1,000 Miles

My friend and I logged a little over 1,000 miles of driving in five days. One more hour north and we would have made it to Oregon, but that will have to take place some other time.

I don't like her driving style (too fast) and she does not like mine (too cautious). Our music choices are very different. (Music is important when going on a road trip.) Our food choices are different too. She drinks, I don't. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. But, it wasn't! Thank goodness.

We had only planned for Napa. Everything else we were going to play by ear. Now, this was a little tough for me, because I am a planner. I've not yet lost my spontaneity, but it is not as prevalent as it once was. I don't like not knowing where I am going to sleep. I like reservations.

Wednesday, 8/25
First stop Monterey. Quaint, seaside town. Chock-full of tourists (like us). Focus was on Cannery Row for shopping. A visit would not be complete without stopping at Monterey Bay Aquarium. The jelly fish exhibit was worth the visit.

We continued on to the city of Gilroy better known for the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Garlic ice cream, anyone? More shopping minus the garlic.

Thursday, 8/26
Napa Valley, California's wine country, our only *planned* outing. Walked around downtown Napa.

Robert Mondavi Winery She liked the wine, I liked the real estate.

Niebaum-Coppola Winery Beautiful. This place had movie props, which was pretty cool. I walked out of there with a plan to see The Godfather and its sequels. Yep, I've never seen them.

I did not get to ride in a hot air ballon, instead she booked a ride on the Napa Valley Wine Train, which includes a five course dinner with wine tasting and wonderful views. A bit too romantic for friends, but we made the most of it. Our table was the laughter table.

My friend loves movies as much as I do. We caught a few on our road trip. First up was Collateral. We both liked it. It freaked us out a bit. We ran to our car since it was very late and we were in a strange city. Somehow I pressed the wrong button, the next thing we knew the damn trunk opened up. There is a scene involving a car trunk in the film, hence our rattled nerves.
The movie takes place in Los Angeles, my birth city. It's always fun to recognize streets and buildings of *your* city.
In the film, Tom Cruise makes mention of a news story where a man was dead on the metro for sometime before anyone noticed. His character was right, we live in a disconnected world. A lonely world, if we let it.

Friday, 8/27
COPIA was my favorite stop in Napa. I took a class on wine, lord knows I needed something more along the line of Wine for Dummies. I learned about rose wines. I did not like the tasting. Maybe sweeter ones? hahaha

St. Helena is the next city north of Napa. We only made two stops.
Beringer Winery She liked the wine, I liked the real estate. The tour was great. Learned a bit about wine making.

The Culinary Institute of America I booked a cooking demonstration at the CIA @ Napa. Tamales for goodness sake. Try selling that to two people of Mexican descent who for years have helped their mothers prepare tamales. Completely new approach (tenderizing with orange juice and a can of Coke), but the tamales were yummy. We approved. I want to study at the CIA. ;)

Calistoga, city north of St. Helena, which consists of one main road filled with spas. We visited the Old Faithful Geyser one of the three famous in the world. It erupts about every 30 minutes.
The Petrified Forest, we "stepped back in time, over 3 million years...." and I almost got stung by a bee.

At this point we started driving north, looking for lodging that would not cost an arm and a leg, with intentions of coming back to the wineries, we did not. On the way, we tried our luck at a casino surrounded by vineyards. We lost.

Next stop: Ukiah. The question "What are you famous for?" was answered with a surprised look and no real answer. Okay. "Where are your movie theaters?" Open Water was my choice for the evening. I liked it, she hated it. It made us seasick. What is worse: seeing the sharks or not seeing the sharks? I'll never go scuba diving.

We took the Avenue of the Giants road. Wow. This was zen. Spiritual rejuvenation, dare I say. I dare. Nature smells wonderful. My lungs and my spirit are forever grateful.

Saturday, 8/28
Eureka about an hour from Oregon. This is as far as we traveled. I loved this coastal city. It reminded me of Vancouver. The ocean in front of you, the redwoods behind you. We visited Humboldt State University. I would have liked that school had I known it existed. I would have been a hardcore coffee drinker (nah, hot chocolate) and a tree hugger.

Suspect Zero really made us think twice about traveling on lonely roads. This movie was freaky. I'd rather live in ignorance when it comes to evil humans.

