Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
Day 1
And we are off once again! This time a shorter West Coast college tour. Even though we are gone a week, it’s only 2 schools we are visiting. University of Washington and Cal Poly. Definitely hoping the humidity is a wee bit less than back on the east coast.
We also had a later flight out, leaving Denver at 6:30pm. But coming home we have a REALLY early flight 
We got boarded and Thelma played nice and hopped on the plane too (actually spaced taking a screenshot of the tracker…oh well 
). The clouds were AMAZING as we climbed out of Denver and over the Rockies. And Will got a cool shot at one of the volcanoes as we were flying into Seattle.
Our evening was uneventful just heading to our hotel and Will announcing he was going to bed (at 9pm 
). Fine, I had some downloaded Netflix I could watch. The second season of White Lotus to be exact. And the funny thing is this season takes place in Italy. And one of the characters lost his luggage with the airline 
Oh lord I can relate!!
Day 2
Today started off with an early alarm at 6:30am. I had to deal with a few emails, then hopped in the shower. Then I had to get the sleepy unresponsive Will in the shower. After we were all fresh and so clean clean…we went down to snag breakfast at the hotel.
Last night we had decided that we could walk to the University of Washington campus for the tour. So off we went. And let me tell you…it’s 8:30 in the morning, about 60 degrees and cool as a cucumber in the shade. Not a lick of intense humidity to be found (don’t get me wrong, there was a itty little bit compared to high desert Colorado). THIS type of touring I can handle!!!
I’m happy to share we were both digging’ the UW campus. Will can definitely see himself here. Being a Colorado mountain boy, he likes the idea of having mountains in his backyard. As of now, UW is ranked 3 in his list (of the 13 he’s visited thus far). The campus is beautiful and they have a good program/major for his urban development interest.
Since we are only here for like 36hrs, we hit up Seattle hard after the tour. I snagged duo tickets to the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum. Then a tour under the city.
At the Space Needle, there are 2 floors at the top. The lower of the 2 has a glass floor. 
Yeah, I couldn’t walk on it AND look down at the same time. I could stand on it and not look down, or stand on a solid section and look down over another section. I’m just weird I guess And the lower level is rotating. Very cool experience either way.
After the Needle, we went to the Chihuly Museum and OMG! 
I was in heaven for sure. I’ve always loved his work. I really want one of his chandeliers!! Will looked it up and I think we could get one for a steal at $850,000
Once I was able to get my eyeballs back in my head, we had a light late lunch before a 40 min trek to our next adventure: an Underground Walking Tour. Not sure I can regurgitate all the deets (Will is always annoyed with me when I forget [or more appropriately] didn’t hear what someone just said).
A long time ago, when Seattle was first being built, it had lots of hills. However, the lower city area was really in swampy land and would fill with water twice a day with high tide. Around 1889 there was a big fire that burned the whole city. Once it burned, the plan was to hose dirt from the hills around the city down into the swampy area. But this was going to take many years. So the city said folks could rebuild at the current level, but know that level would become subterranean levels down the road.
They also built upwards of 20ft tall walls to keep the seawater out during high tide. These walls surrounded the city. As development progressed, they would build arches over the lower sidewalks creating in essence bridges to lay the new sidewalks on top of. So all under Seattle are these cavernous areas from days past. There are subterranean walls with windows in them.
I completely butchered this description, but I’m sure you can Google it to learn more.
At this point it’s 6pm and this old lady would like to chillax. We head back to the hotel room to cool off (got up to 80 while we were walking around, so we definitely got some sweating going).
After an hour or so, we found a decent Indian place we could walk to for dinner. Then it was back to the hotel to crash as we had an early morning of traveling tomorrow.
