san diego - drive north!

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these are the last pics from san diego! alas, there aren't a lot because... well. TRAFFIC AND RAIN.

anyway. the next day i drove out of there. i stopped by my friend's new optometry practice, and as i was leaving from there, i snapped this great pic of the wide-open boulevards of san diego's suburbs:

From San Diego


big. sky.

alas, soon enough on the trip back north it started to rain:

From San Diego


now, on the trip south, it was dark by the time i got to this area. so at least i saw this in the daylight, even if it was raining! because -- yeah, once i got to irvine, where my trip-south photos ended, i was caught in traffic so long it basically turned pitchblack. but regardless, i just really really wanted to take a picture of THIS:

From San Diego


look to the left side of the freeway there. that's probably the most infamous landmark on the stretch of I-5 between LA and SD. now, this stretch of road is one of the only gaps in the nonstop socal urban sprawl -- this gorgeous, wild section where the freeway runs by the sea, passing estuaries and mountainsides.

however, this is also where, in their infinite wisdom, the state decided to put their nuclear power generators. and this wouldn't be so bad, except these things need shielding. and THAT wouldn't be so bad, except in the interest of not making these generators giant and fugly blocks of concrete, they opted for domes instead.

domes with little peaks on them.

that look EXACTLY like gigantic boobs.

so that's what these are called. "The Boobs". if you mention "the boobs on the I-5" to ANYONE who's lived in san diego for any length of time, esp if they've driven to LA at least once or twice, they will absolutely know what you're talking about.

here's a closer look:

From San Diego


BEWBS.

after the adolescent snicker i got out of that, it was onward to irvine again. it stopped raining for a while, but the sky got more and more ominous as the traffic got thicker and thicker.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112865310833252467406/SanDiego?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyAks_91_jT_wE&feat=embedwebsite#5597950890369097170

...and then, inevitable, ground to a halt:

From San Diego


this was seriously a perfect storm. it was 5pm. i was in LA. it was raining. it could not possibly get worse than that.

to fully understand my predicament, you have to know this: socal people cannot drive in the rain. i don't really get this, because SD actually gets a lot heavier rain than the bay area. we get more rain overall, but san diego gets torrential downpours. so you'd think they'd be used to it! but i guess the fact that they get infrequent but very heavy downpours just means they get even more panicked when it finally happens.

i saw SO MANY CARS do this:

1) slow down in the pouring rain
2) slow down more
3) slow to a crawl
4) turn on high beams
5) TURN ON EMERGENCY BLINKERS

every time, it cracked me up. driver in distress, due to rain!

but yeah. socal people are afraid of rain. LA traffic is always bad, but the LA rush hour is legendarily bad. and just... yeah. it was a weekday, it was rush hour, and it was raining. that stretch of road in the picture above -- the interchange right there? from my position in that picture to the end of the interchange -- the last merge of that highway overhead into the I-5 -- literally took me 45 minutes to get through. 45 minutes for about... maybe a quarter mile.

i almost went out of my mind. i ended up watching avatar on my phone while creeping along. and it wasn't like that was the end of the traffic. this was still the south side of LA, and i had to get all the way through it >_<

this is the last pic i took in socal:

From San Diego


and it's of me still stuck in traffic. i was in westwood by then, almost out of LA. it was horrific. hours had gone by. it took me something like 5-6 hours to get from north san diego to the grapevine -- a trip that SHOULD take about 2 hours.

it was insane going over the grapevine. actually it was insane all the way home. not because there was traffic -- because there wasn't -- but because it was just pouring rain the whole way. it was actually a little harrowing going over the LA mountains this time. just ... drenching rain. tons of Drivers In Distress Due To Rain. and then ... yeah. all the way up the central valley too.

but! eventually! i made it back to the bay. and thus ended my trip to SD :D

last thing! while i was digging for pics of my parents' place, i found some pics of my dog :] i talk about him all the time, but here he is:

From San Diego


see the metal pot thing? that's an old old pot my parents had, that eventually got relegated to dogfood duty. we used to feed him in little dogfood trays, but... yeah. it became easier to just slop his noms into a huge pot *LOL*

btw, that was him in our backyard in san diego, looking unusually calm and thoughtful and well-behaved. he was a remarkably intelligent dog, and i'm almost sure he knew how to pose for photos. however, this was how he usually looked:

From San Diego


i think it was exceptionally windy that day. i made him sit for a portrait, but he did not enjoy this. *LOL* i think he was like. protesting and making little low howly noises in that pic.

aw, dog. :]

this, honestly, is how i remember him best:

From San Diego


i wish that picture wasn't so blurry :] that was him on his little bed that my mom made for him. the piece of wood behind him is to protect the wall from getting all dirty because he tended to roll against it, sit against it, kick it, etc.

he always looked so peaceful when he slept :] i remember once i was jetlagged and couldn't sleep, so i went downstairs and slept on the couch with my hand in his fur. best sleep ever.

:]

aw, dog.

1 comments:

kai said...

Aw, dog. :] He gorgeous. He look like such a gud dog. :]

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