The First Mini-Adventure of 2012, Part 1: It's a Mystery

Anxiety! Stress! Bad running! What a week it's been (about fifteen minutes ago, I went outside to get something from my car and saw that it's a full moon, which explains a lot).

My last post dealt with my bit of anxiety this week, and how it affected my running. On Wednesday, I had a decent enough run (slow, tired, but I made it), and then on Thursday, it was back to being tired, sore, short of breath and generally miserable. I felt fifteen different kinds of awful after that horrible attempt, but at least it would be my last run until Sunday.

Friday morning finally came--I've had fun plans cooking with Summer for a good month now, and I'd been zeroing in on Friday as the day I got to just relax and do fun stuff with a good friend. I managed to power through my Friday assignment workout, and then after a quick shower at the gym, I was zooming down I-80 to Oakland. Once there, I left Rosie Pro in Summer's driveway, and we were off to San Jose and a long-overdue mini-adventure.

Before I get into the what-we-dids and where-we-wents and pictures, I just have to say that we both really, really needed this weekend. Summer, the last several months, has had a lot on her plate and has never truly been able to relax and have a good time. It was awesome, for both of us, to just do silly things and make stupid jokes and laugh a lot...what a fantastic time.

We started at the Winchester Mystery House, home to an eccentric woman, Sarah Winchester, who was convinced by a psychic that if she ever stopped construction on the house, the spirits of people killed by Winchester rifles would haunt her. She held regular seances, had the contractors build stairways to nowhere, doors to nowhere, and all kinds of architectural oddities as the house expanded from an eight-room farmhouse to a huge mansion with more twists and turns than a maze.

The tour was quite entertaining, and something I had never done (though I grew up in Northern California).

Of course, the house is on Winchester Road.

And there has to be a Winchester Shopping Center.

I did NOT buy any rifle cartridges.

Cali Swimmy had a quick paddle in the fountain.

Highway robbery!!

No Sarah and Lindsay, they did not have a Turducken sandwich. Yes,
I checked the menu!

In the courtyard before our tour.

I had Summer take a picture of me next to a tiny door, only for us to be
told, "Sorry, no pictures inside on the tour!" Duly chastised, Summer
turned the camera down and got a shot of her feet.

The tour took us on a walk that was about a mile long--the house is huge, and we certainly didn't see all of it. The grounds were not all that exciting after walking up crazy stairs and peering through doors to nowhere, but we gamely walked around.

Pics were allowed outside, after the tour of the house.

Sarah Winchester liked spider webs in her designs.

This looks like an ordinary, half-dead topiary bush...its significance is
that it points to the room in which Sarah Winchester died.

A gingerbread replica of the mansion.

We had to walk out onto the main street to get a pic of the front of the
house. This was taken by me, standing on tip-toe, with my arm extended
as high as it could go.

After the tour, we crossed the street to Santana Row, a ritzy-type shopping center, where we browsed in some shops and had PinkBerry frozen yogurt as a treat.

Great movie theater sign near Santana Row.

Santana Row, and Summer, not knowing I got her in the pic!

No, I did not buy them. Not even *I* am going to run around with ducks
sticking out of my ears.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter swirl with dark chocolate bites. So yummy!

Giant chess game.

I had Summer take this pic, inspired by an Elton John lyric. "Just a
pawn outplayed by a dominating queen." Though I am hardly very
dominating with that ridiculous flower brooch.

 

Yesterday's adventure didn't end there. We checked into our hotel and decided to walk to a nearby shopping center for dinner. The center was predominantly Asian restaurants and shops, and as Asian cuisine sounded good to both of us, we happily wandered around looking for just the right place. After dinner, we went to the supermarket to look around, and then back to our hotel.

Broccoli beef and a potato dish that set my mouth on fire.

Cali Swimmy does NOT approve.

Shrimp at the market.

Ugh.

Blue crabs.

Summer's iPhone was getting low on juice so we decided to find a Rite Aid to buy a charger.We were both relaxed, enjoying ourselves, feeling great having had a fun afternoon as we wandered up and down the aisles. I wandered into some Christmas clearance and found...

It's just too wonderful.

I busted out laughing, grabbed the box off the shelf, and marveled that it was 50% off, and only five bucks.

"You have to buy it," Summer laughed.

"I...Yes. Yes, I do," was my reply.

So I did. Cali Swimmy has a new friend, dear readers. 

Meet Biggie Swimmy. He's...the most wonderful clearance item
I've ever found.

Yes. Friday was a fantastic day.