What spurred this trip? This trip was planned as a possibility when I was on the phone with my cousin in Oklahoma City. Seeing that I did not have a departure date, I made this trip happen. I needed to see my older cousin before I left for Australia, we hardly ever get to spend time together. He lives in Santa Cruz which is a few hours up the coast from Orange County. He said that he had Sunday and Monday off, I confirmed and the trip was made. I left Thursday I believe, to go spend time in Santa Monica with an old friend from high school, in Virginia. She was working at the LA times and was living the southern Californian dream. She was working hard for it, but LA is where she wanted to be, she was going to make it work. We went out for one of her friends birthday parties, couldn't tell you where, but I do remember it was a beer drinkers paradise. 100's of different beers with at least 40 on tap and I hear the burgers are to die for, not that I've had one:) Here is the wild part about that night though, one of the girls that was there was on the Bachelorette. For those of you who do not know, it is a show where a guy gets to pic and choose his way through 10 girls to find his to-be wife (I think she has to say yes). Kind of a sick show, but hey, its all about ratings and that show has a following. I cannot say I remember her name, I do remember she was very nice, worked in PR and only had one arm. I asked a few questions about her and the show and how it works, she talked about a few things, but since the show was still going on she was not allowed to go into much detail. I really just wanted to make sure she was really on the Bachelorette. I have not met many people that have been on TV, and yes I looked her up afterwards, she really was on the show.
After Santa Monica I was off the North Hollywood to spend time with my oldest friend! I have know him since we were ten. Some people have lots of friends that they have grown up with, friends they have know since they can remember. I have one, we have gone in somewhat different directions in life since we were ten, but we still remain close friends. He has found his passion making electronic music. He told me once that he makes sounds, I am still lost on how electronic music works. I know there are many layers to modern day techno music and he works in a particular area, have to pay the bills somehow I guess. He does make a lot of music in his studio for fun as well. He has quite the set up for producing music in his house, its unreal; Huge speakers, foam walls, apple this, apple that.
His mom was in town for the night and was taking us both out to dinner. Our moms were also best friends back in El Dorado Hills. We went out to a nice Italian dinner, caught up on the last 15 years or so, haha kept it to the highlights. Had a great talk about life (most people still think I am crazy for picking up and moving to Australia). After dinner we split and went out on the town. We went to a bar bar, a mans bar in the neighborhood for another birthday (lot of birthday's I know). The group we went out with all went to school in Texas and apparently they played a lot of pool. A couple of them ran the table all night, made me think back to my days a VT and Big Al's (a bar in college where I ran the table).
Feeling a little drained, to say the least, from the night before I struggled to get back on the road. The good news was that I only had two hours or so of driving. I was making a stop in Santa Barbara to see an old friend from SCECEGS (the school I went to in Sydney). He has been pursuing a career in videography. He is passionate about it says the money is ok, not great at least in Santa Barbara. He gets gigs all over the Santa Barbara/LA area. Seems like quite the life. We bar hopped around Santa Barbara all night catching up and trying not to get in trouble. Thankfully we did not. One thing I would like to add here; If I go to Australia, burn through all of my savings and have to live on the streets, I want to live on the streets of Santa Barbara. Amazing town, one of the larger, cleaner towns in California I have ever been to. The bums have it made.
Sunday, my final destination! I arrived at my cousins house a little before noon. So great to finally be back in the Santa Cruz area. I had been there in October for my other cousins wedding! The air in southern California is disgusting, smoggy, and has grey looking filth lining the basin. I know they say its getting a lot better, but still. Santa Cruz on the other hand, the sky is blue and the air is clear. People can breath easy there. They have great redwoods, the tallest trees you will ever see, talking four, five hundred feet tall. Maybe taller, but to be honest I have no idea. All I know is that they make you feel very small and insignificant.
My cousin and I got right into making a plan for the day. First things first, food! We ate at a really good little Mexican place in town then grabbed some supplies for dinner at the store. Our afternoon activity was fishing. Not getting in a boat or casting off a pier, we were putting on waders and casting our lines right into the ocean. I am by no means an experienced fisherman, but gave it a go. I came up empty handed, but my cousin managed to get a few. We had enough for dinner! One thing I will say about Santa Cruz, the whole town seems to be environmentally conscious. I guess it goes along with the hippy/surfer mentality of a lot of the population, but I certainly noticed it more on that trip than I ever had before. I think being unemployed and drifting Santa Cruz rubbed off on me, more than usual. I loved the idea of catching your dinner, eating local produce, cooking at home etc.. Its a beautiful part of the world.
The next day we had eggs for breakfast, that were produce locally in the back yard. Yes, my cousin has chickens that produce about 2/3 eggs a day. After breakfast, we took off on a hike though the redwoods, just unreal beauty. Looking up at the redwoods is awing, they make you feel like you cannot breath, but when you do, you breath easy, its a strange feeling. After our hike we quickly changed and headed out to the golf course for a round, did I mention my cousin is a golf pro and the reason I play golf. We hacked it around both only a couple over par. Starving again, we stopped at another Mexican restaurant. Let, me explain my hunger for Mexican food, I am moving to Australia! There are no Mexicans, in turn poor Mexican food. That night we also lit a huge bonfire in a fire pit that my oldest friend and I dug back when we were maybe 15. We had the works as well marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers and of course martinis.
I had such a great time on this trip, I will never forget it as long as I live. Driving up the coast of California is something I think everyone should do. Make as many stops as you can, go for a walk, get in the ocean and hike through the redwoods. Embrace it.
No comments:
Post a Comment