Friendcation 2009 PART II: Everybody's gonna be happy, which means you and me, my love
We arrived in Portland in only 9 hours, a pretty great feat considering the distance we traversed. During my time driving, while Zuhair was sleeping I did almost fling us off a cliff, but besides that the trip was fairly uneventful and fun. I don't mind driving long distances, it turns out, with the right company and proper tunes.
When we finally got to the hotel, we parked, got our bags out, our 30 pack of Tecate, a grocery bag full of cup o noodles and oatmeal, and walked into the Hilton looking like the classiest couple in the world. We made our way up to the 12th floor, where Kelly had a hotel room compliments of her work, and where she and Ben were nice enough to allow us to stay with them. We got off the elevator, put our stuff on the ledge of a window that looked out over Portland, and realized we forgot the room number. After frantically calling both Ben and Kelly to no avail, Zuhair went and checked in the lobby. I hadn't mentioned this to anyone yet, but while I was there by myself, in silly shorts, a funny hat and our ridiculous luggage, I peered out at the city and my first instinct was to fake vomit due to the height. As soon as I realized what I had done, I became very embarrassed of how non-continental I really am. Zuhair came back up, not having found anybody of interest in the lobby, and was about to knock on a random hotel room door when Ben called and informed us that we were in the wrong tower of the hotel. We eventually made it to the proper building and room, and settled in nicely.
We didn't dally too long, and ended up going to a place called Rock Bottom. The main thing about Portland is that there are so many amazing breweries with incredible beers, which is great on the one hand, but also leads to confusion in recounting events. On our way there we walked through a really neat park that leads to the University, full of wonderful shade trees and statues of presidents and other historical figures. Rock Bottom had delicious beers and food, and we had an awesome time. Once we were sufficiently drunk, we headed to Voodoo Donuts. As soon as Zuhair saw the line, he decided to go to a bar instead. While the three of us were in line, two drunk guys came around a corner and were walking on the sidewalk, and one of them looks at the line of people, wondering what the fuss is about, and then looks at the sign above the door that says "Open late," and wonders out loud: "Open latte - what does that even mean?" We all share a drunk laugh, glad we aren't quite that gone. We explain there are donuts inside, and he gets in line. After waiting a bit longer with Ben and Kelly for a while, I realized I wasn't even going to buy a donut, so I went to find Zuhair at the bar, and I took this awkwardly adorable picture of him:
and he took this picture of me
Eventually Ben and Kelly met up with us bearing the gift of donuts! Apparently that extremely drunk guy found an ATM inside of the shop, and started handing out $20 bills! Ben and Zuhair each got a maple bacon bar, which is the most wonderful, horrifying thing in the world. I got an Oreo donut, which was extremely good but too rich for my blood. I can't remember what Kelly got, but I'll figure it out and update.
So we sat around, eating donuts and getting more beer. At some point we went to the hotel and got some sleep.
The next morning I woke up at around 6 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I sat like a creepster by the window in the dark, using a little patch of light to read the book I brought. Soon enough Kelly had to go to her conference, and I waited around for the gents to wake up. As everyone was getting ready I had a pretty serious phone call that had me quite distraught (don't worry, everything's okay now), so I was pacing up and down the street on Zuhair's iPhone for a while. I caught up with Ben outside, and the three of us went to a place called The Lotus Room, where my great buddies could tell I was upset so treated me to a shot and beer. We all took part, in fact, but somehow I goofed it up and got whiskey in my lungs. It's okay though. We decided to mainly drink instead of eat lunch, and split a bacon-lettuce-avocado-tomato sandwich three ways, accompanied by some great tater tots, and lots of beer.
We even got a waitress to take our picture
And then she wanted to be part of Friendcation!
And then Kelly got a break from her conference and came and had a delicious salad
After lunch, we walked to the river. I should mention that it was over 100 degrees every day we were in Portland, so I was happy to see one of those ground fountains little kids play in, and I got cooled down a bit myself.
The river was really pretty, but the day was damn hot, so as Kelly went back to her conference, we headed to the pool. I really enjoy swimming generally, but when you're on vacation, have been drinking and smoking and are a bit down, swimming does the trick. I even convinced Ben to try to use one of those little boogie board things to try to surf across the pool.
You can't tell from the picture, but as soon as he set foot on the board, his body tipped right over and he landed on his belly pretty hard, but man it was cool!
