"She's so fine, that little bovine"

At long last, it's the much-anticipated location update! Actually, I'm so far behind with my updates (my days have been whirlwinds! You'll see!) that I've relocated again already (I left early this evening!).

So let's backtrack a bit:

9/1: I arrived in Davis, California and spent a few days whooping it up with my cousin Mollie! I rolled into Davis ahead of schedule (I'm liking the trend I seem to be setting!), and Mollie met me outside with a helping hand and a hunger proclamation. After we lugged my stuff upstairs into her stylish (and red!) apartment, we hurried off to sate our starving stomachs. Mollie took me to a place called Burgers and Brew, and it was tasty! I had, obviously, a burger and some brew! Mollie had only a salad, because...get ready for this, fellow Arizonans...she was hot! It was 75 degrees out and only mildly moist, and she felt it was too uncomfortable to eat hot food. Growing up in a place where it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk 6 months out of the year must exempt me from deeming any food “too hot to eat” based on the weather, because I don't think I've ever made such a decision (Unless we're talking about avoiding ice cream during the winter!). So I had a good laugh about that!

Anyway, after dinner we went to a place called Yolo Berry Yogurt. It's a self serve frozen yogurt place, similar to the Mojo frozen yogurt we have in Phoenix. There was one big difference: Yolo Berry had toppings that lined not one, but two entire walls! Literally every candy you can imagine was displayed, along with hot sauces, fruit, and whipped cream! I stuck to my traditional toppings (strawberries and M&Ms), but Mollie went to town with her cup and the cup she prepared for her boyfriend, AJ.

Check out all those toppings behind us! And that's just a sample!

We briefly visited AJ at work, then bopped over to Blockbuster's to rent Sunshine Cleaning. Both of us had thrown away our fro yo at this point because, sadly, we weren't impressed. Oh well. We both enjoyed Sunshine Cleaning!

9/2: I day-tripped to Antioch, CA. What made me pick a random place like Antioch?? First of all: Bikaraoke!! As soon as I heard about it I knew I had to try it! I mean, it's the perfect class for me! I always listen to music when I work out, and I always wish I could sing out loud! With bikaraoke, I could!! The other reason I wanted to go to Antioch was because it is the home of the Brown Cow Yogurt farm. My mom loves Brown Cow yogurt, so I thought I'd check it out! There were no tours offered, but I figured I could at least get a picture by the building!

I left for Antioch in the early afternoon, pulling into the Brown Cow farm parking lot about an hour later. There were no people around, but a nice employee came out of the building and offered to take a picture of me in front of the sign. She looked as though she were coming straight out of a Chemist's laboratory, with her white lab coat and protective eye wear! It was kind of strange, but I guess it is a yogurt-making factory! It made me wonder what the set-up looked like inside. But alas, there were no tours! I did get a handful of Free Yogurt coupons, though!

And then there was my bikaraoke class!! The instructor's name was Michelle, and at first I wasn't sure I would like her very much. She admitted that she was in a bad mood, that her personal life was dragging her down. She also said that many people had asked her not to do the karaoke part of the spinning class, and asked everyone what their thoughts were on doing just a regular class. I could have cried! I voted for keeping in the singing, and lucky for me there were other supporters, as well. Michelle decided to do a “half and half” class, and I hopped up on my stationary bike feeling very jilted indeed.

Well. Our little fitness group turns out to be more energetic, more musical, than anyone realized. The music and the lyrics stayed on the whole time, and I had a blast singing along to some great tunes! I huff-and-puffed my way through

I Will Survive

Taking Care of Business

Holiday (Madonna)

We are Family

Life is a Highway

Bennie and the Jets

and couldn't stop smiling the whole time (though sometimes it turned into a grimace, since the workout got pretty intense!).

After the class Michelle was in a much better mood. She even said she couldn't remember what she was so pissed off about when she first arrived! I loved what she said in explanation: “Endorphines, man. They're free. All it takes is a gym membership...and a little bit of sweat.” Yup, in bikaraoke, especially, you've gotta be willing to get sweaty!

I was in a great mood, too, and thanked Michelle personally for such a great class. She gave me a hug and seemed pleased by my praise.

When I got back to Mollie's apartment she was just getting home from buying some live plants for her fish tank. Plans were made to order a pizza, and AJ showed up a little while later with beverages and the movie Hot Fuzz.

"Double fisting it" with two beers... though one of them is of the "root" variety!

The three of us set up camp on the floor, and while Mollie and AJ snuggled each other, I snuggled...the cats.

Are you really at all surprised?

Snuggling up with Smokey Joe (at my left shoulder, he kind of blends into the couch) and Audrey Rose!

As you can see, one of Mollie's cats is hairless! Well, except for a white patch on her nose that makes her look like she's been slathered with zinc oxide!

9/3: and here we are at the present day (for an hour and a half longer, anyway). Mollie had given me the idea of touring the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, so that's what I did first thing this morning! It was very informative, and a lot of fun! I learned about the history of the jelly bean, how they are made, and I even got to watch the candy-packaging process! We were not allowed to take pictures during the tour, which is kinda disappointing.

Doesn't this one remind you of Disneyland?

Inside the factory, before the tour restricted area

With my packet of freebie jelly bellies!

On my way back from Fairfield, I stopped by the Davis post office to check out the infamous Toad Hollow. It had been built to encourage the toad population to cross the freeway via a man-made underground tunnel, because toad roadkill was a regularity. They jury's still out on whether it was worth the effort (and money), but it's still a neat tourist attraction!

whoa! It's a tiny house!

I didn't see any toads. Sad day.

Around this time, Michelle (my GPS, not my bikaraoke instructor!) malfunctioned. Apparently it was a widespread problem across northern CA, all the way up through Oregon! I freaked out, thinking I had lost my navigation system barely a quarter of the way through my trip! Luckily it only took a couple hours for the problem to get sorted out! By the time Michelle was back up and running, Mollie and I were on our way to Sacramento to play around at Evangeline's costume mansion, an extremely cool (and enormous!) costume shop.

We had fun in the masquerade section...

Who is that??

It's a...bird??

You should've seen when she was a peacock!

...but the hands (and hair-nets) down winner was the wig station!

I think Mollie wins the red-head contest!

We're on fi-yah!

Is it Marilyn Monroe? Dolly Parton? Mama Cheney??

Afterward, we were both parched so we stopped in to a little soda/ice cream shop and got refreshments. My tongue got as red as Mollie's wig!

We got back to the apartment a little before 6pm, and it was high time I hit the road for my newest destination. I was sad to go, because I had had so much fun in Davis! I rarely get to see Mollie, so I had really enjoyed the time I got to spend with her. So it was a bittersweet departure for me, but I sure have lots of fond memories to look back upon!

As is per usual on the I-80, traffic was nasty most of the way out of town. But I still made decent time, arriving at my next (and current) destination around 8pm, just after dark. More on that adventure tomorrow (my “lodgings” were not easy to find in the dark!).

So there you have it, the longest blog entry ever. Hopefully you stayed with me all the way through, and enjoyed the picture show!

Goodnight, all!