"Is There Anybody Alive Out There?"

The end of my road trip happens to coincide with a special holiday...

MY BIRTHDAY!!!

(wouldn't it have been fun to celebrate my birthday with The Boss?!!)


The timing is perfect, because of the double-layered meaning: one phase of my life is ending (my 23rd year of life/pre-roadtrip Meryl), as another, more mature, phase of my life is starting (my 24th year of life/post-roadtrip Meryl).

I have a lot I want to say on that subject, actually.
But that's for a different post.

By the time my mom and I made it back to Carlsbad, we were both completely wiped out! When she asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told her I just wanted to sleep late and relax. I didn't want to worry about making plans to be anywhere (I'd done plenty of that over the last 4 weeks!). She conceded, and on the night of the 28th I settled in for a nice, long, rejuvenating sleep.

Well. Imagine my chagrin when I popped awake at 8:48am
(I know there are some of you rolling your eyes right now...sorry. lol).

I was beside myself... I had hoped to sleep till at least 10!! It kind of made sense though, and after the initial indignation wore of I thought about it...it was 30 minutes later than I'd been sleeping for the last month. I'm pretty sure my body was sending out an alarm that I was missing breakfast (every B & B I stayed at served breakfast at 8:30). I would have appreciated the internal-clock gesture...if I were still on the road! I brooded about it for a little while, then shrugged it off and grabbed the book I was reading (My Name is Will...the one I bought in Ashland, OR!). I proceeded to read in bed for another hour, then finally called my mom (who had tiptoed out of the house to allow me to sleep in) when I couldn't wait any longer (for both breakfast and company).

She arrived a little bit later, toting delicious fresh fruit from the Green Barn (a farmers market up the road) and donuts from Leucadia Donuts (a local favorite). These two tasty food groups joined a platter of deviled eggs...the result was one yummy breakfast!!

My mom insisted that the Buddah be included in the pic!

The rest of the day was equally as chill. My mom and I went book shopping. I love book shopping, because I'm always reading at least 3 books at one time and constantly require fresh reading material! We went to two places, because we're two insufferable bibliophiles! First we hit up a tiny local place called DuckyWaddles, where we purchased no less than 5 books for $15!! Woo hoo! Then we went to good, old-fashined Borders. I promise I didn't go too crazy...just 3 new books:

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (my favorite book from high school)
The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath (recommended reading)
Keeping Faith- Jodi Picoult (my most recent favorite author!)

Then it was time for dinner. I was craving sushi, and after asking Michelle to help us find a place, we settled on a place called Kaito Sushi. We had to call for directions because they had recently moved, and the place turned out to be tiny, tucked away in a strip mall off the main drag road (El Camino Real...my mom always says a person could live their whole lives on that road, because you can find every store you'd ever need somewhere along it). I think we were both feeling a little skeptical, but we put on our brave-faces and went inside.
Let me just lay it out straight: Kaito Sushi had the best tasting sushi I've ever had. It was so fresh and so perfectly prepared...it really doesn't get any better. And the place wasn't lacking for customers either. My mom and I got a spot up at the bar, and within minutes there were people standing around waiting to be seated. People were waiting to sit at the bar as opposed to just sit at a table behind it, because the chefs were so much fun to interact with!

Right after we got our first round of rolls (I had my traditional rainbow roll), the staff disappeared outside, yelling excitedly about a rainbow. At first my mom and I didn't react, focused as we were on the tasty rainbow roll sitting in front of us! But then the restaurant started clearing out, as people headed outside to see what the real deal was.
Turns out, it had rained briefly, and there was a double rainbow arching across the sky. It was stunningly beautiful!

can you see them??

Mom called it my "birthday rainbow," then got a picture of me with the head chef standing beneath it.

The double rainbow was gorgeous, but when the clouds started clearing and the moon came out...well, that was a whole new level of magical!

At the end of our meal, the staff brought out a complimentary serving of green tea sorbet for my birthday!

It was really good! Although, it was not quite as exciting as the eel spine I'd ingested earlier (the chef's recommendation...it was so bizarre! Like a really skinny french fry).

After dinner we spent a couple hours hanging out with my grandma, then headed back to the condo. We both ended up staying up really late, afflicted with what I'm convinced was post-birthday-fun-induced insomnia. At least we both had plenty of reading material!

It was a great birthday, exactly what I needed after a busy month of traveling.
Next up is the extended birthday celebration with the rest of my family, back in Phoenix! But since this is officially the end of my road trip, the extended-birthday celebration will be posted on my other blog, Meryl's Describetions.

