Road trip to L.A.

After an early Thanksgiving with my family I took a road trip with my friend to Los Angeles to reunite with our college roommate. I’ve never driven from San Francisco to L.A. before, so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. As a child my family would often visit my grandparents in Reno and we drove to Oregon a few times, so I wasn’t too worried about being in the car for hours on end. I brought plenty of things to entertain me, and my friend made us a great playlist that made the six and a half hours go by quickly.

At one point all the time in the car was starting to get to me, so to stop my fidgeting, I decided to release some tightness in my calves on the dash board… totally normal…

Even though we left for L.A. a little before 11 a.m., by the time we were on the outskirts of the county, the sun was already almost down. Despite spending the majority of the day sitting in the car, we were exhausted and ready to stretch out for a bit. So we did what we always used to when we needed to lie down for a bit, jump on our roommate’s bed and be as obnoxious as possible. Despite being incredibly annoying, she still took us out to a delicious dinner and helped us to relax after a long day in the car by taking us to her apartment complex’s hot tub.

Before I had decided to go to L.A. I had my heart set on running a turkey trot. To make up for it, I did my own Thanksgiving morning. The only problem was that I was in a completely new area (the first time I had seen it was in the dark, so I was really unsure of where I was) and I tend to get lost… a lot. But instead of letting that stop me, I laced up and decided to wing it. Although it was a blast to get out and get to explore the neighborhood, it wasn’t as relaxing as my usual runs where I don’t have to pay attention to where I’m going or to street names to make sure that I make it back.

But after successfully navigating my way back, I was treated to a delicious breakfast at a local coffee shop/cafe that I desperately wanted to steal and bring with me back home. I had a vegetarian, crustless quiche that made me feel spoiled and yet like I was eating well. I also bought a hand pie that was later eaten before Thanksgiving dinner (in my defense we had healthy (and tasty) baked fruit for dessert so it was my only pie of the day).

Over the rest of the weekend I saw Black Friday first hand (it was simultaneously horrifying and depressing), went kayaking and paddleboarding (and did not fall in), and spent a lot of time with my not-actually-related family.

Before we said our said goodbyes on Sunday and headed back to real-life, we made another stop at the cafe for breakfast, and I couldn’t resist a chai tea and another hand pie for the road.

What we didn’t realize was that everyone else who had decided to take a road trip down to Southern California would be driving back north with us. I kept telling myself that there was an accident in front of us, and once we pass that we would be free and clear. Lets just say that never happened. It took nine hours to get back to San Francisco, and despite some interesting bird flocks that did their best to entertain me, it was a long trip back home.