Our goal was to camp.  There are several first come first serve spots that seemed promising although we had no idea if we would actually be able to get a spot or not.  We packed lightly.  We brought only our little 6 pack size cooler with yogurt, cheese, turkey, lettuce and dressing, and peaches.  Be brought a few options for bread, an extra fiber english muffin, one bagel, two dutch crunch rolls, and several protein and similar bars.  We filled two water bottles, two camel backs for a hike and a larger jug only previously used for Sangria in case water was limited.  We brought bug spray and sunscreen.  The camera, iPod, and phones, oh and I brought my gps style watch which we did use.  We brought bathing suits and towels, although never used them.  Lastly we packed the tent, sleeping bags, thermarests (little 1″ mattresses if you can call them that) and were off by about 9:30am which included a trip to the store for some of the food mentioned above.

It was to be about a 2.5 hour drive and it was.  I had an email with the campsites prepared and we stopped at the northernmost one on the list that was near the water.  It was about noon.  The ranger said it was a 50/50 chance he would have a site available and he would know by 1pm, noon was check out.  I was ok with waiting there although Elliott primed to see some sites suggested we go check out one of the things on our list to see, Pfeiffer Beach.  So we drove about 6 miles south.  The turn off is an unmarked road and is two miles of a one lane road with turn outs for when you meet a car coming the other way.  We followed a truck with a surf board, so we felt confident we were on to something.  Unfortunately when we reached the bottom the ranger let in the last car and then told a few cars in front of us that they were full.  Given the chance to wait we declined, unsure when we might be let in.  At that point we decided to go back and check with the 50/50 ranger.  We were a little early from the 1pm suggested time, Elliott offered for us to wait in the parking lot when the ranger said, we’ve got it sorted out we have a spot for you, success!  Our first spur of the moment, relatively poorly planned trip, looked like it may work out ok.

The site was a “walk in” site.  About 1/3 a mile.  Which we ended up doing about 12 times.  Although walk in is quite nice once your in, car camping always feels a bit like cheating to me.  We took one light load out the first round out.  We found our site, #20 and set up our tent in one of the areas of ground not holy from the squirrels underground transportation system.  I set a few things on the table, food in canvas bags and was quickly surprised by how brazen the squirrels are, one chewed a hole through the canvas bag and we believe bit through the english muffin bag and a Lara bar.  I realized then there were “bear lockers” available that were actually squirrel lockers.  We put up the tent and I almost caught a picture of Elliott on the bench with a squirrel coming up to take a nibble at him although he got spooked before I could get the picture off.

At this point it was lunch time, so we headed down the trail to see what we might find with the cooler in hand.  We hoped the park had beach access although given the quick planning we didn’t know.  We walked another maybe half mile, through the beautiful smell of eucalyptus trees, along a river, and eventually saw the ocean!  There were quite a few people there laying in the sand taking it in.  We plopped ourselves down and ate our butter lettuce salad with lemon dressing, and I dreamed of walking down the entire beach to a rock outcropping that seemed reachable, far at the other end.  We enjoyed our lunch and then headed back to unpack before a hike.

We went back to the car for the next load and also to inquire about fire wood.  Fortunately the rangers (the sweetest couple, older folks) had some, at first she started to say we would have to go 3 miles down the road until she remembered her stash had been refilled, $8 for a decent stack.  Unfortunately we would have to walk it in with the rest of our stuff.  We hadn’t brought matches or a lighter, the downside to not being smokers, so I asked if she had any extra and graciously she gave us a little box of matches which she asked that we return.  I carried what felt like a mountain of stuff.  My backpack with clothes and warm stuff, my camel back on the front full of water.  One camping chair which Elliott suggested we leave behind although I lobbied otherwise, he carried the other.  One bag with the sleeping bags, and one bag with the thermarests.  Elliott carried the one chair and the wood and boy that wood must have been heavy!  Elliott grunted damn near the whole way to the campsite.  My shoulders hurt, my arms were tired, and at times I wanted to take a break, although I couldn’t stop laughing under my breath at Elliott’s exhaustion of carrying the wood, I almost offered to trade him loads, although part of me knew that the wood probably was pretty heavy.  We laughed about this later and he said he would like to see me carry the wood from the fire ring to the tent, which I did with a smile on my face and prance in my step!  No doubt it was heavy and annoying to have to lug in.