When Kelly was out of her conference we headed to Bridgeport, another brewery that had delicious beer and food. We shared some amazing pretzels, and Zuhair and I split a truly superb pulled pork sandwich that Zuhair proposed marriage to.
Here he is, eating the very last bits of it:
Unfortunately, the elements combined to make all of us extremely sleepy, and we had a rough go of it getting through the hour leading up to meeting our old friend Candice and her husband. They picked us up, stopped at a gas station for some 5 hour energies, and took us to the Portland marina. We went to a place called 3 Degrees, where they got dinner, and we, being ridiculous and having just eaten, just got drinks. Kelly ordered a mojito, then changed her mind, so I ended up with it, and it was superb! The best part about this place was that the porch seating consisted of rocking chairs with an impressive view of the river.
Here's Zuhair with something embarrassing in his beard!
After dinner, we headed to a bar called Macminimans, which has multiple locations throughout Portland. Candice told us that the bar buys up historic properties that are becoming disheveled and worn down, and fix them up and fill them with good beer and tater tots. We split a couple pitchers of some sort of fruity beer that Zuhair wanted no part of, but that I enjoyed. Zuhair made best friends with the waiter, and soon we parted ways with Candice and Cliff and tackled Portland on our own.
One interesting thing about vacation is keeping track of the time, a task that proves even more difficult when the sun is out until well after 9 p.m. It had gotten pretty late by this point, so we walked back to the hotel so Kelly could get some rest, going through the park again. I can't emphasize how lovely that park was, and how fun it was to just meander through it with such great friends. We eventually got to the hotel, bid adieu to Kelly, and Zuhair, Ben and I went off to a bar called Clyde Common, where we continued Friendcation 2009! The point of the trip was to hang out with as many friends as possible, and so we did - meeting up with Zuhair's friends William and Daniel. Both of them live in Portland now, but hail from the OC and were in Zuhair's old band The Fish People. Ben saw that William was drinking absinthe, so he bought me one! While I'm not keen on the taste, I enjoyed it very much, and was set for the night. We eventually stumbled home and went to sleep.
Day three of Portland was extremely silly! We were originally supposed to go up to Seattle to visit my friend Marcy on this day, but we had to consider our meager budget, as well as how much freaking fun we were having in Portland, so we decided to stay. Kelly had a bit to do at her conference, and Zuhair had to go grab lunch with an old pal of his. As soon as Kelly finished up in the morning, she, Ben and I were picked up by ol' Nancy, who took us to a different neighborhood of Portland to an amazing cafe called Legares. This place is run by just one dude, who makes insane concoctions and serves interesting drinks. Kelly shared some of her vegetarian chili with me, and it was delicious, and I got a couple bites of Ben's bagel with the world's best mustard. It was extremely good. We had a rousing game of Scrabble going, and Zuhair met up with us there. After Ben treated us to some perfectly timed popsicles, we headed to the Lucky Labrador brewery. The place is known for its beer and for having an outside area designed for patrons to bring their dogs, including large park benches bookended with water bowls. We played some Trivial Pursuit while we drank some delicious brews, and Zuhair and I shared another pulled pork sandwich. This is inside the place:
And outside:
After this, Nancy took us to an amazing park. After some contemplation, Zuhair, Ben and I decided to let loose a little bit. Ben was undecided until Nancy sang a song that went a little bit like this: "Do it for the memooooriiiiieees." The park was gorgeous, the perfect treat on a hot day. It was complete with a lake full of ducks and ducklings
We scoped out a place by the lake, put down a blanket, and just relaxed. I'm sorry Nancy's cut off in this pic, but I was too lazy to stand up and take it properly:
After a while Ben insisted we go find his special tree, a tree he saw as we were driving to the park that he just had to get to. We finally made it:
After seeing how happy his special tree made him, I decided I wanted my own special tree:
And of course, the top of my butt had to make an appearance:
Our hostess drove us back to the hotel,
where we stopped by the hotel bar for some drinks. We ended up sitting in there for almost an hour, watching Wipeout and laughing much too loudly and for much too long. When we finally drew enough unwanted attention to ourselves, we headed to the pool! Ben, Nancy and I jumped in as Kelly read a magazine and Zuhair talked on the phone while exercising incorrectly in the gym adjacent to the pool. Nancy and I watched him bounce on one of those big exercise balls for a while, and then we called it quits. Nancy had to take off, so the rest of us went up and showered and tried to figure out where to eat dinner.
