Can you separate the two concepts, "Gold" and "Party"? I don't think so. Goes without saying. So, we headed to SoCal--Monrovia, to be specific (Ground Zero, party-wise--at least on Google Maps)--to join in the fun! Rachel was able to go with us, Dylan being in the midst of moving into his new digs in SF. Rachel just loves to relive those long car vacations by riding in the back seat for hundreds of miles at a stretch. Too bad Dylan couldn't be there to jab her in the arm, for historical accuracy (wow! Was that Dylan? He's such a different dude, now!)
We left home mid-afternoon on Friday to make it to Fresno by dinner time. Mom was glued to the Giants/Patriots game, but we peeled her away long enough to head out to Chevy's for some Mexican food. My sister and most of her family had gone to to their place in Morro Bay for a little holiday R&R, but graciously left their house at our disposal for the night. They also graciously left their pets (mostly in the care of a pet-sitter) to keep us company for the evening, as you can see from the photo (double click to enlarge--it's worth it!). Tom's a pet magnet, as we all know.
We had a great time catching up with everyone at Joy and Marcus' wonderful party pad, festively decorated to a fare-thee-well! Where they keep all those decorations in the off season, I can't imagine. Turns out that Dylan was the only absent family member.
Even Jeremy and Jacob, Ken's sons, plus Jeremy's girlfriend, were there, this year! It made a mostly-well-behaved group of 23. Good food, great company! The Matriarch of the group, the Mother of all Moms, Gramma Gold, Mama Gold, Mom, Whatever-It-Is-That-Dick-and-I-Call-Her (what IS that, anyway?!) looked stunning in violet, seeming to be on some kind of a reverse-aging program (maybe it's like those reverse mortgages). Sign me up for whatever that is! We see all of those wonderful folks so rarely, that we had to talk fast to make up some ground, and still didn't manage it. Calls for some other occasion, this year, I think.
So, as the good times rolled to a stop, we said our good-byes and headed for Griffith Park to drop Rachel off in the care of her good friends, for awhile. We, then, drove to the Magic Mountain area, from where the six-hour trip home the next day was quite tolerable, arriving just in time for a (very) quiet New Year's Eve...
