CAUTION: Prone to absurdity and misadventures

Friday was a free day! Amos didn't have to work, and I didn't get called to substitute. I had the idea that we should go to the beach to see some tide pools. Nice idea, right? We thought so.

We headed down to San Pedro this morning and had lunch on a bluff near a lighthouse overlooking the beach. Amos said that we had to take a picture with the lighthouse because some friends from back home took roadtrips just to see them.

At the lighthouse we met a docent name John (or "David" if we didn't like the tour) and joined his tour. At first I was kind of like, "I don't know about all the time this might take, but...why not." It actually was interesting. We got to go all the way up to the top and learn the history of the building. When we came back down, Amos pointed out the replica of the lighthouse that was on display. You would not believe it. The replica won first prize at the Nevada County Fair!!! Which is crazy because San Pedro and Grass Valley are 450+ miles apart!!! I told the docent that I was from Grass Valley. He didn't seem that interested, but I was very excited.

Lighthouse picture taken, we headed out for the tide pools. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe the tide was too high, maybe we were in the wrong spot, maybe...I don't know. There were no tide pools. The beach actually looked a lot like a NorCal beach. There was no sand. Anywhere. No sand, just big, loose rocks the size of baseballs, basketballs, and boulders.

Amos and I decided to climb back up to the top of the bluff and drive farther down the coast to find some real tide pools. Unfortunately, as we were walking back ...

"Ow!" Amos' glasses broke.

Yep, the metal snapped and a lens popped out. Ohhhhhhhh dear. This is not good.

Amos really can't see without his glasses. Amos has a manual car.

Thankfully, I learned how to drive a manual this summer. Otherwise, I would have had a much more stressful day, either learning how to drive or riding back as a passenger!

Putting the glasses in my backpack, we decided we should ditch the whole tide-pools-that-aren't-tide-pools-beach-town-day idea and try to find a Lens Crafters instead. The stressful thing was that there were a lot of hills in San Pedro. I kept hoping that no one would get too close behind me as I stopped on said hills. The cars thankfully kept an adequate distance.

We got back on the freeway and headed for Santa Clarita. No problem, right?

Well, there was traffic. Intense traffic. My left leg started hurting from using the clutch constantly. After driving for close to two hours (when it should only have taken one), I decided that I had had enough of the freeways. Amos told me which street to get off on so that we could bypass the bad section of the 405.

Squeezing through the lanes stuffed with stubborn drivers who didn't want to let me over, I got off the freeway. Amos told me to turn left. I turned left. He said we should probably go straight. I went straight, but then I realized that we were getting back on the freeway! So...

I turned into the parking lot of a mortuary. I told Amos to warn me if he saw any dead people, but then I remembered, "he can't see!" Amos assured me that they did not wheel dead people around in plain view even at the mortuary, so I should be fine. We accidentally drove the wrong way through the parking lot and headed back for the surface streets. The bad thing is that I should wear glasses when I drive.

There was a lot of,

Me - "What does that sign say? Oh yeah, you can't see."

Amos - "What about this street?" Me - "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no, that's not it."

Me - "What street is this?"

Amos - "What about this street?" Me - "Ummm, no."

We found Balboa, turned right, and continued on to Santa Clarita. But of course, there was another twist. The road we were travelling on went up a really steep, long, traffic-jammed hill.

Oh no! Not the hill! Not with a clutch! Not with stop-and-go traffic! Not with a nice car behind me who keeps inching closer!

You can guess what happened next. Yep, I killed the car. On the hill.

So. I pulled the e-break and revved the engine. If you drive or know how to drive a manual car, you realized that I didn't apply the clutch. I let the engine slow back down, revved the engine, applied the clutch, smoked the tires (literally, I could see the smoke), and took off the e-break.

Let me tell you, that car stayed waaaaay back for the rest of the hill. ;)
A few minutes later we were back on Amos' street, hoping for dinner but poised for any new misadventure that might waylay us.

For an anticlimactic end to a crazy day, we went to Ralph's to get food for dinner and super glue for Amos' glasses. We made and ate dinner, and I said goodbye to Amos and an insane day that will not soon be forgotten.

:)