Fake spring break days 1 & 2

Here's the story of how I went to California for 4 days with 4 of the most awesome people ever.


On Thursday we left Provo at like six even though the plan was to leave at like four. That meant we didn't get to Grant's house until two in the morning. Needless to say, we were all pretty dead tired. The drive wasn't too bad. I was in the middle back between Grant and Trent for the most part; yep, I drove to California in the back, in the middle, with my feet on the hump. It was pretty nice all things considered. I fell asleep on Trent's shoulder two different times, mostly by accident and without the intention of actually falling asleep, but of course he's so sweet that he would never complain, even if it did bother him.

the best road trip buddies a kid could ask for

We listened to a lot of music, of course. And we also watched a Mission Impossible movie, though I mostly slept through it. Well, it wasn't so much sleeping as it was laying against the window with my eyes closed. I quite liked the drive, honestly. I love road trips. All in all it was an uneventful drive. Apparently some crazy stuff went down as we were going through Truckee but it was really only Phillip and Trent that know what went down. And Emily and I aren't going to ask about it anytime soon.

On Friday we left Grant's house bright and early to get to the Oakland Temple so Phil could go to the actual wedding in the temple. That was the reason for the trip after all, so we could celebrate the wedding of Wes and Hannah. While that was going on, the rest of us walked around the temple and went into the visitors' center. I haven't been in a visitors' center in a long time. The sister missionaries of course reminded me of Kelsey and soon enoug Sara. After that, Grant and I went back to the car to study. Grant got a lot done but I ended up taking a nap of sorts. Once the sealing was over we took some pictures on the terrace of the temple. It was very beautiful.

Then we made our way to a nearby BART station to take the train to San Francisco. Taking the train made me really miss London and the tube. Once we got to San Francisco we made our way to Chinatown. I say "made our way" but it was more like wandering around. Since Trent served his mission in Oakland and San Francisco he was our unofficial guide of sorts. He didn't really know where he was going but it seemed like he did. It took a while to walk to Chinatown but we didn't mind. It was just great to be around each other in a new city. We eventually found a really good place to eat, though the boys were not pleased with the size of the portions, though that was to be expected. After lunch we made our way to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. We were on the bay and walked around there for another few hours. It started to rain just a bit but nothing to deter us. It was crazy windy by the ocean but once again we didn't care. I think the best part of the day for Emily and me was Ghirardelli Square. We shared a delicious and huge peanut butter sundae known as the "Gold Rush." It cost us a bit but it was most definitely worth it.

I also loved when we stopped at this random Thai restaurant. Trent spoke to the waitress all in Thai. It was awesome and I admire Trent so much for being able to do that. He's an incredibly talented and smart guy. Things are always great when you have a half Thai/half Irish friend who speaks multiple languages.

At that point we were even more tired and decided to take a street car to the Embarcadero BART station and then back to our car. From there we drove back to Oakland for the reception. It was beautiful. Wes and Hannah had their reception at a building at the Oakland Zoo. It was outside and a perfect night as the sun set over Oakland and San Francisco. The dinner was also awesome. They had a great buffet. (You'll notice quite quick that much of this trip revolved around food.) Perhaps the coolest part of the reception was seeing Wes and Hannah's friends give toasts. Hannah's Harry Potter fandom friends were there and they said some hilarious things I'm sure only a few of us got. It was neat to meet them especially because I've seen pictures of them for years and heard a lot about them from Hannah. Though by far the best thing about Hannah and Wes as a couple is the fact that they have known each other since they were about three years old.

We left the reception before the dancing which was kind of a bummer since I really wanted to dance with Grant and Trent, who were both my dates.

our fearless men

 So we went off to Santa Cruz then, heading for our campsite. By the time we got there it was sometime after eleven. We all basically went straight to bed, and by bed I mean we laid out a huge tarp, unrolled our sleeping bags, crawled in and didn't wake up for hours. I did sleep quite well and wasn't cold at all.


And that's the end of days number 1 & 2 of our epic fake spring break trip to California.