At this point we decided to go for a hike.  We had checked out the trail map at the ranger station and we saw that there was a bluff trail that went right down the direction of ocean toward that outcropping that beckoned me.  I put on my trail runners, although there would be no running, sans socks for any water crossings.  Elliott put on his five fingers.  We brought a bar each in our camel backs filled with water.  I put sunscreen on only my face, we packed the camera and off we went.  I think we figured it would be an out and back, when we felt we had gone far enough, and hopefully had found access to the beach further down the trail then we would turn back.  I started my gps about 1/2 mile into it, we crossed the Big Sur river which widened and slowed to an easy 1′-1.5′ deep crossing.  We headed down the beach toward the trail head which we had watched people traverse during lunch.  Eventually the Ridge Trail and the Bluff Trail split and we took the Bluff.  The views of the ocean were wonderful and we took pictures every so often as we climbed higher and the beach we started on got smaller.  Our destination, the out cropping, seemed to stay the same distance away.  After about 1.5 hours and 3 miles we saw a map at a trail intersection and we realized that we could do a loop instead of an out and back by tying into the Ridge Trail and taking it back to our camp.  That was exciting.  We decided that we would hike for one more hour and if we reached the turnaround point than we would go to the Ridge Trail, although if we didn’t we would head back.  We didn’t want to spend the sunset or dinner on the trail especially without flash lights.

The trail intersection showed a Spring Trail down to the ocean, we hadn’t yet found ocean access, so we took a quick detour, and it was well worth it.  I loved the site at the bottom, this mountain of, I don’t know what, rocks or tree stumps, whatever they were they were quite fun to travel over toward the beach.  We were the only ones on the beach and it was perfect.  We watched the waves for a few minutes, looked out at the boats that we had watched from the trail, I continued to look for whales, even though I don’t think they are expected this time of year, and then we headed back on our journey.

It was a tough trail.  Some of it after this point a bit over grown and narrow, and dang it seemed like we were just going up and up and up, and indeed we were.  I thought I might not make it although I hoped that we would make it to the Ridge Trail and then just coast home on the top of the world.  We finally made it to the top and thank goodness there was a bench, the first and only bench on our trek, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Interestingly there was also a house out there.   Funny, we felt like we had, and well we had, hiked for miles, in what seemed like the “wilderness” and it was only to stumble on a dirt road, Private signs, and a multimillion dollar house with a sculpture in the back yard, we were a little annoyed.  I considered sticking my big toe under the barbed wire barrier to feel the glamor of Private Property although I was too tired to bother.

We shared our bars half and half which was good, one was very fruity-tangy and the other pretty chocolately, together they were more bearable.  We drank water and we admired our achievement, we were definitely above the clouds!  From here out, our hopes came true, the ridge trail was not only flat it was down hill all the way back.  It was a nice wide, sandy trail and we blazed back to camp.  The camp soon grew closer and the out cropping, which ended being home the house, was in our dust.  Just as we started turn down into the beach we came upon a deer, a mother with two younger ones.  We went the other way down a different trail and let them pass.  We made it back to the beach and we sat down, back where we started almost 8 miles later.  We had earned our dinner!   We rested for a bit as the sun went down behind the headlands, we cleaned our feet and shoes walking through the river and we old lady walked it back to camp.  Elliott had started to talk about his dogs hurting about 1/2 way through the trip and at this point he was in pretty good pain.  My feet were uncomfortable although didn’t hurt like his did.  When we got back to camp he took off his shoes and found a blister with sand in it!  Is that gross or what, I don’t even know how that happens.  I was in the tent putting my jeans on as it was getting cold and he called me out to see it.  I generally like things like this, although even that was a bit much for me.  He found several others in similar condition and he proceeded to free the dirt from his body.

I started to get ready to get the fire going.  Neither Elliott nor I have ever started a fire, this was to be our first, for ourselves and together!  Fortunately I had watched someone start a fire at our Labor Day camping trip so I was confident I could do it.  The only thing we were lacking was paper.  I set the kindling and larger wood up in a tee-pee, as I had witnessed before.  I tried to light some of the kindling to get the fire going although it was not near as easy as lighting paper.  I tried, Elliott tried, the matches blew out in the wind, or the kindling just wouldn’t catch.  Eventually Elliott found two pieces of paper in his backpack.  We stuffed it into the tee-pee and lit it, although it wasn’t enough, it burned, caught a few pieces, we blew on it, tried to get it catch other pieces although eventually it died.