Day 3
Today is a travel day. We are flying from Seattle to San Jose. Initially we were going to drive straight down to San Luis Obispo from the airport. But I got in touch with our dear friend Jonathan Reiber (also my father in law’s godson) to hang out with him and his family in Oakland for the night. I joked with Bill that we were getting “Coast to coast Reibers” during this college touring summer. You may recall we had dinner one night in Boston with my father in law’s best friend, Ken. He would be Jonathan’s father 
An early 6am alarm got me started this morning. Will took a shower last night, so he got a few extra minutes of shut eye. Then we packed up our suitcases and went out to catch a Lyft. We decided to grab food at the airport vs the hotel.
If you are at all familiar with Seattle traffic, you know it can be a nightmare. And my biggest panic trigger is getting to an airport on time. Even though it is less than 30min from our hotel, I wanted us on the road an hour before we needed to be at the airport. And we got there with plenty of time to chill in the SkyClub before our flight.
Will picked us a couple of seats that were by a cluster of chairs that had reserved signs in them. Have you ever seen this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. I figured famous people have special areas in airports (when they aren’t flying private). So I was a bit confused about who these chairs were reserved for. Eventually a party of 4 come in and are seated there. I had no idea who they are, but I snuck a picture in case any of you recognize them I know, I’m cheesy like that. 
When it was time to board our flight we headed down to our gate. And that’s when the fun began for this flight. This was a smaller plane, so Will and I had single seats on the left side of the plane. There was a family of 8 on the right side (where the seats were 2 across). In my row was a dad with a 2 or 3 year old. And this kid was screaming his ever lasting head off! I’m talking full throttle, veins popping, snot dripping screaming. He did NOT want to fly.
Will texts me “This child is gonna make me do some unthinkable actions”. To which I replied “Makes you want to have 10 doesn’t it?” Being a parent, I only had sympathy for this family. While my kids never had a fit quite like this one, I can definitely say they had crying tantrums at some point in their travel years. Will was 7 weeks old his first flight and Charlie was 5 weeks old. They are certainly seasoned travelers now.
Miraculously (or just as the dad predicted), the kid passed out on takeoff. So that was appreciated. But then the flight attendant comes on and says there is no coffee or hot tea available (no problem, I don’t drink either). And no water in the sinks in the bathrooms to wash your hands. But there are sanitizing wipes to clean your hands. Good thing I went before I got on the plane and it’s a relatively short flight.
At one point when they were doing the drinks and snacks service, I was holding my phone and headphones in one hand trying to get my tray table out of the armrest. It slips from my fingers and bangs quite loudly back down into the armrest. Which causes me to sit very still and hold my breath. Was that loud enough to wake the screaming beast??? Then as if on cue, he starts screaming. But thankfully it was a subconscious reaction to the sound and literally only lasted 2-3 seconds and he passed out again. And by the grace of higher powers, the rest of the flight was just fine.
We land, grab Thelma and head to the car rental center. Not sure if you are familiar with Hertz or not, but I get to choose the car I want to drive from their President’s Circle. I let Will choose and we drive out of there in a bright ass red Dodge Charger (I need to get a photo to share). Not my idea of a comfy car to drive, but he was happy to get it 
We make it out to Oakland and hang with Jonathan and his family for a couple of hours. Then we head out for an early dinner at Mua Oakland. Very yummy! Highly recommend if you are in the area. And because we are hanging with locals, they gave us a driving tour of the area. We started off with a drive by of the Pixar campus (they were closed, but they do offer tours when open).
After a quick drive through the Berkeley campus, we headed out to drive across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. However, before that we drove across the Bay Bridge and saw SF was socked in by Karl. Yes, Karl the Fog is a thing and it’s the persona of the fog that constantly has a grip on this city. Google it…it’s really a thing. Who knew? Well, I guess we all know now.
By time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, you couldn’t see it at all. You could only see about 10 feet in front of you. Freakish weather for sure. And it was cold and wet. Like 50 degrees cold. At the viewpoint pullout, you couldn’t see ANYTHING of the bridge. So Will and I may drive over it tomorrow if Karl sleeps in and doesn’t come out to play.
