Bakersfield, CA

It is just after midnight, February 14, so Happy Valentine's Day from a very unromantic Rodeway Inn and Suites in Bakersfield, CA.

We got a decent start around 8:30 AM and pretty quickly crossed in to CA. Then we stopped at a viewpoint looking out over Mt. Shasta. It was still a little hazy at that point so Shasta isn't very clear.

These are the cars that are getting the 4 of us cross country. One of us also apparently doubles as pack mule. The suburban is loaded tight, the subaru is kept a little less packed for easier driving of our high school permit driver. She is our driving wild card: amazing when she gets behind the wheel - provided you can wait for her to wake up and change her shoes...every time.

We took the bypass into the Bay area to visit San Francisco. It was beautiful and the weather was cooperative; but sadly the traffic was not. Perhaps we need a different ninja for that.

So our permit driver, crossed a bridge for the first time, dealt with tolls and the merging traffic on the Bay Bridge and entered the city of San Francisco. This is what she looked like afterwards:

Note the defiance as she runs from the driver side of the car. San Francisco was an adventure in itself. While a great idea at the time and a memorable experience, we got stuck in bad traffic prior to Berkley, and it definitely greatly changed our timing plans. But now permit driver can say she did it. :) And she later did the last leg coming into Bakersfield at night. She is doing amazing.

In San Francisco we had Japanese food at a great place called Ebisu. Sadly, the vegan cake we were actually hunting is no longer being made. Anyone who knows me well; knows the great lengths I will go for a dessert. At least we had the good sense to call ahead and learn the cake was no more before trying to find the Rainbow Grocery.

Look at the weather ninja; basking in the sun. When you drive for hours in the car, stuck with someone, little truths come out. Like how the weather ninja I have is actually a variation on a theme of a white little weather spirit that is supposed to be for good weather luck. Now my variation is black and has a sword...can that still be good luck?