last weekend was a nearly perfect road trip. we flew into oakland late saturday afternoon, picked up a rental car and headed to chez paul and jessie in berkeley. we made a late dinner at a himalayan restaurant and, comfortably weighed down with delicious curry, we passed out cold and slept soundly with paul’s good cat Cami keeping us company. the next morning we were up early and walked through the deserted streets of berkeley in search of a coffee shop open at 8am on a sunday. i forget about college towns – they sleep in. we settled for window shopping the plethora of excellent book stores we found our coffee and gave ourselves the walking tour of UC Berkeley’s campus wrapped in the summer morning fog. then we hit the road, headed across the bay bridge, snaked across san francisco and got onto hwy 1.

we stopped for lunch in santa cruz, munched tacos at an excellent little (thank you lonely planet) taqueria, then strolled the board walk looking at all the people, and wandered across town breathing in the smell of sea salt and eucalyptus. then andy found a skate shop, and it was all i could do to extract him in a timely manner. ah, my skate-boarding boyfriend. i can pretend i’m still 15.

after santa cruz the view really starts getting beautiful. by mid afternoon we’d reached Big Sur, where we stopped and hiked out to this photo op and then up into the redwoods. i would have been content to hike all day, but we did have further to go, so back into the car.

after Big Sur is when the drive really gets spectacular (or white-knuckled, depending on how you feel about twisty narrow roads and sheer cliffs). the hwy turns inland slightly, and we reached San Luis Obispo by sundown. after what amounted to the only minor squabble of the trip over directions (i swear that the streets in SLO are like an Escher drawing), we found the strip of cheap motels we were looking for and checked ourselves into the lovely (in a cheap kitch sort of way) 1950’s-era Sand Motel. the stay there would have been unremarkable, except that right after entering our room i noticed that our bathroom didn’t have a shower curtain. andy offered to go down to the front desk and ask for a replacement. when he got back a few minute later, he said the clerk offered to just move us to another room. well, i hadn’t unpacked yet, so we grabbed our bags and headed down the balcony the new room. which turned out to be…the bridal suite! (note the look of alarm on andy’s face.) (no panicking, mom, i promise we didn’t elope). now i know what the bridal suite in a 60-dollar-a-night motel looks like. same cheap nylon bedspread, single-ply toilet paper and crappy soap. but the room did stink like floral-scented spray, feature several large locked cabinets filled with crystal and silver, and had this cliche of a painting hanging directly over the bed. for dinner we wandered past a whole series of restaurants already closed at 9pm on a sunday night, with a growing apprehension that dinner was going to be 7-eleven snacks on the floor of our tacky bridal suite. but as it turned out we just weren’t in the right neighborhood. we wandered far enough down the hill and found a hip, inexpensive sushi joint filled with students and young people. we were feeling smugly pleased with ourselves and the choice of resturant, in spite of or perhaps because of our surprise: every so often all the lights went off, the japanese pop cranked up and the storefront restaurant turned into a disco while they celebrated someone’s birthday with sake and polaroid photos.

the next morning (did i mention what an annoying morning person i was on this trip?) i was up early and determined to keep up with my running schedule, so i ran a few miles in the hills above SLO. it was the first really good run i’ve had in weeks. then i woke up andy, we stopped off for espresso on the way out of town, and headed for Santa Barbara. the drive there wasn’t particularly scenic, but it didn’t take long and we got to SB with enough time to check in at our lodging (that is, andy’s brother’s wife’s parent’s spare bedroom). there’s a historic old mission not far from where we were staying, and when i mentioned going over to see it, it turned out that our host is a docent there, and gave us a personal tour.

then we changed got dressed up and headed for the real reason for the trip: chelsea and lee’s wedding. the ceremony was in these beautiful botanical gardens, and they exchanged vows under a trellis covered in flowering vines – it couldn’t have been more perfect. the reception was held just steps from the beach. there’s something i can’t quite put into words, but i love to stand on the beach at night and listen to the crashing of waves and stare out into the darkness at sea.

anyway, the next morning we were (again) up early. our lovely hosts made us breakfast, and then we headed for the beach for a little frisbee time. then it was back into the car and we headed to LA (amazingly, hitting no traffic whatsoever). andy’s sister and brother-in-law, maggie and bill, are spending the summer in LA and so we met for lunch at a hipster diner. mmm…california food (bagel sandwich with egg, avocado, goat cheese and hashbrowns? yes please). then it was off to the airport, which we managed without a wrong turn, and got there in plenty of time for our flight. we landed at midway around 11pm, and as the plane descended over the south suburbs of chicago, we were first above the fireworks, then at the same level, and then below them. i was a little sad to be spending the fourth of july on a plane, because i LOVE fireworks, but as it turned out we got to see them in a unique way.

whew! long weekend, long post. yay for you if you made it all the way to the end. shorter posts to come, i promise. self portrait!