Meanwhile the fires in the pits around us were all going strong, we were starting to feel the pressure of the sun going down and the cold sneaking in.  I remembered I had tissue paper in the glove box for any of those last minute gift wrapping emergencies and thought, hoped it might do the trick.  We took off to the car, one more time, feet just screaming at us.  Elliott thought we might as well just go to the store at this point to get matches as well as we had already burned through about 2/3 of the box with our failed attempts.  At that point I remembered I had a note book in the car, with paper that was certain to burn better than tissue paper.  With that we decided we could do it with the matches we had.  We hobbled back to camp, by now it was getting dark enough to warrant a light, which Elliott had also retrieved from the car.  We walked back into camp, ripped strips and crumpled others, determined to get our own fire going.  We put more paper in there than necessary so that we wouldn’t have to go through watching it fade out again.  We lit it, and if it ever started to die down even a bit we shoved more paper in there, until finally the kindling had caught, and then a big piece of wood caught.  We watched it for a quite a while just to make sure it wouldn’t die on us, and it didn’t.  We had started our first fire!  And we started the day without matches!  It was such a rewarding feeling.  Starting and enjoying our own fire.  We added wood to it as the night went on.  We watched the fire.  And then we watched the stars.  I can’t remember the last time I really looked at the stars on such a clear night, the moon wasn’t to be found so the stars were brighter than I could imagine.

Eventually Elliott started to lobby for sleep.  I work hard to time my water consumption and restroom visits so that I will not have to go in the middle of the night.  So I made my last trip to the restroom.  I stood by the fire and rotated slowly to warm all sides and then we put it out with water and retreated.  I slept pretty well.  If anything I was hot.  I woke up only a couple times, and I was bummed I hadn’t worn a watch because I like to know what time it is.  Finally I woke up when it was light outside, really light, so I knew it wasn’t early, like 6am early.  Elliott wrestled awake as well.  I had to go the bathroom and he said he was right behind me, which he was, unlike the “5 minutes” he gave me during Labor Day camping.

Kids were already up and playing at a nearby camp although otherwise not many other people were stirring.  Our rain fly was wet from the humidity, which amazes me every time.  In our desperate hunger after our hike we had eaten not only our dinner although also our breakfast, so we had decided to go out for breakfast, a version of what Monica, who we used to work with, calls fancy lady camping.  She goes “camping” although they eat dinner out at a nice restaurant.  So we walked to the car, on the way we saw the buck, which we assumed belonged to the family we saw the day before.  I couldn’t really make him out although Elliott said he was quite impressive.  We got in the car and we went the 3 miles down the road to have breakfast at the River Inn.  It was 7:57 and it was to open at 8am, at least that’s with the biker couple told us who were waiting outside.  We walked over to the associated and open market to buy matches to replace the ones we had squandered making our first fire and we waited with the biker couple.  They were quite friendly, enjoying an anniversary weekend, and they were headed back to Ventura, all along Highway 1.  Eventually they got around to opening the restaurant.  Elliott and I cleaned our plates like it was our last meal, I even asked for another piece of toast.  I was sad to undo all of our work, although we are planning a 7 day detox starting tomorrow so I also felt like it might be my last good meal for awhile so I enjoyed it.

By then the sun had come up and dried out the rain fly on our tent.  We did the walk one last time, packed up the rest of the stuff, and headed home.  All in all, our limited planned trip was a success, filled with firsts, an epic hike, and time away from the grind and the couch.  We plan to go back, hike more of Big Sur, this time with a lighter and paper in our camping box.

The next day we took our time getting to Key West.  Its about a 170 mile drive although takes almost 4 hours because its a bit of a slow drive with one lane and lots of traffic.  We wanted to see Miami and drive along the coast so we took the long way out of Miami and I think with a stop for lunch the drive took 5 hours.  We rented a convertible for the drive down, we are unemployed but come on how often do you get to drive down to Key West so we splurged (although only one way on the way back we reserved a regular car which turned out to be a convertible with a broken top!).

It was hot with the sun on us although still so fun.  We blared salsa music and had a great time.  We had lunch at a perfect place in Key Largo called Eco Eats, totally our style (at least Elliott got to wear his Burning Man shades again!).

We realized on the way down that we really had no idea what this vacation was going to be about.  We had been telling people for months that we were going to “Key West” although we didn’t really know what that meant.  We didn’t know what it was going to be like, what we were going to do or really anything.  And we were ok with that.  We were going to meet Jay and Katie (pictured below) there who had lived there about 10 years ago and we were ready for fun and sun and anything else.

