Day 3: We left in the afternoon on Wednesday. It was actually a pretty long drive to get to Berkeley! We were all pretty tired, and it was probably a little bit to do with the warm weather. We woke up and got breakfast with Rachel, which was fun. We ate at this little French restaurant. Man, talk about expensive! I am glad things are still cheap(er) in the Midwest. Then, we headed back to the hotel, and said our goodbyes to Rachel. We loaded up the bus and headed out.

We played cards on the bus, and just chilled out. Dorothy taught Nick and I this really fun card game called Concentration Rummy. I kicked some major butt the first time we played, but Nick was winning this time. Beginner’s luck, I guess! It was funny because now that we were all familiar with the rules, we were all dead silent, and competitive. Not in a serious way, but it was funny how the atmosphere was radically different from the first time we played. We didn’t end up finishing the game, because Nick fell asleep in the middle of it! And he was winning, which was the funny part. I called Leslie while Nick and Dorothy were napping, and we tried to figure out where the bus was, because I was too lazy to go up to the front of the bus and actually ask Romero. I read her the names of some street signs and she said, “You guys are in Fresno.” I asked, “How many minutes away are we?” and she replied, “Uhhh…like four hours!” We were laughing. We got into Berkeley late, and when we reached the hotel, I called Leslie again. She had fallen asleep, but she still came to our hotel to stay the night and visit with us.

The hotel was really interesting. It was actually a bed and breakfast, which I had never stayed in before. It was called the Rose Garden Inn, and rightfully so–there were roses everywhere. On the walls, on the ceiling, fake roses in vases, pictures of roses, rose print on furniture and curtains and bedspreads. It was like someone had thrown roses all over the place. It reminded me of the Fairmont Hotel that Rich and I stayed in when we were in Vancouver. I had never been to a B & B before, so I had no idea what to expect. The lobby had a bunch of couches, and the inside of the building reminded me of a grandma’s house. There were china dolls all over the place. Dorothy was like, “There better not be any dolls in my room.” Just past the lobby was the courtyard, where there were quaint little chairs and tables to eat at, huge rosebushes, statues of angels, and a fountain. The buildings behind the building containing the lobby and the kitchen were the actual guest rooms. I had a room that was upstairs, with a view of the courtyard. It was really nice. It had a fireplace and everything. Romero carried Dorothy’s bags up the stairs of the building next to mine, and as he was coming back down, he tripped and missed a couple of steps, and because it was dark outside, it sounded like he was running, and Dorothy got kinda freaked out. Plus, Dorothy’s room looked like it was an old funeral parlor. The bed was unmade, and it was really just a little bit scary. From then on, we called the “F” building the “freaky” building. Romero lugged my huge beast of a bag up the stairs (he is so great!), and I settled into my room and waited for Leslie. There was this huge gray cat with yellow eyes that was trying to get into my room. I tried to chase it away, because I am allergic. It sat outside of my room for a really long time, and I kept peeking out of the window to see if it was still there. Leslie arrived, and I was so excited! I saw her in the courtyard, and called down to her. She came up to my room and we ended up talking until we fell asleep around 4 am. It was really fun! I couldn’t wait for her to show us around Berkeley, and for us to tour the Bayer plant tomorrow!