Chico (part 1)

After a fun weekend+ getaway in Chico, I am back in L’town for a hot second, before heading off to Monterey and then Santa Barbara.  Can you believe we have already put over 1,000 miles on our new car!  Summer break 2010 continues…

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.  We didn’t actually head to Chico ‘til Sunday because the Saturday before was a friend’s birthday.

Since our schedules are more wide-open than Lindsay Lohan’s, we stayed in the Bay Area an extra day to help him celebrate (by which I mean drink heavily tailgate like pros at an A’s game).  I am only moderately ashamed to say this (since I have no job and thus no reason to worry about sobriety) but I polished off a rather significant amount of beer considering the time of day and my tolerance.  I was concerned that so much day drinking made me a little trashy, but I was quickly reassured by my twitter homies that boozin’ when the sun is still high in the sky needs no justification.  Word.

There was a whole lotta BBQing going down (but tri-tip ‘aint my thang), so I brought some veg-errific sustenance.  Ready for some baseball 101 trivia?

Classic Sabra + veggies + wheat thins = my pinch hitters at male dominated BBQs

Kyle had his cake meat and ate it too.

Pretty sweet view, huh?  We definitely were not in the correct seats.  But then, the A’s don’t exactly have the crowds to be picky about keeping the $9 ticket holders in the nose bleed seats when the box seats are vacant.  At least that’s how I rationalized it to myself (and my drunk self was definitely easy to persuade).

We stayed for maybe half the game (what can I say, baseball is a bit boring to me).

On Sunday we left bright and early for Chico.  Road trip – wooo!

Kombucha for the road.

First thing we did upon arriving in Chico was hit up Pita Pit.

LoOoOve it.  I had hummus and veggies in a whole wheat pita (with extra hummus on the side).  Perfection.

After my stomach was happy, we met up with our friends and went for a stroll in Bidwell Park.  The park is nearly 11 miles in length and is the 3rd largest municipal park in the U.S.  Take that Central Park (not really).  We did a 2 mile loop (approx) chattin’ it up…and by the time we got back to the car we were far sweatier than we realized.  The park was fairly shady, but it was hot out!   

You’d think the previous day’s boozing would have turned me off to beer, but don’t forget Chico is the home of Sierra Nevada. 

When in Rome…get a microbrew that is only offered in the brew’s home town (in this case a frosty Crystal Wheat Sierra Nevada).

For dinner we went over to our friend’s mom’s house.  No pics, but they were super sweet to make me a very yummy vegan meal in addition to their own.  And of course, the night involved wine (lots of it).  One of my favorite things we had that night, though, was the pre-dinner cocktail.  I am DEFINITELY going to have to make it again and show it to you all because it was amazingly delicious and I had never heard of anything like it before (it’s a recipe from the Basque country apparently).

Monday we were up and at ‘em by 9, but nobody else in town was.  Starbucks saved the day, but we did some aimless wandering through town until some shops started opening around 10.  I wanted to go shopping for wedding shoes, but my search was (again) fruitless.  I have since been to 6 more stores, all without anything remotely cute.  What’s the deal?!? 

Defeated, I abandoned the boutiques and we met up with our friends for a hike.  We were probably the least prepared people to ever climb up to the Monkey face rock in Bidwell Park.  Seriously.  No sunscreen.  No water.  No research on the trails.  All I had was an apple before we set off. 

After taking a rather scenic route back to the car (read: we missed several turn-offs because we weren’t paying attention), we hit up a BOMB Mexican place (called El Patron) for lunch.  Good Mexican food can be mind blowing, and trust me, Chico has some hole-in-the-wall places that are above and beyond.  Unlike other food types, I feel like with Mexican, there is a direct relationship between the quality of the food and the appearance of the restaurant.  I feel like making a graph and proving this little theory I have going.  Anyone interested in submitting entries to prove my point?  The dingier the better.

Anyways, I’m getting way off topic. 

After my gills were poppin’ with black beans, veggies, and rice from the most redonkulously large burrito on the planet, we all decided to go for a swim.  It was a salt water pool, so I had buoyancy on my side, which was beyond crucial after the Mexi-feast I ate at lunch.  That massive food baby would’ve sunk me faster than the Titanic.

A bit of swimming…followed by a bit of lounging in the sun…you know what’s coming next…Sun burn central.  Yo soy idiota.

It didn’t take long to recover though.  I pounded some water, showered, and next thing I knew, we were looking at these beauties.

Sierra Nevada sampler?  Don’t mind if I do.

Stay tuned for part deux of the Chico booze-fest.