Next up was the intersection of Haight & Ashbury. If you know anything about me, then you know my husband is a HUGE Grateful Dead fan. So this pit stop was for him. And also his parents as this area was a stop on their honeymoon as well 
Side note….case in point…during this driving tour, I was texting with the Hubs the whole time. He was watching a live stream of The Dead farewell concert that was happening in SF while we were driving around. And sending me screenshots of the tv Although some of the drone shots he sent me you could actually see the Golden Gate Bridge 
After that, we made our way back to Oakland to crash for the night.
Day 4
Oh man. Today was a driving travel day from Oakland to San Luis Obispo. And I had to do all the driving 
You may or may not know, but we did ask Hertz several rentals ago if my 17yr old could be added to the rental as a driver. Nope. Not allowed.
So this drive at a max should’ve taken us about 4 hours. IT TOOK 9 HOURS!!!! Now we did opt for the scenic route which would’ve knocked it from 3.5-4hrs. And we did stop for lunch, so add another 30min. We started at noon from Oakland and pulled into the hotel at 9pm. I was not too happy.
We decided to loop from the north out of Oakland and give it another go to see the Golden Gate Bridge. As we were across the bay from it, we could totally see it. But when we got up to it, the damn thing was socked in by fog again! Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?
I pulled over to get some foggy shots, then we drove across it. I thought I was just telling Will to snap a picture, but he was making a video the whole time
Then it was hours of backed up traffic interspersed with movement as we went down CA 1. We stopped in Pescadero for lunch (a recommended stop by the lovely Diveena). Due to the fires and flooding this past year, we couldn’t really continue along the coast. So Will mapped out a scenic route to go inland and hit the 101. And boy did he choose a good route! Thankfully it was paved the whole way (as this muscle car couldn’t handle anything else). But it certainly got down to single lanes multiple times. Only 2-3 time did we almost have a head on collision with someone speeding around a turn in our lane with nowhere for us to go But the views certainly made up for the near death experiences.
Once we made it to the hotel, both of us tore up the bathroom (we had both been holding in god knows what for a few hours…me longer than him). We did such a number on the poor facility that Will said he would rather keep flushing it all night than ask for a plunger. 
I told him this was all a part of adulting. Well, needless to say after about 1/2hr and 5 or so flushes, it was working properly again.
Oh! And while he was locked in the bathroom, I realized the tea I had thrown into a shopping bag (with my Whatchamacallit candy bar…that was open because I only took 2 bites) had completely leaked into the bag making a pool for my candy bar to play in. I had some cashews in there too, but that bag wasn’t open. We were certainly not winning. So we decided to go to bed instead.
Day 5
Today we had a free day in San Luis Obispo. So we took advantage and slept in. Problem though, is I started feeling something coming on last night. My voice was getting croaky and a titch sore throat. So it was going to be interesting to see how today went. Because I wasn’t feeling so hot this morning.
We both showered, then went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Since I didn’t do any pre-planning for our free day, I let Will choose what we would do. He chose a 4mile hike up a local hill/mountain. I told him I would play it by ear, because I didn’t know how this cold would progress. I did end up doing the whole hike, but damn it kicked my butt!! It was so hot and the sun was just baking us. I put on sunscreen; but got fried anyway.
As we were about to get back to the car (which is a Charger, not a Challenger and I snapped a pic for ya), he’s all talking crazy talk about finding a mellow low energy thing we can do, then grab a late lunch, and then I can drop him off at the gym. WTF?!?!? We just did over a 3hr hike and you expect my wet as a drowned rat ass to go off and DO something? Oh lord this child is delusional! I said my zero energy butt was going back to the hotel. I may not nap, but I was laying down come hell or high water.
He said ok and we went back for an hour or so. Then he said “let’s go get a light lunch and you can drop me off at the gym”. Deal. We go to Jersey Mike’s (I had been craving it for a o week). His sandwich was too big and he ate it all. So he said we had to go back to the hotel for him to digest (mind you, the gym and sandwich shop share the same parking lot ). So back to the hotel we go. While chillaxin’ I snagged tickets to a 9:25 showing of Mission Impossible. I pray I stay awake for it
When it was time to leave again, we pile back in our muscle car and I drop him off for his hour plus workout. And I’m craving a milkshake. So I drove around til I found one. Hopped back in the car and waited for him at the gym to finish.
