Napa, Part I

OK, so the short, non-photographic version is that Napa was lovely. Not our scene, but lovely. On one level, it was just great to have a weekend together. Mr. Scientist Man doesn't get to take two days off in a row very often. I think I'll just book us in fancy hotels every four months or so just to make him take a break.

I've mentioned before that we both enjoy getting maximum bang for the buck. Napa isn't. Jrex's sister bought us two nights in a hotel room for his birthday present (last Friday, he turned 40!!). It turned out to be $198/night for a basic room with one smallish bed, a kitchenette and a small shower. The hotel had mineral pools and spa services (for more money), but was relatively middle-class and not that elegant. For $89 a night, I would have felt like we were in the ballpark, but not for $200! Of course, "free" was great bang for the buck...

The hotel was in Calistoga which is at the very northern end of Napa Valley. I'll post pics and reviews of vineyards and restaurants tomorrow. Jrex did great research and found family-run vineyards that produced leaner style wines. Many Napa wines have a big, bold fruity taste, but they're one-note strong. We tend to like wines that linger and shift as you drink them. Interesting + unusual=fun.

The good news is that at 40, Jrex isn't planning to leave me for a young, hot nurse or blow our nest egg on a sports car. He says he's been having his "what should I do with my life?" crisis for the last 15 years and doesn't need to have one now. He is ready to wrap up training and start whatever is next (not that it means 'wrap up' will happen for a year and a half or so...but that's 'soon' on a Jrex scale...). The other good news is that we still really enjoy being together.

I feel privileged to have this man as a life companion. I love his wit, his endurance and his desire for off-the-beaten-path adventures.

Happy Birthday, love!

More fun than I expected.

"I love it! This so fun!!"

My mother-in-law turns to me, her face glistening with water, shirt and pants drenched and clinging to her. We're climbing stone stairs next to a waterfall in Yosemite. The 'mist trail' is turning out to be more of a 'rain-storm'. Each time the wind blows, we're soaked with another wave of freezing cold water. We're climbing steep walls of the river carved canyon on man-made stairs of boulders and rocks, all drenched with water.

Mom K keeps laughing. She's using one of the trekking poles we brought for her and Dad; she's mostly steady on her feet. She's 69, barely five feet tall and has the slightly bowed legs from being carried on other's backs until she was 8 (a maid carried her to school each day). I walk up behind her with my hands out, 'spotting' her in case she slips on the wet rocks. She only needs me once.

We finally get beyond the heavy spray and stake out a place in a patch of sun. I've been glancing back trying to spot Jrex and his Dad, but haven't seen them for a long time. While we wait for them, we try to dry off. She's still giggling, I'm laughing both with and at her. Her carefully blow-dried hair drips and curls around her sun visor as she wipes the water from her glasses. Neither of us have a dry item of clothing left, so we're just smearing big droplets into smaller ones. After a couple of minutes, she's ready to go on. I'm concerned about Jrex, worried something might have happened to Dad on the wet stones, so I insist we wait for them, "In case." She nods, "Of course. In case."

After ten minutes or so, Jrex strolls up with his Dad panting beside him. Dad sits down. His face is pasty beneath his sun-bronzed skin. He's been a heavy smoker all his life, and it's finally catching up with him. After drinks of water and photos of the waterfall, we trudge up more steps. At the next break (20 steps later), Dad K wants to turn around and go back down. We can almost see the top, but he's done. Mom K, contrary to any cultural norm that I'm aware of, wants to keep going up. We start to divide up the food so Mom and I can eat something at the top. Jrex insists on going back down with Dad, "in case". As we're digging through the backpack and discussing what I can fit in my pockets and small camera bag, Dad K interjects with disgust, "OK. I go up."

Fifteen minutes later, we make it. After eating, photographing, napping, taking a potty break (great thing about Yosemite--public toilets everywhere! No digging holes or going in the woods), and smoking a couple cigarettes for the road, we head back down. On the way down, when we reach the wet steps, Mom K starts hopping down them like a rabbit. I laughed and told her she was crazy and she agreed!