We decided to go back to Clyde Common, since it was such a nice place. We called up Eddie, who happened to be up in Oregon with his dad visiting family, and we all walked over to the place. The truth is, it was a nice place- a little too nice, and too pricey, so we excused ourselves and wandered around until we found Henry's Brewery. We've all had Henry's root beer before, but little did I know they also made real beer, and had tons of beer on tap. I didn't get one myself, but tasted the ones everyone else got, and Kelly and I shared a superb veggie burger with an exquisite barbecue sauce. It was really great to hang out with Eddie and his dad, who have the exact same laugh and the same propensity to use it often and freely. It was a lot of fun, and by the end of it we were all extremely tuckered out.
The next morning Kelly had only a little bit of conferencing to do, so Ben and Zuhair and I checked out Powell's bookstore. I loved it, and could've spent days there. Ben asked for help getting Kelly a book, so I picked out the latest Dave Eggers work, and Zuhair ended up getting it too! We finished up and headed back to meet Kelly at an Indian food place that offered a passable buffet. Zuhair then drove us over to the Mississippi record store, which was much smaller than I expected. It was pretty awesome, but extremely hot, so I kinda just hung out until the boys were done shopping. Zuhair got a great Elliot Smith album for $5, then we took a walk and stopped by a few shops. Alas, our time came to an end, as Kelly had one last meeting to get to, so we headed back to the hotel with just enough time for Ben and Kelly to say a swift farewell, and then Zuhair and I were headed to Eugene.
Zuhair took care of the 2 hour drive, and when we arrived to Eugene I pretty much immediately got another important phone call. While I was talking Zuhair made me a whiskey and coke, and the call got more emotional, and finally ended on a much better note about forty five minutes later. When I got back to Caitlin's house, they already started smoking and drinking, so I got caught up in no time. After a couple stiff drinks, we went to Sam Bond's for more drinks and dinner. As I walked in, the first thing I saw was a piece of paper hanging off of the menu above the bar that simply said: "Dessert Special: Dessert pizza with sugar cinnamon crust, cream cheese, blueberries, hazelnuts and chocolate chips." I was sold, and Caitlin bought that for us to share.
It looks just like a pizza, doesn't it!
So the three of us found a table outside, drank delicious beer and then cheap, delicious beer after beer, played a scary imitation Jenga and just hung out. We met a friend of Caitlin's who invited us out, but we basically got really drunk, had Kirsten and company meet us, then decided to go back to Caitlin's to drink more and watch Super High Me. On the way home we picked up more beer, and some bean dip for Zuhair. Tons of people were there, including Sam, Johnny, Katie, Justin, Stephanie, Billy. It was a fun night, and I slept extremely well. It wasn't until the next day that I realized how drunk I got, and that it probably had to do with the fact that the only thing I ate that day was a plate of Indian food and half of a slice of candy pizza.
It was so, so, so good to see Caitlin, though, and so nice of everyone to welcome us so sweetly, including her pets. I am in love with her dog!
I wish I could've stayed another day, but San Francisco was beckoning us.
On our way down, we stopped by Myrtle Creek, which I thought was somewhere else entirely.
We even found a Del Taco on the way back to SF, and Zuhair felt pretty triumphant.
Friendcation took a crazy turn when we just so happened to cross paths with Gliss, the band Zuhair went on tour with - and we met them at a gas station.
Back on the road, it was my turn to take the wheel, and I was cruising along at my usual pace. These dang two lane roads, though, had me getting in the fast lane to pass some fools, and I got busted speeding. :\ Zuhair took over driving for me, and we finally got to SF. This is the view from the patio outside of Jeff's dining room:
That night in SF was a quiet one, spent recouping a bit by watching tv, drinking, smoking and joking around. Somehow we got very drunk again, and snoozed pretty well. In the morning Jeff busied himself making cupcakes for a wedding he and the gang were attending, and we ate waffles and relaxed a bit before the long drive home. On the way out, we dropped Jay off in Oakland and went by Berkeley for one last Top Dog.
We were having a great time, but were ready for home:
We were also sleepy heads and dangerous, picture-taking drivers:
For me, Friendcation 2009 ended in Riverside, where we met up with Tara, Joe and Thomas to see Funny People. What a nice way to end a vacation!
