Santa Cruz, CA
May 22nd-26th, 2003
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What an awesome weekend to be in California! The fun started when I left Raleigh around 6 AM Eastern Time on Thursday morning
to catch the flight to St. Louis for the layover and then on to San Jose to arrive around noon Pacific time. Ben and Ashley were on the same flight plan
so we ended up hanging out together at the airports and most of the day in San Jose. It had been too long since I had seen Ben & Ashley... almost a year
if I remember correctly. Kaleb had grown quite a bit and was definitely excited about the whole airplane ordeal. He handled it surprisingly well and managed
to contain himself for the duration of the flights.
Arriving in San Jose was a trip all in itself... or should I say just leaving the airport was a trip. I have never seen such a unique way of routing traffic. We hauled our baggage to the curb to catch the rental car shuttle, which took 15 minutes to drive about 5 miles in a spiral. We ended up at the Hertz counter and we could still see where we had caught the shuttle. I splurged a bit on the car, picking up a convertible... I figured, nice weather, should be worth it! Well, it probably wasn't worth THAT much, but it was still fun to splurge a little. (I really need to work on my impulse shopping!) We had a serious case of hunger and jet lag to take care of... So off through San Jose towards Fremont we stopped at an interesting place called the Noodle House to take care of the hunger. I think the food was on the table within 30 seconds of the order and I got a Pearl drink (Tapioca Latte) for Ashley to try. I was introduced to the drink when I was in Irvine, CA in January and had to try it again when the opportunity was available. We ate and headed over to the hotel to catch a nap. After a few hours of sleep, I drove around Fremont for a bit and grabbed a little dinner. Not much left to do but sleep...
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Friday was a bit more exciting. I woke up as late as possible. Ben and Ashley had
already left for their trip to some railroad thing. I left the hotel and headed into San Jose to get my tuxedo. After getting the
rental I dropped off some shirts to get pressed while I had lunch at a sub place called Jersey's. (I was feeling a bit lazy to iron everything myself.)
After lunch, I headed to Santa Cruz to enjoy the weather and the drive around the city.
After a few hours of driving along the coast I met up with everyone at the hotel. David and Kathy had arrived a few hours earlier and Ben and Ashley showed up after entertaining Kaleb for a bit. We sat in the rooms and caught up on old times for a while and then Brian and Marty showed up. It was the first time in many years that the 4 roommates had been together. David, Ben, Brian and I had lived together in Blacksburg for 3 years or more before splitting ways. Ben, David and I ended up in Raleigh for a bit before David moved to Boulder and Brian was in DC for a while before moving to California. So after a bit of socializing we all started getting ready for the rehersal. The rehersal went well. We had plenty of time to stand there and get a few instructions about where to stand and where to walk and who to walk with, etc. We finished that up in an hour and went over to the restaurant for some good food. The restaurant, Michaels on Main, had a nice garden out back that we enjoyed whil everyone arrived. I got a couple candid photos of Kathy and Ashley with Kaleb that turned out really well. The dinner was awesome and several good stories about Brian were told. Everyone was giving him a bit of grief over the massive amount of e-mail we received regarding the wedding. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and socialized a bit before everyone crashed.
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Saturday! Wedding Day! David, Kathy and I went over to a shady BBQ place for some quality food. After heading back to the hotel
and dressing, we headed to the resort for pictures. The weather was a bit overcast at the beginning, but there was a lot of time for pictures to be
taken. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of my own. By the time the wedding began, the sky had cleared up and the sun was shining nicely. The
pictures were taken and the bride and maids retired to the rooms to relax for a bit. We seated the guests and chatted a bit while everyone was preparing.
The wedding could not have been any more perfect. Everyone was in a good mood with even a few teary-eyed bridesmaids. The ceremony was short, but sweet. We did our job and Briand and Lisa did theirs! A beautiful occasion. We moved from the lawn to the ballroom and grabbed some much needed food. (It had been about 5 hours since we had arrived at the resort and I wanted snacks!) The meal was excellent. The dancing began and we all took our turn on the dance floor. I had the chance to talk to Brian's parents for a bit and talk to some of the other groomsmen I did not know so well. At the end of the evening, I grabbed 3 of the lucky bamboo plants that we were given as gifts. (I need all the luck I can get!) They must be lucky, they survived the plane ride back! (Even when my luggage was delayed an extra day!) We returned to the hotel after saying our goodbyes. David and Kathy called it a night, but I headed back over to the resort to relax in the suite with some of the bridal party. Everyone was winding down and drinking a little. I had a few shots of some new Tequila... always a new way to unwind! After socializing for a bit and having a few more snacks, I said my goodbyes and retired back to the hotel for the night. The next day, the three of us headed into Santa Cruz for a filling brunch with the wedding party. Many people had travelled quite a ways for the wedding, so Brian and Lisa spent a little more time with us before taking off on their honeymoon. Ben and Ashley took off in the morning to hit San Francisco. After the food and our congratulations, we headed down to Monterey to see the Aquarium and enjoy the Bay a bit. My camera batteries died during the pre-wedding fun, so I don't have any pictures from anything after that. David & Ben may send me some photos in the future to fill in. We spent four hours in the aquarium and then headed out to the town to browse around a bit and get some food. We stopped by a pier and got a nauseating whiff of dozens of sea lions sleeping on the rocks. They're very cool animals, but I about lost everything I had eaten that weekend in the few minutes we spent looking at them. After the sun set, we headed back to Santa Cruz to relax at the hotel bar for a little bit. There was a lady there that decided to fill us in on all the hot spots in Santa Cruz as well as the location of most of the police checkpoints in case we needed to know where they were. We called it a night and watched some Simpsons before hitting the sack. Monday was my flight back. Spent all day in airports and waiting on planes. No big deal except for the aforementioned luggage flying in on a later flight. The trip was awesome and I'm glad I went. I wish it was easier for the group of us to get together and socialize a bit. Maybe I'll just have to drag all of them out to the beach house sometime!
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Pictures David & Kathy sent... not in any particular order.
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