Visit of Awesome, Part 4: Roadtrip of Awesome
So last Friday Dar, Becca, Ducky, and Jarvis came to pick me up. We stopped off briefly at Burgerville- that place is made of AWESOME by the way- and the other girls ate a quick dinner. I got a lemonade and a salad for later; I was still digesting the massive amount of food from the Epiq BBQ/Call Center Potluck, and allowing my the content of my veins to return to being blood instead of rootbeer. ...Francis brought a keg of rootbeer to the potluck. A KEG. And two gallons of ice cream. I love that man. And also rootbeer floats. I had two of them. ...And then a third cup of just rootbeer. :DD
So anyway after they ate their foods we piled into Jarvis and took off into the wild blue yonder (I-5 South). There was much awesome music and gossiping and Metanoia fiction read-alouds and plotting and giggling and watching of sunsets and spazz-flailing about the gorgeous scenery and trying to identify mountains in the dark and receiving bacon at the rest stop bathrooms. ...It was kind of an interesting experience beginning the drive in daylight and driving ALL NIGHT and reaching our destination in daylight again. Dar drove the whole way like a crazy madman, very very very highly caffeinated. We met some interesting people gas stations, like the farmboys in their barn-turned-Shell who offered free hot drinks with a purchase of gas (code for "free drinks for cute girls"), and the dude in Tiny Nowhereville California at 2 (or was it 4?) in the morning and his adorable friendly dog Malachi (LOL!)
We reached the Bay Area in slowly brightening twilight, and it was so pretty with the fog low over the hills. We dropped off Ducky then crawled our way into Becca's house around 7, fighting off her mother's attempts to feed us before crashing out on her floor. We got up around 1, played with her kitty a bit, then got dressed and went to pick up Ducky again for "breakfast".
We went to L&L Drive-In. ...THEY HAVE AN L&L DRIVE-IN. I got a loco moco and Dar got kalua pig and cabbage, and we stole each other's food. I nursed my Pass-O-Guava and called my brother to wish him happy birthday, and made him jealous with talk of my plate-lunch fare ("Why don't we have L&L in Philly? D: "). Next we hit some of Becca and Ducky's favorite hang-out spots... an awesome awesome gigantic craft store that I can't even begin to describe except that it is full of all things awesome and great and nerdy, and the awesome and cute little coffee shop with the purple couch on which much of Becca's fabulous writing was born. A girl and her mom were hanging outside with the most ADORABLE golden retriever puppy, so we sat and loved him and chatted with them for a while. They turned out to know Becca's mother, as apparently everyone does. ...Finally we stopped by Trader Joe's for wine and bread and goat cheese (you know, camping food) and had to deal with the DOUCHIEST bag clerk I've ever met in my life.
And then... oh, parting is such sweet sorrow~! ;_; Ducky and Becca followed us to the gas station to see us off (and pay for gas), and there was a lot of group hugging before we finally said goodbye at around 5. And then it was just me and Dar again, heading back up north.
I was behind the wheel this time. We left the music off for a while, just chatting and having occasional comfortable silences while Dar crocheted. We kept our eye out for a campground, watching the sun dip lower and vaguely hoping we wouldn't have to set up our tent in the dark. It took us about TEN YEARS to leave the greater San Francisco Bay metropolitan area, and then it was all farm country for a while. We made a few stops, including an intrepid mission to find a corkscrew once we realized we couldn't open the wine without one.
It was getting late and dim when we hit the town of Corning and the signs for Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area. It was a real sweet spot... a stand of oak trees forming a kipuka in a sea of farmland and olive groves. The trees were tall and gorgeous, and the air was heavy with the sweet scent of warm grass and the sound of crickets. Our spot, 33, was nestled out of view of our neighbors, hedged in on three sides by trees and shrubbery, and close, but not too close, to the bathroom and its electric lights. We set up our shiny brand new tent with the help of Jarvis' headlights, duly christened him Kevin, and made a nest inside. We ate the leftovers from our plate lunches with Jarvis at our backs, and I became extremely distracted by what turned out to be jumping oak galls, which are just about the coolest thing ever.
Finishing our meals Dar and I made sure that everything we needed was within easy reach, and then we opened the wine. Oh man, I love camping Hikari and Yami Style. Squishy nest, French bread and goat cheese, and passing a bottle of wine back and forth until it is empty and we are a bit silly. It was quite warm, and we were quite tired, so we silly and floppy for a bit before abruptly passing out in a sort of semi-cuddle.
We slept until we woke up, no alarms, which was delicious, then had a leisurely picnic-table breakfast involving our Trader Joe's carrot-cake muffins before moseying out of camp at 11:55. And then, more driving. The drive was, of course, gorgeous, and we enjoyed our good friends Mt. Shasta and Awww Yeah~ Mountain (a.k.a. Black Butte). We listened to the Metanoia soundtrack, which is, by the way, excellent driving music, and lunched at the rest stop at Valley of the Rogue State Park. We rolled into Portland at around 8 and that was that.