Sunday, 8/29
Headed east towards Redding on our way back. Tried our luck at another casino, no luck. Took California State Highway 299, which made my friend carsick. The tailgaters made me nervous. If the sign says 25mph on the upcoming turn, it means slow down! I did. The people behind me were annoyed.
We stopped and hiked down to the Trinity River. 100 degree weather made that cold water very inviting, except neither one of us knows how to swim and the sign said "Warning. Strong currents. Experts beyond this point." Kayaking looked fun too.

It's official. I can handle a swimming pool. I am afraid of the ocean and bodies of waters like rivers and lakes. I can see the bottom of a swimming pool. I cannot see the bottom of the ocean, lakes or rivers. (cue: Jaws theme music)

That was it. That was the trip and I enjoyed it very much. I was ready to come home.

Smart Action Hero

I should have refreshed my memory by renting The Bourne Identity, but I didn't.

The Bourne Supremacy
India. Berlin. Moscow. These cities formed the background scenery for the film. India was crowded and chaotic. Germany was extremely clean and bright. Russia was an economy in recovery. All these places lived up to what my imagination has conjured up.

I'm calling this the intelligent person's action movie because it requires a bit of thought. Although it does seem a bit predictable at times I thoroughly enjoyed the sequel. I'll probably watch them back to back once the DVD for this latest movie is out.

I remember as a kid I always wanted to be a spy. I don't remember what movie I watched that made the spy profession alluring. My version of a spy career did not allow for people to be hurt or killed, only the 'simple' retrieval of information.

Ode to Jersey

Any film that starts with a Coldplay song in the background is a keeper. Coldplay puts me in a trance. A dangerous trance at that. I've noticed that all I want to do is close my eyes and listen. A few months ago I caught myself starting to close my eyes while driving! What the ....!

Garden State
This is a story about returning home after a long absence, coming out of a prescribed medication stupor, handling of personal grief and finding the not-so-perfect mate. And it's still funny! A little sad too. To top it off, I'm buying a copy of the sountrack.

Scrubs' Zack Graff wrote, directed and starred in this film. Pretty good job, but I went to see it because he makes me laugh on a weekly basis. The second reason was Ms. Natalie Portman. I have been a fan since I saw her in The Professional carrying around that plant. Third reason? I like quirky.

Vacation Deprivation

No wonder everyone I know is so damn tired. The average American vacation is 10.2 days per year excluding holidays. The crazy thing is there is no time for vacation. I am supposed to take some time off next week and the more I think about it, the more I want to cancel the road trip. I have too much to do.

The flipside of my vacations is that I start to want to go back to work while I am on vacation. I get tired of being on vacation regardless of how much fun I may be having and oftentimes feel more exhausted after a vacation than if I had been at work. I never thought of myself as a workaholic, but maybe I am.

One of my coworkers is on a forced vacation because she has stopped accumulating vacation, which has too many vacation days on the books. Grass greener on the other side? Hardly! That simply means she has not taken a decent vacation in years.

Why the tirade? An article on one of the online newspapers detailed the vacation days per year of other industrialized nations, it's eye-opening. But how can I miss something I've never had. ;)

Ethiopian Food

Not using utensils when I eat really ruins my meal. I did not enjoy my venture into this new cuisine. If there had been a fork and a knife, I would be saying the opposite.

The flavors were nothing out of the ordinary. The experience was different. I won't be eating there again. At least I can say I've tried it.

Olympics

Watched the opening ceremonies. It's cool to watch all the atheletes in the happy mode before they get down to business.

Looks like I won't be sleeping much, if I plan on watching all the events I want to see. This would have been two good weeks to be on vacation.

Singer

I must have been a singer in a past life. I rediscovered my CD collection and consequently have been singing my little heart out. As a kid I wanted to be a singer. My biggest worry in those days was how in the world I was going to remember all of "my" songs.

I love how a song can take me back to 19xx and bring back the warm memories of the era. I realized it also brings back the bad memories and I start to laugh. Laugh because what felt like the end of my world in one way or another, today it is put in perfect perspective.

The memories couldn't be complete without a random sadness. Sadness to think that people I thought would be in my life forever no longer are.