Adventures in "Sunny" Southern Cal

I gripped the wheel with both hands, squinted out the window through the rain and fog, and sighed loudly. Seth, next to me, was a study of patience and calm. “We seriously can’t win with this weather,” I said, for probably the seventh time that morning. “I’m having fun,” he said. “Let’s stop here and get some lunch and a beer.”

A couple of beachside tacos and a pint or two later, and I was feeling better. Seth does know how to handle the occasional fit of temper. This one was, I thought, well-warranted. I had been looking forward to showing him California practically since we met, and had spent weeks making plans to see friends and squeeze in as much scenic beautiful as humanly possible over the long weekend, when “Snowmageddon” ruined out trip. We had rescheduled for this weekend, and arrived to LA Times headlines about the huge storm: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-storms-big-waves-tornado-warning-more-rain-ahead-20140301,0,7788366.story#axzz2v7pXxASh I was nearly inconsolable.

The weather, at least, turned out to be as bad as it sounded. We got dressed up for dinner one night and dashed through the deluge from the valet stand, looking like drowned rats by the time we got inside. I white-knuckled most of the driving as the rain came down in sheets. For the bulk of the scenic drive of the Pacific Coast Highway- which I had been talking up for more than a year- you couldn’t even see the ocean, or tell that the winding road hugged stunning cliffs. We had to avoid Malibu entirely due to mudslides. The redwoods were obscured by fog and downed branches, and we had to squint through pea soup fog to see the iconic Golden Gate and the Hollywood sign.

Hollywood was another story, since I had forgotten all about Academy Awards weekend. The streets
were so blocked off, we couldn’t even get in the obligatory glance at Graumann’s Theater and the Walk of Fame.

Seth promised we could have a “redo,” which cheered me up a little bit, and he was so cheerful about the whole thing that I eventually had to laugh about the weather conspiracy. And we still had a great time. Even though I was so indignant about his missing the Big Sur views that I made him google “what it usually looks like.”

I got to introduce Seth to some of my very closest friends (and vice versa), and we had a great time with all of them. We made a pilgrimage to Manhattan Beach, went to a killer new beach restaurant with Petey and Lauren, got to see Jean and Travis’ gorgeous new house and cute toddler, and had dinner and cocktails (with mandatory celebrity sighting, of course) in Hollywood with Tori and Todd.

Largely thanks to Seth we enjoyed our soggy road trip, and he got to catch up with a friend in San Francisco. (The nerd I married also insisted that- with hundreds of miles of the most beautiful coastline in the world to see- we go to the Reagan Library. And it was kind of cool.)

We spent a rainy afternoon in bed with room service in Studio City, and found the only dive bar in beautiful- and insanely upscale- Carmel, which served, yes, a bacon bloody Mary. Seth was in heaven. And finally, I got to show him why a trip to Fresno to see the Russos, who make five-star Italian dinners and never let a wine glass go empty, is always worth the trip.

The whole thing- monsoon notwithstanding- in retrospect, was pretty magical, if comical. I’m beyond thrilled that Seth enjoyed my favorite people and places, and patting myself on the back for marrying a guy who’s a killer road trip buddy- and always knows when to pull over for a beer.

The photo of the week is Seth's completely outrageous fortune cookie from dinner one night. Unbelievable.

Oh, and our obligatory souvenir photo from the Reagan Museum. His Air Force One really is inside it.

And one more, since we got great news while we were gone: Ben's home!!!