Happy Friendsgiving!

This weekend, Brian and I drove to Brentwood, CA (350 miles each way!) to celebrate Friendsgiving with the Taylors, the Kreins', and about thirty other people that I've never met. It was a lot of fun! Just after we crossed the border into California, we went through about thirty minutes of snowy area where the going was rough and we were constantly worried that a semi truck would skid into us.  I had a bag of grapes in my purse for a snack, and we lied to the border guards who asked if we had any produce with us.  I feel a little bad about lying, but we were already tight on time, and I didn't want the border agent to have to pull us over and look through the whole car (or whatever it is they do if you have fruit on you).  I mean, she might have found the dead hooker bodies in the trunk, and that just wasn't a risk that I was willing to take.







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I've been in Oregon so long, that I forgot that California gas stations are self-service.  There were a couple of photos that I was too slow to take, like one of the bronze statue when you enter the "downtown" area of Yreka, and the "Bear Crossing" sign that we drove past on the highway.  Anyway, we got to the party around 5:30pm-ish, and just in time, too! Everyone was just getting ready to start eating dinner.  We were too late for the appetizers, but cold lumpia is still tasty, and Brian regrets not trying some of the fancy cheeses.  He really likes cheese, and Adam Richman from "Man vs Food" on the Travel Channel always gets bleu cheese on his burgers, which is something Brian's never tried and is kind of obsessed with, recently.

The food was delicious, and it was a lot of fun to spend some time with good friends whom I haven't seen in almost half a year!  One of the little kids running around was named Evan, and he really liked talking to me. I asked him a couple times if he would let me go to find my friend Val, and he refused, insisting that I had to stay with him.  Finally, I found a loophole! He let me leave to bring him some apple cider.  Sneaky ninja that I am, I went downstairs and gave the apple cider to his dad to bring back upstairs to the little boy.  Well, apparently, Evan was not happy with the change of cast, and he gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. I hope this hasn't scarred him emotionally, and I really hope that I haven't inadvertently created a misogynist who fuels his anger with the one time that his trust was betrayed by a strange woman at a party when he was 5 years old.




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We left the party around 9pm, because I wanted to hang out with my best friend Claire for a little while before we had to come back to Ashland. So, Claire sat in my car and Brian sat in Trevor's car (Trevor is Claire's husband).  We had a great three-hour chat on the way up to Chico, CA, where Claire and Trevor live.  Brian was asleep almost the whole time in Trevor's car, so the conversation was less interesting there. We said our goodbyes, and Brian and I headed north along the I-5.

Just south of Redding, CA, we started seeing signs along the highway claiming that the I-5 was closed 10 miles north of Redding, due to severe inclement weather.  Slightly concerned, I called some of my friends for help, but obviously, no one was awake around 1:30 in the morning, except for Val, who informed me that the I-5 was the only way into Oregon.  We also called Brian's brother Dean, who told us that there were alternate routes which would be more than four hours' detour, so we just raided a gas station convenience store for junk food, and then parked the car on the side of the highway along with fifty gazillion semi trucks and a few hundred other cars who were waiting for the 5 to re-open.

Brian and I were concerned, because we had to be back in Ashland early in the morning, since we had to give talks in church today. It was a possibility that we might have to call the bishop and postpone if the weather was too bad.  Act of God, not our fault!  Finally, around 4am, they finally re-opened the highway, and we began the long, slushy trek back home.  Brian was unhappy with all the California drivers being rude, and with all the semi trucks splashing icy slush on the windshield so that he couldn't see anything.

Finally, we got home around 6:30am, and we made it to church with no problems!  Our talks went well, and as soon as we got home from church, Brian fell asleep for seven hours. I'm going to try to stay awake until later tonight, so that I don't mess up my sleep schedule.  Anyway, it was a fun trip full of nail-biting suspense and a happy ending.



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