When we arrived we decided to go to the store so we had a few things for breakfast, as well beer, coffee, and a few snacks.  Jay and Katie weren’t set to arrive for several hours so we had some time.  Key West is not a place that it is fun to drive, at least not a car.  There are lots of pedestrians, scooters and bicycles that sort of follow the rules of the road so its a little sketchy driving.  We went to the store, brought the stuff back to condo and relaxed a few before returning the car.   The place we stayed was a two bedroom one bath condo near the Truman Annex, pretty close to the main action on Duval St.

When we dropped off the car our taxi back was a pile in the taxi with other people going the same general direct as you.  I thought that was an interesting idea, sustainable and efficient.

We then used yelp to find a place for dinner.  We at The Cafe the closest thing to Pneumatic Diner (one of our fav vegan type places in Reno) we had been to in a long time.

Then we went home to have a few beers to pass the time.  When Jay and Katie arrived they were hungry so we decided to go out after finishing off the rest of the beer.  If you can guess Key West turns out to be quite a party town.  We went to a few places and Jay and Katie reminisced about the place they met and fell in love (and partied) so many years ago.  My favorite moment of that night was on the patio at The Whistle.  The 2nd story that cantilevers out over the busy sidewalk.  A place that literally inspires you to Whistle at the people below and see if they look.  When that didn’t work I considered pouring beer on the people below which my friends and husband successfully suggested I not do.  Although later as we were leaving I walked under the overhang head back with mouth open looking for someone else as ornery as me although found none.

The next several days all blur together.  I can tell you we did lots of walking, eating and sweating – dang it was hot and humid there.  We went to the ocean a few times.  Jet skied around the island (25 miles) which was a blast.  Of course when Elliott was driving I was frustrated and when I was driving Elliott was beyond frustrated, not my fault I got the choppy part!  Although all in all that was a lot of fun and I would love to do that again some time.  We did the touristy stuff, went to the Southern Most point, and walked by Ernest Hemingway’s House.  Ate at Sloppy Joes and went to the locals bar the Green Parot.  Got stuck in a rain storm a long way from the condo so we stopped for a beer to wait for it to pass.  Ate Key Lime pie.

Our trip was not absent of a to be expected (unfortunately) gigantic fight after margaritas which Elliott ginxed me on because he knows I am even ornerier after tequila.  There was yelling, door slams and I left and sat in the parking lot (hiding), cried, felt bad for myself, mad at Elliott and tried to sober up so I could ultimately what seemed right at the time leave the island the next day prior to our scheduled departure.  I eventually returned to the condo and slept on the couch.  When we finally talked the next day I cried a lot (the last few months have been just a little stressful is my excuse) and eventually came to an understanding and forgiveness.  I can tell  you through this episode I came to understand something new about Elliott that I never known before, I don’t think he learned any thing about me right then although we both did later after I had a chance to process it all.  This is all intentionally pretty vague because its personal although you get the idea, drinking, vacation with another couple, hot, sweaty, unemployed and yet spending money, one bathroom (for 4 people) and tequila.  The day we spent “working things out” Jay and Katie went on a sailing trip that would have been really cool for us with snorkeling and kayaking although ultimately our day was spent on something much more important.

Back to happy stuff, Elliott got a cool new hat, wore it a lot including during this lunch out to have Cuban sandwiches.

For awhile I thought I should not drink again the rest of the trip although that eventually turned into not drinking tequila again the rest of the trip.  We did have one more epic party night out which included another couple, locals, Jay and Katie had worked with the guy years ago.  We had sushi, sake bombs (can finally cross that off the list), played quarters before we went out (with shots of beer so not that dangerous), and we went to several bars “on the way home”.  I remember line dancing, a bull that was luckily not working because the girls go topless (I don’t think I could be drunk enough to think that was a good idea anyway although better off all the way around), and one place where there was a private 2nd floor mezzanine area that I was intent on gaining access to although never did.  Oh I also require a blow up doll part of a bachelor party.  I remember the local guy said several times he didn’t think he would be able to go to different bars because he had been kicked out of them, being a local would be rough I think.  Ultimately I had a great time, I made it home with my purse, my top and my husband, life is good.