Friendcation 2009 was a very important trip for me - not just a great escape from my troubles, but a chance to put things in perspective, and it worked like a charm. I'm so thankful for what I have and so hungry to get what I need in life. And, I'm damn good at having fun with some amazing people. My sincerest, most heartfelt and cheesiest thanks to everyone involved in Friendcation 2009.
When we finally got to the hotel, we parked, got our bags out, our 30 pack of Tecate, a grocery bag full of cup o noodles and oatmeal, and walked into the Hilton looking like the classiest couple in the world. We made our way up to the 12th floor, where Kelly had a hotel room compliments of her work, and where she and Ben were nice enough to allow us to stay with them. We got off the elevator, put our stuff on the ledge of a window that looked out over Portland, and realized we forgot the room number. After frantically calling both Ben and Kelly to no avail, Zuhair went and checked in the lobby. I hadn't mentioned this to anyone yet, but while I was there by myself, in silly shorts, a funny hat and our ridiculous luggage, I peered out at the city and my first instinct was to fake vomit due to the height. As soon as I realized what I had done, I became very embarrassed of how non-continental I really am. Zuhair came back up, not having found anybody of interest in the lobby, and was about to knock on a random hotel room door when Ben called and informed us that we were in the wrong tower of the hotel. We eventually made it to the proper building and room, and settled in nicely.
We didn't dally too long, and ended up going to a place called Rock Bottom. The main thing about Portland is that there are so many amazing breweries with incredible beers, which is great on the one hand, but also leads to confusion in recounting events. On our way there we walked through a really neat park that leads to the University, full of wonderful shade trees and statues of presidents and other historical figures. Rock Bottom had delicious beers and food, and we had an awesome time. Once we were sufficiently drunk, we headed to Voodoo Donuts. As soon as Zuhair saw the line, he decided to go to a bar instead. While the three of us were in line, two drunk guys came around a corner and were walking on the sidewalk, and one of them looks at the line of people, wondering what the fuss is about, and then looks at the sign above the door that says "Open late," and wonders out loud: "Open latte - what does that even mean?" We all share a drunk laugh, glad we aren't quite that gone. We explain there are donuts inside, and he gets in line. After waiting a bit longer with Ben and Kelly for a while, I realized I wasn't even going to buy a donut, so I went to find Zuhair at the bar, and I took this awkwardly adorable picture of him:
and he took this picture of me
Eventually Ben and Kelly met up with us bearing the gift of donuts! Apparently that extremely drunk guy found an ATM inside of the shop, and started handing out $20 bills! Ben and Zuhair each got a maple bacon bar, which is the most wonderful, horrifying thing in the world. I got an Oreo donut, which was extremely good but too rich for my blood. I can't remember what Kelly got, but I'll figure it out and update.
So we sat around, eating donuts and getting more beer. At some point we went to the hotel and got some sleep.
The next morning I woke up at around 6 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I sat like a creepster by the window in the dark, using a little patch of light to read the book I brought. Soon enough Kelly had to go to her conference, and I waited around for the gents to wake up. As everyone was getting ready I had a pretty serious phone call that had me quite distraught (don't worry, everything's okay now), so I was pacing up and down the street on Zuhair's iPhone for a while. I caught up with Ben outside, and the three of us went to a place called The Lotus Room, where my great buddies could tell I was upset so treated me to a shot and beer. We all took part, in fact, but somehow I goofed it up and got whiskey in my lungs. It's okay though. We decided to mainly drink instead of eat lunch, and split a bacon-lettuce-avocado-tomato sandwich three ways, accompanied by some great tater tots, and lots of beer.
We even got a waitress to take our picture
And then she wanted to be part of Friendcation!
And then Kelly got a break from her conference and came and had a delicious salad
After lunch, we walked to the river. I should mention that it was over 100 degrees every day we were in Portland, so I was happy to see one of those ground fountains little kids play in, and I got cooled down a bit myself.
The river was really pretty, but the day was damn hot, so as Kelly went back to her conference, we headed to the pool. I really enjoy swimming generally, but when you're on vacation, have been drinking and smoking and are a bit down, swimming does the trick. I even convinced Ben to try to use one of those little boogie board things to try to surf across the pool.
You can't tell from the picture, but as soon as he set foot on the board, his body tipped right over and he landed on his belly pretty hard, but man it was cool!
When Kelly was out of her conference we headed to Bridgeport, another brewery that had delicious beer and food. We shared some amazing pretzels, and Zuhair and I split a truly superb pulled pork sandwich that Zuhair proposed marriage to.
