This is quite long.

A couple of weeks ago I went to California with Pat to attend a wedding of one of his high school friends and while we were there, I met his family and the guys he grew up with. We drove 17 hours each way which actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Especially because he pumped all the gas. (I'm from Oregon and I just don't do that.)
The weather was, of course, lovely. It had been freezing or below in Portland for the last couple weeks so we were pretty pumped about 70 degree weather when we hit Chico for lunch on the first day at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. I failed to take pictures of this place but its really beautiful. Copper everywhere and of course, really tasty beer. Pat got the sampler, which looks like this

Yep, that's 16 different beers. Pretty impressive.

Our first full day we went to Newport beach with Pat's friend Dorian and two of his chihuahuas. His family has a herd of them. It's mildly terrifying. But I did, against my wishes, kinda like the old one named Oz. He likes to be crushed, according to Dorian, which is why he was hanging out between my back and the seat


Pat has not one, but two friends with chihuahuas. And if you remember, Pat has a pomchi (pomeranian and chihuahua mix). It's pretty ridiculous.

After some strolling down the beach and beers and lunch by the pier we headed back to spend some time with the parents and then to LA for dinner with Pat's brother who took us to this awesome vegan place called Pure Luck which I highly recommend for vegans and non-vegans alike. They have a decent beer selection (including sours which are my fave) and the food was SO good. Their 'meat' is a jackfruit pulled pork/carnitas concoction that is so meaty it freaked me out a little. Sounds crazy, but it is actually crazy awesome. Also, Pat's brother was extremely cool. He works as an editor for reality TV shows and was just generally great. He took us across the street after dinner for gelato at this place called Scoops. I am not usually a lover of frozen treats. However, pat and I shared some apricot pale ale gelato and oh sweet baby jesus. Even better, they had the good kind of sprinkles-the colored sugar that sorta looks like glitter.


So, LA was fun. And the part of town we were in reminded me of Portland, which made me really happy.

The next day was Pat's friend's wedding. After getting ready and a photoshoot in his back yard we made our way to Dorian's house so that we could all drive together. Pat had been receiving bizarre texts from Dorian all morning and we suspected he might already be drunk. We arrived at his place at 2pm. The ceremony was at 3. We walked into Dorian's room to find him passed out and in his underwear. After waking from his drunken slumber, he offered us Mai Tais that he had bought for the 'babe' that was over the night before. We accepted and about an hour later we were out the door. If you happen to be following closely, you will be noticing that we are leaving Dorian's house at the time that we are supposed to be at the ceremony. Dorian tells us that Hector (the one getting married) said we didn't need to attend the ceremony. I mean, that part's not really crucial.
Pat and I spiffed up for the wedding:

We get on the road and it turns out that Dorian doesn't know where we are going. None of us do. By the time we arrive, everyone is sitting down eating appetizers and there is one table left. The only two people sitting there happen to be the only other white people at the wedding. So, we take our seats at the white kid table and then congratulate Hector. Hector has gathered that Dorian is completely tanked. The couple sitting at our table are mostly keeping to themselves. The girl gets up and Dorian immediately starts asking her boyfriend her name and other strange questions. He gets a little peeved and he too eventually gets up. We think we've scared them off completely.
The evening progresses, usual wedding things happen. There is a mariachi band. They are exceptionally loud and have awesome pants. This is characteristic of all mariachi bands, I believe. I eat potato salad and bread for dinner because everything has meat in it. We had plans to go out with Pat's friends that night so around 7 we start making preparations to leave. Dorian has the keys. He is grinding on the girl from our table, whose boyfriend has disappeared. Shots are being taken. The shitshow train has pulled into the station. Dorian does not want to leave. I don't remember how it happened but Pat retrieves the keys from Dorian's pocket and he finally gives in, saying "eh, I got babes in Huntington Beach too. Babes everywhere."
We go back to Dorian's house to change our clothes, and then go back out to the car. Dorian stops in the middle of the lawn, vomits pretty impressively, and then gets in the car. Pat questions him about the probability that he will also vomit in Pat's car. Dorian explains that he just brushed his teeth, which obviously makes you vomit. With this new information, we proceed to meet up with Pat's friends.
I enjoyed all of them immensely and we had a fantastic time. We went to a bar where there was dancing which isn't something I do much these days but I really enjoyed it. Ladies, I love ya. But a night out with the guys is a wonderful thing indeed. We stayed there till they closed and then went back to a house shared by a few of them and it became obvious that I could not keep up. There was more dancing, and wrestling. We made a Del Taco run, ordering an embarrassing amount of food at the drive through. After that I believe I went to bed (or floor, as it were).
Sleep happened around 3 or 4 am. Pat and I got up at 8am to go back to his parents, pack up, and drive to San Francisco. The morning was a little rough.
Pat's other brother lives in Oakland (not the scary part) with his wife and new baby girl Claire- Pat's first niece. Again, I really liked him. He is a police officer and had some pretty interesting stories to tell us. We met Claire and she was pretty cute for a baby. I actually did okay with her, asamatteroffact. Some people may have been worried that I don't like babies and therefore would fail this test miserably. Not true. I can play stare-at-the-baby with the best of them. Plus, in a cruel twist of fate, babies love me.
That evening we met up with my wonderful friend Carolyn who is in Oakland doing Teach for America. She's one of the smartest and most interesting people I know and I was so happy to be able to see her while we were there. We were at a really cute cafe and I tried to get Pat to drink coffee by presenting it in Mocha Blanc form. No dice. We'll be sticking to beer.
The next morning we ate breakfast with Pat's brother and family and then got back on the road..or at least we tried. His car started making noises and we had to take it to a mechanic. This ate about 3 hours. The only good part was that we got to take a nice walk up through the residential areas and the weather was great. After the car was fixed, 10 hours and we were home.

k that's my story.