We did lots of shopping although bought little, except Elliott did buy 5 finger shoes, I am mad at him because I really want a pair too although knew we both shouldn’t get a pair.  We saw some cool art, my favorite was these wire sculptures that created amazing shadows on a canvas, too cool.  And we bought a $1 art creation from a guy on the street outside of Hemingways house who then asked where we were from and gave us a baseball card with a tie to our area, he was my random stumble on find that you can’t plan for in travel books.

Our last night because we had picked up the rental car so we went up a key or two about 10 miles to a non touristy seafood place and had a great dinner.  A great idea, it was great to get off Duval, to have a nice big dinner and to see something new.

Overall it was a great time and I think I have shared enough pics and personal stories for one night.

Out trip back was a long day.  Started at 10am Key West time and we got home to our house at 1am Pleasanton time (4am Key West time) that included a drive back to Ft Lauderdale, and 2 delayed flights.  We were exhausted.

The next day I had my monthly “therapy session” an executive leadership group that turned out to be just that for this meeting.  We had a psychologist talk about beliefs and changing harmful beliefs (sometimes called self limiting beliefs) to change your life for the better.  In an already fragile state I stumbled on something I had never put my finger on.  That is I don’t let many people in.  I knew that already although I never realized what stress it puts on my relationships and my life.  After some brainstorming the speaker put these words to it, my old belief: If I am vulnerable I will be hurt.  Everyone in the group uncovered very personal and moving self limiting beliefs and then we all meditated rewriting that belief to something more positive.  My new belief is: It is safe to be vulnerable.  Vulnerable means a lot of things to me, in many cases it means sharing my feelings, having really close friends, taking help and guidance from others, and lots of other similar and parallel things in my life.  And ultimately I think in the past I chose to either not let people in, or when I did let them in I was subconsciously sitting around waiting for them to hurt me, which I think led to my Key West breakdown.  Anyway I have rewritten my belief and as part of being vulnerable have shared this very personal story from Key West and my self limiting belief with my friends and family who take the time to follow this blog.  I am opening myself up to you all, vulnerable and I trust that I am still safe.

We found a really cool chapel (non denominational) in Sea Ranch on our drive up.  It was one of our best random finds yet.  These are my favorite parts of a trip particularly a road trip, spotting something from the road and checking it out rather than seeking out something you read about in a magazine or something, random finds are just almost always more rewarding.





Mendocino has lots of artists and art so we went to a gallery actually originally in search of a restroom although it turned out to be fun and they had lots of these tall back chairs.  We were going to take a picture of everyone we found although then our battery died and that idea lost steam.

I don’t know what got into us although on the trip we also took more pictures using the macro function than I think we realized.  We went to a botanical garden which is where most of that happened, if anyone ever wants a picture of a flower we have you covered.

Other than that we went to a lighthouse, had a great dinner, and we took the long way home – we love road trips.

On a side note, this weekend I am still recovering from our Monica Margarita evening Friday night.  Monica shared a margarita recipe with me forever ago that I had always wanted to try and we did Friday night.  Its equal parts limeade, corona and tequila or at least that’s how we made it.  I think there’s a chance its supposed to be one limeade, one limeade tin worth of tequila and then an entire corona, oh and ice.  Although we had to have half it for our little party so we did just one half tin of each, pretty yummy.

Oh and I got a new bathing suit this weekend which always inspires a diet, good thing we have 9 miles to log today!  Our last run was not very successful although I expect we will get all the way through nicely today.

Do you have a last meal?  What you would request if you were given a choice as to your last meal to enjoy here on earth?  In high school my last meal for a long time was a roast beef sandwich from Arby’s, curly fries and a jamoca shake, yum!  Now I think I would go with something very similar to my Friday dinner although rather than the noodle dish I think I would have gotten the pasta dish I like. 

Saturday we got up early and got our 3 miles in.  Then we drove to Auburn to see our friends Carie and Josh who we haven’t seen since our wedding.  They have 2 little girls, ages 2 and 3 months and they are adorable! Maddie played a little shy for awhile although quickly warmed up to us.  Mel or I think also known Mo is still so little and I had a great time making faces at her!  We got to see there beautiful house, spend time catching up and we went to the zoo to ride the train although unfortunately it was closed.  We had a wonderful time, and it was so great to see Carie and Josh.

Then we met up with our friend Brad and his friend (becoming our friend too) Emily and had dinner in downtown Sacramento at a cute Mexican restaurant which was fun.  Then today we went kayaking in a lake/river with them which was lots of fun and we still managed to stay on track with our running schedule by running 7 miles this evening after we returned home.  The run was a bit slow, all my fault, my excuse is my stomach was bothering me a bit from the milk I had this morning, in case I wasn’t sure yes I am still lactose intolerant!

