Well, we had a good time anyway . . .

Friday afternoon, we race out of town so we can get to Santa Cruz in time for dinner. We make just one pit stop in Fremont, and check into the motel a little before 7. We pretty much drop our stuff and go out for dinner. Piggs says he noticed a place that said Thai noodles, so we go there. He laughs at the sign that says they have an “arsenal” of spices, and we sit down to order. We got pretty decent spring rolls, but that was the end of the good news for this meal. I don’t know what happened to the arsenal, but you know how usually Thai places liberally use ginger, garlic, lemongrass, peppers . . .? Apparently, this Thai place has never heard of those. I tasted a tiny bit of his pad thai and didn’t want any more, and basically fished the vegetables out of my “curry” (apparently a code word for “broth” here). Piggs was still hungry afterwards, so we went to 7-11 and he got a Slurpee and Milk Duds. Mmm. I had a Pacific Cookie Company cookie, and it’s a good thing I did, because I LOVE them, and we didn’t get any others while we were there. Then we enjoyed cable and crashed.

Well, sort of crashed. See, I woke up every 45 minutes with a massive coughing fit. Which, naturally, also meant Piggs woke up every 45 minutes. And don’t think I was skimping on the Robitussin or something. No, in fact I took way more than the recommended dosage, but the Tussin let me down. So we were both sort of tired on . . .

Saturday. We woke up early and went to Coffeetopia for bagels and coffee, then went straight to Natural Bridges beach. It had been cold the night before, so I anticipated that the weather in SC would be rather like it was at home, but actually, it was warmer. In fact, even though we’ve been in warmer times of the year, it was downright pleasant on the beach, whereas in the past it has been wondy and cold sometimes. We passed a couple hours walking around in the waves (him) and reading on a blanket (me). I also walked around barefoot for a while and he joined me on the blanket for a while. When we were both satisfied (and a little hungry) we picked up and went downtown, where we got some coffee, shopped a little, then ate middle eastern food for lunch. I power shopped for an hour or so, and although I had some extra money and genuinely was ready to spend it, I couldn’t find anything worth spending it on. I found several cute tops and dresses, but they were all $280 and a size 2. I ended up with only a couple cards, a book, and Valentine’s day socks for me, Mom and monkeygirl. Thank you Santa Cruz Sockshop and Shoe Company. When I met up again with Piggs, he had bought me a Wonder Woman light switch plate! Cool. We then went and rested in the motel for a while. That night for dinner I talked Piggs into going to Saturn Cafe, a vegetarian place that masquerades as a burger joint. I love the food, but understand why Piggs gets a little itchy in there -- it is chock full of people who look like they’re trying hard to live up to the MTV ideal. There are a lot of trucker hats, an insane number of Ugg boots, and all the petite little men had faux vintage clothes. I had the delicious “Western,” which is a boca burger with fakin’ bacon, barbecue sauce, and onion rings on it. Mmm. Then for dessert I had the Chocolate Madness (mini version) with ice cream, mousse, fudge sauce, brownies, whipped cream, and almonds. Oh lord, yes. Earlier that day I’d called my health care provider and asked how to get through the night. The answer was codeine, and the advice nurse asked me to find a nearby pharmacy she could call it in to. I found a nearby Rite-Aid, and she said to wait a couple hours, then go pick it up. So after dinner we went to Rite-Aid, but the pharmacy part was closed. So I bought NyQuil Cough, and it worked okay. I certainly woke up less offten, but I took a dose-and-a-half, then another full dose later in the night, and still coughed. So we were both sort of tired on . . .

Sunday. But we had woken up early enough to get a table easily at the Walnut St cafe. I had a delicious breakfast while Piggs had . . . bacon and fruit. His tummy has been off lately. Anyway, then we drove north on the Cabrillo highway until we got to Seal Point, where there’s a lighthouse, a museum, a hostel, and a nifty beach. We walked along the beach for a long time, checking out tidepools and picking up beach glass and shells and rocks. I got some good up-close looks at anemones and crabs, and Piggs got a good handful of these creepy transparent worms that could have easily gotten cast as “Creepy Skin Boring Worms” in an X-files episode. We saw some seals sunning, and even though it was technically whale season, we didn’t see any. It was another sunny, lovely day. We came back to town and got my prescription, then started heading for lunch. Incidentally, all along the Cabrillo Highway (a coastal highway, highway 1) there were people in shorts or wetsuits with surfboards and boogie boards hitting the water. It was a little odd to think that had we driven the same distance from home in the other direction, we’d be in ski country. California can be a little unnerving that way. Anyway, sweetie had noticed a place called “Sri,” a Sri Lankan restaurant. We headed for that. We figured it would be pretty much like Thai food, but in actuality it was a lot more like Indian. Still, it had a seperate and distinct flavor, too. Like the “papadums” that came with it -- in an Indian restaurant they’re round flat lentil wafers, but here they were more like big puffed rice Chex. Also, the curries tasted of coconut milk, but also had a mild, sweet flavor. The mint sauce that came with it was different than Indian, too, a little smokier and spicier, although in general the food was distinctly lacking in heat. The most interesting thing I had was the mango curry. I can’t say it was so amazingly wonderful that I’m going to crave it in the future, but I do enjoy trying new things, and I’ve never had anything like it before. It treated the mango as though it were a vegetable, hot and savory, with slivers of almond.

After lunch we went to the Boardwalk area, where we walked the length of the wharf, checked out some sea lions, and then hit the Boardwalk itself. Piggs played some video games (he rocked the Ms. Pac Man machine) and I had a caramel apple and played Skee Ball. I did average, winning ten tickets in three games, and bought a little parachuting alien toy with my winnings. Sweet. We walked the length of the Boardwalk, then headed back to the motel to rest a little again. Because I was still feeling kind of sick, we were resting rather more than usual. For dinner we went to Vasili’s Greek restaurant, where I had the vegetarian sampler (tiropita, spanikopita, rice, greek salad, dolmas) and Piggs had lamb. Then we chilled out at the motel again. I slept better, but I still think I woke Piggs up a couple times with a combo of coughing and snoring (I’m not a big snorer unless I’m stuffed up).

This morning we were up early again, but Piggs decided we should skip Scotty’s Cafe at the Sash Mill and just go to Coffeetopia again (which was fine with me). We ate and got out of town. Our first stop? Ikea. Oh, yeah. I spent $27 and got 16 packs of markers, six rolls of wrapping paper, eight eggs of curling ribbon, three pairs of scissors and two silicone pastry brushes. I’m totally not kidding. Then we bought two things of jam in the food area, but one of them was a casualty of unpacking. Then we went to Berkley, eating lunch at Long Life Veggie House, then walking around looking at stores and stuff. Piggs was quite successful, finding a book he liked, some clothes, and a couple other things. I wasn’t in quite the shopping mood I sometimes am, given that I was tired as hell and my feet were hurting. Then we headed home, and that’s pretty much that.

I wish I hadn’t been sick, but I still had a better time than I would have at home. In fact, given the weather and everything, it was a pretty good trip overall. I kind of wish I still had some friends in Santa Cruz whom I could call up and ask “Hey, where’s a good Thai place where you can order stuff Thai hot and really get it Thai hot?” I have two friends who live down there, but alas, they’re kind of wrapped up in newlywed nesting couple love, which means they can’t return your phone call to meet your ass for breakfast if you drive for three hours to their city. God bless them, I’m glad they’re happy.

Thus ends my 29th birthday celebration. Thanks to everyone who made it wonderful, particularly my sweetie, who made the trip possible.