The next day, we got up, had breakfast, and Aaron showed us around Placerville. It’s a quaint little community, and Aaron knows pretty much every person there. It was hard to ever get very far because he kept seeing someone that he knew. We went to his high school and saw a bunch of his teachers and friends. Oh, and we brought his brother Daniel In-N-Out for lunch. I love In-N-Out. Soooo good.
That night, we went to Chicago Fire Pizza for dinner. They make their pizza in a wood fire oven, so it tastes amazing. We got three thin crusts and made quick work of them. On the way home, we saw this giant hill overlooking the town. Of course, we decided to pull over and climb up to see the sun set. It was probably the longest and steepest hill I have ever climbed up. My calves were just a few more steps short of cramping up by the time I got to the top. The view was beautiful though.
When we got back home, Austin Vierra and Aarons friends Max came over so we could go stargazing. We went out to a nice spot to stargaze and spent about an hour there before the sprinklers came on to shoo us away. Since that was over for us, we went to Austin’s house out in the boonies. We surpassed legal speed limits as we cruised through the winding road through the forest to Austin’s house. It was so much fun since Austin’s car was really nice and he told us he used to drive professionally. I hope that makes my parents feel better about that.
Austin has a huge 3d television, and he showed us Monsters vs. Aliens on it. It was pretty sweet! Everyone started to fall asleep at about 1, so we decided to head back to Aaron’s house since we wanted to get a good start to Santa Cruz the next day.
That was kind of a joke, since we didn’t end up leaving Placerville til about noon the next day. Santa Cruz isn’t that far away, but we initially talked about trying to get there at about noon. Then we decided to go to San Francisco and cross the Golden Gate Bridge, so that extended our deadline of arrival to dinnertime at 7.
So, we got out of the door at about 11 that morning and had to stop by this place to get Aaron’s fingerprints done for a job he’s doing this summer. However, he didn’t have an appointment made so he made one for next week and we hit the road.
Our first stop was San Francisco. Actually, we made about three stops before then because the girls had alternating schedules of having to use the bathroom and being thirsty. Aaron said he feels like a dad because we all keep asking him questions like when we’re gonna get places or stop for food or stop for potty breaks, etc. With about ten maps on my lap, I was the navigator for the day, and I figured out how we could best approach the Golden Gate Bridge. We crossed over, and made our way to Pier 39, where there are a ton of little shops and places to eat. There was also a HUGE cruise ship docked nearby, and a bunch of other sailboats and motorboats besides.
We got lunch at this place with clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. The others got that, and I got a shrimp and crab sandwich that was pretty good and extremely overpriced. We walked around and saw a bunch of stores with key chains, knives, fudge, magnetic things, socks, left-handed objects, and more! Also, there was a fresh fruit market where we got a big mango. Mangoes are so weird, they taste really good but they’re full of stringy sclerenchyma and look like pumpkins on the inside!
After we got back to the car, we wanted to cruise around San Francisco. It is so hilly in that city! I think we drove up and down some hills that were at about a 45-degree slope. It was like being on a roller coaster! We soon realized that it was rush hour, and we needed to get to Caitlin’s house by 7:00 for dinner. We also wanted to see Stanford in Palo Alto. Stanford is gorgeous. After being on campus for about ten minutes, I was in total awe. We went to the quad in the middle and saw the beautiful chapel. I definitely want to transfer there. We again realized that the day was growing old and we needed to head out of there. Thanks to Aaron’s pro driving skills, we got to Caitlin’s house at 6:56. Big win!
Dinner was amazing spaghetti and bread. I can’t remember the last home cooked spaghetti I’ve had. My fast food and school food diet of the past 9 months have left me in a dire state of forgetting what real food tastes like.
After dinner, we went to the Mt. Hermon camp where Caitlin has lived nearly her whole life. There is a huge tree fort, a stream, cabins, a trading post, a giant rope swing, a tire swing, a big tree swing, and a few other fun things there. We met up with Stephen Cooper and his friend Alex there and then went to his house to go in his hot tub. His house was way up on the mountain and we drove up a really skinny, winding road that seemed to go up and up forever. His house is pretty sweet though, and we had fun hanging out there for a while.
We went back to Caitlin’s house and slept for a glorious ten hours to replenish our sleep debt. The next morning, we went for a run. I used this crappy pair of shoes I have and probably totally destroyed my arches. Afterwards, we made eggs and chocolate chip-banana pancakes. I put peanut butter and syrup on the pancakes. They were so good!
After breakfast, we got ready to go to the Boardwalk. We picked up Elisabeth’s friend from UC-Santa Cruz and went to the beach. We went in the water for a little bit, but it was freezing so we didn’t stay in for too long. The waves were huge compared to the places I’ve been to in Florida. Then we laid out for a little bit, and I got the beginnings of my tan line! I was in my Speedo, of course, so I wouldn’t get a weird tan line. My back is burnt more than my front, so I will be sure to even it out next time I am on the beach...which is soon. The beach is right next to the Boardwalk, so when we were done lying around we bought some tickets to ride on the Great Dipper, which is the West Coast’s oldest wooden coaster. It was really fun!
We then brought Elisabeth’s friend back to school, met one of Aaron’s friends that goes there, and went to Mariann’s (not sure of the spelling) for ice cream. It’s the best ice cream place in town! I got the 10-20, which is caramel ice cream with fudge swirl and Oreo pieces. Delicious. I don’t know why it’s called 10-20 though. Then we drove back to Caitlin’s for a “fancy dinner party”, which is going to be a Mexican food feast! All prepared by us, of course. And by us, I mean not me because I don’t know how to cook that many things. Aaron knows how to make good enchiladas, so I am preparing to be delighted by that. I think he’s buying cheesecake for dessert, too. Him and Elisabeth are at the store now, and Stephen will be coming over, too.
Tomorrow Aaron and I leave the girls here and head to Santa Barbara. It will be another long drive, but hey, that is the nature of road trips! Aaron wants to go to the beach before we head out, so we will hopefully wake up early enough so that we can go to the beach for an hour or two and leave straight from there. When we get to Santa Barbara, we will be staying with his friend Josh. Should be a blast!
No comments:
Post a Comment