San Diego to Las Vegas (July 6, 2010)

July 6

We all got up around 6 a.m. and I got up about a half an hour after they did. I went into the bathroom and got ready then made some toast because I knew it was going to be a long day. Doug showered while I crazily packed up our stuff so we didn’t have to come back because it was like a 20 mile out-of-the-way drive, if we didn’t pack it up before court. I knew after court I just wanted to leave town as quick as I could. We had to be there at 8 a.m. to check in so we allowed ourselves an hour to get there, find a place to park and get all checked in. We got there and dropped Doug off so we could find a place to park the car. We parked in a designated area just for the San Diego court area. We walked in and had to put all of our stuff in an x-ray scanner, just like you would in an airport. We found the floor that we were supposed to be on and asked Doug what we had to do. He said that they’ll just call his name when they were ready for him. They told us they would begin at 9 a.m. They didn’t until 10:30 a.m. We waited and waited. I started getting hungry. Luckily I had a Milky Way and some M&M’s in my bag to get me by. Some lady came out of the court room and called out six people to meet with councilors and Doug was among them.

We waited as their names and other names were called. Doug’s folder was on the bottom, just as I called it, and other files were being stacked on top of it. I was sitting there, starving, tired and irritated. It was around 11:30 a.m. and they councilor finally called Doug’s name. We all went over to the booth to hear what they guy had to say about his case. He basically told us stuff we already knew. He went into the police report and the cop who reported it made Doug look really stupid. As he read it, Doug would correct what had really happened. Apparently, Doug’s BAC was higher than he thought was and he pulled out his Blockbuster card instead of his license. The only reason that happened was because the dog had chewed his other one and Nate and Genna bought him a new one, the pockets are different than his old one and his license wasn’t in the same pocket. So that made him look really dumb. He shouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with but whatever I guess. Hopefully he learned from it. After meeting with the councilor, we found out what he thought would happen with the judge, he would not get any jail time, but he would have to take some alcohol classes in Washington (MADD) and a $2000.00 fine. His license will be on probation in Washington and he CANNOT drive in California without taking the classes in California. After all of that was taken care of, we went into the court room and waited until his name was called. We were in there maybe five minutes before his name was called. I honestly don’t think the judge even looked at the case; he just went with what the councilor had written. He was on the stand for about two minutes.

We left the courtroom and went to our next line. The process room. We were in there for maybe 45 minutes before our name was called. They explained the ruling and they things we needed to do and the class due dates. They had messed up and didn’t put the completion dates on the classes before we were doing it in Washington. So we went upstairs for him to have a brief meeting about alcohol. Twenty minutes later, we went down stairs to the process room and got our new copy with the dates on them. We then had to go wait in another line to figure out a payment plan. Our name was called and we didn’t fill out the paperwork correctly so we wasted more time by having to wait again. But luckily after we finished them, she said we could see her without having to wait in line again. We figured Doug could afford $100.00 a month but he needed to find a job. After figuring out the money situation, I was ready to get the hell out of that awful place. We left and never looked back. It was 2:30 p.m. and I was so glad we got out of there before California rush hour. We got onto I-15 towards Las Vegas. We stopped just after Corona and got gas. We continued down the freeway for a bit and the traffic slowed down. We saw smoke and we assumed a car was on fire. We got closer and found out that they were doing a controlled burn right along the freeway. We got off on the next stop, near Lake Elsinore, California.



We stopped at a Von’s (equivalent to a Safeway) and got some food and drinks. Doug went to use the restroom, came back and asked mom for a quarter. “Why?” She asked. “It costs a quarter to use the bathroom, “he explained. “What, really?” How lame. We figured it was to conserve water. He grabbed the quarter and went to the bathroom. While he was gone, we found some easy things to eat while we drove to Las Vegas. We found some sandwiches and lunchables. We were now officially on our way to Vegas, non-stop. While driving I watched the signs melt the miles away as we drove east.



Dad called us wondering where we were now. He talked to mom for a while as towns turned into deserts. It was quite beautiful out the middle of nowhere. It was awesome seeing the sights I’ve only seen in pictures and on T.V. Closer and closer Nevada and Vegas got as we drove on.  Finally, we got to the stateline, Welcome to Nevada, the Silver State.

Las Vegas was down the horizon, I couldn’t wait to see it in person. Around 8:30 p.m., there it was, in real life, the glimmering lights of Sin City, a city I lived through vicariously on CSI. I kept repeating, “I can’t believe I’m here, I can’t believe I’m here….” as we drove past the hotels and casinos on I-15.



