Road trippin'

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. It's been a bit of a whirlwind.

My parents got home from Arizona on the 6th, Susie arrived on the 8th, and it was a revolving door at the house until Susie and I left on the 14th. Julian had been sick with some kind of flu bug and seemed to have brought it with him when they visited and soon, Susie, Mom and Teresa were down for count. Really sick for a few days. It was pretty awful. I felt so bad for them. They all recovered after a few days thankfully.

I was able to spend some good time with my family and friends. Teresa and I got tattoos at a great little place in Provo called The Painted Temple. Teresa got the Hindi word for "Faith" on her forearm. It's beautiful. She was a little nervous about her first tattoo but it was a great experience for her. I got a wonderful Kanji symbol that means "grandson" along with Julian's birth date tattooed on my right shoulder. I am so happy with it and am glad I got it. He means the world to me.

On Wednesday, the 14th, Susie and I set out in the direction of California. We spent the first night in Las Vegas and the next day headed into Death Valley. Neither of us had been there before and didn't really know what to expect. It was gorgeous. We found a sweet little room at the Longstreet Hotel and Casino outside the park and then spend a very hot day exploring Badwater Basin and Furnace Creek. We got back to the motel just before sunset, got our rum drinks in hand and sat out by the pond with ducks, geese and fake deer and watched glorious nature do her thing. It was fantastic.

The next day we explored the ghost town of Rhyolite which was fascinating. There are a lot of remains of old buildings of the town of 10,000 during the gold rush and an exquisite open air museum with amazing sculptures and a labyrinth. I loved it there. So much beauty among the rocks and dust.

We went to Scotty's castle and did a tour, then drove through the sand dunes, and Panamint Springs and ended up in Lone Pine, California for the night. We ate sesame snacks and cheese for dinner along with rum and juice and had an ok night's sleep.

The next day we explored the town of Bishop, went to an art gallery and a yummy bakery for lunch and then headed toward the town of Jackson, California in the gold country. We got a wonderful little room at the Country Squire motel, had drinks at Teresa's restaurant and slept well. The man at the motel was so nice and happened to be from Tiburon, where Susie lives. We had a nice visit with him, a great walk through the town and delicious breakfast at a local diner before hitting the road again. We drove down highway 49 and took a detour to Murphy's where we did a little shopping and walking before the drive back to the bay area. It was such a wonderful road trip with Susie. We drove 1600 miles together and we both loved it.

Now back in Marin and I feel very happy and excited (and a little nervous) about what's next. I have a couple of housesitting gigs while looking for a place of my own. I'm sure it will all work out exactly the way it's supposed to....