Four Days In Southern California

Friday, October 20

Wake from the deepest sleep I’ve had since my trip began. This is probably due to the facts that I came off a night of tent camping and driving, slept in a comfortable bed and didn’t have to get up and go somewhere the next day. My body actually let itself rest. My dreams were crazy. Some scenario involving a meteor/comet heading towards the Earth. The typical apocalyptic thing you’re happy to wake-up from.

Decided to do yoga for the first time in almost a week and everything hurt which was annoying. You’re supposed to feel better after doing yoga, right? After the rest of the morning rituals, I got into working on my aunt’s back patio area where I’ve worked my past two visits. I’ve got to work every morning while I’m here, unfortunately. This isn’t really a strict vacation but another test of how well I can work on the road.

After work, my aunt and I hang-out for a bit before heading up to Los Peñasquitos Canyon for a walk/hike on what turned-out to primarily be a bike park, so we dodged bicyclists most of the way. Once that was finished we visited a sandwich shop for dinner and ended the night watching the movie “Hereditary” which made it twice for me. The movie has a great reputation as a horror movie, but I didn’t think much of it the first time I watched it, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to give it another shot, but I feel the same way after the second viewing.

Saturday, October 21

Again, more deep sleep and crazy dreams, but I don’t remember the dreams this time. Opt-out of doing yoga, figuring it’s just going to aggravate things, so I get right into work through to noon. Spend some time just hanging-out with my aunt, until heading-up to Kearny Mesa to get an oil change/check-up on the new car. Subaru recommends an oil change every 6000 miles. While I’m only at 5400, I will of course hit 6000 miles shortly after leaving San Diego, so I figure this is the best place to get it.

After handing-off the car to the dealership, my friend Shon picks me up and we get lunch at a sushi bar, where I get a poke bowl and some other things. Then we head to a hobby shop, at which point I get a call that my car is ready. Upon picking-up the car, we head to La Jolla where he lives and spend the night sitting around, doing pretty much nothing, which is all I want to do. At some point, earlier than I want to, I decide to head home because the poke bowl I ate for lunch isn’t sitting well.

When I get back to my aunt’s place, I head directly to my room to lay down and eventually goto bed early.

Sunday, October 22

Not only did I get more deep sleep, but I got a lot of it. Probably something like eight hours. When I wake-up, I think that I have to force myself out of bed earlier tomorrow because heading back east, I’m going to lose an hour on multiple days and it’s going to get harder and harder to get up early and drive a bunch. Honestly, I started contemplating my return trip yesterday afternoon and I’m becoming anxious about it.

Anyway, get to working around 9 o’clock and work through the end of the Browns game, which they manage to win somehow. They’re now 2-0 while I’m on the road, so maybe I just need to keep traveling and they’ll keep winning? If I could afford it, I might do it.

After wrapping-up the work day, my aunt and I head-out for a hike. The path was another bike trail but this one was sort of up in some low hills with lots of cover in places, so I’m hyper vigilant thinking there are mountain lions waiting to ambush us at every turn and/or rattlesnakes hiding in the shade just off the path. To be honest, I did see tracks in the path that looked like mountain lion tracks, but maybe they were just from a big dog that walked like a big cat.

When we finished-off the hike, we drove all the way to the Mission Bay area to do miniature golf, but there was no place to park. I was feeling whipped and just wanted to eat, so we bailed on trying to find a spot and went to a ramen spot. After dinner, we headed back to her place and talked over a drink, watched a movie and then to bed.

Monday, October 23

First night of bad sleep. I’m thinking I’m probably dehydrated and the drink I had was a bit much. I woke-up in the middle of the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep. Upon waking, I had a hard time getting going. As usual, I set-up outside, but it started raining (in San Diego!) so I had to move inside and decided to just stay there because I didn’t want to work that long anyway.

After work, I helped my aunt with some computer-oriented problems and then we went for a walk around Lake Murray which is near her place. On the way back, I did some shopping for tonight and the next couple of days on the road and then hung out for a bit before I headed out to Carlsbad.

My friend, Shon, met me at his friend Mike’s place in Carlsbad to watch the Vikings play the 49ers on Monday Night Football. Mike is a huge Vikings fan and I hate the 49ers, so we were all in allegiance. I even wore a Vikings jersey throughout the affair. The Vikings ended-up winning so it was a fun night for all. Due to my having to head-out so early I had to dip shortly after the game ended, bidding farewell to my friends and the ocean.

The drive home was hairy given I don’t drive much at night anymore and people drive really fast here. But the drive home was easier then the drive up to Carlsbad and after spending a little time with my aunt, I retired to my bedroom to finish-up this blog post and get to bed as soon as possible. Tomorrow I’m back on the road.