Road Trip.

Ten days ago my darling Yoshi turned 22.  For his birthday, he decided to take me on a weekend trip up to Fort Bragg.  He kept most of his plans for the weekend a surprise, which was fun for me.  I still don't really know what roads we took. 

I know we went through Discovery Bay and then up some random highway he later said went through San Ramon...  This is where we saw a burnt-up shell of a car on the side of the freeway that caused traffic to practically stop for miles.  We stopped in Willits, where gas was $3.43 per gallon.  Hot damn.

I bought a Smart Water in Willits.  This caused Yoshi to decide to get one, as well.  Apparently he'd never purchased a Smart Water before.

Y- "Why are they called 'smart'?  Is it supposed to make you feel smart or something?"

B- "It's got electrolytes in it.  I like to buy Smart Waters if I think I'm going to be hungover.  It's like Gatorade, but without all the sugar."

Y- Proceeded to straight freak out because "that's so cool!"

He's so funny sometimes.

We got to watch the sun set while driving through a redwood forest.  Then walk across a bridge that goes over a beach between two cliff sides and look at the water.  I froze my ass off. 

We decided that we'll retire there when we're old and rich.  Our kids can deal with our grandkids getting carsick on the three hours of windy road in any direction you have to take to access that area.  We don't care.  We'll live in a moderately sized house on a cliff overlooking the ocean and every day we will walk on the beach and bring home sea glass and shapely driftwood.

Sunday we drove down Highway 1 to San Francisco.  We stopped a few times to take pictures on the side of the road.  I was overwhelmed with how beautiful everything was, to the point where I didn't feel like I could even appreciate it fully anymore. 

We stopped in Bodega Bay and bought saltwater taffy, even though neither of us particularly likes it. 

We stopped outside Stinson Beach to take a picture on the cliffside...  And somehow locked the keys in the car.  It was the first time all day any of the windows had been higher than halfway up.  So we had to wait by the side of the road, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, as the sun set, until a tow truck company rep from San Ramon showed up with a wire doo-dad to pull the keys off the seat. 

The thing is...  That situation could have been just pretty.  If it had happened earlier in the day.  But we were on a cliffside.  For over a half hour without sun.  It was fucking windy.  I was in flip flops, capris, and a light sweatshirt.  My phone died shortly after I spoke to the dumbest representative AAA had to offer- who, by the way, wasn't even in California.  AAA, if you're going to ask me what state I'm in, at least show me the courtesy of giving me a rep that's at least familiar with the geography of that state.  When I tell her I'm two miles South of Stinson Beach on Hwy 1 I don't want her to tell me that she can't find Hwy 1.  Or that it looks like I'm "between Daly City and Pacifica" when I've already told her I'm North of both of those cities.

Also, I had to pee desperately.  I had to pee before we stopped to take the picture.

The situation was less than ideal.

But we still got some great pictures out of it before we discovered the keys were on the driver's seat and the doors were locked.

I almost barfed on the way into San Francisco from there because my eyes had been dry from all the wind and I decided to put on my glasses, forgetting that I'm not completely used to the prescription of my glasses yet.  And the road was windy.  And I had to pee. 

We went to Ghirardelli Square, took a picture of the skyline behind Coit Tower, drove down Lombard Street for the first time (you know, the windiest road in the world, or whatever the slogan is), and ate at Mel's diner.

...Before accidentally driving to Berkely, then taking the long way back to 580.

We made it back into Modesto at 3:30 AM and crashed.

I think the best road trips with people are the ones when you discover that you're both kind of messes, but it works because you help clean each other up. 

Except the mess that's still in my car.  There's a Monster in there somewhere...  I don't drink caffeine or sodas...  I wonder who it could belong to...