at 1 AM. Hanging out in Davis made us realize that we are both significantly past college age now, and that we're okay with this.
It was a yawnful drive home, but Naomi had fun putting on goth club music, which kept us both awake. We more or less fell into bed when we got home, the evening ending on a much more pleasant note than it started. Sometimes a little adventure really hits the spot.
So last night, after a frustrating night of train delays, unsolved work problems, and fleabites, we decided we needed to share something awesome instead. Xena and popcorn on the couch? No, let's get out of the house. Dessert downtown? No, something outdoors. "Wanna drive to the Central Valley and look at the stars?" Naomi half-joked. "...Yeah," I said. "Let's go."
It was 10:30, but we got into the car and got on I-80, driving away from the fog, following a star beckoning us on the eastern horizon. We didn't talk much; Naomi put on a set of spare guitar-and-vocals tracks by a very talented high school friend of hers, and we just listened.
We were nearly to Davis when we turned off the highway, heading deeper into farm country as we fled from the light of the cities. We pulled off the road next to an apple orchard. There wasn't an artificial light for miles. But I had never appreciated how much light a full moon sheds. It made seeing the stars difficult (we could see the Summer Triangle but not the Milky Way), but lit up the apple orchard and the few wispy clouds with a silvery glow. We stayed long enough to watch a truck drive in empty and leave loaded with fat apples, bright red even in the dim light.
We headed to Davis for a late-night snack. Our favorite Thai place apparently turns into a nightclub on Friday nights, but we were able to find a relatively quiet Chinese place that was still open at 1 AM. Hanging out in Davis made us realize that we are both significantly past college age now, and that we're okay with this.
It was a yawnful drive home, but Naomi had fun putting on goth club music, which kept us both awake. We more or less fell into bed when we got home, the evening ending on a much more pleasant note than it started. Sometimes a little adventure really hits the spot.