2560 Miles

Our trip to California was a lot of fun. We saw lots of familiar faces and places, and hung out with some great people.

After spending a couple days with Thea’s folks in Las Vegas, we headed to Los Osos to stay with our old friends, Bryan and Molly. We always have a great time with these two. Soon after our arrival, Bryan said it best: "It’s like no time has passed." That’s what good friends do – they pick up where they left off regardless of how long it’s been since last they met.

Bryan has been busy in the back yard. Witness:

We had multiple meals that featured fresh veggies straight from the garden, including potatoes, beets and chard. And Bryan is a helluva cook!

While we were in the area we visited several of our favorite places, including:

• lunch with Craig at Pete’s on the Pier
• a couple hours hanging at Shell Beach
• checking on the status of the SLO Botanical Garden – looking good!
• Big Sky (of course) for lunch with the parents of some of our Paonia friends
• Montaña de Oro State Park
• A tour through "north county"

One of the places we wanted to go by was our old house in Santa Margarita. We were surprised to see that it’s up for sale again. We’d always been told that we sold the house at the perfect time, and it was a confirmation to see our old house for sale for $35k less than we sold it for. It was also a bit sad to see the house in the condition it was in. Sigh.

After a great evening of catching up with friends who dropped by Gus’s and then sushi with Bryan and Molly, we headed for San Francisco.

While in San Francisco, we stayed with some of my old colleagues from TrueCredit – Jill and Peter. It was great to see these guys again after so many years. They have a great old flat in the Castro, where they’ve lived for several years now.

Unfortunately, Thea picked up a case of food poisoning (or something) in SLO and spent the entire San Francisco portion of our trip feeling really terrible. It was quite disappointing for her, and I wish it hadn’t worked out that way.

I went with Jill and Peter to the rehearsal so I could check out the situation and help out if possible. Poor Thea remained behind.

Another of my former colleagues who now lives in Salt Lake (Nicole) flew in with her boyfriend (David) Friday night. Jill, Peter and I took the Muni (subway) down to the Embarcadero to meet Nicole and David for drinks. We weren’t there long, but it was good to hang out with them!

The wedding was the following day, and much of the day was devoted to it. Jill and Peter were involved in the setup, so they left early for errands, etc. I walked to the corner store and picked up some non-volatile food to whip Thea up some breakfast. Nicole and David met us at the apartment and we hopped in our car and drove up to Sausalito for the nuptials.

I’m glad we arrived when we did, because we had only really just sat down when they started the ceremony. And it was a very nice ceremony – short and thoughtful.

The reception started immediately thereafter, just inside the building next to where the ceremony took place. It was a great venue – a Julia Morgan structure with just enough room for 10 tables and a raised stage for the talent show. We’re glad our friends (the two who married that day) chose to skip the dancing, and instead feature musical acts by their friends. It was very entertaining. Plus, I had a job as "the roadie," running the sound for the various acts. Peter and I collaborated on this, which made it ten times more fun.

Our own performance was not up to our standards, but everyone seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Thea is a gifted writer of comedy songs, and I help her out with song structure and stuff like that. (We’re going to prepare a recorded version of the song when we get over our respective diseases.)

After the wedding we loaded a bunch of Peter’s gear into the back of our car and followed them back to their place in the city. Thea naturally went straight to bed, but I stayed up with the others for a nightcap and our last chance to socialize.

Jill and Peter made us a lovely breakfast the next day, and then we headed out for Las Vegas. Bryan and Molly had highly recommended a scenic route through Yosemite and down highway 395 through Bishop, but Thea was still feeling quite bad. So we high-tailed it down I-5 (ugh) and made it there in 9 hours.

After a day of resting in Las Vegas, we headed home. I had just come down with a cold so Thea did most of the driving.

All in all we traveled about 2,560 miles on this trip. It was fun and exhausting.

Thanks to all the folks who hosted us, bought us meals, and were otherwise nice people! Hope to see you all again before too long!