Then it was back to the hotel for about 20 min until we needed to leave for the movie. We got there with just enough time for him to get an icy. The last preview was finishing up and then the movie started. I have to tell you, I tried. I really tried not to fall asleep. I really really did try But I think I dozed a couple of times. Only to have Will jam his elbow in me. Little f*cker even rammed his elbow in me on 2 different other occasions when I wasn’t even sleeping! He said he couldn’t tell because of my glasses. Then don’t freaking jab me!!
We got back to the hotel at like midnight. Which sucked because we had to get up early to pack up and load the car BEFORE our tour tomorrow. Blah 
I think I finally went to sleep about 1am.
Day 6
Hallelujah! Today is my last college tour with Will!! I’ve got this!! Alarm went off at 7am and I have to say, I didn’t get good sleep. About 4 or 5 am I woke up to what felt like razor blades in my throat But I said I would see how I felt after my shower and ibuprofen. And I ended up feeling good. So after we both showered it was off to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Then back to the room to finish packing up and loading the car.
Made it to Cal Poly in plenty of time. Sat through the admissions presentation and I could barely keep my eyes open. I was just so tired from only 4-5 hours of sleep. See, I need 7-8 to feel refreshed and alive. I was even struggling to keep my eyes open during the walking tour. Our guide was long winded. We went over my like 20 minutes.
Will decided he wanted to workout at the gym before we hit the road. So I found a shade under a tree to park the car and tried to take a nap. I think I may have actually dozed 10 min.
We decided to plot a stop to get lunch about halfway to San Jose, so we stopped at a Surf & Turf place in King City. It was a Latino flared joint. So I got a Cali burrito that had grilled chicken, cheese, bacon, a spicy sauce and French fries inside the burrito. I could only eat half, so got the rest to go. Will ate all his burrito (shrimp and carne asada) and proclaimed he would not be eating dinner.
When we got back on the road, we had about 1 hr 40min til our hotel by the airport. So about halfway there we took a pit stop for gas and bathroom for Will.
Why are we staying by the airport you ask? Because our flight in the morning takes off at 6am. Talk about being tired! So I thought we could return the red beast when we got to the hotel and then just deal with getting to our flight in the morning. I set the alarm for 3am and was asleep by 11pm.
And I managed to not take one dang picture all day , so here’s another one from our hike.
Day 7
Oh dear lord why do I schedule such early flights?? Well, I know why, but it still hurts. There were none that we could make after the tour yesterday. And Will and Bill leave for their road trip tomorrow. So an early ass flight today would give Will time to do laundry.
Alarm went off at 3am. I wanted us out of the hotel by 3:30, because I didn’t know how long it would take to get a Lyft at that hour. I’m a dork about getting to airports 2 hrs before flights.
Got a ride pretty quickly. To the point we were lined up at the ticket counter before there were any agents Once ticket agents showed up, we were waiting for the security lines to open up. No SkyClub at San Jose, so we waited again by our gate for some place with food to open. I think at 5am Starbucks opened, so we grabbed drinks and breakfast food.
No directs to Denver, so we had a layover in Salt Lake City. We had about half an hour there before boarding our second flight (which was at the same gate on the same plane we just got off). SLC is a Delta hub, so we hit up their SkyClub til we uneventfully boarded our next flight.
Thelma was riding baggage claim like a good girl and our driver was there to pick us up in Denver, so it was smooth sailing home. I think we got in about noon. It was good to be home, but Will was rushing around meeting with his college admissions consultant, going to the gym and doing laundry. I was grateful I was going to be home for a while because this sick mama was circling the drain!
And that my friends is a wrap on college tours with my oldest. Tomorrow he heads out with Dad on a road trip to see 4 more colleges.
Until next time….
Dianna