So here's to new beginnings and future experiences. I had a blast over the last month, learning about myself and this world in which I'm residing. Stay tuned over at Meryl's Describetions, you never know what new adventures I'll have next!

I drove all night...

Warning: the following prose contains an account of the ridiculous amount of driving in which I've partaken over the last 48 hours!!

After my long day on the road coming from Crescent City and stopping at Glass Beach, I was relieved to finally arrive in Kenwood. I only stayed in Kenwood for one night, crashing in a hotel room at the lovely Kenwood Inn and Suites.

What was I doing there?
Crashing a wedding!!

Whose wedding?
My uncle David's!!

Whose room did I stay in??
Well, here was your clue, over at Meryl's Describetions (it's been a while since I did one of these, I know!):

Remember when I mentioned that I would be gaining a passenger at the end of my travels? Well, I met up with her on the night of the 26th, and she's been with me ever since! Who is it?? None other than...

My beautiful mama!! She was in Kenwood for her brother David's wedding, and it worked out perfectly that I would be right in that area!

The next morning (the 27th) we had a lovely hot breakfast at the resort, chatting with the family members who managed to stumble out from their cozy beds in time to join us!
Then I took off again, on a day trip over to Alameda, CA. The Alameda Architectural Preservation Society was hosting a historical homes tour, and I just couldn't miss another opportunity to snoop around inside beautiful historic homes!
There were six all together, and it took me the better part of four hours to get through them all! We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but here are the outsides of each of the houses, in the order in which I visited them:

At the 4th house there was an old-fashioned popcorn machine,
from which we were served complimentary snacks in little baggies!
Juice, water, and cookies were also available!

This yellow book was my "ticket" to get into each house.
The docent at the front door stamped the back cover

The whole small town of Alameda is full of beautiful historic houses. Throughout the afternoon I kept one eye focused on the Historic Homes Tour, and the other one trained on the other stunning houses on each block. These were some of my favorites:

From there, I picked up my mom from a Starbucks near the Oakland airport (a very short drive, thank goodness!), where she had accompanied the rest of the family to hang out a little while longer before their return-home flights. Then we settled in for a loooooooooong night of driving, arriving in Santa Clarita 5.5 hours and one stop at In-N-Out Burger later. We dragged our weary selves into a Hyatt hotel off the freeway, falling gratefully into heavenly soft beds. I slept like a rock and still woke up this morning feeling fatigued with exhaustion.
After struggling with a TV that gave all it's instructions in Japanese (we think!), we finally trudged down to the lobby to checkout the old fashioned way. Then we hit the road for Westwood, where we met up with mom's good friend Diana Ho for brunch. We ate at a delightful little place called Le Pain Quotidien.

Ho (that's what we've called her my entire life, even though it was her college nickname!), ever thoughtful, brought me a goodie bag full of birthday gifts (I'm 24 tomorrow!). It included a bottle of lavender skin cream, a pad of paper encased in a beautifully decorated cover, and a hand-made bookmark dedicated to my road trip journey!

After we ate, my mom and I continued driving south, until we finally reached our final destination (for now, anyway!). We arrived in Carlsbad just in time to have a little nap and then join my grandma to watch some Monday Night Football! The Cowboys won, yay!

Now, because I'm sure you've lost track, I'm going to lay out the ridiculous driving schedule I've endured over the last 48 hours:

Crescent City to Fort Bragg (Glass Beach): 4.5 hours
Fort Bragg to Kenwood: 3 hours
Kenwood to Alameda: 1.5 hours
Alameda to Santa Clarita: 5.5 hours
Santa Clarita to Westwood: .5 hours
Santa Clarita to Carlsbad: 2 hours
Total driving time in a mere 48 hours: more than 12 hours!! I spent 1/4 of the last two days driving. Ugh.

So there you have it! After a number of whirlwind days, I have returned to the starting-block-now-finish-line.

I am back in the beautiful Carlsbad, CA!!

And the adventure is not necessarily over yet...

Tomorrow is my birthday!!!!! I told my mom that all I want to do is sleep late, then after that we have a few other low key ideas planned. I'll tell you all about it afterward!

"Look at this trove, treasures untold..."

The drive from Crescent City to Kenwood, CA was long.
Without any "just for fun" stops it would have been a good 8 hours at least...tack on a 3 hour "layover" in Fort Bragg, CA, and I'm looking at a very long day of travelling.

And that's exactly what I did.
Fort Bragg is the site of Glass Beach, a stretch of ocean famously littered with fragments of sea glass.

Look closely, you can see lots of whites, ambers, and a few greens!

