Summer Trip

Can you believe it? I was actually able to take a couple of days off from work and I was able to spend it with my beautifully amazing wife. I'm going to start this story-then my wife will finish, so you will be able to get two sides to this quite intriguing weekend of events. So, to start off we decided to go up to visit the Wright family in Clayton and on our way we decided to stop by San Simeon and visit the Hearst castle. After a morning of work, we finally were able to take off around 430 PM. Perfect timing to be caught in traffic. About 6 pm gets around and we decide that our bellies could no longer be deprived of unhealthy food intake, which when this happens on our trips it equals a stop at Denny's. Somewhere near Ventura we pulled off at an exit, because there is always a Denny's by an exit right? I say unto you nay, not on the first exit, nor even on the second or third exit. The fourth exit we finally found the gloriousness that we call Denny's. We were so excited to bask ourselves in a Denny's breakfast meal! Unbeknown to us, we were about to step into the twilight zone of all Denny's.

After being seated, Kaylinn looked over my right shoulder and said, "We are going to play a game, you tell me if the busperson is a boy or girl." Thinking that this game would be over quickly, I turned to discover that it was an indiscernible person. After ordering our meal, we caught a glimpse of the manager, who like the bus person was difficult to define. Then we had an older couple sit across the way from us where we were unable to determine if the 57 year old woman was actually wearing pants. The food was glorious as always, Kaylinn got her usual French Toast and I got an amazing omelet of goodness, not to mention the milk shakes that we had in addition to our meals. Being stuffed to the rafters with food, Kaylinn said she was filling way to full to which I responded, "Yeah, I feel like I might 'vomelete'." Most of our questions were answered on our way out as we asked the manager how close a city was. The voice rang true, male wanting to be female. The bus person was female wanting to be male and the woman was luckily wearing short shorts, but to our angst we had to see most of her legs. (She must've have ordered a lot of cottage cheese in her lifetime, if you catch my drift.) As we headed out I decided to name this specific Denny's the G.C.D. "Gender Confusion Denny's". All who come in may question themselves on the way out.

Many hours later, we finally made it to our hotel in San Simeon. A quiet little Days Inn just off the 101 freeway. [kaylinn here] A little sketchy of a hotel, but what can I say, thats how we roll. The next morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast, which is always a delight, and then headed over to see Hearst Castle! Accompanied by Newsies, naturally. (Pulitzer & Hearst, they think they've got us...) Mark was amazed with the sheer size of the castle. I just love the history of it. A great day!

On our way out, we stopped by the beach in hopes to see "Zatara" (the Count reference for Mrs. Kammeyer). They call the elephant seals that come out to sun bathe Driftwood. Although no seals were seen, we did enjoy some animal life, including the kamikaze squirrels that literally tried to attack us. Mark is standing on the rock when this picture was taken, as you can see, the squirrel was jumping up! They scampered after us into the car! It was quite adventurous!

Mark took a memory card worth of pictures at the tide pools. I've always loved photography so I'm glad that he has this interest. Someday I hope to have photo's on our walls of the places we've been. I wanted to pick up the starfish, to no avail. But liked seeing them regardless.

We made it to the family's house that afternoon and spent the evening enjoying a little "blast from the past". Mom gave Mark some expired Orajel for his sore (from 1993), we played Outburst (from 1989), SuperNintendo (early 90s), and the ButterCream Gang! Okay, so we didn't watch the last movie, but should have!

Saturday Morning found us on our way to San Fransicso where we visited Fort Point and Pier 39 for good ol' touristy moments. It was super windy and foggy and quite cold, but really lovely too. The stress of traffic sort of took its toll on Mark's driving and I'm pretty sure he isn't going to want to drive in the city again! My bad!

This picture represents a little Brian Reagan and his "cannonball ointment" skit. We always find a good laugh in Brian. Direction #1: Do not stand directly in front of a cannon. How true that is!

Overall, its been a splendid vacation. Finalizing with a mouse in the house! That was an adventure! Funny times. I always do enjoy spending time with my family!