Tomorrow is another big day, Elliott is taking the car to Tahoe for a work site visit and as we are sharing one car I am going to bike to work, which is not a big deal, and then I am going to bike 11 miles to my haircut in Danville!  Which I am really looking forward to.  There is a great regional trail so I will be safe and I only feel bad that my head may be sweaty and my hair will be helmety for my haircut, although over all I am still looking forward to that.  Only thing is my computer is at home and needs to get to work.  Elliott told me if I was really “urban” I would strap it on my back and bike it to work.  That is true, although it is 12 pounds (may be a slight exaggeration) and I have 9 other things i need carry to work.  So he is going to drop it off at the office for me so I don’t need to lug it to work on my bike.  My bag is a rolly bag so I kind of think it would be funny to rig it up and tow it behind me although I think our IT guy may have a different opinion on that being a good idea.

This weekend I started a detox.  It being Halloween I couldn’t necessarily give up cocktails so I gave up coffee as a start.  I think coffee makes me crazy.  It just adds to the monotony of the work day and contributes to my fog in the morning.  We decided to stay home this weekend instead of traveling to Reno mostly because we needed it.  We got invited to a party Friday night which was great!  We didn’t dress up, I joked with Elliott that we were going to the party as lame-o’s.  Because we didn’t dress up I insisted that we bring the ingredients for a cocktail that would be Halloween related.  So we brought – Dracula’s Kiss.  It was a hit so I felt like we contributed.  We also joked that we looked like Old Navy models, which was pretty true.  Who knew that two people who went through a phase of skull t-shirts and dark eyeliner with jeans held together with safety pins would turn out to be so preppy!  We learned a new game called liars dice which was a lot of fun (similar to the card game bullshit), it will definitely be making an appearance at the holidays if we can get any traction with it at either of our families.

As a back track Friday day we went to the Ardenwood farm in Fremont.  Including a tour of one of the old farm house.  I am not usually into museum type stuff although the house tour was cool.  They had an ice box that was the refrigerator of the day.  And so many kitchen appliances that were hand powered, it was pretty cool.  We didn’t have a camera so no pictures to post…

Today, despite the grand entrance of the rainy season we decided to hit another bay area back road.  Totally unsustainable, I know, driving is still one of our favorite things to do.  We drove up towards Sonoma.  We went up 101 to Healdsburg and then headed west to Stewart’s Point.  What an amazing drive!  It was so beautiful.  Some of the first pictures are at the Sonoma Lake with a really cool overlook area with a great view of the earthen dam.

We continued on and eventually hit the coast and highway 1.  I wanted to visit the small towns general store although it was closed…  So we headed south to see Jenner.  We stopped when we saw a cafe open, I had a banana for a snack although approaching 1:30pm I think Elliott was pretty hungry.  The food was perfect.  May be just the thing to inspire me to set up a yelp account!  We were the only 2 in the place, not surprising for a rainy day on the coast.  We had hot tea, chowder, ham & swiss, a burger – yum!

Then we drove through Jenner and through Bodega Bay.  I really wanted to go to Bodega Bay because I always think that a certain is bridge is there that I want to see.  I don’t know why but my brain can’t remember that the bridge is in Redding.  My mom put me onto this bridge and I think every time I ask her about the bridge in Bodega Bay and she looks at me questionably until she can extrapolate my reference.  Well we never found the bridge because apparently it is in Redding, just a little off!

At any rate we had a great day together.  Stopping to take in the ocean.  Listening to the rain.  Snapping pictures.  Oh and we saw some of those happy cows you hear about in California.  They were walking along highway 1, I have to agree they most be really happy cows!

We posted pics of our adventure here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottgoodwin/sets/72157608581224327/

Oh, I totally forgot, saved the best for last.  We don’t have a picture to prove it, both me and our camera are too slow.  Although we saw a wild boar walking down and then cross the street right in front of us.  We are such yuppies that this was nearly the highlight of our day!  I had never seen such an animal.  Pretty cool.

