So I got married - The days before.

His brother Dave came in town a few days before the ceremony. We had a really enjoyable visit. The first night Dave was here I made spinach sausage loaf and the three of us stayed up late talking. The next morning I made potatoes and banana pancakes. I really like having the time and mouths to cook for. Dave and I argued about ending sentences in prepositions and looked up this quote:

I had to TA a class that evening, but after I got home the three of us went out for burgers and beers (or Diet Coke, in my case) and chatted and laughed for a long time. We probably would have stayed even longer, but Jack was so exhausted he was nearly falling asleep at the table, so we went home. 

Goofing around at dinner.

I had to TA again the next morning, and then I drove back home (in beautiful weather) to pick up the guys. We stopped by Jack's work to pick up Dave's now-tailored suit, and he cracked jokes about us being groomzilla and bridezilla, and just generally goofed around. That guy makes me laugh out loud all the time.

We drove into Davis via a roundabout route to avoid the inevitable Picnic Day traffic. It gave us a chance to see some of downtown Sacramento and drive over that golden bridge, which I've never seen up close before. We parked at the FSC and walked through a field toward Davis, and on the way we came across a huge snake! Scared the hell out of me, I didn't want to move. But we got through the field without getting bitten and killed, so that's on my joy inventory too. :-P

We caught the tail end of Picnic Day and then enjoyed some In & Out (they have calorie information!) in the sun. For some reason that may have been my favorite part of the day, with such nice weather and delicious food and not being in any particular hurry. 

Reflection shot at In & Out.

As we walked back over the overpass we saw that highway traffic was really backed up--in the opposite direction of where we were headed! The direction we were going was smooth. Another joy.

We drove into San Francisco taking the 37 to get more scenery. I had a nice nap with the windows down, and Dave played a lot of 70s rock music, like he does. He and Jack sang along to a lot of Boston, and I thought about how happy they are to be together, which is really sweet. I'm glad Jack has good relationships with his family.

Brothers road-tripping.

We decided to try Mt. Tam since we were taking 101S anyway, and we got all the way to the entrance to the park only to realize it was closed. Oh well. It was very foggy anyway, I doubt we would've seen anything. The drive up and back down the mountain was still pretty in a mysterious, foggy kind of way--you could still see the mountain spread out with so many trees on hill after hill and such a steep drop off the side of the road.

Then there's the tunnel you go through and suddenly--BAM!--the Golden Gate Bridge looms before you. I love that part. Dave videotaped it while we all sang "Lights" by Journey at the top of our lungs. 

We got into SF and gave Dave a tour of the house. I enjoy showing new people the house, especially now that it's all finished being renovated. We were originally going to go out to a particular blues bar, but we opted instead to get some drinks and cigars and enjoy the music and lights and view on the rooftop. That was nice while it lasted, but due to some drunken loud neighbors on a nearby roof, we went back inside instead. We turned down the lights, turned on the music and disco ball, and kept drinking while playing 5 Crowns and talking about Dave's former band and all the songs they did and how they did them. Also, I won the game. Boom.

The next day (Sunday) I earned some good money thoroughly cleaning parts of Jefferson while Jack and Dave went all over the city (again, in beautiful weather). They walked to Ghiradelli, then up Columbus, all the way up to Coit Tower.

When they got back, Jack took a nap while Dave and I had good talks about parents and past relationships and money. Eventually Jack woke up, they went out and got Dave a blue tie, and we all packed up and headed to Berkeley. We picked up Ellen, and the four of us drove back home, joking about a Best Man/Maid of Honor speech competition and other aspects of the eventual wedding. We also listened to the Dan Band and other comedy songs.

We got In & Out at home. Ellen and Jack talked a lot about hormones, which was over mine and Dave's heads, so we talked about music. We went home and hung around awhile, then finally went to bed.