Homeward Bound - Part 1

I will begin with the final happenings of California in late June and early July.

The third picture is of Rob and I with the Vanderstoep family. They had us over for dinner on that Monday night the day after we went to the DeWaters, I believe. It was an awesome time and we made friends for life with them.
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Rob and I stayed three more days in Shingle Springs. In this time we got to eat another meal with the family of one of the ladies who work the front desk at the tennis club. In that time I played my pipes, of course (see pics.) Then later on that night we took a couple of the girls out to a pub where I was to play that night. That wasn't the best idea, seeing as they were 18 and it was a pub. I ended up singing on karaoke and breaking a few windows with my voice. Although I did call in advance to get permission for the younger ladies, we were kicked out shortly after (it was in a friendly way - no worries!) so we went to good old Marco's Cafe, which was nearly next door and hung out there for a little while before calling it a night. Here's the video of me playing at Coloma Club.



The final night in northern California was an interesting time as well. The deal was that Barbara (see previous blog) would teach me to dance if I taught her how to serve a tennis ball. Seemed like a fair deal to me, so after I taught Barbara how to serve we went out to a Salsa Dance Club that I found on the Internet in Sacramento. Well, when we got there we found that the place no longer existed... hmmmm. Where now could we take another two underage ladies (19) on a Friday night? How about a Hooka Bar. Why not? So while Rob, Kelly (a fellow who worked the front desk that wanted to come out with us that night as well) and the ladies were getting high off of hooka, I was getting high off of hummus... tons and tons of hummus. No, I didn't try any of the hooka. It just didn't look to appealing to me. It actually made for a great place to hang out and have some interesting conversation and a good time.

The next day Rob woke up a little earlier than I and began trucking the van down south again, destination Los Angeles. All was well and good until we hit the 'Grapevine', a 4,000 foot steap climb and descent about 70 miles north of L.A. on I-5. We had to stop and let Anna cool down a couple of times during the climb, which was an 'I think I can' time the whole way up, averaging 15-20 miles an hour. We made it though, and we made a video of the feat.



So what next? How about Huntington Beach, the surf capital of the U.S., and close to where I was to store my van with Rob's Uncle. (Above is a picture of Rob's twin neice's that he got to meet for the first time while there.) Here goes another story:

We could not find a parking spot anywhere in Huntington Beach, as it was the weekend before July 4th and loaded with people. Finally, Rob and I came across a block party on 9th & Orange that had a big blocked off parking space right in front of it. I asked Rob if we should park there. "Let's do it" he said, so I turned around and pulled up with the van while Rob asked if we could park there and frequent their party, as we were both quite hungry at the time. The lady asked if we were 21, asked for our I.D.'s. I showed her mine and explained that I am 24 and Rob is 21, so we are of age. All seemed good until another fellow homeowner from the block party came up and told us this was a private party and really isn't for younger people and junk like that. So I turned to Rob and told him, "Just tell him I play the bagpipes." Rob said the magic words and we before we knew it we were being treated like kings, with all the food, drinks, and attention we could ever ask for, along with a perfect parking spot right in front of the party. I rocked them a bit on my pipes and told them about why we were in Huntington Beach and before I knew it tips were coming in left and right... Halleluiah! We didn't just break even with our trip down to Huntington Beach from Sacramento... we made a profit. I played way into the night all around town while Rob carried the case and collected tips. Our first time being stopped by the cops was when we tried to play on Main Street in front of the Starbucks. Rob was carrying the case and waving a 'Tips' sign while I played. Yeah, it wasn't long before the cops were on us like a fly on a hamburger in the summer time. They wanted to write us a ticket, but I assured them we wouldn't do it again (such a treacherous thing as it was) and they decided not to give us a ticket... how nice.

The second time I got busted for playing was about 1:30am with my final go-round on the pipes, finishing at the block party (see video.)



Two mornings later I was leaving on a jet plane. and Rob was being picked up by his girlfriend in L.A. Here I go again on my own...

Signing off...

~ Nate

P.S. Part II will be up sometime tomorrow hopefully.