First I would like to reflect on the weeks and days before our trip.  I think the thing that sticks out most in my mind is lists.  We had lists upon lists of things we needed.  Batteries to power our EL wire and headlamps.  1 ply toilet paper (we barely used except for that one late night number 2 [Elliott says not to include this but what do I care] when the porta john’s were all out, that was entertaining opening the door and shouting to Elliott can you get me some t.p.?).  Shopping lists were broken down by store including Home Depot, Target and BevMo.  Beyond shopping lists we had a list of things to pack, things we already owned like towels, tent and umbrella that we also wanted to take.  This was spread over hours of shopping, hundreds if not over a thousand dollars (hence a dollar short, a day late will be explained in a later post) of strange additions to our home, and multiple slips of paper that finally were completed just hours before leaving, the final item being ice, check.

Leading up to our departure we also transformed our hair to get into the mood.  For Elliott this meant a red mohawk  and for me it meant pink highlights

Not to skip around to much although FYI this was remidied by shaving the mohawk off for a short do for E and my hair is also shorter and darker with more socially acceptable burgandyish highlights now.

We left Sunday night after packing our stuff and the Blue Playou our camp’s Louisiana Bayou themed front porch and house facade and other miscellany bbq, kitchen tent, couches, bikes, etc into a trailer that would be hauled by an RV that we were lucky enough to catch a ride in.  Actually thats not entirely true Elliott and I split up for the ride down, he went with the towing RV I went with Mark in another smaller RV to keep him company and make sure he stayed awake for the ride.  We left around 7pm from the East Bay.  The ride wasn’t bad, slow and go,  We met some fellow burners along the way at gas stations which added to the excitement.  On a side note, I learned that I love those faux mocha’s and chai teas dispensed out of vending machines at gas stations.  We picked up more of our group in Sparks, where Brie, Kevin, Suppa Matt, Sandy and Christine joined us.  I took over driving the RV at some point, I think it was here.  We went through Fernley, where shortly after traffic started to pick up.  We were just short of our goal of getting in line with everyone else for the midnight opening of the gates.  We trudged along on the highway and then up to the gates where we arrived around 2am.  After waiting in line to ring the bell and roll in the dirt, at least for us newbies, we arrived at our reserved campsite (thanks to Christine and Ryan the stellar surveyors who with an early entry secured some awesome land) around 5 or 6am.  At this point excited to have arrived we decided to keep going and unload the trailer and start setting up.  Life was all good until in the afternoon a sand storm picked up that didn’t stop until the next morning.  I won’t dwell much on this except to say for the first day it was a tough way to get acquainted with what would be our accommodations for the next week.  We spent part of the time with the group in the kitchen tent drinking some helpful vodka punch although even that didn’t last long enough to make the misery of the storm go away.  We were well broken in, playa dust was everywhere, on our food, in our ears and hair, and on our minds, we were put into our place the first day.

For days after returning Elliott found that with a small gust he reacted as if he was still out on the playa looking around for loose items to secure and having that uncomfortable feeling in your belly that your shade structure and tent may get scooped up and blown away. 

Mom and I took a vacation a few weeks ago to San Francisco.  It was a great time.  Mom loves the city and I love to research and plan things to do.  We had such a full long weekend.  We went to Half Moon Bay, saw a Shakespeare in the park, saw Chihuly’s amazing work at the De Young, winded down Lombard Street in my car, waited our turn to go up Coit Tower, ferried it out to Angel Island to never go on the tour, saw a show – The Drowsy Chaperone at a beautiful SF theatre, saw a movie, went to the wharf and the beach, shopped, found the coolest neighborhood garden in Palo Alto, and went to a Giants Game! 

I posted many of our pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottgoodwin/sets/72157606583191855/, unfortunately in a rush to get them off my camera I think I accidentally deleted like half of them from the end of our trip.  That has really been bothering me because they are lost forever…  I keep thinking they will some how mysteriously show up – just as they did disappear…  that is the downside of being a paranoid to do list manager as I am, sometimes you rush to get things done and things go wrong.  Deleting those pictures really makes me mad.

The other big recent event is I completed my first triathlon!  Deb and I did a triathlon near Lompoc where she lives.  It was such a great time and such an important personal milestone for me.  I set the goal of completing a triathlon either 1 or 2 years ago as a chance to set a goal that would make me learn how to swim.  I never learned to swim as a kid and am borderline afraid of the water.  So I did it, and it was so great to do it with a friend!  I will admit that the swim was in a pool so our next tri will be in open water, maybe in LV, we shall see we are still plotting.

