I’ve really been enjoying each morning with the cool and dry weather. I’ve been thinking on my runs about how bad it will be when I go home and back to school. At least I will miss the worst of the summer, which is punishing Virginia right now. When I get back there will only be a month or more of nastiness before it gets tolerable again.
I talked to Dan several times, but decided not to try and meet him since it was so far away and I had more or less committed to visiting some friends. Some former neighbors that now live in Davis asked me to go up for the weekend, so visiting them consisted of the majority of my time on Saturday and Sunday.
Last Saturday I ran from Moffett to Rancho San Antonio. However, most of the time I was on Grant Rd. since it turned out the park was about six miles away. I got about five minutes into the park before I turned around. Overall it wasn’t bad since it was a gradual uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. The park itself seemed pretty cool but it was packed with people running/walking/biking, much more than any other park I’ve been to.
I got on the road towards Sacramento at about 11:30 or so and it took me about 3 hours to get to Davis. Traffic was terrible and it was only a weekday afternoon. It’s only about 90 miles to Davis. Interstate 80 was a parking lot. I should have taken 680 around the East Bay, but I wanted to get some pictures of San Francisco from Yerba Buena Island. I got a few good ones, but the spot I have seen so many pictures taken from had nowhere to park. I might go back if I have time.
By the time I got to Davis, it was late afternoon and I met everyone and we just hung around the house and talked. Our ex-neighbors have a daughter, Laura, that is several years older than I am and used to baby sit me when I was little. She just got married in the fall so I met her husband for the first time. It was interesting talking to everyone and filling them in on everything that had been going on in the past ten years or so since they had moved. I had been to their house right after they first moved to Davis, in the summer after my fourth grade, so everything seemed familiar. The calico cat, Charlie, I remember being so energetic was now 17 years old and showing his age.
We piled into the car and drove through the central valley through orchards until we reached the East Bay hills. The road turned into another one of those windy, hilly roads that are so prolific in this area. We passed a large dam and stopped to take some pictures. Farther along, there were some large vineyards in between the hills. Some of the hills were charred black from recent fires.
We got to Napa at around 5 or so and met Pico’s (Laura’s husband) mom for dinner at a place called the General Store. Dinner consisted of more weird California food, mostly a variety of eclectic salads, sushi, and specialty pizza. It was all very good, but was stuff that I don’t eat on a regular basis and was a good change of pace. Afterwards, we walked around Downtown Napa and stopped at a bakery for dessert. The place had these small individual sized cakes. I got a white chocolate cheesecake, which was excellent. I traded a piece with Laura’s mom, who got a fudge cake. It was probably the densest and thickest cake I’ve ever had.
During all this, the temperature went from about 100 degrees to 60. Of course, 100 degrees out here is equivalent to about 85 at home considering the humidity. It’s just weird to have the temperature plummet like that and then shoot up again in the morning.
We got back to Davis after dark. On the drive back, the moon loomed large near the horizon. It was one of the largest moons I’ve ever seen. Pico commented that this usually happens when the moon is nearly, but not completely full. The distant mountains lit up by the setting sun combined with the moon made for some cool scenery. After we got back, I crashed and slept until after 8 the next morning.
I ran through UC Davis and its Arboretum on Sunday morning. I didn’t feel particularly great, but it was nice to run somewhere new. Davis is really designed with cyclists in mind. Every road has bike lanes as large as normal car lanes in addition to separate bike paths. There weren’t many soft surface trails except for in the Arboretum, but it was still cool to see this huge network of bike paths.
I ate breakfast with Laura’s parents afterwards. Blueberry waffles and sausage, probably the first hot breakfast I’ve had in months. Later, we drove into Sacramento to an aviation museum at decommissoned McClellan AFB. There was an exhibit on Leonardo DaVinci and the machines he had drawn on paper. The exhibit attempted to create some of these machines, but it was obvious many of them needed to be fleshed out in order to work properly. Some of the stuff, like a bicycle, seemed way ahead of the time and made me wonder if the drawings were even real. There were lots of fighter jets at the museum, too, including some MiGs, so I got some pictures of those.
We met Laura and her husband at their house in Sacramento, just blocks from where she works as a physical therapist at a hospital. It must be nice to walk to work every day. Her parents and I only stayed for a few minutes since it was getting to be mid afternoon. Laura talked about how her cat got acne from plastic food dishes. I had no idea cats could even get acne. Our cat at home has been eating out of plastic dishes and has never had any trouble. Apparently, it can get really bad if untreated.
Laura gave me a bunch of fresh vegetables from her garden before I left, which I made in a stir fry on Monday. They were all very good and about ten times better than anything from the store. After returning to Davis, I said goodbye to Laura’s parents and proceeded to sit in another jam on I-80. This time, I got off early and took 680 back around the East Bay, which was much faster.
Now I’ve only got two more weekends here in California. On one of them I want to go back to San Francisco. This weekend I want to see the Bourne Ultimatum and maybe go to the Winchester Mystery House or something. It seems there is a lot to do here, but with work, there isn’t much time.
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