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- Road Trip -
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Monday, November 15, 2004
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Yeeeah baby.
I love traveling, and I've done quite a lot of it in the past 3 years. As much as I adore visiting other states, other countries, nothing beats the one - the only - Road Trip. We took lots of pics, so you can follow along in photos on the gallery to the right---> :)
Of course no road trip, that I know of, would be complete without some good friends to make the journey go by faster. And yes, the Cali Trio was at it again...
Here's where we went -
Day 1:
Yosemite National Park
I drove to Visalia on Wednesday night and met up with Lupe and Molly. We got up early (about 9am, which is damn early), piled in the car - along with Lupe's sister, Julissa - and made the trip up the mountain of Central California to the famous Yosemite National Park. We were hoping, praying, doing anti-rain dances in attempt to have the weather be decent. And to our surprise? Ok, no surprise, it rained like a bitch. It certainly made for an interesting trek through the mountains that seemed to go on for miles. Just when we thought we might bust the gates of heaven, we were so damn HIGH up, we arrived at the vistor center. We checked out the gift shops and noticed a huge bear in the middle of the store. We couldn't resist - photo op! But, the locals started giving us shifty eyes, so we skipped on our merry way. Yosemite is a beautiful place. We all agreed that looking down the canyons made one seem so small in comparison to this world. Nature like this really IS bigger than life.
As we made our way down the hill back to Madera, Molly's cousin, Dani, had called to say that she had arrived from Los Angeles to our hotel and wanted to go to Chukchansi Casino. So, we get our best Ocean's 11 'tudes on, and Julissa, Lupe, Molly, Dani, and myself are in the casino - of course, everyone making money but me. Dani had made friends with a nickle machine, and a mere 2 hours later, cha-chinged herself to a $60 payback. Realizing that we hadn't eaten since that morning, we found the casino buffet and walked, ney, RAN to it. This buffet was out of control, and we were all so giddy that we hardly knew were to start. I felt like a had my weight in food, and asked who would like to join me in jogging to the dessert bar. Needless to say, we had to roll to our car at the end of the night.
Day 2:
Sushi at Yoshino's
*deep sigh* Let me just say that I personally look forward to each and every time we get the chance to eat at Yoshino's. We convinced Dani that this sushi was a 'must' before we left Fresno, CA. Not only is the atmosphere funky and fun, but the sushi is so fresh it damn near talks back to you. You sit on a circular island surrounding the chefs and holler up your orders. Each chef has his own 'special'. The 'Jack special', the 'Robert Dinero'....and our all time favorite - The Wat Special. Mr. Wat was in the back, and Lupes asked Robert if we could meet him and tell him how much we bow to him for making this kick-ass sushi extravaganza. Mr. Wat sheeplishly walked out and all us girls clapped and sang our sushi praises. Mr. Wat gave a nervous smile, and made what looked like an 'ass hauling' to the back kitchen. This, of course, made us laugh even more. The 4 of us polished off 4 of these specials, plus 2 other rolls called "Death Valley" (which is deep-fried california rolls) and the "Governor Roll", named after our Governator.
The perfect end to this stuff fest? Tempura Banana for dessert. The bananas are deep-fried in Tempura batter, placed on a plate of banana custard sauce, with strawberries, chocolate sauce, and powdered sugar. Holy Cripes, this stuff is amazingly good. Lupes enjoyed a nice merlot, Molly some root beer, and Dani and I had Shirley Temples. We were so full, we had to push each other out the door. We did a lot of wheeling and pushing on this trip...damn.
Day 2: That Night
Club "On The Rocks"
Still full, and possibly ready to pass out on the sidewalk, we remembered that one of the sushi chefs recommended a club to go check out called On The Rocks. We rolled into the car and headed back to the hotel to get ready. On The Rocks was a trendy little club/lounge with 3 different rooms, a big flat screen showing music videos, and plenty of note-worthy club-goers attempting to do that thing called Dancing. I'm serious, I've never seen people move their bodies like that really thinking it looks 'hip' to appear to be having a ceisure. Luckily the club wasn't all teeny boppers, it had it's share of 30-somethings, and a few 40-somethings who's job was to stare at us and utterly creep us out. We found some seats in the back, ordered some Cosmo's and Hulk's (Hypnotic and Hennesy) and waited for the DJ to get a clue and play the real jams. We hit the floor finally, and showed Dani some Techno moves. Molly got frisky with a platform speaker, and 2 other girls roamed over to us saying that we seemed fun and wanted to hang out on our side of the floor.
A few - ok, maybe a LOT - of drinks later, it was back at the hotel at 2am to hit the bed like a rock and get some sleep for tomorrow's drive to San Jose. Lupes and Dani decide, at 2am, that they're going to head up to Chukchansi Casino for one more round of gambling. Molly and I stayed at the hotel, badly in need of a pillow. We (ok, maybe just Molly) was dead asleep, when suddenly I hear a pounding on the door. I look at the clock (almost 6am!), and jump out of bed to go to the window. Lupes and Dani were back from the casino, and trying to put the key in the door to unlock it. "Wait, let me try" I yell through the door. After a few minutes of fighting with the damn lock, we realize that it's jammed. I could hear Lupe mumbling "we're gonna have to sleep in the car!" I couldn't believe the door lock jammed! I thought, screw it, I gotta get these guys in here somehow. I turn to Molly to ask what she thinks I should do. Her response?
"ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz"
Ooook, I guess I'll just have to pop the screen on the large window next to the door. Lucky for us, the window was low to the ground, and I opened it and popped the screen as a tired Lupe and Dani did a MacGyver and climbed in through the window. About 4 hours of sleep later, we pack up and get ready to leave - and again, have to hike our asses (plus our bags) out the hotel window. Can we just get our Starbucks and be on the road already?
Day 3:
Miss Samoa pagent
San Jose, CA
Three hours to San Jose, and we arrive in one piece to the Hyatt Regency. Molly's parents were involved in the Miss Samoa pagent, her mom being a sponsor through her business, Polynesian Creations, and her dad playing host and the night's entertainment. Molly's dad, Dennis Ah Yek, is a very well known singer/musician in Hawaii, and Lupe and I were so excited that we'd get to see him perform for the first time! He has a beautiful voice, and did such a lovely job. The pagent started out with a buffet dinner at 5:30, then there were 3 contestants competing for the Miss Samoa title. Polynesian dancing, Hawaiian music, and I was even learning a bit of Samoan - Talofa Lava!
The next morning was call to take it easy, and found a mall in San Jose called the Great Mall, where we spent most of our Sunday.
It was such a wild, fun, comforting, silly, funny, and overall great trip. We always manage to do way too much eating and shopping, but during the drives and late night's in the hotel rooms, we got in a whole lot of great conversation. It's so wonderful to know that you have friends that are willing to do just about anything for your crazy ass. And what I love most is it doesn't matter where you are - good friend can find the fun and adventure in the most odd places. I cherish these road trips, these friends, these times in my life.
After this trip, Madison has some stiff competition. Although, I think it's ready for the challenge...
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Is it for real? Can it be true? Elf is now on DVD?? Dude, I've been doin' the happy dance since hearing this movie was now available to own. There's only 2 comedians that I simply adore: Jimmy Fallon and Mr. Elf himself, Will Ferrell.
Name: April