Planes, Trains and Automobiles (not to mention light rails and …
By makeba
Saturday March 3rd: Breakfast in Irvine, Drive to Encinitas. Tour the “Self-Relization Gardens” and are asked to leave the compound after we accidently wander into the cult, oops, I mean foundation headquarters. …

Well…I am way overdue for an update. My apologies! Emily and I had a really fun, adventure-filled vacation that is best explained with a time-line.

Fri. Feb. 23rd: Emily’s plane flies in. Quick driving tour, nap, coffee and lots of rain.

Sat. Feb. 24th: Spent the morning at the market, lunch, coffee, Elliott Bay bookstore, and lots of rain.

Sun. Feb. 25th: Church, Chipotle, U-Dub, Coffee, St. Mark’s meditation service and lots of rain.

Mon. Feb. 26th: Bagels, Coffee, Ferry to Whidbey Island, Trip to Deception Pass, and a driving tour of the Cascades.
Tues. Feb. 27th: 9am. Aaron takes us to the train station, board and watch….lots of rain.
Wed. Feb. 28th: Lots of rain, lots of waiting. Strange lady with dementia yells frequently. Mad man screams on his cell phone to his kids. Granola girl makes deals about biodiesel and new kinds of feed. Medical lady tells us about how evil insurance companies are. Train repeatedly waits for freight trains to have right of way…and waits some more. By 4pm we are near San Jose and we have been on the train for over 32 hours!!

4:30pm: Conductor announces that the train cannot use an upcoming tunnel because it is owned by the freight train company. Everyone will de-board and be bussed to our destinations.

4:31pm: Emily and I agree there is NO way we are riding on a bus to Irvine.

4:45pm: Rental car arranged in San Jose. 5pm: We deboard, take a shuttle, then the light rail, then another shuttle to the airport where we’re hooked up with a sweet little PT Cruiser. Start driving towards L.A. (6.5 hours away).
5:45pm: Emily realizes she has left her cell phone and laptop plugged in on the train (still not found).

Thurs. March 1st: Pull over on the side of the highway and sleep in the car. Wake up freezing, move car to new parking lot. Fall asleep for a few hours, wake up freezing. Move car to new spot. Fall asleep. Wake up freezing. Drive to McDonalds.

Start driving towards L.A. Make it to Malibu, check out Pepperdine University. Go to beach at Santa Monica and consider taking a shower outside on the beach in our bathing suits. Water is freezing. I wash my hair in the bathroom on the Santa Monica Pier. Walk up to the 3rd Street Promanade. See where my parents worked in the 70’s when they lived in L.A. Note the huge cloud of smog over L.A. Drive through Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Spy someone I think is Jack Black. Call Aaron and tell him I saw Jack Black. Take pictures of “Jack” and stalk him. Overhear guys saying, “look that’s Jimmy Kimmel.” Tell them, “no, that’s Jack Black.” Deal with the embarrasment of taking pictures of a nobody, and not knowing that Jimmy Kimmel was alive, much less that he was standing right in front of me. Oh well.
Friday March 2nd: Tour Irvine (which is like Columbia, MD on steroids). See cute historic Orange, and the OBGYN office where Emily works. Drive to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach. Eat dinner and watch the sunset.
Saturday March 3rd:Breakfast in Irvine, Drive to Encinitas. Tour the “Self-Relization Gardens” and are asked to leave the compound after we accidently wander into the cult, oops, I mean foundation headquarters. See the Mormon Temple and the Hare Krishna Temple on our way to San Diego. Check out the newborn seals and tide pools at La Jolla. Get an AMAZING burrito and even better Margarita in the historic district of San Diego, before taking a ferry ride around the city. Drive back to Irvine and Crash!
Sunday March 4th: Fly home, very tired but very satisfied with my tour of southern California.