An [Almost] Ode to California

or, What We Love About Cali

(Our one last rant and rave before we really jump in with both feet in Tacoma . . . maybe.)

Ah, California, how we miss thee!

With your legal U-turns and plenty of room to make them in,

Your lack of one-way streets,

Your speedsters on the freeway that make it okay for everyone else to go 20 over.

We crave your "animal style" and special sauce, In-N-Out,

Your melt-in-your-mouth carne asada.

We long for your warm, dry temperatures,

Your sandy, over-crowded, non-numbing but tolerable water beaches.

And, oh! To see Mickey and Minnie again!

We even want our radio stations back.

Sure, you have faults.

Cucarachas grandes,

So much city it's claustrophobic sometimes,

Graffiti, which we never really saw as art,

Paying for pop +CRV and never really getting it back,

Even though we did recycle.

Cops POUNDING on your door, guns drawn (that may have been an experience unique to us)

And governmental issues . . . some other time . . .

For now, though, all we remember is wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a t-shirt (NO jacket) almost any time of the year,

And never having to wake up early to scrape the snow off our car--only to avoid bad traffic.

And while we are finding new and good things here in our new home,

We have not quite gotten over you--

You and your overdose of shopping possibilities and bargain finds.

You and your palm tree lined streets.

You and your great people that became great friends.

We will make new friends--there are great people everywhere,

And we will love every moment with family,

But until then,

In the words of little Ricky Bobby,

"I wanna go fast!"

***

("Love Song for Washington," coming soon to a blog near you)

Our family is onto us.

Last weekend, Ang said something about how great California was because we were talking about the D's vacation there last year, and Mom said, "Oh, but don't say that about California around them." It was cute. I think she was either trying to (a) prevent us from feeling bummed about leaving, or (b) prevent us from moving back, or both.

We are trying to get into the swing of things here, but we've had a bit of a rocky start (see upcoming post) and our mover's remorse seems to be lagging a little longer than it probably should. But, luckily for us, we have family here to remind us how great Washington is, so you may from now on anticipate lovely posts about our life in the Evergreen state. Well, you might have to wait for a "lovely" post until after the next one . . .