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Notes from the Road

March 4, 2010 by Joy the Baker 142 Comments

Notes from the Road 

This post could also be entitled:  

     Can’t Bake Now… I’m on the I-5.

     Joy the Driver and Lauren the Snack Coordinator

     Joy the Baker eats 6 pounds of Chex Mix between San Francisco and Portland

     or simply… Joy the Baker moves her sister from Los Angeles to Seattle in a Budget moving truck creatively nicknamed Budgie.  

Notes from the Road 

It’s early Tuesday morning.  My Mom makes Lauren pose with her moving truck.  That’s not weird, right?  Not weird at all.  

Notes from the Road 

The I-5 between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Green, trees, produce and trucks.  

Notes from the Road 

This is a picture of my sister driving.  Let me tell you why this picture is a small miracle.  

Notes from the Road 

See, my sister just learned how to drive last week.  She got her license… last week.  She’s 26.  She was afraid to drive until… last week.  And now… here she is driving a moving truck at 80 miles an hour down the highway.  

I told her to slow down.  I told her to calm down.  I told her that there was no room to screw up.  I don’t think that helped. 

Notes from the Road 

I snapped the picture during the whole 20 minutes that I let my sister drive between Los Angeles and Seattle.  It’s not that she’s a bad driver.  It’s more that I’m kinda a control freak when it comes to things like… my life and living.

 

Notes from the Road 

I may not have let my sister drive, but I sure did let (make) her pump all of the gas.  Not her favorite part.  Fact.  

Notes from the Road 

We stopped at Shasta Lake in Northern California to stand still and look at water and mountains.  

Notes from the Road 

A self portrait seemed like a good idea.  All we got was bush and blurry eyebrows.  

Notes from the Road 

We parked Budgie illegally.  We kinda just stopped her on the side of the road.  That’s cool, right? 

Notes from the Road 

A cool 10 minutes beyond the sunshine of Shasta Lake we hit the snow.  We hit it hard.  Driving through the snow stressed out my Southern California self.  This was deeply disturbing to me.  

Notes from the Road 

Lauren made me pull over so that she could jump around in the snow.  I was still stressed out until I saw her leaping, jumping and eventually falling into the snow.  Cute.  Super cute. 

Notes from the Road 

We finally made it to Seattle.  I’d gone through a Costco size bag of Chex Mix, ungodly amounts of dried apricots… and there’s half of a strawberry cheesecake in the truck that I don’t want to talk about.  

Somewhere just outside of Portland I put my cranky pants on.  I was tired of driving.  I was tired of having to eat Chex Mix to stay awake, and I just wanted to be in the Seattle to drink the cup of coffee that I’d been waiting days and days for. 

We made it.   Thank heavens.  This is the view from my sister’s apartment.  

Notes from the Road 

And then I took my cranky pants off, because I turned around and saw this face.  The darling face of my darling little sister standing in her very first apartment on the very first day in her new city.  I’m lucky to have been able to share this journey with her.  Sisters are friends forever… that’s what we tell each other… because it’s true.  

Notes from the Road 

Then… we unpacked the truck.  It had its obscene moments.

To make up for those obscene moments, my sister bought me a latte and a doughnut from Top Pot.  Holy heck!  This set my world right.  

Sure I drove days and days to help my sister with her big move.  But maybe… a tiny itsy bitsy part of me was in it for the Seattle coffee… I ain’t gonna lie. 

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Comments

  1. sher

    March 6, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    Absolutely adore SEATTLE! I haven’t read all the replies or comments here, but if you haven’t already, you’ve got to go to Pike’s and take the ferry across to the island. Oh..and there’s a great pianist there on the weekends down by the fish market. His last name is Hahn. He had a great CD. And don’t forget to check out the first Starbucks. Maybe not your cup of tea(coffee), but it was fun. And make sure you have dinner at the top of the Needle.
    Have a marvelous ‘sister’ time!:-)

    Reply
  2. Chrys

    March 6, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    You are both adorable! Great pics and story about your adventure together. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • RD

      March 6, 2010 at 7:06 pm

      Loved your pictures and story. Never been to CA, never been to Seattle!

      Reply
  3. elizabeth

    March 6, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    if you’re still in seattle and looking for amazing coffee, you must try a cafe caramel from espresso vivace! or a cafe nico, or a white velvet, or anything they make, really.

    Reply
  4. Lindsey S

    March 6, 2010 at 10:48 am

    Well if she needs someone her age to hang out with in Seattle, she is more then welcome to contact me :)

    Reply
  5. Tammy

    March 6, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Love the road trip post and pics! You two are a couple of awesomely cute sisters! Safe travels to you, Joy, back to CA but have fun while you’re here in Seattle. And nice view from Lauren’s new apartment!

    Reply
  6. Sheila

    March 6, 2010 at 8:12 am

    This story made me laugh. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  7. Kay

    March 6, 2010 at 4:45 am

    You two are just cute as buttons. I have never been to CA or WA…those are places I would love to see one day.

    Reply
  8. Erin

    March 6, 2010 at 12:42 am

    Super jealous of your sister’s new view! As a Seattleite welcome to our fabulous city. We’ve made a few cross-country moves ourselves and I know well how tiring and stressful they can be. Glad to hear you made it alive and well! Oh…and Top Pot is awesome.

    Reply
  9. annie

    March 6, 2010 at 12:38 am

    Love this post… I still treasure the funny memories of the crazy, round-the-country trip my little sis and I drove together over 10 years ago, and this brought it back. :) and love love love that your dad commented! What a sweet family you have.

    Reply
  10. Kim

    March 5, 2010 at 8:49 pm

    Joy – Oh how your post made me wish I had a sister, and made me so grateful for my two little girls. I hope my sweet babies are best friends forever! How lucky you sisters are to have each other.

    Thank you, as always, for writing such thoughtful posts.

    Reply
  11. Ju'eta

    March 5, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    Sisters are great aren’t they? That post made me want to call my sister. I think I will…right now….

    Reply
  12. Aimee

    March 5, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    Ohh that’s actually a lovely drive. I took a road trip last April traveling from Seattle (where I lived at the time) to San Luis Obispo, California and back with stops in the Redwoods, San Francisco for a couple of days, and the Sacramento area. Ahhh.. I wish I were doing that again this year.. but now I live in Austin!

    Have fun while you’re in Seattle for a few days! It’s such a great city, lots of beauty, fun things to see and do and I’m glad you’ve already had Top Pot. Def go to pike place market and the downtown library if you haven’t been before. Ahh. thinking about the city makes me miss it..

    Reply
  13. andrea

    March 5, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    This was a most endearing post to read Ms. Joy the Baker.. A wonderful memory for the two of you….and last but not least..how comforting for your mom to know her girls were together on this road trip.Happy sigh!!

    Reply
  14. alyssa

    March 5, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    Joy: I love your blog, your recipes, your creative use of ingredients to create unexpected, fabulous desserts. Your chocolate cupcakes and frosting (w. Ovaltine) were the hit of my baby’s first birthday party. I love it all and most of all, I love how you describe your sister’s happiness in her new city, her new apartment and her new life and that you were there to share it with her. Sweeter than the finest dessert, in my opinion. I love to see my little brother’s happiness! What a great post!

    Reply
  15. Mimi

    March 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    I didn’t get my license until I was 23. I bought a craptastic car that broke down the next week when I tried to drive from Santa Barbara to Huntington Beach. I drove the repaired but still craptastic car to HB two weeks later and didn’t think it would make it up the hill in Camarillo.

    Please tell me that your sister’s twenty minutes of driving was not over the Siskiyou summit.

    Reply
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