Here he is, eating the very last bits of it:
Unfortunately, the elements combined to make all of us extremely sleepy, and we had a rough go of it getting through the hour leading up to meeting our old friend Candice and her husband. They picked us up, stopped at a gas station for some 5 hour energies, and took us to the Portland marina. We went to a place called 3 Degrees, where they got dinner, and we, being ridiculous and having just eaten, just got drinks. Kelly ordered a mojito, then changed her mind, so I ended up with it, and it was superb! The best part about this place was that the porch seating consisted of rocking chairs with an impressive view of the river.
Here's Zuhair with something embarrassing in his beard!
After dinner, we headed to a bar called Macminimans, which has multiple locations throughout Portland. Candice told us that the bar buys up historic properties that are becoming disheveled and worn down, and fix them up and fill them with good beer and tater tots. We split a couple pitchers of some sort of fruity beer that Zuhair wanted no part of, but that I enjoyed. Zuhair made best friends with the waiter, and soon we parted ways with Candice and Cliff and tackled Portland on our own.
One interesting thing about vacation is keeping track of the time, a task that proves even more difficult when the sun is out until well after 9 p.m. It had gotten pretty late by this point, so we walked back to the hotel so Kelly could get some rest, going through the park again. I can't emphasize how lovely that park was, and how fun it was to just meander through it with such great friends. We eventually got to the hotel, bid adieu to Kelly, and Zuhair, Ben and I went off to a bar called Clyde Common, where we continued Friendcation 2009! The point of the trip was to hang out with as many friends as possible, and so we did - meeting up with Zuhair's friends William and Daniel. Both of them live in Portland now, but hail from the OC and were in Zuhair's old band The Fish People. Ben saw that William was drinking absinthe, so he bought me one! While I'm not keen on the taste, I enjoyed it very much, and was set for the night. We eventually stumbled home and went to sleep.
Day three of Portland was extremely silly! We were originally supposed to go up to Seattle to visit my friend Marcy on this day, but we had to consider our meager budget, as well as how much freaking fun we were having in Portland, so we decided to stay. Kelly had a bit to do at her conference, and Zuhair had to go grab lunch with an old pal of his. As soon as Kelly finished up in the morning, she, Ben and I were picked up by ol' Nancy, who took us to a different neighborhood of Portland to an amazing cafe called Legares. This place is run by just one dude, who makes insane concoctions and serves interesting drinks. Kelly shared some of her vegetarian chili with me, and it was delicious, and I got a couple bites of Ben's bagel with the world's best mustard. It was extremely good. We had a rousing game of Scrabble going, and Zuhair met up with us there. After Ben treated us to some perfectly timed popsicles, we headed to the Lucky Labrador brewery. The place is known for its beer and for having an outside area designed for patrons to bring their dogs, including large park benches bookended with water bowls. We played some Trivial Pursuit while we drank some delicious brews, and Zuhair and I shared another pulled pork sandwich. This is inside the place:
And outside:
After this, Nancy took us to an amazing park. After some contemplation, Zuhair, Ben and I decided to let loose a little bit. Ben was undecided until Nancy sang a song that went a little bit like this: "Do it for the memooooriiiiieees." The park was gorgeous, the perfect treat on a hot day. It was complete with a lake full of ducks and ducklings
We scoped out a place by the lake, put down a blanket, and just relaxed. I'm sorry Nancy's cut off in this pic, but I was too lazy to stand up and take it properly:
After a while Ben insisted we go find his special tree, a tree he saw as we were driving to the park that he just had to get to. We finally made it:
After seeing how happy his special tree made him, I decided I wanted my own special tree:
And of course, the top of my butt had to make an appearance:
Our hostess drove us back to the hotel,
where we stopped by the hotel bar for some drinks. We ended up sitting in there for almost an hour, watching Wipeout and laughing much too loudly and for much too long. When we finally drew enough unwanted attention to ourselves, we headed to the pool! Ben, Nancy and I jumped in as Kelly read a magazine and Zuhair talked on the phone while exercising incorrectly in the gym adjacent to the pool. Nancy and I watched him bounce on one of those big exercise balls for a while, and then we called it quits. Nancy had to take off, so the rest of us went up and showered and tried to figure out where to eat dinner.
