From LA to San Francisco

Day 12 - Californication

1:06PM. Chilled in last night with our hosts, ordered tasty Chinese food from Chef Ming’s on Olympic. We’re now at a very nice Beverly Hills park right down the street. Picnic time! And with some chilled wine to keep us cool on a sunny day.

1:34. A bird poops on Rachel’s leg!!! An awesome thing when it happens to someone else. “They say it’s good luck,” I remark.

“No it’s not,” she fires back, “that’s just what they say to make people feel better about being pooped on.”

We meet Allison at 5:14PM for manicures and pedicures at Eden Spa and Nails on Beverly Drive. Yup.

About halfway into the awesomeness that is the “mani-pedi,” Rachel tells me I can turn on the massage chair I had no idea I was sitting in. Next level of awesomeness ensues.

7:53. On our way to dinner, we begin discussing the idea of a ski trip in Tahoe.

“I haven’t been skiing since I was little - had a bad experience,” says Rachel.

“See, I like the bad experiences. That’s why I keep going back,” answers Charlie Russo, in classic Russo fashion. We’ve missed our friend.

9:46, after a fantastic Italian dinner at Pan e Vino on Beverly Blvd, we sit there discussing whether the man at the bar is Clarence Williams, the actor who played the villainous Sampson Simpson in one of our favorite movies, “Half Baked.” We’ve actually been talking about it throughout the meal, so we decide to find out for sure.

Yup, it’s Sampson Simpson! And he’s very nice in agreeing to take a picture with us. An excellent story for the last place we visit before we get to San Francisco.

Gridlock traffic and now a celebrity pic - thanks, Los Angeles!

Day 13 - California dreamin’

We hit the road at 8:08AM on the last day of our trip. One of the things we’re really looking forward to is getting the kitties a permanent home. Can’t imagine what they’ve been thinking this whole time. They’ll likely pee on something of ours as retribution. Wouldn’t blame them.

12:03PM. “Oh God, BUGS!” Rachel says, accompanied by a pitter-patter of little things against our windshield. Yellowish gray smudges appear everywhere. Looks like we just raced through 100s of bees, and many of them didn’t survive the encounter with our big yellow truck.

12:12PM. 158 miles to San Francisco. This is all getting very real.

It’s 2:28 and we’re in Oakland. Wow.

Just pulled up to a toll outside of San Fran at 2:38PM. The toll officer, out of nowhere, asks if we had gotten married and insisted that we do so this year.

“If you marry this year, everything you touch will turn to gold, and your first child will be a boy,” he says in a boisterous Caribbean-sounding accent.

Well, ok then.

2:42PM. Just got a shot of San Francisco city limits sign. Our road trippin’ skills, at this point, are off the charts.

3:02. Blocks away. Giddy with anticipation. City is gorgeous.

And farewell....

It’s been an awesome trip, going from place to place, seeing the country as we move from New York to San Francisco. Just an amazing time. Thanks for following along, as it made us feel that all of our friends and family were there somehow sharing in the experience with us, which made it all the better as we traveled on.

A special thanks to everyone we saw along the way - to the Alexander sisters, their mom, Monica and her hubby, Sacco in Chicago. To cousin Nick and his wonderful family. To Regan and Shannon for having us in Denver. To Aunt Marty and Uncle David in La Veta and Uncle Ted and Aunt Peggy in Taos. To the waters that forged the awesomeness that is the Grand Canyon. To our friends Charlie and Allison in Beverly Hills. To Jesse and Lindsey for making our move to the new city that much easier.

And to the kitty cats, for taking it all in stride.

Approximately 3,531 miles later and we’re finally home!

Rachel and Brian