California: Part II

Picking up where I left off, I'll continue the story of my visit to California:

August 5th:

That morning we were set to leave for a drive up the coast. The wedding was held at the Point Arena Lighthouse--about a 4 hour drive north of San Francisco. Before picking up the rental car, I left my mom and LilSis packing and ran over to Borders for some new reading material. Once we had the car, we decided to spend the morning checking out some areas of the city we hadn't yet seen. First we went over to the Castro and walked around for a while. Then we headed to Haight Ashbury where we had lunch. Finally we were off.

I drove the first leg of the trip, so I got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was pretty cool. The drive up Route-1 was pretty brutal though. The road is narrow and there are no shoulders. It winds up around the mountain cliff with drop-offs down to the ocean below, and I have to say it was more than a little nerve-racking. (As I've lived in the city for about 10 years now, I'm not as practiced a driver as I used to be). LilSis was feeling a little queasy from all the curves and was napping in the backseat. About halfway through the drive, I switched places with my mom. I enjoyed it much more after that, as I got to gaze at the romantic views without fear of driving us off a cliff! As we climbed the mountains, we lost all cell phone reception and wouldn't have it back until Sunday afternoon--my second weekend cell phone free! To make matters worse, we were driving in such thick fog, that I swear we were driving in a cloud. At times, we couldn't see two feet in front of us!

We finally reached our destination--a hotel called "The Wharfmaster's Inn" located on a hill next to a fishing pier. It was more like a series of small houses divided into rooms. BigSis and Bro-in-Law had arrived before us. We greeted them and set about freshening up for the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. The fog was again so thick that it was nearly impossible to drive. We finally found the entrance to the park where the lighthouse is located, but the gate was shut with a sign that said "closed." At this point, we were nearly despondent. LilSis and Bro-in-Law were complaining non-stop. Bro-in-Law is a total city boy. (To give you some idea of what I mean, when he first came out to our house in the suburbs he called it the "jungle" because of the sound of crickets). Everyone was cursing KW for holding her wedding in such an inconvenient location. I kept quiet though, because to be honest, I was enamored with the romantic mysterious landscape.

As we debated what to do, we noticed two guys standing near a truck on the side of the road. Bro-in-Law decided to get out and ask them if they knew how to get in to the lighthouse. They looked like real country types, and as he approached, it became clear that they were feeding a racoon. It was so bizarre. When he asked them directions, they half ignored him.

"Why don't you ask the racoon?" they laughed.

He was freaked out by the exchange and got back into the car. We almost gave up and headed back to the hotel when Jason--one of the groom's friends appeared out of the mist and opened the gate.

"We just realized they had shut the gate, so I came out here for you guys!" he explained.

We thanked him and headed in.

The bride and her mother waved down the car and directed us where to park. There are some small houses on the park grounds for tourists and the bride's mother and the groom's parents had each rented a house there. The setting was gorgeous, although incredibly difficult to see through the fog. We walked over to a gazebo on the cliff where the ceremony would be held. (They say a scene in "Forever Young" with Mel Gibson was filmed there. I don't know... I never saw that movie). Looking down over the cliff, there were huge crashing waves, the heads of seals occasionally popping up through the foam. With the wind, it was absolutely freezing.

As we lined up for the run-through, HW, her husband and the twins arrived. After the rehearsal, the groom's family hosted a BBQ. The food was amazing--chicken and ribs, vegetables and peach cobbler for dessert. I drank my fair share of wine and beer along with HW and the twins. Most people stayed inside with the fireplace going, but I sat outside on a picnic bench, my hair curling from the moisture in the air. The groom's brother was there with his three kids who were absolutely adorable. We roasted marshmallow's with them on the grill and made s'mores. Mostly, I talked to LW. He has been living with his sister in San Francisco since graduating from college last year, but he's planning on moving back to the East Coast. As the party started to wind up, LW & AW wanted to go out drinking. They asked if I wanted to go along. I was pretty tipsy at that point, but there was no way I was going to get into a car with either of them. Besides, everything up there closes at 9:00! They refused to be convinced to stay home and went out on their own. I got a text from NV (in a rare moment of cell phone reception) and he said that he was at Cheers. It made me feel strange to be so far away. I thought of Narc a lot and tried not to. I don't think anyone in my family could tell how tipsy I was though, so I was glad for it.

August 6th:

The next morning we woke up and went to look for a place for lunch. My mom, LilSis, BigSis, Bro-in-Law and I headed into town, but couldn't find anyplace to eat. Instead, we went back to the hotel and ate in the restaurant there. From there we changed into our bridesmaid dresses (navy blue satin) and went over to the bride's cabin to help her get ready for the day. The worst part of it--she had dozens of tiny buttons on her dress, each of which had to be closed by hand, and somehow I got stuck with the job. My fingers were red and sore by the time I had finished! We took some photos and then set off for the ceremony.

The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful. The couple wrote their own vows and I was especially impressed with the groom. I never knew he was such a poet! But while we were lining up waiting to walk down the aisle, LW & AW were taking swigs from a flask.

