Sunday, May 20, 2007

Road Trip

Okay, this is going to be a long post because its covering a two week period where I, or should I say we, did a LOT of fun stuff.

Day 1
To start off The Road Trip my Mommy and I drove up to San Carlos where Kimi, who is made of awesome, lives. The ride was rather easy seeing as I a now accustomed to being in a squishy airplane for eleven hours and Mommy did most of the driving. She is not a fan of being a passenger like Daddy as Kimi and Matt discovered.
Once we arrived in San Carlos we met Kimi's family, also made of awesome. There was a lot of sitting and talking until we decided to hit the sack due to the fact that we had a very long day of driving ahead of us.

Day 2

We woke up before the butt crack of dawn to leave for Seattle. First we had to make a pit stop at the San Fransisco International Airport to drop of Mommy which ended up being the wrong airport we found out. It turns out that my moms flight left from the Oakland airport which is completely different than the San Fransisco International Airport as you can see by there different names. So after dropping Mommy off at the correct airport we began our adventure to Seattle. There was a lot of driving, a lot of music listening and a lot, I mean a lot, of snacking. The snacking part was mainly on my end thanks to my newly learned eating habits in Japan.
There were also a lot of cows. Lots and lots of beautiful green hills and full service gas stations. Oregon was beautiful. Most of our drive through California was on the 5 freeway so all we saw there was freeway but Oregon was gorgeous.
California did have its up side though, Weed. Yes, Weed, CA. Kimi and I stopped there for lunch at the Hi-Lo Cafe, thank you Jason. The food was delicious and just the thought of being in Weed was satisfying.
After being pulled over for driving the speed limit and a pathetic attempt to maneuver through the very complicated streets of Seattle we made it Matt's house. All the family, except for the two youngest came out to meet us and we headed inside. There was again a lot of talking, meeting and greeting until we went to bed.

Day 3

Kimi and I were awakened to the soft sound of the piano being played in the living room. All of Matt's five siblings play the piano, all three older ones very well. More people made of awesome.
After getting ready we headed for downtown Seattle. We found some parking and walked over to the Space Needle where we had reservations for lunch. For those of you who don't know anything about Seattle like I didn't, you can read about the Space Needle here. We ate a very tasty and expensive lunch in the rotating restaurant located directly underneath the Observation Deck where we had an amazing and full view of Seattle. It was also an amazingly clear day making the view that much better.
After lunch we spent some time on the Observation Deck and then headed for Pike Place Market. Pike Place is basically a conglomeration of shops and an open market area where people and companies sell everything from fish to souvenir t-shirts. Pike Place is also where the very first Starbucks is. Needless to say we went to Starbucks and had a little coffee. I say little because I was the only one drinking coffee. Kimi and I did buy some merchandise. Kimi bought a cute thermos and a mug for her mom and I purchased a mug for my mom for Mother's Day. I also bought a CD of an acapella group called I'll Take Mine Black that was performing outside the Starbucks. They were very talented, unfortunately the CD was poorly made but I still like to do what I can to support amateur artists just in case I end up being one someday. I mean, you never know.
Then it was back to Matt's house to have a nice dinner with his family and then a lot more talking and staying up late.

Day 4
We planned on going to Mt. Rainier so we woke up, got ready, packed a lunch and headed for the mountains. Unfortunately, the road was blocked off about an hour and a half from Matt's house. So we didn't get to see Mt. Rainier up close but we did get to sit in the middle of the woods and eat lunch. It was gorgeous and peaceful and of course a lot of fun.
After our little trek through the woods we headed back to Matt's house and tried think of something else to do. We played a little Scattergories which was a lot of fun. Made some good inside jokes that day like Jackson 5. hahaha...
We decided to go to the Kubota Gardens close to Matt's house and they were beautiful. It wasn't really an authentic Japanese garden because there were flowers but thats okay. The colors were full and vibrant. You can see it for yourself.