On the way to Vegas, we had Erika book us a room at Circus Circus on the internet. We drove to our hotel; it was amazing we made it there because I had no idea how to navigate Las Vegas. We parked in the parking garage and got out of our air conditioned car and just about died. It was nearing 9:00 p.m. and it as still 100° outside. We went into the lobby and checked in. We walked up to our room, oh my god, it was a freaking hike! Plus we left our bags in the car, so we had to go get them and then hike back. It’s ok though, I couldn’t wait to go walk the strip and find some dinner.



We got our stuff, changed our shoes for walking. I didn’t realize that Circus Circus was far away from the rest of the hotels and casinos. It was near the Stratosphere. It seemed like we walked for miles until we neared Treasure Island and the pirate show. Bad idea, we got caught up in the crowd and had to wait until it was over to move onto the next place. No one would make a decision on dinner so I was just like let’s just eat at the Mirage. We found a California Pizza Kitchen and waited to be seated. I just wanted water because I was so thirsty. It was so effing hot outside. They seated us, gave us bread and our drinks. Mom ordered a Caesar salad and Doug and I ordered a pepperoni pizza. We inhaled our food. We hadn’t eaten since the sandwiches and the lunchable, which was around 3:30 p.m. and it was now 11:30 p.m. I couldn’t wait to get back out to Las Vegas Blvd. to see more. We paid, hurried because the place smelled like cigarettes and I had gotten cold sitting in the air conditioned casino.



We went back out into the hotness and looked for the Bellagio Fountains.



At that point, I wanted one of those drinks I saw people carrying around, the really long ones with the straws, I have no idea what they were called or where they were at, but I was on the look out. We went into the Paris Las Vegas hotel to look for an ATM. We got some money because mom told us before we got to Vegas that you have to at least gamble $20 bucks to see if you win and to have the experience of gambling in Vegas and to have fun with it. I gave Doug his $20 bucks. I really wasn’t into the gambling part of Vegas. In fact, I could care less. I was there for the experience of going. Mom didn’t use hers for gambling either. I did however pose at a slot machine.



As it reached 1:00 a.m., I really didn’t want a drink anymore. We started getting tired and so we walked back down Las Vegas Blvd. It was still around 95° and I was getting thirsty. We stopped at a Walgreens. I bought a CSI shirt, water and some other things for under 99 cents. We paid and continued on our way. We stopped a couple times for some photo ops. We finally got back to our hotel around 2:00 a.m. Mom passed out as soon as she hit the pillow. She is a go to bed at 9 p.m. person. I stayed up and posed our pictures up to that point on Facebook and took a shower. Doug took his $20 bucks went and played 21 down stairs. He came back a while later disgusted. I knew he lost. He couldn’t get nothing higher than a 19 and the dealer won every time. At that point, I was so tired. We’ve been up since 6 a.m. and it was now 3:30 a.m. I fell asleep instantly.

San Diego (July 5, 2010)

July 5

We woke up the next day feeling much better. Mom had woken up earlier and sat on their front porch and sewed binding onto some finished quilts. She got a little too much sun and there was some sort of lizard staring at her, so she took some pictures of it.


I eventually woke up from my coma and got ready for our day. I convinced mom to walk up the hill in their back yard with me, which was a state park Cuyamaca Ranch State Park. We took some pictures of our view and I sat on top of a rock to get a better view.





I got down so we could get ready to go into San Diego and we headed towards the house. While on my trek back, I got stabbed in my right leg by a branch poking up out of the ground I didn’t see. Yay! An owie! We made it back to their house and got Doug motivated to get ready to go into San Diego. We all go in the car and guess who got to drive? That’s right, I did. We went to Walmart just outside of El Cajon to pick up some stuff before we began our long day. Before we left Nate and Genna’s, they let us use their GPS, which I called the “magic box”. (Nate and Genna had the day off due to the holiday). I was hungry so I asked Doug to program In and Out in to the magic box. We had lunch at the In and Out near El Cajon and the stadium where the Chargers played. Mom had never been to an In and Out before. She was surprised on how simple the menu was. A #1, #2 or #3 without onions and whatever kind of soda you wanted. It’s an awesome place. I wish we could have had it more than once and that they had some closer to where we lived.



