Thursday, October 15, 2009

Day One: Success

I got up at 4:49 Wednesday morning. Thank God I am one of those people who has a natural alarm clock. I'd set my phone alarm to go off at 4:45 am - and it was on VIBRATE not ring *sigh*. I laid it on the carpeted floor in the guest room. Amazingly enough a vibrating phone on carpeting does NOT act like a alarm.

Those lost 4 minutes didn't effect anything - and we were at the airport in plenty of time. Our flight from RDU to Chicago - and then Chicago to San Jose was uneventful. Apparently we were late departing Chicago (must have been while we were waiting in line to take off) and so we landed in SJC 40 minutes late. No big deal as no one was waiting to meet us - and we had no place to be.

After waiting forever in line for the rental car, and getting a mini-van :\ we were off for Hotaru and our lunch. We arrived at ten minutes 'till two - and just made it in before they closed. Dr. Whiney had a great bowl of Katus Don with miso soup - and I had the combination lunch. Tuna shashimi, horenso no gomaae (chilled spinach salad), miso soup, and fried pork cutlet. Dr. Whiney even tried the tuna (for the first time) and declared it a winner.

From there we headed north and up into the Central Valley. It was a great drive and Dr. Whiney couldn't believe the vast spaces - and how "rural" it all is. About 27 miles from my hometown he turned to me and said, "You really did grow up in the country, didn't you?" Perhaps it was my pointing out the harvested rice fields, the walnut trees, peach trees, almonds, and alfalfa fields that convinced him.

Today we head to the Empire Mine and Malakoff Diggins, here's the loop we'll take.

It's nice and sunny here - we just missed the huge storm that dumped 4 inches of rain and recorded winds of over 54 mph. I'll hope the weather continues to be favorable.

Have a great Thursday everyone.

1 comment:

Woodstock said...

And will there be photos forthcoming of said rural fields? I miss the Central Valley. Hope your trip is a good one.