California Freeways

On Thursday Patty agreed to go with me up to LA to see the museum of tolerance. I need extra credit for the class that I missed due to the towing incident, and this is one of the options. Don't ask me why, because I can't for the life of me see how it's relevant to the course, but I'm not complaining. Anyway, we somehow managed to miss our freeway exit, and didn't get to the museum until 4:10, and it closes at 5pm. That's wasn't a problem for us, since we were really there just to cruise through, and glance around so that I would have enough material to write a short essay about the experience. Too bad they stop selling tickets to the place at 3:30. So Patty volunteered to take me to lunch instead. We wound up at the food court of a mall in Santa Monica. I would love to describe some of the people we saw there, but words alone can't do it justice. I would need to be able to demonstrate some of what we witnessed.

Moving on...

On the ride home Patty was introducing the wonders of satellite radio to me. We stumbled upon a station that was playing "You needed me" by Anne Murray, so of course we had the radio turned up and we're singing along at the top of our lungs. There is a line in the song that says "...you even called me friend..." We were singing along, Patty had her eyes on the road, but I did see her right hand moving towards me, and I was thinking to myself "I wonder what she's reaching for?" Right at the friend line she reached over and grabbed my hand. I snatched it away immediately and practically yelled at her "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She was laughing so hard that I'm half-surprised she didn't run us into the median. Once she calmed down enough to start formulating words again she admitted that "it felt really creepy to me too, just so you know."

Now for the best part of the trip. We were still driving along, talking, everyone keeping their hands to themselves, when all the sudden we both saw something that stopped our conversation mid-sentence, and neither of us were able to speak for a second. I'm not sure exactly how to best describe what we saw, but picture an old Cadillac, probably from the early 80's, cruising along at a speed that is way too slow for the freeway, but still pretty fast, all things considered. Those things to take into consideration would be the man behind the car riding a nice Harley. He looked like a hardcore biker. You know, his arms were all tatted up, and his pony tail was blowing out behind him. He was steering the motorcycle with one hand, and hanging onto what appeared to be a water skiing handle with the other. The water skiing handle was tied to the Cadillac in front of him. He was impressively strong, we know this because...well he was steering a Harley with one hand, and being towed along by a water skiing handle with the other. Need I say more? Patty and I both just sat there staring in stunned silence. We're idiots, and didn't get the phone out in time to get a picture. Sorry. :(

A couple of days later Patty and I found ourselves on yet another trip to a museum. Since the museum of Tolerance didn't work out, we decided to shoot for the Richard Nixon museum instead. I've already been once before, but Patty hadn't, so we headed out to Yorba Linda on Saturday. Here are some pictures:Patty in front of a chunk of the Berlin wall.
Me with Winston Churchill
Patty's really into hand holding.
This is me with the Nixon's trying to smile with the sun in my eyes, and not succeeding.
Patty with the Nixon's ride.
Me with the Nixon's other ride.

We were a little disappointed that there was some sort of wedding celebration going on there that night, and so we weren't able to tour the replica of the white house ballroom. I told Patty that I think it would be a perfect place to have a wedding reception, and I wish I knew the people hosting one there that evening. Well...I was wrong. Turns out it's not a good place to hold a wedding reception. On the way back we were cruising along the 91, and we slowed down to do a little rubber necking at a couple of accidents on the 91 east. The first accident looked like someone had driven just a little to close to the median. The freeway was backed up for miles behind the accident. The second accident was the one that changed my mind about the museum being a fantastic place for a reception. We passed a six car pile up, and right there in the middle of the freeway, looking frantic and distraught, while talking on a cell phone next to a totalled car, was a bride. Pretty sure her wedding day didn't go as planned.