Here’s what I did on my vacation. It was a whirlwind, with an equal amount of fun and stress and good and bad.
| Friday, 12/17 | The start-we tried to get started on-time, but that didn’t happen. Never does. So, drove down to Ashland. Got to the hotel about 11, the room smelled like cigarettes, the smoke detector was gone and pulled out to the bare wires, and the bathroom floor was sticky. Erika went directly to the office, cancelled the res, and we left for another hotel. The guy said we wouldn’t find one, but the first one we went to had room, and we stayed there. It was pretty cool-old and stylish. |
| Saturday, 12/18 | So , we get up and have breakfast at the hotel, get on the road, and there’s an alert on the car that says “Fill reserve tank of diesel exhaust fluid in 998 miles or the car won’t start.” Ack. We called the owners, and they wanted to have us drop the car off at their dad’s in Grants Pass, and rent another one for the rest of the trip. We went to Medford, dilled around a bit trying to rent a car, finally went to a Napa and had a guy fill the reserve-used half of what we bought. (which lasted until we got to Lincoln City…) Finally got underway after 1, easy drive down to Berkeley-boring, though. Foggy. Had dinner at a diner, and Colin drove part of the way to Berkeley. He finally bailed after dark and fast and heavy traffic on the 80. He did ok, though…good practice for L.A. Got to the hotel, collapsed. |
| Sunday, 12/19 | Got up, missed in-hotel breakfast. Walked to Bette’s and had a very expensive and delicious brunch. Back home, drove across the bridge to Pier 39. Walked around a bit, had soup, then back to the room. Went to Zachary’s for dinner. Another delicious meal. Went to an adorable tiny Target store-it has everything you need and nothing else. |
| Monday, 12/20 | Got up, back to Bette’s for breakfast, except not the pancake souffle-bagel, and awesome cream cheese. On the road, stopped at Tracy to get gas and go to the Ghirardelli outlet. Onward-all the way to Pasadena. Erika drove a little, such a boring drive. Get to the hotel, the reservation was messed up, had to redo. Into the room, the Karen downstairs complained about the noise not 5 minutes after we got there. Erika bailed, we went to the Hilton. Hung out with Mom for a little, back to the room. Left Matt and Colin there. Everyone got to spend one night in the hotel. |
| Tuesday, 12/21 | Got coffee, got the car for Colin-he’s meeting a friend from Escondido. He set off, we ate and set off for Hollywood, walked around the Chinese and such, then drove to Long Beach. It was long, going through Beverly Hills and the 405 south. Went to Supermex for lunch-utterly delicious. So much better than the Mexican places here. Went to Polly’s for coffee and peanuts-chatted with the owner, Domenico’s to get salad dressing, then walked along the beach and got sand and shells. Drove home after messing around trying to get clothes. Remarkably easy drive. Stopped by mom’s, then to the Hat. Got the sandwiches, then a hassle with drinks. Colin came home-had a good day-he ate a whole pastrami sandwich. Didn’t like driving to Newport, but had fun visiting the VS’s at the malls there with his friend. |
| Wednesday,12/22 | Returned the rental, drove mom to the mountains to scope out where to scatter Dad’s ashes. We think the place was closed, but found a better place nearby…and I still think we didn’t get the exact place-no worries. Nice dinner of Monterey Sunday Supper. Ran to the Target to buy undies. |
| Thursday, 12/23 | Got ready to go, said bye to mom, visited Chinatown and Olvera Street, had lunch at Philippe’s, went to Little Tokyo. Colin was in his element. It was rainy. Had to drive back to mom’s to get Salem’s water bottle. Got expensive gas and left. Rainy, slow going, then dark and rainy. Got snacks, then more driving on the 10 in the dark, then the 62 in the dark. Rather unpleasant. Got to Yucca Valley, got food, visited, went to the place. Cute, tiny, in the middle of nowhere. Collapsed. |
| Friday, 12/24 | Had breakfast at a cafe-meh. Drove around some, went to Walmart, got my booster. Went to a pioneer town movie set. Had burgers for dinner-meh. |
| Saturday, 12/25 | Christmas Day-got up, exchanged presents, mellow. Matt got me Chartreuse. Ate dinner, back to the house. Drove Colin to Palm Springs and spent the night. It was windy. |
| Sunday, 12/26 | Got up early, dropped off Colin at the airport. Back to the hotel, slept a little. Drove back after a maps hiccup, packed, another cafe, bought coffee, said goodbye, drove to Solvang. Nice drive, surprisingly little traffic-went 10/210/5/126/101. Got to the hotel, ate at the restaurant, collapsed. |
| Monday, 12/27 | Up, drove to Solvang, got coffee and breakfast . Walked around, it was rainy. Looked at stuff, a couple of museums, the mission, an ostrich farm, a big sandwich for lunch. Pizza for dinner. |
| Tuesday, 12/28 | Packed up, got snacks, coffee, gas. Drove up the 101. Stopped at several missions-Erika got on a mission kick. Ended up in Gilroy, ate dinner, collapsed. |
| Wednesday,12/29 | Up, breakfast at the hotel, garlic shop and Salvation Army for swim clothes. Decided to go the 101 the whole way because of weather. Drove to SF, dropped off Erika at the mission in the Mission, drove to the Haight and looked at Janis Joplin’s house-pink. The Dead house is purple. Picked up Erika, drove down Divisadero to the Presidio and across the bridge. Rainy. Stopped for lunch at in ‘n out in Ukiah, drove all the way through to Eureka. Saw some big trees and elk. Rainy, dark, twisty. Got to a super cute hotel, snacks for dinner. Sat in the huge grotto-like hot tub/pool. Collapsed-my brain is mush after all that difficult driving. |
| Thursday, 12/30 | Up, breakfast at the cafe next door. Dilled around trying to find stuff. Got gas, then off-the 101 is a lovely drive, but less than fun after dark. Ate at a DQ. Visited the redwoods on a side drive-spectacular. Drove in the dark and wet to Lincoln City. Ate at a crappy fish place. Collapsed. This seems to be a pattern. Matt got a room of his own. |
| Friday, 12/31 | Up, breakfast at a nice cafe. Drove to the beach, walked around a bit. Got gas, on the road. A nice drive up the 18-a little snow on the side of the road was it. Stopped at the Korean market in Tigard. Home! Unpacked, did laundry. Lazed, got food. The house was hot, as the maintenance guys came during the week and turned on the heat. |
And that was that! Really no time to truly rest and relax. Enjoyable nonetheless. Glad to have Colin with us, if only for a week.