HATE HATE HATE

Driving from the Bay Area to San Diego is kind of like a getting toothpaste out of its tube. The first two thirds of the process is smooth and easy. The last third you have to fold and smoosh and press and push and you end up with a crinkly mess. Or something like that.

The first 400 miles of our 498 mile trip were accomplished in about five hours (let's see, 400 / 5 = OK I drive fast). No stops, no problems. Good music, good food.

But then, we came out of the grapevine and into LA, the most accursed, ugly, good for nothing, jam-packed place in California. We exceeded 20mph about 3 times between LA and San Diego. What should have taken about an hour and a half, took 4 flippin' hours!

Four hours of slow down (darn!), speed up (yay! maybe we're going now), slow down (darn!), speed up....along with ten gajillion other motorists on a fine Saturday afternoon.

Have I mentioned how much I loathe and despise traffic? It is one of the two main drawbacks to living in the Bay Area. That's why we got up at 5 flippin' AM! That's why we haul you-know-what down as fast as we can - to AVOID the traffic.

But no. Not this time. The ride I have completed in under 7 hours (once) took us almost 10 hours.

I discourage the use of the word "hate" in our family. You know, "I hate broccoli" and "I hate doing math" just don't fly with me. But I informed by kidlings that being stuck in endless, mind numbing traffic in the most squalid, stupid, ugly, lame-o town in CA is indeed an appropriate use of the word.

I HATE L.A. TRAFFIC!!!

So there.

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P.S. Did you notice that the American women swept the Olympic medals in womens' sabre! No? Oh, that's because they DON'T SHOW ANY FENCING ON TV! Urg.