All told, a three-mile hike took us 'only' five hours...

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As soon as I get the photos off of Jrex's computer, I'll post a select few. I went a little crazy with pictures. Dad and I didn't do competitive pics (though if I took one in a certain spot, he was quick to do the same). He didn't like how I off-centered people and took candid photos and he certainly didn't understand why I kept taking close-ups of rocks or tree bark. Actually, Jrex is the master of the super-macro mode and took some really beautiful bark pictures. He's got a great eye, he'd just rather BE where he is than document it.

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We're back 'home' though it doesn't feel like home. Not just cause the in-laws are still here, but Jrex and I are realizing more and more that we just aren't desert rats. The dry, brown, or artificial green of California isn't our scene. It just didn't feel like we were coming back to our place. Even the apartment just feels like a collection of our stuff, but not really our home. We have two more years here, which we'll enjoy, but it's not where we want to settle (despite all of Mom K's hints that it would be a good place for us).

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Still to come: I bonded a little too well with Jrex's niece.

Randomness

Home

I loved the feeling of being 'home' that I had in New England. People there live life at maximum intensity; everything matters. What text will be on the mural in the center of town, what store to shop at, trash collection: all subject to public and intense debate. I often feel like I have to tone myself down so I don't blow people away. Not that I need to take up all the space in the room, but I like to ask 'real' questions, dig deep and be honest. That doesn't always work in social situations. Yet, in New England, my friends all asked me 'personal' questions and I loved it. I wasn't the only one!
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I'm over it

After my second trip in a month (the other just involving staying on-site in San Francisco for two nights), I think I'm over the travel for work bug. No matter how many people I visited with, the empty hotel room at the end of the night felt cold and very lonely. I can see why people fall into affairs if they travel a great deal. At least with the time difference between Boston and California, I could call Jrex at the end of the night and rehash the day, but it wasn't the same. No matter how luxurious, or how nice the view, the robe or the free shampoo, it's an empty box. When Jrex is out of town, the apartment feels lonely, but with the dog, our books, our music, our movies, it's a welcoming loneliness.
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It's very hard to get back into the rhythm of work. I just don't care right now. Plus, most of my current projects are post-conference wrap up. Organizing files and making covers for presentations are just not the sort of project that gets my juices going. Knowing that I'll be on vacation next week is adding to my lack of motivation...
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Don't you like mine better?

Vacation with the in-laws next week! Oddly, I'm looking forward to it. We'll have a few days with the whole family all together in a little house in Venice. I'm picturing our poor niece being pulled from one set of arms to the next...as in, if she runs to Jrex to be held or read to, his Dad will get competitive and try to pick her up, too.

The other interaction that should be 'fun' will be photos in Yosemite. Jrex and his Mom both hate being in photographs and try to avoid it. His Dad and I both enjoy taking photos. The last visit we had with them, we checked out the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden State Park. All the way through, Dad K would exclaim, "Sun Ae (the Korean name they gave me), take a picture of that!" I would. Then he would. Then we'd compare. And I would say, "Wow, Dad, your picture looks so good. I love it!" Due to an intense, traumatic life, there are sides of him that are a seven-year old boy who is starving for affirmation. It doesn't hurt me to give it to him, though I don't know how I'll feel after four days of comparative photography...
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Muttola Rules the World

I love having a dog that other people also enjoy. We keep accumulating dog-sitters for her. When I pick up Jrex from lab on weekends, I let her run around while we wait for him. A week ago, she ran up to a woman who was loading her car and looked ready to go home with her. (Muttola is such a scavenger that mostly, she's looking for food, but I don't let on) The woman later told Jrex that she would love to dog sit if we ever need it. That makes three different homes she can stay in, no charge, with people who are grateful to have a dog-fix. I'm all about helping people, so, hey, if having our dog at your house for a few days will be good for you, I'm right there for you! Self-sacrificing, humble, quiet, that's me.

