Day 1

Our much anticipated vacation began around noon on Monday. (I've found that I sleep better the night before if I know I'm not leaving on a trip until later on the following day.)

Here we are, about to pull out of the garage:


(Try not to notice how much I resemble a Brontosaurus in this particular pic.)

We drove deep into the Cement Jungle which confused Jeff considerably. As I doled out the directions, he kept saying, "I have no idea where you're taking us." Of course, this pleased me greatly.

Finally, we ended up at the parking lot of a major airport, though not the same one as last year. Naturally, my family assumed we were about to climb on a plane. I did nothing to discourage them from this notion.

At one point, Tobias asked, "Should I put my Swiss Army knife in my checked luggage instead of my carry-on?"

"Yeah," I said. Hee hee.

The gig was up, however, when I asked the shuttle driver to take us to the car rental area.

Last year, the only cars the rental company would allow us to take and leave out of state were ones that got 17 and 18 miles to the gallon. We chose the SUV and although it guzzled gas, it was nice to have all that room. I was ready for the same thing to happen this year, but it didn't. This year, we were given a Pontiac Vibe.


All of our stuff fit in it perfectly. Good thing we didn't bring one more bag!

Off we went through the yucky traffic and smog. A few hours later, we saw this:


My family ate here a few times when I was a kid. I have fond memories of finding Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee at the bottom of my bowl of soup and I wanted to share that with my family (although I'm the only one who ordered soup this time around!)


The kids posed as the pea-splitting duo:


After dinner in Buellton, we continued north to Santa Maria where we played some miniature golf. Jeff played the worst game of his life, but it could have been due to his form (or lack thereof):


I had a special surprise planned for the final adventure of Day 1. You have to see it to truly appreciate this famous landmark in San Luis Obispo. It's...




...Bubblegum Alley!


Unbelievably, this five-foot wide alley is completely plastered with decades' worth of gum that thousands of people have smashed onto its walls.


Don't worry, Jeff's only trying to gross you out. (Is it working?)

Seriously, there must be millions of pieces of chewed gum on those walls. (After we left, there were four more.)

Some people have created little works of art:


Tobias played limbo with a fresh wad that stretched from wall to wall:


Sorry, folks, just a tacky bit of unecological, true Americana that families such as ours get a kick out of.

...and that was Day 1.