Have I ever told you about the last day of my 2010 California adventure? It includes one of my favorite stories to tell. Below is what I wrote at the end of that day.

Ohhhh, what a day. Got up a little later than planned because I figured not having a lot of time to kill in San Fran wasn’t that bad. Had my final buffet breakfast (really? eggs, sausage, cakes & cereal every day? mix it up Hotel Charlotte!) and went out to my rental car to get some things out of the trunk and into my suitcase.

I had a few bottles of water rolling around back there and a couple of them were wayyyyy far into the trunk, all the way at the back and impossible to reach by just reaching in. I was wearing a sun dress and tried putting one leg into the trunk to crawl in but decided it wasn’t really the best idea. I saw a kid on a bike and had a better idea! Ask the kid if he would get into the trunk of a stranger’s car to get a couple of water bottles for her!!! So I asked him and being a sweet kid he hopped right in my trunk and handed me the water bottles. I gave him a couple of bucks and his eyes lit up as he hopped on his bike and told me that he’d have to go put it away at home because he didn’t have any pockets. So I made his day for at least a couple of minutes – when he got home and told his parents about getting into a stranger’s trunk, well, that might have been another story.

Shortly after getting out of Groveland I passed a massive reservoir that was so beautiful. I kind of regret not taking a few pics but I really just wanted to get on my way at that point. I saw quite a few very nice ski boats making their way there – I’d have to say that’d be my perfect Sunday, just cruising on a lake surrounded by huge hills/mountains. Maybe someday I’ll have that. Or a boat, at the very least.

One weird thing I noticed while driving these back Cali roads is that a lot of homes are gated. Just what is it that they are trying to keep out way out there?

Also, my love of Mexicans has returned. Not the really little ones though.

While beautiful, the ride to San Fran was mostly uneventful. I had planned to go straight to the Golden Gate but ending up on Embarcadero (the waterfront/pier area with all the shops and touristy attractions) on my way there I figured I’d stop there first for a bathroom break and something to eat. It took about 30 minutes to find a parking spot where I was (I later learned all the parking I could ever want could be found a little ways down – though it seemed like miles down on foot) and then I rushed to find a bathroom. I ended up at a public toilet at the same time as 6 kind of burly biker guys. I told them there was no way I was going in after them and we all laughed. Though they were in their 50’s – 60’s, one of them was way hot! I wish I had taken a picture of them, we had a good time waiting for the guy ahead of us to finish and then for the bathroom to finish cleaning itself. The guys let me go first, which I regretted as soon as I realized there was no toilet paper and then subsequently not knowing how to wash my hands in there. So I scrambled out of there, wishing them luck and hoping nothing was dripping out of my dress.

I saw another one a little while later and decided I’d go in to listen to the instructions to find out where I had gone wrong. Big mistake as this one didn’t appear to have cleaned itself recently. Since I was in there I pressed the instructions button anyway only to find I couldn’t understand a word of what the voice was saying. I think I’ll be fine never knowing and never using one of those again!

I made my way from Pier 1 to Pier 4000 (ok, maybe it was 39) very quickly knowing that I only had a few hours before I should be to the airport. I got a sourdough bowl full of the best clam chowder I’ve ever had and enjoyed some people watching before speed walking back the way I came. While I was being particularly conscious of what my dress was doing in the wind, I discovered I was wearing it inside out!!! This is becoming more and more of a problem for me lately – do people usually need others to dress them at 32?? I continued on and ran into the bikers again who yelled “There she is!!” They let me know they made it in and out of the crazy toilet just fine and we parted ways for the last time. Nice to have some friends in a city not your own!

And now I must apologize to all the visitors of San Fran that day for possibly showing them far too much of me for at one point I had yet another issue with my dress in that it seemed to be far too high up in the back. I’m sooooooo sorry!! And quite embarrassed.

I decided I’d skip the Golden Gate as it was now cloudy and I didn’t want to worry about traffic. So what do you do with a little extra time? Stop at a little patisserie and get yourself some coconut mousse cake and graham cookies. I took them to go and made my way back to my car. I quickly put my dress on the right way and took off for the airport.

Returning my rental car was far less time consuming than I thought so I had a ton of time to spare even after venturing off into the city of Brisbane for 30 minutes to find gas. (cute city!) I had forgotten that there wasn’t much action in the Delta terminal at SFO so I didn’t see a ton of people but there were a few characters to amuse me in the couple of hours I was there. I grabbed a sandwich at the cafe there, turkey, cranberry mayo & stuffing on some kind of wheat bread. It was pretty good! I think I will try that with my Thanksgiving leftovers this year.

I landed in Mpls around midnight and that was the end of one of my best vacations yet. While I wasn’t solo the entire time, (that reminds me, theme song of trip: “Ridin Solo”) it really is nice to get away alone once in awhile. Though with all that time to think I still haven’t figured anything out. 😛