The Best of the Rest

On our second day of vacation we snowshoed up to a nearby ridge. (All the signs listing distance were in km. I love the metric system! 1.5 km is MUCH easier than 1.5 m) We arrived at 8500 feet where there was no wind. We heard absolute silence: no birds, no planes, no car sounds, no other hikers. I felt like I got to drink a full cup of Bigness.

Jrex is gazing at the ridge that lines Kings Canyon. That road is closed from November through April. Not due to snow, but because there are often rock falls that wipe out sections of the road.

Unfortunately, the view to the west, which should consist of glimpses of Fresno, is solid brown smog. From Fresno, you have no idea there are 11,000 foot peaks just an hour away. The brown curtain shrouds both ways.

The day before we left, we got 24 inches of snow in 20 hours. That day Jrex went out cross-country skiing while I opted for a book by the fireplace. The next morning at dawn we went snowshoeing again since it was our last hurrah and we wanted to enjoy the fresh powder. Enjoy we did, up to our knees, despite the snowshoes!



I loved all the funny Dr. Seuss trees.

At every exit from the lodge there were signs that read, "Watch out for falling snow". I wasn't sure how bad it could be until I saw this (that's the main lodge, by the way)

The food was great. Served buffet style, both guests and staff shared the dining room. One night we had braided salmon, the next there was swordfish. Each meal had a veggie entree as well as red meat and an alternative (fish, poultry or pork). Lunch and breakfast were included as well, for $90/weeknight and $120 on the weekend! Nothing fancy, and certainly not a honeymoon locale, it suited our blue-collar style perfectly (good bang for the buck, real people, no pretensions).

Due to the snow, the roads were all closed. We had to wait for an escort to lead a caravan out to the main road.

Twenty minutes later...

Giant Sequoias: More than you ever wanted to know*

On the first day in the Sierras, we drove down to the "Grove of the Giants" in Sequoia National Forest; we collected tidbits we've been inflicting on people since our return:

Sequoias have chemicals in their bark that have made them immune to dying of old age. They aren't succeptible to fungus or bacteria. The only thing that really kills them is fire, or being blown over (usually due to fire damage). Even then, the wood doesn't rot.
Their pine cone seeds are only released through heat; sequoia stumps show fire scars every 13 years or so for the past 2,500 years.
We'd read in the book that we were going to see the largest tree by volume in the world. Honestly, from a distance, it's underwhelming. Redwoods grow tall, Sequoias grow stumpy. At some point, it looks like someone hacked off the top of the tree. They look like a big club with random green stuff clumped at the top. But when you get close, they are definitely huge!
This tree was used as a cabin and saloon in the 1800's.

I took a wonderful shot of Jrex facing the camera while looking up at this 'skylight'. In yet another example of why I love him, he then said, "Do you want me to turn around so you can put this on the blog?"
Aside from signs that said, "Take photo of General Grant Tree here", the other thing that annoyed me was that almost every tree had a masculine name. "The Chief", "The President", "General Lee". Two groves were called "The Senate" and "The House". When I look up at a big, old tree, brooding over the forest and sacrificing itself for the sake of it's seeds, it seems matriarchal. Ah well, I guess that's what we get when a bunch of crazy bachelors are the ones who arrive somewhere first and throw labels on grandeur.

*In true geek fashion, I love random factoids.

Our much needed break

We returned last night from six days away. The most surprising thing for me about the trip was that I went into deep hibernation mode. I used to do this when I came home from college. After a semester of investing deeply in relationships and running all over doing activities, I came home, crawled into bed and read books for three weeks. I talked to my family, but that was it. I called no one. I only saw people if they initiated and came to my house. Of course, I lost touch with most of my high school friends, but I needed the 'off' time.

In our marriage, I'm usually the one who chats with strangers and tells Jrex the name of the cashier. As I avoided connecting with people, Jrex stepped out. He got to know the guy in the ski shop, set up telemark lessons for us, knew the names of most of the staff and invited kids to play Scrabble with us.

There were two days when I told Jrex to go have fun outside and I just sat by the fire and read. Our room had no TV (why do you think I picked this lodge?!) so we did lots of reading in the evening as well. (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers, Eragon, Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver)

I could have stayed in the "cave" for at least another three days, but it was just what I needed.

