An Unlikely Visitor

I was watching my Giants ultimately lose to Philly one Sunday night a few weeks ago when my phone rang. It was Tony, old roommate and Maltese copy of myself (I'm probably the Irish-Kraut-Franco copy of him), and he was coming to the Southland!

When? Well, tomorrow, to be exact! The very next Monday Tony would be flying to LAX, renting a car, and travelling to the Central Coast to see his mom and ailing grandparents, and then off to San Francisco to see his sister and her toddler. I had some time, and travelling with a companion is always more fun, so Tuesday the two of us went on a road trip.

Monday was an adventure all it's own, one that won't show up here, but may someday in another form.

But Tuesday, we took off for San Luis, as his grandparents live in Halcyon, a small town just south of the Arroyo Grande and the Five Cities area. Tony's mom was there helping his grandparents pack up their house, since they're moving closer to Cheryl in Monterrey. Tuesday was like so many other "arrival" days in SLO, days that offer fun and excitement and reminiscences, and that later will be most likely not remembered.

Wednesday had Tony heading to his grandparents in Halcyon, while I watched the A's/Rangers game, Game 162, a game that would decide the winner of the AL West division. Then I napped.

Thursday we headed to San Francisco, and spent time with Tony's sister and nephew. They live in the Mission, which I hear is considered ghetto, but her neighborhood that I saw was very nice. And their house has a great view from the balcony:

And here's another. I couldn't get over it. Awesome.

The next day we drove back to San Luis Obispo, and then the rest of the way to Long Beach. It was a long day of driving, Friday, and I drove the last stretch, SLO to LB. I made it in three hours flat.

Saturday we went off to see Corrie's cousin Jacob play in one of his many bands. The lead singer of Drive-by Truckers, Patterson Hood, lives in Athens, Georgia, just like musical prodigy Jacob, and they've connected; Jake plays cello on Patterson's newest solo album. They've been touring the west coast and staying in actual hotels (Patterson's a big enough draw to keep them off floors and out of broken down vans).

The venue was the Hollywood Cemetery. There is a Masonic Temple on the grounds, and that's where the show was held.

The color-light show was cool. Here's a picture of Patterson:

On Sunday Tony rented a bike and we all went on a "long" bike ride, but long only in our sense. Tony routinely makes bike rides longer than this back in Louisiana.

Thanks for coming out to visit, Tony, you're always welcome out in our neck of the woods.