my weekend as part of Gan's accidental adventure...

Last weekend I finally ventured up the central California coast to spend the “furlough” weekend with my best adventuremate Gan. I got there just after 9pm on Friday and we got started right away (well that is right AFTER I made a quick stop at the bathroom which had been desperately calling my name since leaving orange county over 4 hours earlier!) in the black of night to explore the fields behind her house – apparently she has taken everyone out there and no one makes it very far. I dare say it wasn’t really that frightening – rather – I felt like I was back at camp – somewhere like Pine Valley where I spent so many summers of my life – searching for a counselor in a late night game or playing flash light tag…so fun. After our walk, we returned to the house for some Project Runway – it was the BEST EPISODE I’ve seen in a REALLY long time! Gretch was in RARE form – or perhaps it was NOT that rare – but we’ll post details on that LATER. We finally collapsed into bed around 2am and hopes of breakfast made by Gan’s dad (Marc {with a “c”}) greeting us in the morning! SUPER YUM.

We did start the day with breakfast and just lounged around in the morning. PERFECTION! We then ventured out for our first adventure together in MONTHS! It felt SO good (albeit a bit different with Gan behind the wheel) to be roaming together jamming out to Miley and headed STRAIGHT for a coffee shop. Armed with caffeinated beverages (which were PHENOMENAL) we walked through the small town of Arroyo Grande (but do NOT be confused – they have extremely dangerous intersections {right steven? wink}) and ended up down by the creek. We put our feet in the water and walked across an abandoned log – it was one of the most subtle places I have ever been. It was calming and peaceful, idyllic.After seeing most of AG, we headed to Avila Beach (we detoured at Avila Farm or something like that to see some goats, etc.) where we re-introduced ourselves to swinging. Some sweet (everyone is SO NICE up there) little boy willingly took massive amounts of pictures of Gan and I together swinging. How dear.After exhausting ourselves, we walked down by the water and then Gan introduced me to the TERRIFYING pier with like 3 inch GAPS between the slats. NOT SAFE and definitely not high heel approved. I have a friend {amber} who lives in SLO that said she used to go on first dates in Avila and if the date asked her to go for a walk on the pier after dinner it was an automatic disqualification from a 2nd date. Ha. From Avila we headed to the SLO Pier to see the seals.However, Gan did NOT tell that she was going to keep driving straight onto the Pier. OH MY GOSH – that was a once in a lifetime experience FOR SURE. I am STILL swimming in pride – my sweet Megan who didn’t drive until just before she graduated from college drove ON A PIER! It is impressive to say the least! After visiting “Angry Bear” the seal that HATED ME WITH A FIERY VENGENCE several times, we drove to Shell Beach (after all it is named after me – I should give it the honor of my presence, right!) it is GORGEOUS!That evening we had dinner with Gan’s parents and then went to church. Our final stop was at the grocery to grab ice cream for dessert and settle in for another night of FABULOUS television. It was pretty much the PERFECT day.

Sunday we got up late (again) and lounged around a bit (again) before we finally got going. Our first stop was the Luffa Farm whose tagline is “come and be amazed” – WE WERE. We all thought that sponges grew in the sea – well NOT luffa sponges – they look like giant SQUASH and they grow in a greenhouse. It is crazy!From there we headed to Giovanni’s for lunch – it is a seafood restaurant in Morrow Bay. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was, well, COMICAL. There are some seriously hungry (and ridiculously fat) birds that will NOT hesitate to steal your food if you aren’t mindful of their presence. They are loud constantly squawking at each other identifying their next target. One hopped right up on the table behind us – they have NO fear. With food in our tummies, we were off for adventures at Jack Creek (delicious churro bite things and sparkling apple pomegranate slushes) and wine tasting at 46 (the winery we chose was ALL Gan’s mom – she had seen something about it in Sunset Magazine. Little did she know she sent us to the winery with glasses etched with “zinbitch” on them! haha!).The wines we tasted were SO GOOD. We only had 1 white – but the reds were actually better in my opinion anyway. My favorite was Anarchy and I think Gan liked Peasant or was it Monarchy? For a winery they definitely have a snarky personality and I love it. The quote to take away from our wine tasting extravaganza was, “better to have an interesting vice than an annoying virtue” SO TRUE. We also went to Harmony (population 18) and spent a while in the glass blowing shop - OH MY GOSH INCREDIBLE! We went to Happy Acres Farm where we met the sweetest and prettiest goats I’ve ever seen. We did a goat cheese tasting and got some goat ice-cream for the car. Everything was SO GOOD. Sunday night was the EMMY AWARDS so we all settled in for an evening of snacking and dress critiques. Gan and I love us some award shows – so we had a blast.

Monday was our last day together and according to Gan I had pretty much seen what there was to see – so we relived our Orange County lives for a day – we went to see Eat. Pray. Love and smuggled Baja Fresh into the theatre – we earned Regal Points (I got a free small beverage! woot!) and purchased our $1 candy! LOVE IT. After the movie we drove into SLO where we did a little shopping…HELLO SEPHORA! And then we stopped at one more coffee shop before I got on the road. It was an absolutely WONDERFUL weekend and I so loved my time catching up and seeing Gan’s new life. It is a totally different world – but I think I can safely say that regardless of environmental surroundings, Gan and I will always fit in – live life where you are – and love it while you’re there.