Now, if I can get the pictures to upload, I can make you think I was more active than I really was...(blogger's add image button seems to be dysfunctional)

Vacation, Baby!

A husband in research=very rare vacations. The last time we had extended time off together was our cross-country drive! He's found a lull in the mouse-driven schedule and I just booked us for six nights in Montecito Sequoia Lodge nestled in the heart of Kings Canyon National Park. For half the price of Yosemite, we get just as many views. The Lodge sounds somewhat basic, but gourmet hot breakfast and dinner is included for less than $100 a night. We can bring a cooler of lunch food and be good to go. Also included (I think) is gear for winter activities: snow shoes, snow tubes, ice skates and snow boards.

Jrex loves winter camping and has been trying to get me to join him for years. I figure a heated lodge with a hot tub is as close as I want to get (for now). I'm doing the happy vacation dance in my head. We even have good friends who are overjoyed to act on their dog fantasy and will host Muttola for free. We just cook them a great surf and turf feast to say thanks.

Thanksgiving? My wonderful friend, Ms. Sword, is here. We're continuing the Christmas Day tradition we started with her last year--Kabob & Curry for the best tandoori chicken ever! Why wash dishes when you can go to the movies?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

It was evening and it was morning. The first day.

I forget if I mentioned this was going to be happening, but I’m in Seattle right now. My sister’s husband had to go out of town for a week and we figured that would be a great time for me to come up and meet my new nephew. The theory is that I’m up here helping out. Thus far I’m feeling much more like a pampered guest with play privileges.

For this visit, it’s just the three of us Body Part kids. No spouses, no dog. I told OTRsis that I feel like I’m at a slumber party with dolls. Sure, the bigger doll keeps asking me to read her stories and play games that circle around to ‘There’s Daddy!’, but it just feels like fun.

The Morning: Movement

In the morning we met my brother at Golden Gardens (I keep calling it Golden Gate), it’s a beach/playground area on the Puget Sound. While I assisted Blonde Niece climb UP the tunnel slide (over and over and over), a woman came by to offer her a balloon. Apparently, she and the other 20 adults milling around next to the playground were waiting for their kids.

We’d noticed a banner reading “P2S —You did it!” and assumed it was for a graduation or birthday. Turns out, P2S stands for “Providence to Seattle”. A group of 20 college kids were due any minute after biking across the country. They’d started June 10 and rode every day except for stops to work on Habitat for Humanity projects. The whole ride was a fund and awareness raiser.

Blonde Niece finally decided she was ready to go build sand castles so we waddled briskly over to where OTRsis had set up camp. Eventually, my brother joined us and Blonde Niece proudly showed him her handiwork. All of a sudden we heard screams, shouts and yells—the bikers were coming! The approach to the beach involves a long downhill that gives a glimpse of the ocean, then parralels the beach for 500 yards before turning back into the long parking lot. As we turned to watch the bikes streaming down the hill, we started sniffling. The raw exultation called for a response and all we could do was tear up!

The screaming bikers swept into the area where their parents were gathered, then turned and attacked the beach. They rode to the water’s edge, dropped the bikes, then piled into the sea surrounded by and filled with screams and cheers. Even my bro got a little watery.

The Evening: A Different World

My sister’s friends came over to watch the kids so we could go out. We’d already decided that part of what we want to do this weekend is remember Mom in honor of the 10th anniversary of her death. She died at the end of September, but we won’t be together then.

For dinner my brother and sister took me to a fantastic Morroccan restaurant. From the outside it looks a bit sketchy, but inside? Wow.


The whole meal involved communal plates and fingers as utensils.


Before the meal each of us were given a gleaming white towel. Then our host brought over a metal container to catch the water he poured over our hands. A guy seated next to us was eating alone. I wondered what he thought as we toasted Mom with our water glasses and reviewed what our parents had done, both wrong and right. Mostly right and often quirky, but each of us are grateful for our parents and for each other.

