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!