Day 39: Santa Monica, CA to Forestville, CA

Hi again! I am very late in updating this (even though the only people that read this are my aunt and uncle and parents, and I have seen them a bunch).

Woke up early on Friday (earlier than cousin Kelly at least, she sleeps late) and went out to the Novel Cafe in Westwood to meet my buddy Jeff Callaghan for lunch. Jeff and I went to high school together and also worked at camp together. He works as a Development Coordinator for a theater company down in LA, and he is one of the most hysterical people I have ever met - very sarcastic, witty, and quick. Since he lives in LA, we only get to see each other during holiday times (I guess that is deal with most of my friends), and it was good to see him.

After that, I went to the Santa Monica Nissan dealership to get my car looked at one more time (see entry from day before). They were able to diagnose the problem this time, but they couldn't fix it, so it was a little for naught. Oh well!

It was finally around noon that I got on the road. My itinerary for the day was simple - drive up to Northern California and surprise my folks! They had thought I was coming back on Monday (today) from my trip, but instead I was coming back before the weekend. I drove up I-5 and through the middle of California (aka boring) for a long while. I then went through the Bay Area and was on my way up 101 to my parent's cabin at the Russian River.

At this point no one knew I was coming home early except my brother, aunt, and uncle. My mom was already at the cabin, and my dad was coming up later in the night. As I was driving up 101, I was near Santa Rosa (only about a half hour away) and got into the left hand lane quickly. I saw a car coming up behind me and thought they must have been pissed that I sort of cut them off. Then I realized that the car, license plate, driver, and dog in the passenger seat looked awfully familiar. It was my dad! I decided to call him since the surprise was up. Our conversation is below.

Dad: Hi joey!
Me: Surprise!
Dad: What surprise? Where are you?
Me: Uh, look ahead of you.
Dad: That's you?? I was just cussing you out for being out-of-state and cutting me off.

Gotta love it. Anyway, he followed me into the cabin, and I was able to surprise my mother (she cried in the driveway, of course).

So now I am at home and am on "vacation" for the next two and a half or so weeks! Will update this periodically if I do anything fun (or want to recount any particularly memorable parts of the trip).