We left at 4:15am on the 15th of August; I can't say either of us slept enough to warrant such a drive. I had so much adrenaline pumping through my veins though, that I did the bulk of the driving and slept very little when I wasn't behind the wheel. This, however, made me a less than amiable driving buddy, I'll admit, but we did manage to make it to Long Beach by 8:15pm mostly unscathed.
There was a bridal shower the next day that my mother and I made it to, while Alex went to the beach to boogie board and then play in my grandmother's refinished pool. Monday is a blur, I don't think I did anything too important then. Tuesday is too; so is Wednesday. Thursday we went to Disneyland, which is also a blur, but more memorable.
Up bright and early and packing for the happiest place on earth; we got there a half hour after opening and got a great parking spot right by the tram. Online purchased tickets in hand, we made our way through the security check points and to the front gate in no time and then it was off to Autopia, whose line was sure to get crazy within the hour. It was in the half hour wait here that we put together our game plan. I went over the map land by land and Alex and I made sure to cross off anything that wasn't of interest. We now had a master list of everything we wanted to do that day and I made sure to put a smiley face next to every attraction we made it to. This came to 26 rides if you count the fact that we rode Tower of Terror twice. My parents and sister met us for dinner (they have annual passports) but left after Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters at which point Alex and I hit the remaining five or six rides left on our list in Fantasy Land and then headed home ourselves. Sixteen hours and 26 rides: a good day in the Magic Kingdom.
With Disneyland crossed off of our to-do list and over a week until the wedding, we looked for other things that we could do with my family. This included Griffith Park Observatory and The Getty Villa. At the observatory we saw a show in the Planetarium which was neat, and walked around the additions that they've made to the complex admiring the structural integrity of it all (the additions were made underground in order to allow for the complex to remain original in design from all external appearances).
The Getty Villa is a separate Getty museum site located in Malibu where J. Paul Getty himself once resided. Its not the modern building that the Getty Center in LA is, but its a lovely place regardless and they had an interesting, though small, exhibit that I had never heard of. The Chimaera of Arezzo is a beast with three heads: a lion's, a goat's and a snake's. I had never seen this creature before and I found it fascinating, even if confusing (I still don't get how the goat did anything from the middle of the lion's back, but to each his own). The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani was also worth seeing.
On the way home from the Getty Villa, we also stopped by the Wayfarer's Chapel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Alex had never heard of it, and my mother had raved about it to Jenn, so we made a pit stop and climbed up into the planters by way of a trashcan to get a better look inside since it was closed. A little delinquent, but this is a Mercer pit stop we're talking about.
This was Monday of the second week. Fast forward to Wednesday evening on which I got a call from Debra needing my assistance on last minute preparations. Alex and I hurriedly gathered the things I would need, and I woke bright and early at 5am to drive down to Escondido to help. Thursday to Friday afternoon felt like one day with everything we did before the rehearsal.
From the rehearsal on, life was exciting! I was inundated with friends that I hadn't seen in two years, it was like a reunion of the apartment of doom (what Debra, Scott, and I deemed our abode my last year of college). Debra and Derek had rented a photo booth so that guests could take pictures and scrap book them in lieu of a guest book. The photo booth was, unsurprisingly, a hit, but let me tell you, as the night wore on and the bulk of the guests left over were the old college crew those photos got... interesting. Unbeknownst to anyone other than the bride, groom and myself, Debra and Derek would be getting a CD of all the images taken in the booth that evening. I think Debra told me because she knew it wouldn't stop me from being outrageous and that I would also encourage others to go over the top. It was her hope that we would, in fact.
The night ended with us camped out at a hotel, having been driven home by the hotel shuttle whose driver Ryan kept addressing as "good sir" and who also took us to In-N-Out before returning us to our sleeping quarters. I can't say that Ryan's sentiments were out of character for the rest of the shuttle. The man showed up with cold bottles of water and a well air-conditioned vehicle; I believe I said something to the effect of wanting to have his child. After a long wedding day in 110 degree weather with no manner of suitable air-conditioning, you would have too. Then again, you might have merely been in the "good sir" crowd.
Sunday we took whatever leftover possessions of the bride there were in the hotel and returned them with a couple rented tuxes to the home of the parents of the groom. There was no real plan for when Debra and Derek would come home and open their gifts, so I headed to have lunch with my parents at the Stone Brewery and then back to Long Beach to pack. One last game of Farkle (a dice game Jenn taught us) with Rox and Joe and then goodbyes all around as my parents went to bed and Alex and I did some last minute laundry folding.
At 4am, my father was up and getting ready to depart for work and Alex and I were loading the car. My mother woke at 4:40 or so and saw us off at around 5. The drive back was a bit more pleasant than the drive down. Alex insisted on changing drivers every few hours rather than every 5 or 6. We stopped in Redding at the last In-N-Out and went to visit the Sundial Bridge (a modern structure that Alex had read about in the AAA travel book, though I believe he might have heard of it elsewhere also). It was nice to have a break to stretch our legs before the leg of the trip taking us to Eugene for dinner (Sweet Basil Thai).
The two stops, despite resulting in an extra 2 hours to get home, made the trip just a bit more bearable. At 11pm we rolled in, and my check engine light turned on; perfect timing (sarcasm intended here). We have since read the code, and its the catalytic converter system, but we need to hook up the software to the car and check the readings that the oxygen sensors are putting out to make sure its not a cheap part that we need to replace. We'll keep our fingers crossed for cheap.
All in all, a good trip. Its good to be home, though bittersweet, obviously. I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll find a way to feel like it wasn't rushed, but I have a sinking feeling that it will always feel that way. At least it seems to be getting easier, if only because I'm more prepared for it.
A four day weekend awaits me, perhaps some lunch first :)
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