California Here We Come, Right Back Where We Started From

Mom, Nae and I got up bright and early yesterday morning and road tripped it down to Orange County. We're here because my Grandpa is pretty sick and it seemed like our grandparents weren't going to come up north for Thanksgiving or Christmas so just in case anything bad happens to him, we've at least seen him this one last time. I might go in to a little more detail in another post about what's going on with him (let's just say that it's self-inflicted) but for now I'll just talk about the other aspects of the trip so far.

It's been weird driving around the OC. It's so damn smoggy and the traffic is ridiculous! I don't miss living here, but I do miss working at Jack's and surfing here and some of my friends that are still here. Other than that, this place doesn't feel like home anymore and I realize how happy we all are in Santa Cruz.

Bun came and picked me up last night and I can't believe it's been two years since we've seen each other. It was great and it didn't feel awkward that we hadn't seen each other in forever. We could just pick up where we had left off the last time. She was the good friend and took me to what I was craving- Pick Up Stix! Oh man, the house special chicken was just as good as I remembered it. It felt good and it felt like old times sitting and talking with her for hours over good food. I'm so excited, too, because she and at least one other high school friend, Ade, are supposed to come up sometime soon to Santa Cruz to hang out for a weekend. I can't wait to show them around all the fun stuff up there!

This morning, Nae has already been up and surfed for a few hours and now Mom is telling me it is time to go. We've got a full day with the grandparents and then are hopefully going to see some of our qausi-cousins and aunt. This afternoon we might stop at South Coast Plaza, as well. Yay, for real shopping! That is the one thing Santa Cruz lacks.