Juliacentralicious

California: Cue OC Theme Song

It's about a ten-hour drive from Portland to Oakland, where Justin, my first couch to sleep on, lives. I can't say that it was entirely eventful, though there's a nice freedom in taking a long trip on one's own. I prefer it all windows down, music (provided by either tapes from Goodwill or the local country station) blasting, pushing the speed limit, cruise control and seeing just how long my car will go straight with my hands off the wheel.
I stopped at the Rogue River rest stop (by far the prettiest), and cursed myself for not taking the Medford Dairy Queen stop, as Northern California seems to have none.
I got to the Oakland area on schedule, and was only moderately lost in the Maze (the entanglement of multiple highways including the 880 and 580, some of the ones I required).
I found Justin, and we immediately departed for poker night at his friend's house. While Texas Hold 'Em isn't my strong suit (excuse the pun), I did decently enough, though it wouldn't have mattered since Justin was bankrolling my night. After, I got a mini tour of the area (Berkeley, and lots of fog), and then we chatted like schoolgirls until late.

Going to Santa Barbara should have been brutal on so little sleep, but, as I was still operating alone, I had a long breakfast at Denny's with a book about fighting giant ants, and I was ready for the day. It was more uneventfulness (Pismo Beach for ice cream by the ocean, and sand irrevocably in my hair), and then SB. Lexie and I had fancy schmancy cocktails and went shopping, and I felt more girly than I have in months.

The worst leg was going to San Diego, was it was dark, and I had to brave the LA drivers. But thankfully, Laura was waiting up for my with a plate of fries and Brown Sauce—and after checking in with the parents, I was down for the count.

San Diego
San Diego was more of the same: we went shopping, went out with her friends, went to the beach. It was fun, good to see my sister, though we will never see eye-to-eye on cell phone etiquette.

Los Angeles
Los Angeles was full of good Mexican food (I figured I had to get my fill before the Midwest), and in general seeing everybody. Maggie and I went to Santa Monica, which was full of people-watching and the most un-charismatic magician ever. We could actually hear him complaining into his microphone about the crowd and how dumb they were. We did an outing to 107 as well, though it was full of hipsters (surprising for a weekday). And thank god for Chano's.

Up and Out
We stopped by Lexie's to drop off Mike's car, wasted time hanging out, and didn't even make it to Sacramento the first night. But the next day we pushed into Nevada, stopping by in the Donner Pass area to eat lunch (cause the Donner Party, get it? Eh?) and buy more tapes at a little music store in the middle of nowhere.

posted by Julia @ 9:14 AM