The story behind Glass Beach is this: in the early half of the 20th century, the city used that stretch of beach as a dumping ground. Over the next several decades, the saltwater and sand smoothed the edges of the discarded glassware, creating the collector-sought item known as sea glass. The sea glass washed up on the shore, creating a rainbow of color on the sand.
Nowadays, the unique beauty of Glass Beach is protected by the city...or at least it's supposed to be. But so many years of sea-glass admirers filling bag after bag of the pretty glass has greatly diminished the once-stunning sight. And even though collecting is supposedly prohibited, no preventative measures (other than a few posted signs) have been taken to prevent droves of people from scouring the sands looking for the colorful sea jewels.

I arrived at Glass Beach with the intention of admiring the sea glass, then returning it to the sand for others to admire. But I quickly became disheartened by the dozens of people scooping up handfuls of glass...the longer I stood around and watched, the quicker my my mood plunged. My feelings went from despair to anger, then to resentment, and finally resignation. I realized that my frustration was futile, that any sea glass I threw back would only be liberated until someone else snatched it up. Fifty years ago I'm sure the beach was a magical sight, but so much of the glass has been cleared, and in another fifty years "glass beach" may be just a name, no longer a description. So though I felt guilty about it, I crouched down among the other sand-sifters and started scooping through the ambers, greens, and clears, looking for the more rare blues and reds. We were sifting through years of history, picking the pieces we thought would best embellish our own stories when we recounted our respective Glass Beach adventures.

Well, after collecting handfuls of greens and ambers and whites (the most common colors, probably from beer bottles and milk jars), I finally decided to call it quits. I figured that all the best colors had already been taken (best meaning rare, particularly the primary colors).
So imagine my delight when, after a rather defeated final swipe in the sand, I unearthed two pieces of crimson red glass! One of the most rare colors, in my grasp when I wasn't even looking! Finally, I felt the rush of excitment that accompanies the thrill of the hunt, as well as a keen sense of amazement at my luck. I also managed to unearth a few tiny shards of sky blue glass, and two pieces of iridescent abalone. Quite an assortment of seaside treasures!

I trekked back to my car clutching tightly to my treasures, letting them ride shotgun on my console to prevent them from getting lost in the cavernous folds of my pockets or purse.
I arrived in Kenwood just after 9pm, almost 11 hours after departing from Crescent City. Who am I staying with tonight?...tune in tomorrow to find out!

Over the Moon in Crescent City!

My one-night stay in Crescent City, CA was booked more out of necessity than anything else. Without it, I would have been driving from Eugene, OR to Kenwood, CA, a nearly 9 hour drive. Of just driving, no fun stops along the way (why am I making that distinction? You'll find out later!) . Fun stops would have extended my road-time even more, potentially making such a journey a half-day event. No, thank you!

So anyway, I chose Crescent City over Eureka because of the popular opinion of Eureka being a somewhat...sketchy city.

In Crescent City I found a cute little place called the Anna Wulf House. The price was good, so I went ahead and reserved a room.

Little did I know that I would end up having some of the best fun of all in good ol' Crescent City!!

First of all, the house was this hilariously bright pinkish-purple color, with purple trim. You don't forget a house like that!

The first thing you notice when you walk in the door is the assortment of on display in the front hall. These were a few of my favorites:

#1 favorite hat!!

This hat reminds me of the Nanny 911 ladies

Giddy-yap, cowboy!
I love the Sheriff star in the background!

Red hat lady! You know it!

My room was called the Mistress Suite. It had authentic, old-fashioned prostitution licenses on the walls (!!!), and other vamp-y decor that gave the room a "scandalous" feeling. I thought it was a riot!

Look, another fainting sofa!!

Do you see the corset, gloves, and black feather boa?
And the fainting sofa?
Three guesses what happened next, and the first two don't count!...

The innkeeper's name was Paula, and she ultimately is what made Crescent City so memorable. Paula and I quickly discovered we were kindred spirits, from our mutual dislike of bananas/latex allergy all the way to shared beliefs about society and personal expectations. I had a wonderful time talking with her, and can easily say that the Anna Wulf House is the closest thing to a "family" atmosphere I have encountered thus far, with Paula feeling almost more like a true family member than just a hostess. It doesn't get much better than that, and I will absolutely be returning there someday. But not as a Victorian lampshade that was made in the basement of my Canadian breakfast companions! Hahaha!
(If you want that story, I'll be glad to share it! It had us cracking up even an hour later!)

So back to long drives with fun stops along the way (I mentioned it at the beginning of this post).
My next stop is Kenwood, CA (to meet up with my roadtrip companion!), but on the way I will be stopping in Fort Bragg. The famous Glass Beach is there, and as a lover of sea glass I figure it's something I've got to see!