Home sweet home

I’m having trouble distilling the events of this past weekend into a coherent post.

Don't ask...
First there was the United Airlines fiasco wherein our two hour layover stretched to six. By itself, a delay is no problem. However, they found mechanical issues in our plane, tried to fix it, then moved us all to a smaller plane. 14 people were bumped. They never asked for volunteers who were willing to wait for the next flight, just bumped people according to The List. Apparently The List was a malicious evil-mongerer who delighted in forcing a 9-year old, on her way to a worldwide conference specializing in her neurological disorder, from the plane. Without. Her. Parents. Who were in tears trying to get their girl onto the plane. We’re nice people. We volunteered to give up our seats. The List said, you can’t give up your seat to her, it only goes to the next person in line. The supervisor kept repeating that she couldn’t violate The List. They made us get on the plane. After another 15 minutes we saw the family of three all get on the plane. The mother and daughter happened to sit behind us. “What happened?” The mother was crying, “Seven people said they’d wait so we could get on this flight.”

All I can say is that when next you come to dinner at our house, don’t mention United. Jrex has turned into the anti-evangelist and will tell you the story in all it’s gory details. Are we so trapped by computers now that we can’t think for ourselves?!!

The Wedding
What can I say? On some level every wedding is unique of course, but really, as a story, they’re all the same. If you know that it’s right, the families are happy and nothing goes wrong, there’s really not much to say except that it was lovely. They were radiant, her Dad cried as he walked her up the aisle, the dress and flowers were beautiful and everyone had fun. I do love the fact that the church she’s part of consists of elders and pastors who hit the dance floor and boogie til the DJ has to leave.

The Fourth Bridesmaid
The main story I have to tell about the wedding involves The Fourth Bridesmaid, Ms. Sword. Now, Ms. Sword had a dilemma. Much as she wanted to be present for the wedding, she was also due to be in Africa for the summer. The Bride graciously let her go, but Ms. Sword wanted to be in both places at once. She conspired with me to make it happen. She arrived two weeks before the wedding encased in Styrofoam having survived a flight from China. I decided to have her join us as we got dressed for the wedding. She was already dressed and her hair was done, so it made sense that she come out then. I presented her to The Bride, who squealed in delight. We took pictures of the two of them together, of Ms. Sword sampling the snack food and then when we went out front to take the group photos, she joined us. At the wedding we decided to have her wait at the head table during the ceremony. When it came time for the reception, Ms. Sword went wild! She got some drinks at the bar, had an ‘incident’ in the bathroom—to much liquor for her--and hit the dance floor for some fun. The Bride’s father asked to borrow her to show her off to all the older relatives. She’s a social girl and she certainly made the rounds. People kept assuming that we bridesmaids had come up with how to have Ms. Sword at the wedding, but the credit and creativity are all hers:





In case you're wondering, you can order these on-line. You send in a photo and they make a Bobble-head with your face and hair. You pick from over 100 bodies, and they happened to have a dress that matched the style and color of the bridesmaids' dresses. The flower was taped to her for the wedding.

Five Facts Game

I saw this over at Korean Goldfish and thought I’d give it a try. I’ve modified it a little into the Five Facts Game.

Basically, I’m about to tell you Five Facts and one Fabrication. You get to figure out which one is the fabrication.

1. In my klutz factor, I came one misplaced foot from falling off a 30-foot cliff while setting up a climbing anchor. I’ve never a paler face on a trip leader. I never told Jrex.

2. When I was a teenager I had a dog that had been trained to be racist. At the request of neighborhood kids we would throw rocks for her to chase. Usually she didn’t care about the kids, just the rock, but it made them feel like they were being chased by a dog. One day she actually got excited by the running pack of kids and, to their horror, easily jumped the chain-link fence to continue the chase.

3. Growing up in a neighborhood where it was common to be talked to on the street by older guys (cars slowed down every time I waited at a light to cross the street. Damn Johns), I gave myself a fake name. “Yo, slim! What’s your name?” I’d toss out my pseudonymn. If a guy called out, “Hey, Amy!” I knew to just wave and keep walking.

