What would the holiday be without spending some portion of the day with Clifford. Cliff had to work the Christmas Eve and the day after…retail, as we all know, is rough on holidays. So on to the Rosengren-Friedman version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...PTA without the P and T...but with one of the best scenes ever from a frustrated traveler.
This year I happened to have Christmas eve off, so ROAD TRIP. 600 miles—door to door. A very long 600 miles. We left Tuesday after I got off from work and stopped just outside (one side or the other) of Bakersfield. All I know is that there were cows involved, and the lovely odors that go along with them.
When we got to Chico Cliff still had a couple of hours to work, traffic was insane in little Chico (did I mention it was pouring), so what else would we do but go to our fave the Sin of Cortez for lunch and then Barnes and Noble to await the arrival of the prodigal son. 37 books, 1 tea, 1 coffee, 483 magazines later, Cliff arrived in the rain.So officially Christmas began for us at 4:30. We went to Casa Cliff, met Ruth Bader Ginsberg Chinchilla, Harvey Two Face the cat, then to dinner at the Raw Bar for Sushi. Grocery shopping, gas shopping, sleep, Christmas gift opening, breakfast at the “Sin of Cortez” and on the road again by 9AM.
Let me recap:
10 hours driving to Chico
1 Motel room in Bakersfield
3 hours at Barnes and Noble
2 breakfasts at Sin of Cortez
1 dinner at RawBar
1 shopping spree at Safeway
10 hours driving to San Diego
and yes
Christmas morning with Clifford—priceless.