After lunch we went to Balboa Park. We parked in the parking lot near the Naval Hospital since it was free. I had no idea Balboa Park was that huge! We started off at the International Cottages and only a select few were open because of the holiday (they are usually open on Sundays.) We checked out the ones that were open and moved onto the next thing to look at.



We then walked around the park looking at the buildings, museums (which most of them were closed), lily ponds, and the fountains.











We went into the gift shop and got a few postcards and then walked over to the fountain. We took a few pictures with the fountain and then walked over to the San Diego Zoo, just to see it. We didn’t have the money or the time to go inside. Mom had to buy a bag that said the San Diego Zoo on it.





We called it a day at the park and decided to drive around downtown San Diego. He showed us the convention center, some of the buildings (the jail he spend the night in) and saw Petco Park, where the Padres play. We also went to Historic Down town and took a few pictures. Mom wanted to see Old Town and some Missions while we were in town.





We got out the “magic box” and plugged in the address. For some reason it was freaking out on us and the ‘P’ button was pressing itself, even when we turn it off and turned it back on again. So we got frustrated and just shut it off completely and just wing’d it. We found Old Town and mom was satisfied with her old houses, which were being renovated and we went and saw one of her missions north of Old Town.





By that time, it was around 7:00 p.m. and we headed back to Nate and Genna’s house. We had the same thing for dinner except we had lentils with our meat and bread. After dinner, I went and took a shower. I went to our room, laid down and watched some Friends before passing out. Mom and Doug came in a little while later. Tomorrow was the really long day.

Rainier to San Diego (July 3-July 4, 2010)

July 3

We left our house around 8:55 p.m. and headed towards Rainier. We stopped and got gas on our way towards I-5, the freeway we will be on for a very long time. Doug drove all of Washington and all of Oregon. We crossed into Oregon around 10:45 p.m. Our first stop was just after Salem, at a rest stop called Santiam. We used the restroom and Doug got some free coffee. During our long trip down Oregon, we watched Friends, the complete collection that my friend Shauna let me borrow this summer.



July 4

I watched and he listened to it while he drove. It was time to get gas when we got to Sutherlin, Oregon. We used the bathroom, got gas (which Doug almost got out and pumped himself) and got a couple of snacks while we were at the gas station. From there we drove all the way to the border. We entered California around 3:45 a.m. A few minutes later we had to stop; at what it looked like was a toll. We were like what? A toll on I-5? Neither of us remembered coming down to California in the past and had to stop before. We started digging for some change. We stopped and the guy asked if we had any fruit. We were like, no. He said okay, thanks and we continued on our way. We did have some fruit in the car, canned peaches and pears, but the guy probably wasn’t looking for that kind of fruit. A bit later, we stopped at the first rest stop and I took over driving because Doug could not drive in California because of his DUI.




This was the reason why we were going down there in the first place. It was around 4 a.m. at that point and no one was on the roads except the random semi-truck every now and then. I drove throughout Northern California near the mountains and you could see Mount Shasta as dawn approached near the horizon. We came out of the mountains and into Redding, where we stopped for gas and a potty break. To our surprise, not a darn thing was open. We expected things to be open at 6 a.m.




First we got gas but the store wasn’t open, so we looked for another store that was open. We found one after Doug had walked over to the Denny’s to use the restroom. I bought a little thing of milk to go with our doughnuts we brought with us on our trip. I had a few and drank some of my milk. A while down I-5, I really needed to brush my teeth and wash my face, so we found the nearest rest stop. It felt so nice to get a little cleaned up, since we had been in the car from about 10-12 hours already. We started to hit up the boring-out-in-the-middle part of nowhere of California.

As we approached Sacramento, something all of a sudden hit me and I needed to find a bathroom NOW! Thank god we were near a rest stop. As luck would have it, the women’s potty was being cleaned and we had to use the porta potty across the parking lot. Just my luck once again, the porta potty I picked had no toilet paper in it. I couldn’t call anyone to bring me some because I left my phone in the car. So I sat there pondering what my next move was. I was so thankful that the porta potty had seat covers. I took a bunch of them and saved the day. I went out to look for mom and she was walking around because we’ve been sitting for at least 150 miles. By the time I caught up to her, I had to rush to the other porta potty, the one that HAD toilet paper in it. Oh man it was awful, mostly because I knew me being in there was wasting precious minutes of our drive. We still had a long way to go. I thought it was over so I got back in the car and it was mom’s turn to drive. We got going almost out of Sacramento when the uh oh feeling came back. “Uhhg…I hafta poop again!” “Well, let me find a place to pull over.” We stopped at a convenience store, went in and died. A while later I returned the key and bought a Gatorade, thinking that I was dehydrated after all the pooping I’ve done so far. I got back in the car and we were off once again. A bit later it hit me again. This time we had another convenience store at our disposal. While I was in there, mom and Doug made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I bought some Peptol Bismol to see if it would take the horrible away. We got back in the car and we were off again. I was so tired I passed out for about a half hour-45 minutes.