4. I once dated a guy who’d worked briefly as a car mechanic. He refused to teach me to change the oil and the break pads. Not because I was a woman, or ditzy, he just didn’t want to deal with the klutz factor.

5. I’ve always been afraid of heights.

6. When asked to describe a perfect vacation day, I remember a trip Jrex and I took to Scotland. In the morning we shopped for gifts in the only town on the Isle of Skye. After a lunch of Fisherman’s Pie we hiked up to the Old Man of Storr in gale force winds. We then drove to the northern tip of the island and changed into fancy clothes in the car so we could go to dinner. We still compare every seafood restaurant to the fresh-caught seafood platter we ate at the Floragarry Hotel. None has yet measured up. During the 40-minute drive back to the B&B the deep blue twighlight lingered enough so we could steer around sheep basking on the asphalt and gasp at gorgeous views of the ocean and craggy rocks.


The winner will get a free, all-expense paid link to their blog, or if they don’t have one, I’ll make up a fabrication about them in their honor.

Drama drama drama

SO much has happened since my last post.

I flew to Rochester and joined my two best friends for a laughter-filled weekend. The occasion: S's wedding shower. We were worried the shower would be filled with tacky lingerie and raunchy jokes, instead it was the three of us that started with the off-color humor. Oops... We were good at the party, but let's just say there could be a bumper sticker reading, "My butt was smacked in S's bed!"

On the flight home I chatted with a guy across the aisle for two hours. DEEP conversation about walking away from church but not from God, living in the Bay area, teaching, dreams, long-term relationships. He was an amazing guy and suggested that we exchange email and phone info so that Jrex and I could join him and his partner in Berkely for dinner. I've never exchanged personal info on a plane before, and we haven't yet had occasion for a double-date with a gay couple. I've had lots of gay friends ('honey, some of my best friends are gay!') but never the double-date. I loved talking with him and look forward to meeting his husband (they got married in the brief window when San Francisco did gay marriages).

I found out this morning that Friday is my last day at the gaming company. Not because I've been Dooced or anything (fired for blogging about work), rather their work load is slowing for the summer and they don't want to pay for a senior designer. They told me they'd love to have me apply for the position, and I will, but the $13,000 pay cut isn't super appealing. I'm throwing all my feelers out and we'll see what happens. I'm oddly excited. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I love this chance to have a sample platter of jobs in the Bay area.

We're off to see the wizard!

Oh no, wait. Dorothy and Toto went the other way: from Kansas to California (via the soundstage...)

We found a dog-sitter. We invested stock-options in Southwest. We leave tomorrow! I'm actually really excited to see all my peeps. Truly. Most of my blood relations will all be there. Pray for no tornados... though that would be a cheaper method for getting back out here to Oz.

The other thing I haven't had time to write about is my new job. I'm loving it! In the last two days I've had to photograph a sword, 'distress the h__' out of a heart for an I [heart] L*ra shirt, and come up with a world of paraphanalia for an upcoming game. MUCH more fun than my previous job.

See ya on the far side of the prairie.

The Gifts

We’re back from Tahoe. There was still enough snow for some fun skiing. I took a lesson in the morning while Jrex hit some black diamonds—then he kindly joined me for a couple greens and one and a half blue slopes. After my knees started aching, he skiied a few more tough slopes while I lounged in the car and called Mom K. She was SO happy I called. She’d wanted to call but was worried that her once (and sometimes twice) daily phone calls during our cross-country drive had been, well, a little stressful.

What? You don’t care about all that? Skip to the chase? Sheesh. Impatient, huh?

As I mentioned, my gift for Jrex was a book.


The title-- “Thin Threads: a Decade of Drama”.


The contents? His poetry. Over the years he’s written poems on various scraps of paper. I selected the best of them (or at least the ones I enjoyed most!), put them in chronological order, designed a layout, and hand-bound the book. I spent a grand total of $24 (with 26 hours of labor).



