I Took a Quick Little Jaunt to California

August 5th Liz and I drove back to Columbus from New York, and then on August 10th, after a few blissful days together in Columbus, I flew out to California alone so I could go to Aunt Louise’s big 100th Birthday Party (it was Liz’s first week of the new school year so she kind of couldn’t miss that, hence I traveled alone, and she was quite missed in California).

Arriving at LAX, my legs felt like they needed a stretch. So I started walking. And before I knew it (or after an hour and a half) I was nearly to Collin and Mallory’s house! BUT Mallory picked me up on her way home from picking up Blair and we went over to the pure heaven that is Brother Cousins tacos. And a few hours later, Collin and I would go to El Idolo but circumstances conspired against our circumstances and I don’t have any photos of that nice place or their nice tacos.

August 11! I went and got my haircut in Alhambra from the lady that does such a good job, test drove some cars, and came home and took a walk to check out the Caltech Turtle Situation. The Caltech Turtle Situation was major! I counted 99 between the 3 pools!

And then, that evening, after Mom, Dad, Afton, Katharine, Kristen, and Rachel had arrived (Frank and Emily were in San Marino before me), it was time for Louise’s big party. We got there a little early and admired the majesty of the In n Out truck (sometimes “food truck” really means “food TRUCK”), the party decorations, and I had never been inside the old Alhambra chapel so I had a good look around at the old Alhambra chapel.

Proud granddaughter at the wall of bishops

and amidst all the excitement (and wondering where she was) the Birthday Girl materialized in the lobby, holding court and telling people where to put Family History binders. At last the party was beginning for real! At last it was time for our In n Out!

Louise got a little time on the mic to impart some brief words of wisdom before sitting back and enjoying the entertainment of watching her grandsons and great grandsons dance the haka for her (the MC had taken my brothers and me for Louise’s grandkids, not nephews, and I’m glad that was cleared up by the time the dance was organized.)

And soon the party was over . . . but you know what comes after the party? The afterparty! Many game family members came with Greg and Me for a little Chengdu Taste while the two of us Chengdu Dug-In to that famous Alhambra Sichuan goodness. V. glad to have it finally checked it off and tried the famous toothpick lamb, I miss Lucky Noodle King.

August 12th: I got everyone to come down to Ditroit for lunch and you know it was a giant hit! Those suadero tacos are a forever classic forever and the fish taquito also totally amazing. A smaller contingent came with me over to Mariscos Jalisco and then I took the deluxe contingent to Dover Street Market and Kang Kang food court. (We were taking it easy on lunch because we had a big dinner to eat).

That night we celebrated Dad’s birthday with dinner at Malbec, our favorite Argentine restaurant in Pasadena, followed by hot fudge sundaes at Twoheys’. There was a bit of a wait for a Twohey’s table, so a few of us took a little walk. And then most of the group went to cross a bridge they weren’t supposed to cross, so Emily and I stayed on the sidewalk and respected the signs and tape. Everyone survived crossing the bad bridge and everyone enjoyed eating their sundaes. Which…I didn’t get any photos of? Well, if you’re actually reading this, you probably know what a Twohey’s sundae looks like.

Sunday the 13th: Church. Big family dinner. A game of Poetry for Neanderthals. A family walk to Cal Tech with a Facetime with Liz (not pictured) and a Facetime with Owen (shown here).

Monday the 14th: With the clock ticking, we go check on this house that’s being moved around its yard and another house where they’re going to build an underground 5 car garage and then I paid one last little visit to the turtles. Then I go with Mom, Dad and Rachel to Home State and, well, few hits hit quite like Home State hit with them. What a nice breakfast taco time we had before picking up Roma sandwiches and catching one last flight (plus a Chicago layover) back to New York (pilot blessed us on the right side of the plane with a slow ride up along the whole side of Manhattan, tip to tip. Thank you, pilot, it looked real good even if the cell phone picture doesn’t.