On The Road At Last

 Rockapella in Livermore
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Travel Day

It's been far too long since I've written one of these, so I'm a bit rusty.  Let's do this trip report thing!

Bro agreed to take a road trip with me up to Northern California to see the Boys, and Auntie Milda said that we could stay at her place.  We left So Cal on Tuesday morning.  I had originally thought that we should rent a car, but it was too much of a hassle, so I drove my car, Skylar.  Bro got to be in the passenger seat this time!  We made one stop for gas, and had lunch at Bravo Farms.  As I looked around, I kind of remembered stuff from a past visit there, but the thing I remembered most was this cow.

Moooooo!

I would have enjoyed my strawberry salad with salmon more, had I not found bones in my salmon.  It kind of killed the mood, but it was pretty.

Next time I'll order the salad 

without the protein on top.

We had time to explore the rest of the place, which had ice cream, snacks, gifts, and antiques.  I also saw that upstairs, there was still more outside!  Bro and I checked out this little shack with sound effects and animated stuff that were triggered when you pushed these buttons.

Here are a couple of the animatronics that happened when Bro pushed the buttons.

I also asked Bro to pose under an anvil because I never understand why they're hanging anywhere.

Bro is a risk-taker.

After we were done with our antics, we got back on the road.  There was a lot of traffic coming up and my Waze told me to get off of the freeway, so I followed directions and we ended up on a road that was between orchards.  The road was unpaved.  My poor car.  There was a truck following us and I think that they must have also been following Waze.  But we still had faith in our app, enjoying the sightseeing of whatever orchard we were looking at, along with the bee boxes.  We finally got to a real road, got back on the freeway, and realized that we must have missed a big accident or something.  Totally worth driving on dirt.

We headed to Auntie Milda's new house.  She now lives in a senior community where it's nice and quiet, and she has a beautiful home, perfect for her needs.  I want her kitchen and the attached bar-like area, where people can sit while you're cooking/prepping, and you can also watch the TV in the living room from there.  Also, she has a huge TV screen.  But that didn't come with the house.  Bro and I decided we would visit during our drum corps road trip later this year, too.

Once we got unpacked and got a little bit of rest, we decided to get some dinner, and ended up at Ichiban.  Most people were sitting in the teppan area, but we really just wanted sushi, so we sat at the regular tables near the bar.  The sushi bar itself wasn't open for seating, though.  I opted for the Filet Mignon roll because most of the rolls had spicy ingredients.  Oh. My. Gosh!  It was delectable!  I was very very happy with my choice.  Auntie Milda and Bro also liked their choices.  We were all curious about the numbers that were on the menu next to the ingredients, and they ended up being the numbers to the different sauces that were drizzled onto the rolls.  I'm writing all of this here because we'll probably be back someday, and I know I'll need to refer to this post when we wonder about the numbers again.  :)

Volcano Roll

Lathrop Roll

Filet Mignon Roll

The restaurant didn't have any dessert available that night, so we checked Yelp and found Kung Fu Tea.  I had a Matcha Milk Slush and now I want to find that drink everywhere I get boba.

MmmmmMatcha!

When we got home, we watched some Olympics coverage while we finished our drinks, because I love the Olympics.  I had also recorded it at home, but I mean, what else would I watch?  It's the Olympics!

Happy and full, I went to sleep, excited about the next day.  PELLA!!!!!