le tired

Last night I knew I was going for a drive today. I didn't quite know where - Sacramento? Boring. Lake Tahoe? Kinda far. Los Angeles? Tempting but irresponsible. Reno? I'd lose all of my money. Santa Cruz has always been a safe bet, so I left Berkeley at 9:25 this morning and hit the highway.

I made my way down and stopped in Santa Clara first, checked things around there. Continuing along, I stopped at Office Max at the north end of Santa Cruz. This dickhead pulled up to me and said, "Nice turn signal!" I didn't realize I forgot to turn it on. He gave me the bird as he drove off to the right - without his turn signal. Douchebag. I wasn't aware that Santa Cruz had a large houseless problem. There were people sitting everywhere. Anyway, funnel cake was calling my name but the lack of street parking and the $20/day parking lot prevented that from happening. Instead I just drove around back streets checking out the homes and businesses down there. Looks like a great place to live.

Just then, something in me said "Drive, drive further!" Long story short: I ended up in Big Sur, 70 something miles away. Of course I got out and did little things along the way including a visit to Monterey and Carmel Valley. If there is one place I could live in California it would be Carmel Valley. It is so beautiful and quaint. Gas is cheaper there too. A dilapidated truck pulled up next to my car as I filled up. How it rolled is a mystery. That car was totaled and I could see the corresponding emotions on his face. Poor guy.

Surprisingly Big Sur wasn't too foggy today. The first time I had seen the cliffs was about five years ago when I drove up with friends in a red Miata from North Los Angeles. My friends told me that there is fog that is up to 1000' thick up the sides of the mountains so we might not see anything. Luckily it was very clear that time. Today wasn't too bad either. I pulled over onto the shoulder, took a quick snapshot at Bixby Bridge, and kept going. Only a gas indicator light could've ruined my quest...and it did.

On the way back I stopped at San Jose, Santa Clara University and Palo Alto. I don't think I like that area too much. Being back on Stanford's campus was pretty neat. It's amazing how everything yet nothing changes there. I then came back on the other side of the bay on the 101, through the city, over the bridge and back home. It was one big tiring loop, but worth it nonetheless.