California Trip-2: People

Many apologies to my few readers about the lagging taking place on here. Since returning from California, my schedule was kinda screwed up at my night job, and the only full days off I've had (off from both jobs) were a Saturday and Sunday when our friends Marc and Linda were visiting from New York. Throw in the near total crap-out of our little Saturn and our purchasing of a new (to us) car, a transaction that should be complete early next week, and time slips away like sands through the hour glass.

One of the wonderful things about the trip that this post concerns was the visiting of our friends and family. People were the reason we traveled west, and being with our people was the highlight.

The first day we arrived we got to hang out with Donny, a friend from Corrie's architectural school days, and a guest at our Mexican wedding. He took us to a cool speakeasy-style bar in downtown San Jose, and we talked about his work and caught up. It was a great evening that ended when we left for Citrus Heights and my brother's house.

We made it in reasonable time and spent the next two days playing in Sac with Dan and 'Pita and Norm and Holly, two pairs of people I love living less than a mile apart from each other. As a person who feels pretty mature, I can say that it's really when you're apart from your loved ones that you appreciate all those moments together, never wanting nights to end, staying up until 3 and 4 in the morning, laughing and telling stories...

The same thing happened for the one night we stayed in Fresno with Corrie's brother, Rob. It was great seeing him and talking and cooking and watching him play daddy to his girlfriend's two sons. His girlfriend is great, by the way.

The next day was Saturday, and we rolled into San Luis in the early afternoon to my boy Ryan's house, showered, and went off to the reception, the main event around which our trip was based. Ryan is one of my closest friends, a member of my wedding party, and seeing him is always a blast. On that first day we got to see him and Julie, his girl and one of Corrie's bridesmaids; other good friends Joe and Kelly, themselves set to get hitched next year; Jimmy B and his very cool girl Christine; Ken and a very pregnant Christine, friends that couldn't make it to our Mexican party; and the couple of honor, Sam and Aurie.

I first met Sam when Corrie was overseas, and after our first conversation, I knew that anytime he was around, we would get along famously. He was a SLO transplant from Seattle, a child of a white mom and Black Panther, raised Jehovah's Witness, better read than I, just as left, and just as pissed off about the far right contingent ruling San Luis Obispo.

He got his first passport to come to Yelapa. Once we got the dates of Sam and Aurie's day, we put in for time off, no questions.

After the reception, we spent Sunday at Jimmy B's house watching football, then had breakfast on Monday with Tami Love, a friend of ours that I met while tutoring at Cuesta ten years ago. We stayed connected when we both got back to Ca Poly, we visited her in Munich when she was living there and we were trekking, and she visited us when we lived in Brooklyn and she was working some freelance math/computer gig in Yonkers. It was good seeing her...she might come out here for a week or so, trying to find a place to settle for a few years.

After that breakfast on Monday, we left for San Mateo and my high school friends Rich and Lara, and their kiddies, Lily and Abby. We had a great time visiting, hanging out, and then going out to eat in Half Moon Bay, another evening that seemed to end too soon.

Now some pictures:

Mama Kate's boys and their ladies...


Dan and Norm and I hamming it up...


Ryan, Jimmy B, me, and Sam up in Paso Robles, the site of their reception...


Sam and Auriana...


Kelly, Aurie and Corrie...


Tami Love and Corrie...


Rich and Lara, my high school friends whom I hadn't seen in a dozen years, with their two daughters, Lily (almost 3), and Abby (six months)...