P-town

Finally, I'm getting round to writing about the rest of Petaluma.

Butter and Eggs day was another success. We spent the first part of the day watching the parade as Marcello (and Veronica) were walking part of it. Once they'd done we all found a spot to watch the rest of the parade. There was so much odd stuff in there! There was one guy who was riding around in olde style clothes on a penny farthing. classic. There were all sorts of other things in there from bands playing on floats, to dancing people, to mayors and stuff riding by in fancy cars, to marching bands. It was really fun to watch it all. Here's Andrew and I with our first beer in the beer garden. I got mine served by a man who must've been at least 95 years old. And there's Noel and Marcello watching the parade too.



For the rest of B&E day we firstly went for lunch/bbq at someone's house that Noel and Veronica know from Marcello's school. Noone really knew anyone before we arrived, but they were incredibly welcoming (as were their friends that were there) and the food was delicious. By the time we left there was already talk about planning next year's post-B&E bbq in the same style!

We ended up going to a Mexican place called Dos Hombres for margheritas later on (same as last year, just fewer of them!), then to some Italian restaurant for food which was fantastic, then we headed to some bar/club to end the night. I was super tired and struggling to not fall asleep (some may claim I did), so Andrew and I went home a little before the rest. And onto my yearly, funny B&E-day-in-Petaluma story...

So we set off back to our place and I realise I left the keys at Noel's earlier in the day. I'm prittay drunk at this point, so the only option is for Andrew to go to the bar and get Noel's keys, go to their house (a good 10-15 mins away), and then come back and get us in. He sets off to do this with the plan of meeting me at 7-11. If you remember from last year, I got lost on this very day and ended up randomly in a 7-11 for one of Noel's friends to randomly (and super luckily) find me. Well this was a different 7-11, but still nice to be keeping the same theme!

I got myself a coffee and cookie and went to eat it on these benches in a park opposite the shop. Andrew had to walk back that way to get to our place so I figured it was a good spot. Well, he took ages. And I finished said coffee and cookie and got bored. I was really tired and this point, so I decided to go back home (which was only a couple of minutes up the road). When I got there I planned on sleeping on the patio chairs in the back yard until he got back to let me in. But then I realised that he might get worried that I wasn't where I said I'd be. So I compromised with bringing the patio chair out onto the street so that he'd be able to look down the street towards our place and see me. A prittay good idea if I do say so myself. Anyway, he got back and says he found me there, sleeping and dribbling on the sidewalk. Stay classy Petaluma!

Let's break up the blog with a picture from the beach earlier in the week. I feel like I should've posted the one with Noel on (being that Marcello is his son), but I like this one better!



We had a couple of slightly lazier days after B&E. I'd plowed my body with mexican food and cervezas and it definitely needed a bit of a rest (although I didn't let it off the hook completely).

On the Monday we went into the city and then did a night tour of Alcatraz. It was really interesting and I'm going to watch both movies about escapes from there when I get back. Noel's friend Rob came with us too (we met him at the bbq), and he's pretty hilarious. The boat ride there was super choppy and we were stood near the front doors out to the front of the boat where water was coming through quite regularly! We got an audio tour once we were on the island, and it had ex-guards and ex-prisoners doing the talking. I found it really interesting and I'm glad we got our arses in gear and took it. Here's a picture of the bridge and us on the way to the city, and one of the cells in Alcatraz. Alcatraz isn't on the picture, but it's just off to the left of the first pic.


Now I've been back in Vegas a few days trying to relax. I've put my body through more than it's used to over the last couple of weeks, and I've gotten ill twice already since I've been back in Vegas. Yesterday we headed to Walter and Melissa's house to have a bbq and watch the Hatton fight. I don't follow boxing at all so as Hatton is English and I'd never heard of the other guy I assumed Hatton was going to win. Ooops. The other guy was super impressive though. The food was great and I had a really nice day so thanks to them for having me.

I head to Brian's in North Carolina early Tuesday morning and have no mad plans in Vegas beforehand. I actually just want to get enough rest and try and eat/drink decently so that I don't get ill again before I get out there. The next blog update will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday from Huntersville.