He said it was the best thing I could have given him. If you can read Korean, his name is on the cover as well as part of the title page.

Here’s what I wrote about the author on the back page:

Musician, poet, husband, friend. Born in Korea, most of his life has been spent in the USA. Despite his status as a Yankees fan, he is loved by anyone who has worked with him, eaten his food, or heard his dry wit. While wrestling with life’s deepest questions he’s managed to complete a Ph.D. in bio-physical chemistry, an Internal Medicine residency, an Oncology Fellowship and three years of slogging research. All this on less than five hours of sleep most nights.

His wife knew he was a keeper when she saw him standing firm in a swirl of her mother’s sisters. A man who could exude peace, stability and humor in the intensity of a gathering of [Last Name] women was a man to be reckoned with.

His gift to me? Well, first a story. (Patience IS a virtue!)

My wedding and engagement rings were burgalarized from our house in Baltimore back in 2003. We bought a replacement wedding ring right away. For this anniversary I was hoping he’d get me a ring, but after I found The Box and casually mentioned, “my ring”, he’d said, “It’s not a ring”. I was bracing myself to act excited when I saw a bracelet or necklace. Also, please note, I’m usually very good at spoiling a romantic mood. We did the gift exchange at a fancy restaurant. As I saw him pull a little blue velvet box from his pocket, I exclaimed, “You lied!!”

Turns out he didn’t lie, exactly. The Box only contained loose stones for Jrex’s selection. At the time of our conversation, there was no ring, yet.

This ring is what Jrex had originally hoped to find when he shopped for my engagement ring. He and Jeweler Friend worked very closely to design this one, pick the right sapphire and get it done on time. It’s beautiful.


On the way home, I called my sister. I told her the ring was very ‘blingy’. She laughed, “Maybe it’s only big in your head.” Um. No. It’s big.

And Back Again

As I mentioned, I took no pics of The Cutest Niece, or my sister, or their house. In the end, it’s probably a good thing for the sake of anonymity and family harmony, but sigh.

After our cross-country drive, Muttola is a seasoned road dog. As long as she has her bed and us she seems content. In fact, when we start packing suitcases and loading the car, she begins to hover near our feet with a pleading look that says, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me!” Many times we’ve put her dog bed in the car early and let her watch the proceedings from there. She seems much more content knowing it’s guaranteed we can’t abandon her.

The morning we were leaving Medford, OR it was snowing on I-5. Apparently it’s state law that you can’t venture into the snowy regions without tire chains for your car. The irony is that despite 15 years in upstate New York with frequent 8-12 inch snowstorms we’ve never had to chain the tires. Jrex even went (with other buddies—I don’t like to be cold!) camping in the Adirondacks without needing chains. Out east they believe in salt and plows. Out here it’s a bit more wild west: ‘If you can’t survive alone in the wilderness—you shouldn’t be here!’ We decided to drive around the storm via Grants Pass and Highway 101 down the coast of California. That choice transformed a 6.5-hour drive into a 13-hour one! Much of that delay was due to us stopping to walk around and driving the scenic route, but it was still a long day. We bought tire chains and even learned how to install them, but it's not a waste since we hope to use them on treks to Lake Tahoe.


When we got to the coast in Northern California we stopped to walk the dog along the beach. These signs are posted all along the beach. It’s like a line from a horror movie, “Don’t turn your back on the waves”!


Given the horrifying fact that since 2004, four people including children have been swept from dry sand by sneaker waves, we were very careful to obey instructions.


The northern Redwoods (vs. the fatter Giant Sequoias) grow to incredible heights. The tree I’m leaning on is over 350 feet tall. When I was little I used to love to lean on trees and look up. I thought I could tell the age and ‘gender’ of the tree. Matriarch vs. adolescent. Grandfather vs. punk kid. This tree was the calmest matriarch tree I’ve ever been near. I love getting opportunities to feel small, to think about the fact that I’m really on earth for a very short time, and this tree in her towering silence was a gorgeous reminder of both things.


The view from my angle.


I love this stump. Lest you think I crawled on the ground to get the shot, it’s at least 15 feet tall.


