Chico. “Where’s That?”

 

Norcal V. Socal? Norcal is HELLA cool and Socal is full of cray cray celebrities, bro. I’m torn b/c I love em both… deal.

In recent weeks I have discovered that people who live in Southern California think of anything north of the Grapevine (Valencia, CA) as Norcal… they also have NO idea what is up there other than a vague idea of some city called San Francisco and “…maybe the capital or something ummm Sacramento?” Northern California is BIG and open, SF is a major metropolitan area but you get north of The City and you are in wide open, prime agricultural land until you hit the Oregon border (which btw is about 5 hours away). There is a HUGE rivalry between NorCal and SoCal that I have never particularly identified with as I grew up in the Monterey Bay which is pretty right smack in the middle of the state. They are different regions though, NorCal with our agriculture, liberalism, San Francisco, Monterey, colder beaches and Tahoe. SoCal with LA, San Diego, Orange County, conservatives and palm trees. As I have told people that I’m headed up to Chico for vacation, I routinely get a quizzical look and, “Where’s that?” as a response. That’s just fine with me, it’s a hidden gem I tell you *wink*.

Chico is a town of roughly 100,000 people 90 miles north of Sac-Town and 120 miles south of the Oregon border. It’s a college town with a rich history of rowdiness and it is where I am happy to say I spent 5 years of my life. I loved it, I love it, it’s quiet and beautiful, full of students and life, forward thinking but still maintains a small town feel and all-around one of the most fun places ever. Phil’s mom lives up here so we get to come back and visit fairly often and we both still have a bunch of friends who live up here.

Despite our interesting arrival, we crashed for 4 hours Thursday night/ Friday morning and then headed out and about.

First stop Pluto’s for some grub

Philip and I stopped for some lunch at Pluto’s which is a healthy-type place where you can build your own massive, fresh salads and then shopped around in all of the downtown boutiques for an afternoon. Win of the day? There is a lingerie boutique that specializes in “petite” bras, as I am the President of the Itty Bitty Tittie Committee, PrettyFittie, I was pretty pumped. A while back I bought the VS “make the tatas 2 cup sizes bigger” bra and Phil hates it because I look RIDIC, I also bump into a lot of stuff with my chest when I wear it because I am not spatially aware of the room C-Cups take up. Not one of my best purchases I guess…I’m starting to come to terms with the tiny boobies because it really makes working out/skipping the bra when needed an easy task.

Our next stop was Tin Roof Bakery, which is a to-die-for bakery… amazing breads and pastries–total carb fest nomnomnom. The cafe is so cute and they have local artwork inside, which included a painting that I NEED and want to use as a focal point for my next decorating overhaul.

Alternative transport, big thanks to Phil’s mom for being amazing and letting us borrow bikes.

There really is nothing like biking through a college town on a hot afternoon, except maybe running through walnut orchards. I love running in the heat.

We had a close encounter with a 3 foot long gopher snake which probably got my heart up enough to help me burn an extra 30 calories, YES!

 

Madison Bear Garden

College bars in the summertime. Fill and I went and watched his besties play some indoor soccer and then we hit the bars. Josh and his amazing GF Chelsea came out with us, I’m going to somehow bribe her into giving me soccer lessons ’cause the girl’s got SKEELZ. Justin, who seriously was wearing a T-Shirt with meerkats on it, love you J-money. Then there I was, in flats. I didn’t have a chance to go and switch into heels, so I had to go the the bars in flats. I hate it. I’m 5’2″ which already means that when I go to crowded places in flip flops my nose is right at armpit level, add to that a hot Chico night and it is lovely. Not to mention, Phil’s friends are all 6′ tall at least… good times being a little imp last night, good times. After a crazy long night coming into town, 4 hours of sleep and a long ass day yesterday… I was toasted muffins. I woke up this morning feeling hungover, even though I didn’t have one drink. Lame.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend’s I know I’m loving mine. Off to go run with P-doggy.