"What are you guys drinking?" I asked them.

"Johnny Walker, Black label, 12 years old," came the reply. "You want some?"

"Um, no..."

Seriously--I couldn't believe they were getting drunk while about to walk down the aisle for their sister's wedding! They told me that earlier that morning they had gone surfing at the beach below. I swear, they have a death wish. The rocks jutting out into the water are tremendous and they're everywhere. Those boys are definitely thrill seekers.

During the ceremony itself, I started to feel really sad. I thought a lot about my dad. I don't want to say any more about that now, because I just don't want to go back there. After it was over, the small party (of about 30) retired to a nearby tent set up with chocolates, wine and cheese, fruits and vegetables, and a harpist. I wandered over to the edge of the cliff and peered down into the sea. The wind was blowing fiercely causing the grass to wave. Everything was colored in gray. It made me think of Wuthering Heights and of Catherine running through the moors crying out for Heathcliff. (And of course, that made me think of Narc again.)

From there, we headed back to the hotel restaurant for the wedding dinner. I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have because I started to sugar crash from the chocolate and wine. It was nice though. When that was over, I went back to our room to lay down for a while. Then, we all changed out of our dresses and went to the newlyweds' cabin for an "after-party." It was a good time. Of course, LW and AW were drinking too much. The groom played a song for KW on the guitar and sang. It was sweet. The only strange part--the groom's brother and his best friend were telling us stories about growing up in South Dakota. They started to talk about hunting and then about killing squirrels. I thought it was disgusting and very off-putting. I mean, everyone was drinking, but I can't imagine what's amusing about killing an animal. Gross!

August 7th:

The next morning, we checked out, loaded up the car and headed back to the bride and groom's cabin for brunch. As the maid of honor, HW had prepared quite an impressive spread. LW and AW looked totally out of it. Apparently they had been up half the night and later got stoned. AW claimed the house was haunted and said that when he tried to go to sleep in an upstairs room, a ghost had tried to choke him. Weird.

We said our goodbyes and left at around noon. This time, we took a route more inland, even though we had to drive 45 minutes out of the way to get a connecting road. LilSis was feeling car-sick again and kept complaining along the way. BigSis and Bro-in-Law were headed back to San Francisco to fly out that night, while my mom, LilSis and I wanted to spend some time in Napa. I was thrilled with the ride back down because we passed through the Navarro River redwoods. I had really wanted to see some of the forests there, but my family is 100% not into the nature thing. I had only been in CA once before, visiting GoldenFinch back in 1997 and she took me to see some amazing natural sights so I knew what I was missing. I was so glad that we got to pass through the trees on the drive. I made my mom pull over so that I could get out of the car and sit in the forest for a few minutes and take some pictures. Again, I'm still waiting for my film to get developed, but if any of them come out okay, I'll post them here. (I know, I know... Narc keeps making fun of me for not having a digital yet, but I'm always a little technologically behind the times!)

As we drove, some of the towns we passed through were so small that according to their welcome signs, the populations didn't even reach 100! By lunchtime we were in Calistoga. We walked around, ate lunch and contemplated getting a spa treatment. We decided against it, bought some mud-masks in a souvenir shop instead and headed onward towards Napa.

That evening, we arrived in Napa and ate dinner in town (where the waiter kept commenting on LilSis' t-shirt, making her uncomfortable that he was staring at her very large breasts). Then it was back to the hotel for our mud-masks. My mom, LilSis and I were all in a very silly mood, and took pictures with our masks on, watched Law & Order and eventually got some sleep.

August 8th:

Our very last day in California! We woke up and had waffles for breakfast at the hotel. Delicious! Then it was off to the wineries. We went to two different vineyards for the tastings. They were absolutely breathtaking. Also, I can't believe how warm it was in Napa when it had been so cold in San Francisco and Point Arena. The rolling hills and endless rows of grapes were absolutely picturesque. My mom got tipsy from the wine tasting pretty quickly and had to eat some crackers. LilSis didn't participate, as she doesn't really like to drink. I had a great time and bought three bottles of wine--two for me and one for Narc.

None of us are total wine people though, so after we had sampled the vineyard thing, we hit the outlet stores. I bought a blazer for fall. Then LilSis wanted to go to a local museum about food, wine and culture. We got there at 4:00 and only had an hour to look around. As it was a small musuem, we managed to see what we wanted to see. After the museum, we ate dinner at a nearby pub and piled in the car to head to the airport. It wasn't too far to Oakland and our plane took off at 10:25 (California-time) arriving at JFK at about 6:00 the next morning (NY-time).

So that's my trip to California!

On Tuesday I napped for most of the day. When I got up at around 6:00 pm I sent Narc a text:

Hey, back from CA & brought you some wine from Napa. Hope you survived the heat in NY last week!

He wrote back right away (which still surprises me!)

Going to meeting now, perhaps get together later?

Yay! I was psyched. But I'll leave that story for the next post.

Glad to be back!!!

-Hyde