Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Erin came home from work last week and started running around the house. She was tossing clothes everywhere. A suitcase whizzed by my head. D.J. and I started to suspect that Erin was a little stressed and was planning to leave soon. I know we normally don't talk about work on this blog, but it seemed that Erin's work trip meant that we needed to step up and work, too. So D.J. and I crawled into Erin's suitcase when she wasn't looking. Man, she packed a lot of sweaters.

So D.J. and I had no idea where we were going but we knew that Erin needed to have her little plush therapy buddies. And all day we got tossed and thrown. We were seriously glad that Erin packed all those sweaters. But finally, Erin plopped her suitcase down on a hotel bed and went for her P.J.s. And out we came. She was shocked.

She scolded us for being stowaways. And lectured us on what could have happened if she had to check her bag and the airport lost us. But we could see that she wasn't really mad at us, just frustrated by work and deep down I know she was happy to see us. After about an hour of listening to her tell us about the last minute trip, the last minute ordeal with booking the flight, the lost hotel and car rental reservations, how she sat in water waiting for the bus and about 25 other ways of saying "life happens" we all cuddled up for a good night sleep.

In the morning, Erin went off to work and D.J. and I planned out how we were going to rescue Erin. First we check to see where the heck we were even at. We were in San Jose, California! How exciting, we have never been to California for a visit.

What is this thing called a "Sun" and how does it work?

Then checked the weather to see why Erin had packed so many darn sweaters. But the weather was gorgeous! It was 50 - 60s and sunny. It was a no brainier. As soon as Erin got out of her meeting we were going outside for a little fun. No excuse. Of course Erin had an excuse. She said she had to get some work done and write this paper. But we insisted that she take a break, enjoy the day, and take us...I mean see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Cheese!

Of course, we won. We knew that the engineer in Erin couldn't pass up the chance to see one of the most world renowned suspension bridges. And then we convinced her to take a stroll on the bridge.

This bridge is monolithic.

We wanted to reenact a movie which had a scene with the bridge. So we thought we might do... "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus" or maybe a dramatic scene like in "You Kill Me." Or something heroic like in "X-Men 3: The Last Stand." Or something fun like in "Monsters vs Aliens." Oooo maybe, something like "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." O wait. No defiantly not "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." That's enough to make someone want to jump off the bridge and add to the bridge suicide rate. You know like in "The Bridge." O...we didn't think of that. Maybe we shouldn't have brought a sad Erin to the bridge that she could jump from...um...ok, moving on...

Look how pretty the view is...behind the guardrail.

After a few snap shots we decided to go back to solid ground. Erin was shaking her head and patting us on the heads. And then she pointed to a little island out in the bay and said, "if I had the time I would take you 2 there to be booked." We didn't know what she was talking about. Obviously the stress of work had gotten to her.

Have us "booked"? Is it a library? Funny place for a library.

But we though we better humor Erin and take a closer look.

"I don't see any books. Do you think they have Curious George?"

Erin told us that it was Alcatraz. I didn't care what they called it, that place looked like they were serious about their late fees.

Not a very accessible library.

Erin just laughed at our lack of interest in going to a library in the middle of the bay. And she said "guess you guys will have to stay on the lamb." Then she laughed. At that point we decided we better take her back to the hotel. She must have gotten sunstroke.

We got Erin in the car and she started driving. But then she took a wrong turn.

Back on the bridge again.

And we ended up having to go over the bridge. Erin said she didn't want to drive over the bridge but we reminded her that there was no U-Turns on the bridge. Please note the sign.

I think they spelled that wrong. It should be "No Ewe Turns."
I hate it when those ewes get to turning.

Soon enough we were on the other side of the bridge. Erin pulled off to the side to see where she could turn around. And D.J. spotted that this side of the bridge had free parking! So we made Erin stop and take more pictures.

O yes this is clearly my better side.

No sooner had the flash gone off did Erin have us back in the car. She said she HAD to get back to the hotel to do some work. I think she was a little embarrassed. There was a few people pointing and looking at us weird. I TOLD Erin that she should have spent more time looking for her camera case. But NOOO she had to just grab a fuzz sock and use that for her camera case. I was so embarrassed. I mean some times I just don't want to be seen with Erin. She just draws too much attention. But what can you do? You just have to love those humans no matter how weird they are.

But it didn't matter really, because soon enough we were back on the bridge. And Erin said she was going to drive really slow to enjoy the bridge ride because it was going to cost so much money.

Come on Erin! The speed limit is 45 miles per hour not 45 inches per decade!

And then we got to the tollbooths. Do you know how much it cost to go over the bridge!? SIX dollars! Those bridge suspensions better be made out of diamonds for that rate!

$6.00! Quick, check for coins in the seat!

But all ended well. I think Erin had a good time. She seemed a little less stressed and a lot tanner. And we got back to the hotel and Erin sat down to write her paper. And I sat down to get caught up on some of my reading.

"The Art of Deduction."

And all was great...until D.J. decided to get caught up on being annoying.

OUCH! D.J.!

The rest of the trip went great. (After I got some duct tape and put an end to D.J.'s pouncing.) Erin got a good part of her paper written and did a great job on her business trip. And we all hurried home to Seattle to meet up with Franklin and John.