Senior trip

Natural Bridge(s)
Originally uploaded by Andy Frazer

Saturday morning we left early for Santa Cruz. We stopped just once, at a Carl's Junior, and got to Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz a little after noon. We hung around for a couple hours, the kids taking walks, wading out to that stone formation in the picture, taking pictures of anenomes, getting their feet (and jeans) wet, and in the case of one young lady, talking on the phone. It was cold, so after a little running in the surf, I went up the beach towards the trail and did some writing. It was still to early to go to the hostel, so I suggested downtown Santa Cruz, which was fun, although our trip leader was a little less... fastidious about making sure people knew when and where to meet than I'd have preferred.

Then we went to the hostel, which was in Saratoga (I've never been there before). You drive through a big city, then a wine-country-style small town, then through some forest, and finally you arrive at the hostel, which was SO COOL! I've now stayed in 4 hostels, and this one was the nicest. I mean, the sleeping arrangements were spartan, but the common area was absolutely beautiful. There was Mission-style furniture, a record player and large record collection, a guitar and piano, several long wood tables, couches, a fireplace... In the kitchen were three vintage stoves! We spent several hours in the hostel common room on both days and it was perfectly pleasant.
That night, the girls made spaghetti and we stayed up late, but at about 11:30, someone tentatively said "Should we be quiet now?" I answered "Yes, I think it's time." Within about 2 minutes, there was deep breathing and snores all around! It was like they were telling horror stories because they thought it was de rigeur, and once they had permission to go to sleep, they conked out!

On Sunday, the boys made pancakes and eggs, then we went to Great America. Last year, I thought there was a chance I was preggo, so I sat out all the rides. The benefit of my current state is that I rode the rides all day this time! I went on Top Gun twice (my favorite part was that I sat next to a student who, through the duration of the ride, was screaming for dear life, like AUUUGGGGHHHH!" I laughed my ass off). Then I went on Delirium, Survivor (which was really fun), Drop Zone, Rip Roaring Rapids (twice), the Grizzly, Orbit, another water ride, some yellow thing that went forwards and backwards, and the Vortex, which was the only one I didn't like. You sit on a bicycle seat and it bangs your head from side to side against the hard plastic headrest. I have no idea what else happened during that ride because I was distracted by having my ears boxed. I also had a caramel apple and didn't get TOO sunburned, so it was a good day. Oh, and we played "Slug-Mullet," and I saw the most ghetto-unfabulous woman I may have ever seen. She was large, and was wearing a huge purple t-shirt which she had cut from the collar all the way down the sleeves and safety pinned back together. It was a large t-shirt, but not a tunic dress or anything, so I was rather surprised to find that she was NOT WEARING PANTS. No, just tights. Opaque-ish tights, but the kind that come on a wee hanger with cardboard in the leg. Tights that go under skirts. They were purple and black striped, and afforded me an unwanted view of her underpants. It was SCARY.

That night the boys made quesadillas and nachos. By the way, have you noticed yet that there are no vegetables and fruits on this trip? We hung out playing cards and talking more, and went to bed right on time.

Monday morning the girls made pancakes and eggs, and then we went to the Tech Museum in San Jose. On the way there, we passed the Convention Center, where there was a "Fanimecon" going on. In other words, some exceptionally good people watching. I saw a stormtrooper and at least 20 people dressed as animated characters. Fascinating.

The Tech was cool -- we stood outside for about ten minutes looking at a Rube Goldberg device that dropped billiard balls in different formations. Inside, I had a robot spell my name in blocks, gave a virtual speech to congress, had a 3D head scan, saw my body in heat imaging, played Whack-a-spam, looked at an exhibit on green living, "programmed" a Mr. Potatohead toy, watched wistfully as other people got to ride a Segway (they put it away after two people tried it), and saw two Imax movies (I had never been before).

The movies were neat. The first was Greece: Secrets of the Ancient World. Not only was it interesting (focusing mainly on the Athena temple and Santorini Island), but the Imax thing made it feel like you were on a helicopter zooming over the islands. The second one wasn't as good. It was "The Human Body," and I knew pretty much everything in it, although it's always cool to see those electron microscope images of the inside of your ear (WHOOP! WHOOP! NERD ALERT!). They stayed away from anything too gross; once your food leaves your stomach, it apparently turns into white whisps in a dreamy pink fairy world. There was also a sucker-punch of a storyline about a pregnant lady (punctuated by a sperm-swimming sequence set to the tune of "Let's Get It On," and I'm not making that up) that never seemed to end, and had about twenty straight minutes of the woman patting her belly and looking wistfully into the midlde distance, talking about how now the baby comes first, blah blah.

Finally, we headed home. I was glad to see my husband and my house, and I wished I had another day off. But all in all, it was a good trip.