Los Angeles to San Jose…

Gail, Joe, Kami and i met in the hotel lobby at 9:30am, long days driving ahead, its about a 6 hour drive to San Jose(and yes we did know the way!) I did however have four drivers in the car, well three as Kami’s always asleep (joking!)

We left the hotel and headed out on the 405 up to northern California.

Sun coming up                                 Kami NOT asleep in the car!!              Gail and Joe driving.

The drive up was pretty uneventful, we grabbed breakfast after an hour and a half of driving, we were all decided on in and Out burger till Kami woke up and alerted us she didn't like burgers! So it was off to Ihop:)

I drove for about 3 hours and Gail took over driving for the last 3 hours when we stopped at a gas station to fill up. Within minutes of being in the backseat i was drifting in and out of sleep! that was until we went through the famous town that grows garlic! i hate the stuff and cant stand the smell, they have a festival every year in the town and every food you can imagine gets flavoured with Garlic! they even have garlic ice cream!

We arrived in San Jose around 5pm, well 4:57 actually due to Gail's speedy driving:) Gail and Joe were at the Ramada a a couple of blocks from our Hotel, The Fairmont. Maria, Matt and Eric had all arrived at the Fairmont a couple of hours earlier as they had all flown up together from LAX. We all arranged to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 7pm and head out for dinner.

Id heard of a place and seen it online that was a BBQ joint called Hi Life. It had great reviews and was well known in San Jose. We all met in the lobby at 7 and i suggested the BBQ place and made sure everyone was good with it, they were so we headed out and walked the 1/2 mile to the place which was just round the corner from the venue for tomorrows show,

Hi Life, was like an oasis in the middle of nowhere                                       Menu, simple, plain but not that cheap

 

As we all walked in we could smell the smoke from the BBQ (i can still smell it on my jeans!) the place was small and looked busy. The menu was on the wall and pretty simple, meat, meat and more meat! this was NOT the place for a vegetarian! There was a box on the wall that had numbers in it, you took a number, you then placed your order with the host that was in the bar area and you then waited for your number to be called out and they took you through the the dining area. It was an unusual way of doing thongs but it all worked out fine. All the food came with a Baked Potato and salad and that was it!

Gail and Joe weren't felling too good when we got in the restaurant so they headed back to their hotel and Kami, Matt, Eric and i all stayed in the bar area waiting for our number to be called. It was funny watching Matt make friends in the bars and restaurants we had been in he loves to talk to people and always manages to have a laugh with the waitresses or the hosts but tonight he found some American Physco that loved his British accent!

I went to the bathroom and heard the words “ Simon, party for four, your tables ready” i did what i had to do quicker than i would have normally and came running out to the bar area only to see Eric, Matt and Kami laughing out loud as Eric had found the microphone for the restaurant and made him own “Simon”  announcement unbeknown to me! Eric, remember when i shook your hand after coming out of the bathroom and i said it was from washing my hands ? well……….. lol

Eric and his girlie drink!                     Kami, Eric and Matt                          Matt and Kami

 

We sat at the table around 8:30 as we had already ordered our food an hour ago with the hostess it didn't take long to arrive at all. I’d ordered the 16oz New York steak, Matt had the smaller New York steak, Eric had some other type of meat and Kami had gone for the baby back ribs, and a full rack!

My steak and potato                           This girl CAN eat!!

     

The food was fantastic, the steak was cooked to perfection and the baked potato had a crispy hard skin and a soft fluffy inside, just how i like it. Kamis ribs were HUGE, we all sat there in amazement when they brought them out to her, she just took it all in her stride saying she was hungry and that she wouldn't have a problem demolishing them!

I helped her out half way through by eating two small ribs however the rest was all her own hard work and she totally annihilated the entire plate including the potato!

Before                                             During                                                After                                

   

We headed back to the hotel after dinner, it wasn't late either, was good to get an early night after a long day of travelling!

Outside the BBQ joint                 On The way back to the hotel      Kami in the hotel lobby

   

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