This tree has survived and thrived despite a horrific fire in the core.


I’d feared a quick drive home. Jrex had so much he had to do this week that it seemed we were going to pick the utilitarian vs. the scenic route home. I’m thankful for the snowstorm that allowed us to go the scenic way. Cause, frankly, I hope NOT to do that drive again, as pretty as it was. I’d much rather do a 2 hour plane flight.

Now that I've crossed the country via the southern route (2-week trip after college), the northern route with Jrex, and gone up and down both coasts, I think I've seen every state but Nebraska and North Dakota. We both agreed on the drive home that we aren't taking any road trips for a while!

There

[I switched to the beta blogger and it seems no better about uploading pictures. I had a few for this post, but no luck uploading them. Sigh.]

I have this lamentable tendency to want to live life and not document it so I don’t have many pictures of The Cutest Niece in Washington (vs. Jrex’s sister’s baby: The Cutest Niece in California). Actually, I don’t have any. Somehow taking pictures puts me into the mindset of an observer rather than a participant. (Also, I kept forgetting I’d left the camera in the car.)

On the way up we drove 12 hours to Portland and stayed with otr mama and her daughter. Otr mama was my Mom’s best friend. They met when her daughter, Jdawg and I were in nursery school together. We also lunched with my mother's aunt. Great Aunt P is one of the healthiest and sharpest 84 year olds I know. She fell and tore up her rotator cuff, but she ad-libbed her own physical therapy for the last three weeks and found out she wouldn't have to get surgery.

After spending the night at Jdawg's house, we drove to my sister’s Thanksgiving morning. Of course we hit a fair amount of traffic but got there eventually. She made a wonderful meal. As kids we had a family friend who always made us a sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving. OTRsis gave a nod to the sweet potato tradition with a spicy sweet potato soup. We all agreed it was delicious, but perhaps better suited to rice (which we had the next day).

Cutest niece was scared of the dog at first. She’s 18 months old and has a couple words though she’s quite fluent in sign language. Apparently the hot toddler trend is to teach sign so they aren’t limited by the sounds they can control. On the first day, Cutest Niece kept doing the sign for ‘up, up’ whenever the dog was in the same room. Muttola was fabulous though: she didn’t lick Cutest Niece or run after her. By the time we left, Cutest Niece would see me coming and ask, “Da? Da?” which meant, “Where’s the dog, woman, you’re nice and all, but the dog, she’s like cheerios soaked in milk and poured onto my tray!?”

On our last night there my brother treated OTRsis, Jrex, and me to an IMAX showing of Happy Feet. My fantastic brother-in-law stayed home to watch Cutest Niece. It should be noted that this did not upset him since it gave him a chance to watch football and grade students’ work in peace. The three of us Body Part kids are a bit overwhelming as a group. Both of my parents were confident and opinionated people who took up a fair amount of space in a group. They raised three kids who each have different facets of their gifts. The downside is, there are opinions for every issue and rapid-fire discussions of the day’s to-do list accompanied by much loud joking and teasing. My sister and I married men who are more the strong, silent types. The ones you want to rely on, but who don’t take up huge amounts of public space. Our brave husbands are the kind of men who have opinions, but who usually wait to be asked before voicing them.

We all enjoyed Happy Feet. Probably too much. We cracked up over all the cheesy/sappy factors which were strewn throughout the movie like popcorn on a theater floor. I’ve never been glared at by so many four year olds in my life! Mostly it felt like the penguin’s eye view prequel to March of the Penguins. The thing that annoyed me the most was that the stupid lead character never finished molting! I thought it was impossible for penguins to swim until all the grey fuzz disappeared? Whatever. That was one of many huge suspensions of belief. The Hispanic penguin posse was fabulous. I would love to see them meet the penguins of Madagascar. It would be the Sharks vs. the Jets all over again.

Tomorrow I’ll tell the story of the homeward journey (hopefully with pictures!). Overall though it was a great trip. I’m thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life, and it’s even better that I’m related to a few of them.