Day 5

Friday was a little rough at the beginning. If it had been for any less noble cause than going to see my Nana's 80th birthday party, I don't believe I could have convinced Pie to swap the beach house for Bakersfield. As it was, I think he wanted to shed a tear as we pulled out of the neighborhood (during a 4th of July Fun Run, which sent Pie further over the edge--the man loves Fun Runs) and headed up the 5 towards the great San Joaquin Valley. Poor Bakersfield. It is the punch line of so many jokes. My own father has always lovingly referred to it as the armpit of California, and he was born there. So was I. I have fond memories of frequent visits as a child. Most of my relatives still live there. Summers are brutally hot, and never seem to cool down at night. Fall and Winter are rainy, and of course foggy. Ahh, that fog. As children we didn't have snow days, but we made up for that with a superabundance of fog. Fog so thick you couldn't see more than a foot or two in front of your own face. Fog you could play hide and seek in. I never had curly hair but I can imagine the curses that were hurled heavenward by all those who did. Poor poodle heads. So, as much as I love Bakersfield for nostalgic reasons, I fully recognize the fact that it ain't exactly gonna show up at the top of many people's list of "Places I'd love to spend the 4th of July".

We pulled into town at 11. It was already hot, low 90's. We decided to stop at the Frosty King for lunch, because it sounded so refreshing. Plus it had a covered drive-thru, something one takes into consideration under the circumstances. I personally have never seen such an extensive menu for a fast food joint. I'm talking "Cheesecake Factory novel-like menu" extensive. Corn dogs, BLT's, Tacos, Fish Tacos, Falafel, Philly Cheese Steak, Donuts, Onion Rings, Nuggets, Cobb Salad, Omelets. Omelets!!! A ridiculous number of items. Certainly none of our children could complain that we stopped somewhere that didn't have what they wanted. (So instead they complained that the food was too hot.) And surprisingly, it wasn't the worst fast food we had on our trip. That dubious title goes to Jack in the Box. We took our lunch to Uncle Kurt and Aunt Terrie's back yard and swam with all the cousins. It was perfect, with plenty of shade to keep our poor little Pie out of the sun. He couldn't swim because his burn was still so bad that even applying sunscreen to it would have been torture. (I'm still unclear on how he could possibly have been burned so completely. Maybe it had something to do with chasing Tommy through the sand for all those hours, while I stayed in a hoodie under the umbrella.)

Then it was on to the church for a little (air conditioned) lunch and talent program--the twins told jokes to each other. Everyone politely laughed. After that it was to Uncle Craigs front lawn to watch fireworks. Kirsten has done a fantastic job of recounting the activities of Old Nana's birthday on her own blog, complete with lots of pictures. I highly recommend checking it out. Because I am just too lazy and I have no intention of redoing it here. I will however add that Bakersfield totally redeemed itself, in Pie's opinion, by putting on a crazy fireworks show, the details of which will be getting the full treatment soon on my other blog. For me, Bakersfield redeemed itself by NOT swinging into the triple digits for our party. I think the high was a very well-received 97 degrees. Downright pleasant.

This is a picture of me and my cousin Adrienne. We can't stand each other. And cousin Ben sitting next to Adrienne isn't fond of either one of us.

Ha Ha. Just kidding!

We loved seeing all the cousins, aunts and uncles and of course, Old Nana (a name which Sid gave her at the age of three and she finds absolutely agreeable, by the way). We missed Aunt Susie and Uncle Ove's breakfast and Aunt Barbara too (sad face), but we hope to see them February 2010, our next planned trip to see Mickey. Anyway, Bakersfield turned out to be a pretty fun place to spend the 4th of July she said, pleasantly surprised.