...I'm really tired now. I'mma watch some Teen Titans (research! :D) while I brush my hair, and then pass the hell out.
So anyway after they ate their foods we piled into Jarvis and took off into the wild blue yonder (I-5 South). There was much awesome music and gossiping and Metanoia fiction read-alouds and plotting and giggling and watching of sunsets and spazz-flailing about the gorgeous scenery and trying to identify mountains in the dark and receiving bacon at the rest stop bathrooms. ...It was kind of an interesting experience beginning the drive in daylight and driving ALL NIGHT and reaching our destination in daylight again. Dar drove the whole way like a crazy madman, very very very highly caffeinated. We met some interesting people gas stations, like the farmboys in their barn-turned-Shell who offered free hot drinks with a purchase of gas (code for "free drinks for cute girls"), and the dude in Tiny Nowhereville California at 2 (or was it 4?) in the morning and his adorable friendly dog Malachi (LOL!)
We reached the Bay Area in slowly brightening twilight, and it was so pretty with the fog low over the hills. We dropped off Ducky then crawled our way into Becca's house around 7, fighting off her mother's attempts to feed us before crashing out on her floor. We got up around 1, played with her kitty a bit, then got dressed and went to pick up Ducky again for "breakfast".
We went to L&L Drive-In. ...THEY HAVE AN L&L DRIVE-IN. I got a loco moco and Dar got kalua pig and cabbage, and we stole each other's food. I nursed my Pass-O-Guava and called my brother to wish him happy birthday, and made him jealous with talk of my plate-lunch fare ("Why don't we have L&L in Philly? D: "). Next we hit some of Becca and Ducky's favorite hang-out spots... an awesome awesome gigantic craft store that I can't even begin to describe except that it is full of all things awesome and great and nerdy, and the awesome and cute little coffee shop with the purple couch on which much of Becca's fabulous writing was born. A girl and her mom were hanging outside with the most ADORABLE golden retriever puppy, so we sat and loved him and chatted with them for a while. They turned out to know Becca's mother, as apparently everyone does. ...Finally we stopped by Trader Joe's for wine and bread and goat cheese (you know, camping food) and had to deal with the DOUCHIEST bag clerk I've ever met in my life.
And then... oh, parting is such sweet sorrow~! ;_; Ducky and Becca followed us to the gas station to see us off (and pay for gas), and there was a lot of group hugging before we finally said goodbye at around 5. And then it was just me and Dar again, heading back up north.
I was behind the wheel this time. We left the music off for a while, just chatting and having occasional comfortable silences while Dar crocheted. We kept our eye out for a campground, watching the sun dip lower and vaguely hoping we wouldn't have to set up our tent in the dark. It took us about TEN YEARS to leave the greater San Francisco Bay metropolitan area, and then it was all farm country for a while. We made a few stops, including an intrepid mission to find a corkscrew once we realized we couldn't open the wine without one.
It was getting late and dim when we hit the town of Corning and the signs for Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area. It was a real sweet spot... a stand of oak trees forming a kipuka in a sea of farmland and olive groves. The trees were tall and gorgeous, and the air was heavy with the sweet scent of warm grass and the sound of crickets. Our spot, 33, was nestled out of view of our neighbors, hedged in on three sides by trees and shrubbery, and close, but not too close, to the bathroom and its electric lights. We set up our shiny brand new tent with the help of Jarvis' headlights, duly christened him Kevin, and made a nest inside. We ate the leftovers from our plate lunches with Jarvis at our backs, and I became extremely distracted by what turned out to be jumping oak galls, which are just about the coolest thing ever.
Finishing our meals Dar and I made sure that everything we needed was within easy reach, and then we opened the wine. Oh man, I love camping Hikari and Yami Style. Squishy nest, French bread and goat cheese, and passing a bottle of wine back and forth until it is empty and we are a bit silly. It was quite warm, and we were quite tired, so we silly and floppy for a bit before abruptly passing out in a sort of semi-cuddle.
We slept until we woke up, no alarms, which was delicious, then had a leisurely picnic-table breakfast involving our Trader Joe's carrot-cake muffins before moseying out of camp at 11:55. And then, more driving. The drive was, of course, gorgeous, and we enjoyed our good friends Mt. Shasta and Awww Yeah~ Mountain (a.k.a. Black Butte). We listened to the Metanoia soundtrack, which is, by the way, excellent driving music, and lunched at the rest stop at Valley of the Rogue State Park. We rolled into Portland at around 8 and that was that.
...I'm really tired now. I'mma watch some Teen Titans (research! :D) while I brush my hair, and then pass the hell out.