My Best Cos

I recently went to visit my best cos, Steph, in California. It was a super quick trip. Ma and I rolled out of bed round about 3:30 am and were on the road by 4:15. That's my favorite way to do quick trips. You feel so super awesome when its finally 9:00 in the morning and you've already been driving five hours and you only have a few more to go. I'm telling you, it's the way to do long road trips.

Did I mention I'm a morning person and wake up before 6:00 am without the help of an alarm?

Mornings, love them.

The best part about leaving so early is that we were able to take our time. Ma and I stopped of in Truckee for a water refill and took the scenic roads from there. Very unbusy, windy, two-lane highways through piles of beautiful pine trees. We drove up to Donner's Pass and stopped to view the lake and read the available plaques about the Donner Party.

Donner Lake

Did I mention it was a perfect sort of day? The sun was shining, there was a small breeze blowing, and the sky was perfectly blue with lovely clouds piling on top of each other. Also, the rocks totally looked fake. Like Hollywood Styrofoam rocks. No offense to California mountains, but I'll keep my rugged Utah ones with rocks that look real.

We made it to our hotel in time to go spend some time just hanging with my cos and her adorable, baby girl. We hung out on the couch and talked and laughed and played. It's funny that Steph and I grew up to be such good friends. Best cos' we are. As children we couldn't spend a couple of hours together without bickering and determining that we kind of loathed the presence of the other and wished the other away. Really, that happened. Over and over and over again, as many times as she came to visit.

Friday I joined Steph for breakfast and we talked and laughed some more. We can talk about anything and everything for hours when we get together. Later, we did some shopping and ate lunch. More chatting and laughing and playing. We also were able to find baby Kate some sunglasses that will be perfect for her upcoming camping debut. Friday night, Steph and Kate were otherwise engaged so Ma and I had dinner with Aunt Nancy and cousin Michelle. It was fun and delicious and the perfect way to spend a few hours catching up. It's been years since I've seen either of them.

Saturday was the day of adventures. It started with a caramel making fiasco. The lesson to take from said event is to always use a candy thermometer when making caramel. The recipe they were using had an amount of time included, for those without a candy thermometer. The caramel cooked too long and was only good for sucking, not chewing. It probably would have chipped a tooth or two had you bitten into it unexpectedly. The event is documented here by Steph's husband Jon. I wish them the best of luck in their next attempt. May the candy thermometer be with them.

Steph lives about a half hour drive from Sacramento. After we smashed up the caramel into pieces we could suck on, we hit the road. I've never been to Old Sac. It was very touristy but super fun. There's so much history there. I especially loved seeing the old street level and the sloping alleys and the lovely, old-time buildings.

I met a friendly Indian outside an antique shop. Don't be intimidated by the stern expression; he's really very nice. We chatted about settlement life and have decided we're the best of friends.

We stopped by a friendly street artist. We apparently won face of the year so we had to get our pictures drawn, of course. A tourist couple passing by stopped to watch the artist draw. Ma asked the couple if it looked like us. They said that it did, that the street artist had even put in my mole! See it? Funny that they thought that was evidence of it looking like me.

By the way, I don't know why people have always warned me away from street artists. It's inexpensive, a better souvenir than the cheap trinkets you can find in every tourist location, and a fun way to document your trip together. Also, I love seeing the different styles the street artists use. My sister and I were nearly accosted by a street artist in Strausbourg when we were there together. He went all the way down to two euros. For two euros he would have sketched our faces. I would love to have a sketch that barely looked like my sister and I from Strausbourg. Next time someone wants to draw your face for two euros, let them!

After Old Sac we headed into downtown Sacramento. It was the second Saturday of the month. Participating art galleries were open to the public for free. We stopped by three of them, but only one was open. It was a photography gallery and was featuring the Night Sky collection by Jennifer Wu. It was gorgeous. There was one shot of the stars (I don't see it in the collection on her web page) that I particularly loved and might have bought for myself if it wasn't a year of no spending.

After strolling the streets looking for galleries to visit, we stopped in at Rick's Dessert Diner. I was going to get just the Best Yellow Cake, but couldn't help getting a piece of the Lemon Cake, too. Good thing I did because the yellow cake was a bust. It was dry and the crumb was overly course and the chocolate frosting didn't have anything to say for itself. The lemon cake was so super delicious and I would be happy to eat a piece of it every time I went to Sacramento.

Did I mention Rick's was very pink, inside and out?

We ended the night by eating at Loomis Chinese (which was surprisingly delicious) and playing games. Sunday we left in the good, early morning and headed back home. It was the perfect sort of trip and I'm so glad we made time to go. My best cos told me that in the fall at Apple Hill there are all sorts of appley things to do. If there's any chance of making it, I am definitely going. Apples! Oodles and oodles of apples.

For those who were wondering, during the trip I managed to read my way through Feed and halfway through Let the Great World Spin; more reading than I reading than I thought I would get in. Also, I took enough running clothes so I could hit the treadmill Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I didn't run once. Good thing because my feet were aching in that tourist kind of way by the end of Saturday.

Ma's Bloopers