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s2m no Tabi no Monogatari, Day 3
I keep procrastinating b/c these things take so long to type up, but I'll never finish if I don't start, right? Right!
Okay. Here we go!
Okay. Here we go!
I woke up fairly early on Saturday morning to catch a shuttle van back to the airport. No, I wasn't flying home from SanFran just yet. My IRL friend L-chan was joining me today. And our rental car was arranged at the airport. So I checked out and boarded the shuttle when it arrived. I was the first passenger. Aside from the usual terrifying traffic, the ride was long and uneventful. Except a sweet boy probably fresh out of high school sat behind me, and we chatted. I was horribly temped to give him a kiss on the cheek just before I debarked at my terminal (we were the last two passengers) but I resisted. *has iron willpower.* He was from Canada, and touring the US with friends. He was taking a tangent trip of his own to visit a cousin in LA, thus the flight. So huggable...
Anyway, I resisted spontaneous cheek smooches and arrived at the terminal. It was incredibly busy, and I was very glad I didn't have to deal with the chaos. I followed the signs to the airport train and rode it to the car rental building. I waited in line for some time, when L-chan called to say her plane had landed and she was making her way there, too. She took a while to join me, but it didn't cause any problems for us b/c the rental company computers weren't agreeing with our clerk. L-chan joined me just as the clerk finally had things working, around noon. The clerk told us our car was from Portland, so we'd be driving it back to its home base. This made me pleased, since it would have Oregon license plates and we wouldn't be labeled TOURISTS!!!11! once we crossed the northern Cali border.
We found our car inside the huge garage. It was this cute little black Ford thing, I forget the model. But the license plate wasn't Oregon. Or Cali. Nope, it was bright screaming canary yellow!!! New Mexico, baby!!! So of course the plate stood out horribly against the black car. So much for the ease of blending in. --;;;
It had been several years since L-chan had seen the ocean in the flesh, so she wanted to drive up highway 1 for a while. No prob, I wasn't in any rush. But unfortunately the only direct route to that highway was north from the airport...through SanFran, and across the Golden Gate. Now, the bridge I didn't mind, and I wanted to see. But this meant I had to drive downtown SanFran. With me at the wheel. *has big, trembly eyes* But I made it. And I was only honked at once. Whew! Driving across the Golden Gate was very cool. XD
On the other side, we made our way to highway 1, which is this incredibly windy little ribbon of road that follows the Cali coast and never tops a 35 MPH speed limit. It was like being on a roller coaster. Seriously, L-chan begin to get nauseous from the constant turning, climbing, and descending, and it finally even began to affect me. We did locate a beach. ^^ It took us some time to fin d a place to park, and we made our way out. That water was cold. But the sand was toasty warm. We hung out for about 10 minutes, marveled at all the people there, then went back to the car, brushed off our feet, removed the stickers and burrs, and went north once more on highway 1. Interestingly, there was much less traffic after we passed that beach.
The scenery was gorgeous, but the winding winding winding was really getting to us after four total hours driving, so we bailed out and found our way to highway 101. Northward, ho! The drive was gorgeous. Mountains, ocean views, lovely lovely treeeeeeeeeees. *happy sigh* Especially once we reached the northern parts of Cali. We passed an artist on the side of the road working on an oil painting of that location's harbor view. I wish now that I had stopped to observe him. Alas.
At some point on our journey, L-chan decided to name our rental car "Don". I protested that this was a girls' road trip, thus the name would need to be "Dawn". L-chan didn't like that idea, so she offered "Quashieka" instead. (Phonetically "Kwa-sheek-ah") You know, since the car was black. O.o I kinda sat there in shock for a moment, then immdediately began to crack up. Quashieka it is!!! Even now it makes me break out into giggles. *is horrible*
So me, L-chan, and Quashieka made our way up the Cali coast. We finally decided to stop for the night in Eureka, and had a little adventure trying to find a motel. Apparently the town was overflowing with parents of kids starting college. We finally found a place right off the ocean. It wasn't a major chain, but it wasn't a seedy rat trap, either. I kinda liked it. ^^ The guy at the front desk told us to call him "Grandpa" and kept going on and on about us being "nice, clean girls". He said that several times. And he loved the fact that I'd decided not to screw with makeup that morning. I guess as a small motel keeper, you see somedestructive interesting types of people, of which us we were not, being "nice, clean girls." Hmmmm.