We decided to go back to Clyde Common, since it was such a nice place. We called up Eddie, who happened to be up in Oregon with his dad visiting family, and we all walked over to the place. The truth is, it was a nice place- a little too nice, and too pricey, so we excused ourselves and wandered around until we found Henry's Brewery. We've all had Henry's root beer before, but little did I know they also made real beer, and had tons of beer on tap. I didn't get one myself, but tasted the ones everyone else got, and Kelly and I shared a superb veggie burger with an exquisite barbecue sauce. It was really great to hang out with Eddie and his dad, who have the exact same laugh and the same propensity to use it often and freely. It was a lot of fun, and by the end of it we were all extremely tuckered out.
The next morning Kelly had only a little bit of conferencing to do, so Ben and Zuhair and I checked out Powell's bookstore. I loved it, and could've spent days there. Ben asked for help getting Kelly a book, so I picked out the latest Dave Eggers work, and Zuhair ended up getting it too! We finished up and headed back to meet Kelly at an Indian food place that offered a passable buffet. Zuhair then drove us over to the Mississippi record store, which was much smaller than I expected. It was pretty awesome, but extremely hot, so I kinda just hung out until the boys were done shopping. Zuhair got a great Elliot Smith album for $5, then we took a walk and stopped by a few shops. Alas, our time came to an end, as Kelly had one last meeting to get to, so we headed back to the hotel with just enough time for Ben and Kelly to say a swift farewell, and then Zuhair and I were headed to Eugene.
Zuhair took care of the 2 hour drive, and when we arrived to Eugene I pretty much immediately got another important phone call. While I was talking Zuhair made me a whiskey and coke, and the call got more emotional, and finally ended on a much better note about forty five minutes later. When I got back to Caitlin's house, they already started smoking and drinking, so I got caught up in no time. After a couple stiff drinks, we went to Sam Bond's for more drinks and dinner. As I walked in, the first thing I saw was a piece of paper hanging off of the menu above the bar that simply said: "Dessert Special: Dessert pizza with sugar cinnamon crust, cream cheese, blueberries, hazelnuts and chocolate chips." I was sold, and Caitlin bought that for us to share.
It looks just like a pizza, doesn't it!
So the three of us found a table outside, drank delicious beer and then cheap, delicious beer after beer, played a scary imitation Jenga and just hung out. We met a friend of Caitlin's who invited us out, but we basically got really drunk, had Kirsten and company meet us, then decided to go back to Caitlin's to drink more and watch Super High Me. On the way home we picked up more beer, and some bean dip for Zuhair. Tons of people were there, including Sam, Johnny, Katie, Justin, Stephanie, Billy. It was a fun night, and I slept extremely well. It wasn't until the next day that I realized how drunk I got, and that it probably had to do with the fact that the only thing I ate that day was a plate of Indian food and half of a slice of candy pizza.
It was so, so, so good to see Caitlin, though, and so nice of everyone to welcome us so sweetly, including her pets. I am in love with her dog!
I wish I could've stayed another day, but San Francisco was beckoning us.
On our way down, we stopped by Myrtle Creek, which I thought was somewhere else entirely.
We even found a Del Taco on the way back to SF, and Zuhair felt pretty triumphant.
Friendcation took a crazy turn when we just so happened to cross paths with Gliss, the band Zuhair went on tour with - and we met them at a gas station.
Back on the road, it was my turn to take the wheel, and I was cruising along at my usual pace. These dang two lane roads, though, had me getting in the fast lane to pass some fools, and I got busted speeding. :\ Zuhair took over driving for me, and we finally got to SF. This is the view from the patio outside of Jeff's dining room:
That night in SF was a quiet one, spent recouping a bit by watching tv, drinking, smoking and joking around. Somehow we got very drunk again, and snoozed pretty well. In the morning Jeff busied himself making cupcakes for a wedding he and the gang were attending, and we ate waffles and relaxed a bit before the long drive home. On the way out, we dropped Jay off in Oakland and went by Berkeley for one last Top Dog.
We were having a great time, but were ready for home:
We were also sleepy heads and dangerous, picture-taking drivers:
For me, Friendcation 2009 ended in Riverside, where we met up with Tara, Joe and Thomas to see Funny People. What a nice way to end a vacation!
Friendcation 2009 was a very important trip for me - not just a great escape from my troubles, but a chance to put things in perspective, and it worked like a charm. I'm so thankful for what I have and so hungry to get what I need in life. And, I'm damn good at having fun with some amazing people. My sincerest, most heartfelt and cheesiest thanks to everyone involved in Friendcation 2009.