Day 5
The next day we woke up a little earlier and headed for the Seattle Science Center with the family. By the time we arrived our stomachs were rumbling so we opened up the picnic lunch we had made earlier and dinned on the wall of the very large fountain. Apparently its a big thing to try and touch the fountain without getting wet. After a lot of coaxing, I ended up wet. Luckily it was another warm day in Seattle, who knew, and I dried off rather quickly.
We saw a few exhibits in the center, my favorite being the Butterfly Room. There was one particular butterfly called the Morpho peleides limpida or Blue Morpho that was beautiful and of course the only butterfly I could not get a clear picture of. This is because this particular butterfly is a very plain brown with spots that look like eyes on the outer part of its wings and a brilliant blue on the inside. I did get an okay video, you can judge for yourself.
Next it was an IMAX movie about the adventures of Lewis and Clark who I also knew nothing about until this trip. The movie was well done and informative and made me want to learn more about the subject which I believe was the purpose. There is more I should add to that story but I'll deal with that later.
There was more playing around with the cool stuff at the center and then onto (or into) Underground Seattle. Apparently the original settlers of Seattle where not the brightest fish in the cookie jar and decided to build a city on tide flats. Being that tide flats are what they are, the city flooded. This made a pretty big mess that was explained to us in depth by our humorous tour guide. Lets just say it was pretty gross, especially when she got to the sewer system backing up thing. Ya. Anyway, to fix this problem they decided to build retaining walls and bring in dirt from the surrounding hills to fill in the city and start again. Why they didn't just move to the hills I don't know but people tend to be kinda funny like that. So they built the walls anywhere from eight to forty feet along all the sidewalks. Unfortunately the shop owners who would have the first floor of their fine establishments filled in and inoperable for at least ten years were not to keen on this idea. Therefore they decided to keep running their businesses even after the retaining walls were built. Shoppers then had to climb up and down eight to forty foot walls to do their shopping. I don't know about you but I would not be a happy camper if I had to climb up and down ladders with groceries in my hands and wearing a corset. No thank you. At least they left these cool areas under ground that they can now charge money to go and see. It was well worth the money don't get me wrong. I love seeing the strength, ingenuity and determination of the human race, and the stupidity.

Day 6
Its now Day 6 and we are heading for San Carlos at 6:00am. Ugh, but not that bad. With a farewell from Mason we were off on the freeway driving down the 101 freeway. The ride was amazing.
We made a quick stop in Astoria to see the tower or column as they call it in Oregon.

The view of Oregon from the top of the tall one hundred and sixty something stairs was incredible and breath taking. Our stop was short but it was well worth it.
We then made a stop at Fort Clatsop which is the place Lewis and Clark stayed during their first winter in Oregon in 1805-1806. Apparently it rained all but twelve days in the four months they were there. And yet they still decided to settle the area. Whatever.
Then there was the ice cream. We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and had some ambrosial cookies and cream. We watched through the windows as the workers on the assembly line cut, weighed and packaged the best cheese I have ever had the pleasure to consume. While we were admiring the great work of these wonderful cheese cutters, Matt noticed a women doing just that: weighing and cutting the cheese and placing them back on the conveyor belt to be packaged. We figured it had to do with the cheese needing to be the correct weight. Matt followed that conclusion with a rather witty remark that kept us laughing until we could again smell the sweet nectar of cow manure back in the car. The remark: "I wouldn't want to see any overweight cheese in a bikini." If its not very funny to you then you either had to be there, I didn't write about it the correct way or you just have no sense of humor. More than likely its the second one.
After a lot more driving we arrived at a quaint little hostel fifteen miles south of Crescent City. The hostel was quiet and quaint, one of those places you see in a Thomas Kinkade painting. The women at the front desk, Barb was one of those people who gets you energized and just happy after you talk to her. After paying only $20 per person for the night and receiving the grand tour we took off to Crescent City to find a Safeway and some dinner. We decided on Chili and butter bread and some yogurt and toast for breakfast the next morning. Back at the hostel we made dinner and soon went to bed seeing that it was already 10:30pm.

Day 7

The next morning we woke up early, again, had breakfast and got back on the road. By lunch time we were in Santa Rosa and visiting with Kimi's friends having lunch and playing tag in the park. My favorite part was the swings.
We eventually made it to Kimi's house and went out to dinner with her family at a great pizza place. In fact, I think I still have a salad sitting in her refrigerator... Anyway, it was fun and of course there was more staying up late talking.

Day 8
Our first day in San Carlos was Mothers Day so we spent it with Kimi's mother. After church we had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. My soup, salad and sandwich lunch was delicious and the Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake was divine. Man how I love cheesecake.
Kimi, Matt and I then headed over to Laurel St. which seems to be the downtown of San Carlos. We walked around and saw the different shops downtown and headed for the library then back to the house where we ate a very tasty dinner of terriyaki marinated steaks, corn on the cob and fruit. OMG was it awesome. After dinner we watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. A movie with John Candy and Steve Martin that Kimi and her family watch every Thanksgiving that Matt and I had never seen. It was pretty hilarious. "You're going the wrong way!" "How does he know where we're going?" hahaha

