Day One

So I am writing about Day One at the end of Day Two - but it was such a day that when we FINALLY got to a hotel room, I crawled right into bed with an ice pack and called it a day!!

It started off with some teary-eyed goodbyes with my California Family, in the pouring rain. How appropriate. Then I needed to stop by and say goodbye to a dear dear friend who had just lost a dear friend to cancer. What a crappy day overall for her!

Then I drove into the city...well...as I drove out of Santa Rosa, I was suddenly stuck in what I now refer to as "pumpkin patch phenomenon" - when every one and their cousin who was raised in the area still has to slow down to 2 mph to look at the dang pumpkin patch. I cannot even tell you how much time was wasted there!!

Then the rain started POURING. As I drove through Marin, the rain was actually collecting in puddles. Ick. And at times I could only see the headlights in front of me, and I tried my hardest to follow those lights! I was stressed out, and stopped at the McDonald's in Mill Valley for a little breather, as my sister and Dad's flight was delayed, and I just needed to catch my breath. As I crossed th Golden Gate for the last time, I realized I could barely see the orange of the bridge, and bringing Elise and Dad out here would be pointless. I made it to the airport with some time to share and almost slipped in the entrance to the baggage claim - is that really surprising? Probably not. Most of you are probably chuckling or rolling your eyes about now.

I collect Elise, Dad, a backpack, laptop and one suitcase, and then we improvised our own Golden Gate pictures:







Then we hit the road. And the rain didn't stop. I drove through a puddle that literally caused the wave to go over the top of my car. SCARY. So we drive, and we drive, in Friday afternoon rush hour, and my sister and I start jamming out to some of the music playing on the radio, on my cds, anything. This is the result:

RUSH HOUR KARAOKE

After 40 miles in 2 hours, we decided to stop and eat a bite at Mimi's Cafe. If you have not been there before, you are missing out on a LOT. We all ordered the petite salad and soup - and it came with a muffin bigger than your neighbor's gossiping mouth, and some kind of bread and fruit cake, then the cup of YUMMY soup, and then the tossed (or not, depending on how you request it) salad. But we saved room for this really yummy Harvest Peach Upsidedown cake that was more like a harvest peach shortcake a la mode with caramel drizzle. YUMMY.

Back on the road and into the fog and consistent rain fall. We were hoping to make it to Bakersfield in those conditions. We arrive in Bakersfield at 10:30 pm, ecstatic and hoping for a nice bed to lay our heads on...and there was no room in the inn....or the hotel...or the motel...or the lodge...nowhere. So we kept driving...and driving...and driving...until we finally landed in Tapechova (or something similar in spelling) where they only had 1 room left and it was smoking. I said, I'll take it! I've got Febreeze! Yes, I really did say that to the front desk lady, but it was midnight, my knee was asleep it was in so much pain, my eyes were blood shot, and she didn't really bat an eyelid.

We crawled up to the room, sprayed it a few times, crawled into jammies and fell into bed...I had an ice bag on my knee, but was finally able to sleep.

Day 2 should be posted tomorrow sometime. My computer is taking forever to upload the karaoke shot, so if it isn't working, I'll try to fix it later. It's 10 pm, we were on the road since 8:30 am, and I am a wee bit tired, but we're getting ready at 6 am for the balloon fiesta!!! (We missed the balloon glow tonight, but more on that later).