“i feel like i am on tour with a hockey team” - Road Trip #3, San Diego/Los Angeles, California
I can now officially say that I have taken planes, trains and cars to go to a concert.
When the thought that I would go to San Diego for the Snuffaluffagus (Chris) CD release show came into my head, I didn’t think it would actually happen. Everything from how I would get there, where I would stay, how I would get around, how much of a dent it would make in my bank account were problems and for some reason, I didn’t really care. The more I thought about it, the more I was going to make this happen. I talked to my friend Kat who is also a fan of Snuffaluffagus and she said she could give me a ride if I needed it, I talked to my brother and I could stay at his place in Irvine, and I looked at flights, and they weren’t outrageous. Everything was falling into place, and now I just had to convince the parents to let me go. After much begging and pleading, I won, and I had purchased a ticket departing from San Jose, California into San Diego, California on February 27th, 2008 and I had a flight from Orange County California into San Jose, California. I talked to Kat and she was going to take me back to Irvine and my friend from high school, Megan would pick me up. Everything was set and before I knew it I was on a flight to San Diego with a homemade Snuffaluffagus in hand.
Once I got into San Diego, Megan picked me up from the airport and we went to her dorm so that she could pick some stuff up. Then we went to Wal-Mart so I could buy a gift bag for the Snuffaluffagus that I made Chris. Once we bought a Thomas the Train bag we were headed to Albatross and Ivy, an intersection in San Diego that is the name of a Limbeck song. It was amazing. Pictures were taken and we walked around a bit we decided since we didn’t know where exactly we were going, we should head to It’s A Grind for the show. Megan’s navigation (Shelia) didn’t find the exact address that we had so we went with the closest one. I remember though that Chris had told me that It’s A Grind was right off the fifty-something, I searched on my phone and found out that I was off the 56. We reached the 56 and decided to follow it, Shelia however, did not like that we got off 5 and try to re-route us back. Luckily, when we were heading back to 5 I saw a sign for “Camino Del Sur” which was the street that It’s A Grind was on… so we got back on the 56 and took that exit. Thank goodness I saw that or we would have been lost (this will become a reoccurring theme.) Once we got off the freeway we took a chance on which way to go because we had the wrong house numbers as well. We were searching frantically and I spotted the It’s A Grind again! Once we knew were it was we decided to go on an adventure to get some Mexican Food. Rubio’s became the place of choice and once we thought we lost it, I spotted it!! We ate it up and then headed back to It’s A Grind were we saw Chris and Brian (Weatherbox) we talked to them for a little bit and than decided to just chill outside and wait for Kat. Kat arrived and it was time to give Chris his Snuffaluffagus. We gave it to him and he loved it =] everyone thought it was badass which made me feel awesome. After one of the bands played everyone was kicked out so that Brian could set up and play, it was really awkward. During this time a young gentleman named Jim started talking to us, he seemed liked a good dude. Finally everyone was let in and I enjoyed Weatherbox for the first time. After Weatherbox played, Chris took the stage and as always it was amazing. Once everything was picked up (and after Kat got Jim’s number!) We were hanging outside waiting for Chris to be ready so we could chill. Megan left and Kat, Chris, myself and a few other people went to relax. Once our minds left our bodies I needed to get home so Kat and I left. We were able to finally find the freeway and get some food we were on our way to Irvine listening to some good tunes. On our way up there were signs saying that all cars stopped in x-amount of time. We weren’t too sure what as going on so we kept driving and when we came up to the stop there was a big sign that said US OFFICERS ON DUTY. They were checking licenses plates and letting people through, it was probably one of the scariest moments on the weekend. I got back to Irvine and was able to get settled in at my brother’s apartment. Kat had to drive back to Glendora and ended up getting lost so she gave me a call and I was able to navigate her back to safety.
Saturday started off with my brother and I visiting Cal Poly Pomona so that my brother could look at the Engineering programs. Once that was the visiting was over Brittany, Chris, and their friend Willy picked me up. We tried to get a hold of Kat but she was asleep and her phone was on silent so she didn’t realize we called. After awhile we headed down to Venice and walked along the pier and bought some pieces. When we finished there we went into Beverley Hills so that I could see Sunset =] (herbs) and all the venues that I hear about and never get to go to. We hit all the hotspots that tourists need to do and almost died several times. It was a really good time thoug.h Herbs. It became time to meet up with Kat so that we could get some herb it up(more) get some food and head to the house that the show was being held at. We found the street it was on so we went to get food but we couldn’t find anything so we finally settled on “ASTROBURGER” which literally had everything you could ever want. We got our food headed back, finally found parking and went to inside to the house. Drinks were consumed and great music was played. The Ghost Orchid who was supposed to play Friday but couldn’t because they weren’t able to get things to work played, so it was good to see them. Brian played again and it was really really enjoyable. BoomSnake played and it was so great to see them because I haven’t seen them play in a few months. Chris played last and I really enjoyed his set this time, it was just very very chill. I had asked Chris if I could get a ride to Irvine after the show if they were going back to San Diego, he said he’d have to talk to Brian but it should be okay. This would keep Brittany and Chris (a different one) from driving all the way to Irivne from LA and than back to Azusa. Before I could be dropped off in Irvine, Brian needed to record some guest vocals in Riverside. We got a little lost on the way to Riverside but we eventually found it and Brian was able to record. Chris and I hung out in the van and we shared music (new snuffy songs sooooo good) Finally Brian finished and we were on our way to Irvine, got lost but found our way. We had to take some toll roads to get there which was lame. After a long drive I finally made it back to Irvine (at about 3am). I had a really great time on the drive though. I like driving late at night listening to music with good people.
This was my weekend in a nut-shell, it wasn’t as detailed because that would take an incredibly long time to type up and for you to read. This weekend was incredible. I had an amazing and I can’t wait to do something like this again.