Day 9
Then it was off to San Fransisco's own Golden Gate Park where we ate another homemade lunch at the AIDS Memorial Park and then a stroll around the park where we ran into the Observatory of Flowers. It was closed but the building itself was amazing (have I said that enough?). The entire building was made of glass windows that apparently smashed in the last big earthquake and had to be replaced. Luckily we got there after it has been repaired. While we were driving out of the park we noticed a giant purple head just sitting there in the grass. Of course we had to stop and take oodles of pictures.
Next it was Pier 39 and Fishermen's Wharf where we shopped at the Bubba Gump shop. I purchased a tasteful little shot glass displaying pictures of shrimp and San Franciscan icons. I also decided on another tasteful item that just happens to be the stores symbol; a pin with a yellow happy face and the words "Stupid is as stupid does.". That one went on my backpack.
Back to Kimi's house we went to have another lovely dinner with her family followed by a game of Cranium where Matt, Kimi and I showed our brain power by winning. I almost forgot about the walk in the park we took with Kimi's dog Shadow. We had the pleasure of watching some geese trying to cross the road while angry drivers honked to tell those geese to get the heck out of their way. Needless to say the geese were very apologetic and moved along as quickly as possible. Not.
After Cranium we gave Matt a good round of training for his future adventures in wooing by making him sit through watching The Holiday, a movie I dearly love as does Kimi's mom. Unfortunately it appears that it is an extremely girly chick flick that is only watched by the other half of the human species to please our half. Oh well, it was good training at least.

Day 10
And now for my part of the trip. We left for my neck of the woods at another amazingly early hour with the intention of taking the 1 freeway down to Escondido. Unfortunately we missed it and ended up taking the 101 freeway which was still nice.
We made it by around 4pm to sunny Southern California. We went to Blockbuster and got The Pink Panther which was a goal of the trip because Kimi has never seen it and it is hilarious. There was good movie watching and then off to bed.

Day 11

For our first adventure I decided to take Matt and Kimi to Balboa Park in downtown San Diego. It was a pretty cloudy day but the park was still beautiful. We finished walking through the park earlier than expected and we were hungry so we went to In-N-Out to give Matt his first taste of the yummy freshness. Then we took a walk over to the local Japanese market to buy some well missed candy.
That night I took Matt and Kimi to church to meet all of my other crazy friends. I'm sure they understand me a lot more now. Sorry guys...

Day 12
Six Flags! Mommy, Daddy, Melissa and two of her friends, Matt, Kimi and I headed to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Kimi, Matt and I separated from the group and headed for Goliath. There were very few people there so we were able to ride every ride we wanted to at least once. It was pretty awesome.
Then of course we had to have funnel cake afterward which lead to Matt's shirt getting a little messy. It wasn't me I swear...

Day 13

Our last day together was spent at the beach. Unfortunately it was foggy and really cold but we survived and went into the water and did some boogie boarding and then laid out in the sand until we were hungry enough. We ate a nice hot dog stand and headed home.
Every Friday night between April and September there is an event called Crusin' Grand in downtown Escondido where people bring their classic cars and park while other people walk around and admire them. The three of us along with Mommy and Daddy walked around and admired the cars and then waiting for a really long time at Fillipi's Pizza for dinner. Once we were finally able to sit down and eat the pizza was delicious as always.
Then it was back to the house to watch Gladiator. Kimi had never seen it and it is just a great movie so we rented and watched it. When it was over at 1:30am we decided to forget sleep and hang out all night until we had to leave the next morning at 7:30am to drop Kimi off at the airport.
We did stay up all night and the results were pretty funny. These pictures are just a sampling of the fun times we had.




Day 14
At around 6:30am we started getting ready. It was a solemn and very tired morning on the way to the airport. We got there okay and waited around until Kimi had to go through security and we had to say good-bye.
Matt's plane didn't leave until 9pm that night so we hung out until we had to go back to airport. Then we did it all again and it was officially over.
There truly are no words I can think of that would accurately describe what it felt like for it to be over and to not know when or if we'll be able to see each other again. The Lord blessed me immensely with Matt and Kimi. I know I will have them as friends for the rest of my life and that I will never again be able to have the same kind of friendship with anyone as I have had with them. I love you guys and I miss you. I will see you soon if I have anything to say about it.


Kimi made an awesome video of the three of us after the trip as well. Check it out here.

3 comments:

K said...

Bravo! Very well written and I love how you added the pictures. I guess I should get to writing about it...so much to say. I think I'll steal your "Day.." format if you don't mind, makes it a lot less confusing. I hope we can see each other in the not so distant future. The days seem empty without you guys here.

Anonymous said...

wow. you have way too much time on your hands. I'm sure you had NOTHING AT ALL to do with the powdered sugar....remember!
--Christian

Anonymous said...

This is probably the coolest blog that you have done...so kudos and all else to you miss!



John