Then it started getting hot in the car and it was uncomfortable. I don’t know if it was a side effect of the tummy meds or not, but I had to pee so bad, we pulled off on the next exit and peed off of the side of the road. We then started down the road once again. Mom said we should stop and get gas soon. We found a Shell station off of the next exit near the Fresno county line. I got out to help mom get gas and to wash the wind shield, when we heard this very loud hissing sound. We looked down at the front driver’s side tire and it was losing air so fast, it was already flat. I got into the car to move it into the parking lot out of the way. Our hearts sank. More time wasted. It was hot, we were frustrated and we were out in the middle of the San Joaquin valley. Mom went inside the store and asked about getting the tire fixed. They gave her a bunch of business cards and she chose to call a 24-hour tire repair from Firebaugh and he would be at the gas station in about 20 minutes. My phone was on the verge of dying so I scouted out an area to plug it in. I found an outlet near the ice machine in the front of the store while we waited. I also looked at my road maps while we waited. I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible. The truck finally rolled in and he got to work finding out why the tire was flat and mom hoping that the problem wasn’t too expensive.



He had trouble getting his air pressure machine going. Once he did get it going, it didn’t take him long to jack it up, take the tire off and to find out why the tire all of a sudden became flat. He got our attention and showed us the plastic pointy piece that was poked into out tire and the tire tube. We looked at it as it almost looked like it came from a bumper of another vehicle and we only could have run it over while getting on the short road to the Shell station. We paid the man $115 bucks for an emergency holiday flat tire fixin’. After an hour of waiting, we were finally on our way again. We stopped again to get gas and to go potty once again at the rest stop just before the Grapevine. That’s when mom decided that it was time for me to drive again. From there, I drove the entire trip until we got just north of Salt Lake City on the way home. The Grapevine was not that bad, there were a few trucks, cars and SUV’s on the side of the freeway with very unhappy people waiting for some help. Once we got up and over the Grapevine, you could see the smog indicating we were getting closer to L.A. I’ve been to L.A. a total three times and all three times were horrible horrible traffic. This time through was a miracle. I didn’t have to stop or slow down or wait to have California drivers cut me off or swerve in front of me. It was actually a nice drive through L.A. Probably because it was the 4th of July and everyone was either camping, at an event or celebrating it at home. I found out fireworks were illegal in California. I was still bitter at my brother for being stupid and taking my favorite holiday away from me this year. Just my luck huh? Oh well, there is always next year. While we drove through the L.A. area, we pointed out certain things mom has never seen before. This was her first time to L.A. since she was a teenager. Things had changed a lot. From L.A. there were still lots of miles to go before we were in San Diego. A few hours later we finally made it to San Diego and it was over case and much cooler than we were used to. We got to I-8 and headed towards El Cajon and Descanso, where Genna and Nate lived. Doug even showed us where he got pulled over as we passed that exit. I thought San Diego was a lot closer to where Genna and Nate lived. We thought we should stop for gas so we pulled over in Alpine for a few minutes. We kept driving east and the drive kept going and going. When would we get there? Doug kept on saying oh, it’s just around the corner. Yeah right, 20 miles later we finally hit the exit and got off. At this point, Doug and I have been up for over 36 hours. We got there and they welcomed us to their house and had steaks BBQing in their pit.



Genna showed us the little guest house where we were going to stay. We started unpacking the car. The food was done so we went inside and had some steaks, homemade bread from flax, that Genna made, we had some of our potato salad we brought with us and she made a cake to enjoy after our meal. After I finished my food, brushed my teeth and washed my face. I watched some Friends on the portable DVD player we brought and then passed out. Doug stayed up longer with Genna and Nate as they watched Hot Tub Time Machine. He ended up spending the night on the couch. Mom and I were in the guest house, she on the futon and me on my sleeping pad/sleeping bags. For some reason it was the best sleep ever.