Until the Sun Comes Up...

...over Santa Monica Boulevard.

I'm home from the mini jaunt to the West Coast.  Definitely a much needed break in the action.  The wedding itself was kind of funny.  It's been a really long time since I've been to a straight-up Chinese wedding banquet.  No long speeches, no kissing games (although that didn't stop my mother from clinking on the dishes), no slideshows, nothing.  Just a lot of photo ops with the newlyweds, which in this case included my ridiculous cousin putting on an old school Chinese zombie outfit because he wanted to look as "traditional" as his wife in the red dress.  I could hear the wait staff chuckling to themselves and saying that they've never seen anything like it.

We ate our ten courses, which didn't fill me up as it normally did.  We toasted the bride and groom when they came to our table (memories of our other cousin's wedding from a couple of years ago), and then that was it, and we all went home by 10 pm.  Quick, easy, and even left us some time to play some Rock Band.

The next day, we had some really good dim sum, and then went to Santa Monica (via a wrong turn through downtown LA).  Walking along the pier, it was a fantastic day.  We went down to the beach, walked barefoot through the sand, and I stood in the Pacific (it was cold). It was all very surreal.  While we were taking in the awesomeness, my cousin's friend was busy looking for geocaches, which I had heard of but never really got into.  I guess it has to do with the fact that I still have an idiot phone.  We actually found a couple, and I thought it was kind of hilarious that they were trying to be nonchalant when they found the geocache and when they were subtly putting it back after writing their names on the log.  If you're not already doing this and you have an interest in treasure hunting, it seems like a really cool past time.  Apparently, there are geocaches on every continent, and on the International Space Station (good luck with that one).

The next day we said goodbye to my cousin, who had to run to work having used up all of his vacation days, and we hung out at my aunt's house until it was time to go to the airport.  Another jaunt through the world was over.  Here's my favourite photo:

"I am still living with your ghost, lonely and dreaming of the west coast"