After we tossed our stuff in the room, we went out to find a restaurant. When we came back, our little motel had also turned on the "no vacancy" sign. Good thing we waited to eat until after we had our room!
And then we went to sleep. ^^
If anyone is actually reading this, please leave a comment. You don't have to say anything profound, I'm just curious to know if anyone is following my trip.
Anyway, I resisted spontaneous cheek smooches and arrived at the terminal. It was incredibly busy, and I was very glad I didn't have to deal with the chaos. I followed the signs to the airport train and rode it to the car rental building. I waited in line for some time, when L-chan called to say her plane had landed and she was making her way there, too. She took a while to join me, but it didn't cause any problems for us b/c the rental company computers weren't agreeing with our clerk. L-chan joined me just as the clerk finally had things working, around noon. The clerk told us our car was from Portland, so we'd be driving it back to its home base. This made me pleased, since it would have Oregon license plates and we wouldn't be labeled TOURISTS!!!11! once we crossed the northern Cali border.
We found our car inside the huge garage. It was this cute little black Ford thing, I forget the model. But the license plate wasn't Oregon. Or Cali. Nope, it was bright screaming canary yellow!!! New Mexico, baby!!! So of course the plate stood out horribly against the black car. So much for the ease of blending in. --;;;
It had been several years since L-chan had seen the ocean in the flesh, so she wanted to drive up highway 1 for a while. No prob, I wasn't in any rush. But unfortunately the only direct route to that highway was north from the airport...through SanFran, and across the Golden Gate. Now, the bridge I didn't mind, and I wanted to see. But this meant I had to drive downtown SanFran. With me at the wheel. *has big, trembly eyes* But I made it. And I was only honked at once. Whew! Driving across the Golden Gate was very cool. XD
On the other side, we made our way to highway 1, which is this incredibly windy little ribbon of road that follows the Cali coast and never tops a 35 MPH speed limit. It was like being on a roller coaster. Seriously, L-chan begin to get nauseous from the constant turning, climbing, and descending, and it finally even began to affect me. We did locate a beach. ^^ It took us some time to fin d a place to park, and we made our way out. That water was cold. But the sand was toasty warm. We hung out for about 10 minutes, marveled at all the people there, then went back to the car, brushed off our feet, removed the stickers and burrs, and went north once more on highway 1. Interestingly, there was much less traffic after we passed that beach.
The scenery was gorgeous, but the winding winding winding was really getting to us after four total hours driving, so we bailed out and found our way to highway 101. Northward, ho! The drive was gorgeous. Mountains, ocean views, lovely lovely treeeeeeeeeees. *happy sigh* Especially once we reached the northern parts of Cali. We passed an artist on the side of the road working on an oil painting of that location's harbor view. I wish now that I had stopped to observe him. Alas.
At some point on our journey, L-chan decided to name our rental car "Don". I protested that this was a girls' road trip, thus the name would need to be "Dawn". L-chan didn't like that idea, so she offered "Quashieka" instead. (Phonetically "Kwa-sheek-ah") You know, since the car was black. O.o I kinda sat there in shock for a moment, then immdediately began to crack up. Quashieka it is!!! Even now it makes me break out into giggles. *is horrible*
So me, L-chan, and Quashieka made our way up the Cali coast. We finally decided to stop for the night in Eureka, and had a little adventure trying to find a motel. Apparently the town was overflowing with parents of kids starting college. We finally found a place right off the ocean. It wasn't a major chain, but it wasn't a seedy rat trap, either. I kinda liked it. ^^ The guy at the front desk told us to call him "Grandpa" and kept going on and on about us being "nice, clean girls". He said that several times. And he loved the fact that I'd decided not to screw with makeup that morning. I guess as a small motel keeper, you see some
After we tossed our stuff in the room, we went out to find a restaurant. When we came back, our little motel had also turned on the "no vacancy" sign. Good thing we waited to eat until after we had our room!
And then we went to sleep. ^^