Driving back from Lompoc I saw two older men at the pump next to mine at a gas station.  One of the nice men was cleaning his windshield as the other kept him company.  Then he started cleaning his entire car with the windshield wiper, he was so proud of his efficient use of resources.  His friend looked so embarrassed I think he would have climbed into the trunk if he could have.  I thought this was funny, i wondered how he answered the sometimes typical prompt after filling up his gas tank, Carwash?  Yes/No.

On my drive to and from Lompoc I also listened to 2 audio books.  On the way there I listened to Farewell my Subaru, as the proud driver of a fine all wheel drive Subaru that no longer makes as much sense where I live this title caught my eye.  It is about changing your life and reducing your impact to the environment.  He did that by moving to New Mexico, starting a ranch with goats and chickens, and parking his Subaru for a truck converted to run on biodiesel.  I liked it.  It could have been read a bit better.  The content was very enjoyable.  Don’t worry, I didn’t notice the humor in me driving 4+ hours to swim, bike and run while listening to a book about reducing your fuel footprint…

I drove back Saturday so that I could have Sunday to Burning Man shop.  Elliott and I have been on mad spending spree to prepare for our week + vacation to the playa.  This has included thrift stores for costumes, hardware stores for our shade structure, army surplus stores for costumes and shade, Target for misc supplies, you get the idea.  Well I spent all day running around to check as many things as I could off the check list, Elliott had a picnic with a group he is involved in so he was off the hook.  I did so good.  At the end of the day though I realized my Kulesza worry wrinkles were worse than ever.  These are those wrinkles on your phase between your eyebrows that develop from worrying particularly if your worrying is attached to your face, which seems to be a genetic disposition of mine.  I don’t think I ever noticed until a recent trip to Las Vegas when Kathi was pointing out everyone’s worry wrinkles.  I think she was thinking about shooting botox or who knows what else into hers.  Anyway mine are normally just vertical, although after a long day with customer service people that will never be as good as I was at Champs back in high school my visible dismay had turned horizontal showing 2 L’s on my forehead.  Elliott tried to rub them out for me.  I am not sure but I think I listened to a meditation on the ipod before going to bed which calmed me.

Work has been great, we are busy, with a new project that is pursuing LEED certification so we are enjoying some sustainable design as well as our efforts for sustainable living.  Today we will trek back to the farmers market for our favorite dates and whatever else shows up.  And we have a weekend full of BM prep, a party with some new friends that will be our playa mates, and probably some work intertwined in there too.   All with the vision of in a week and a few days I will be cruising on my fatty seat on my playa bike, in lord knows what kind of outfit, checked out from reality.  My blackberry will not work.  I will not be able to respond to little work things here and there as I usually do.  I plan to check out the art.  Write.  Take pictures.  Meditate.  Meet some new people.  Reflect.  And spend some awesome time with my love and friends new and old. 

Another observation, while driving today.  Nearly all cars going only 5-10 mph over the speed limit.  All in their own lane, charging along happily and friendly.  There were a few cars who were in a hurry, but these people were not the majority.  After driving in California for a year this felt strange.  This is typically the scene only after passing by a speed trap and it usually only lasts 45 seconds.

Our honeymoon although not to a foreign country has still provided some interesting cultural experiences.

First off many things have come to mind that believe it or not I did not manage to fit into my recent wordy posts.  Two moments I will never forget at the wedding were on separate occasions when Brad and Russell came up to me and wanted to genuinely welcome me into their family.  They said they were so happy that Elliott and I were together and that they wanted me to know that they were happy that we were married.  This made me feel so welcomed into the Goodwin family.

Reflecting on an older post we have now flipped the outlook of in a week from now, which has become a week ago we were… at the rehearsal, and tomorrow that will be a week ago we were married!

For a honeymoon update things are perfect.

Ok not everything is perfect, the hotel was a little rocky at first.  The key didn’t work, we had to return to the lobby and when we did get in we couldn’t find the bedroom (sounds ridiculous but true).  They didn’t deliver the luggage because we ‘didn’t give them our room number’…  The shower takes awhile to warm up (which I feel is karma telling me to save water and energy by taking short cold showers… an inconvenience I have not yet adopted in my efforts to reduce my personal footprint).  The maids are emphatic about cleaning and turn down services which we have finally remedied with the do not disturb sign.  And there is a detector of some sort probably smoke that blinks all through the night above our bed. 

For the positives there is a fireplace.  Full kitchen that we have used a lot and magically gets cleaned every morning.  Decks over looking the village.  Robes.  TV with cable!  Living room.  WiFi.  Oh and a beautiful view!

We have catalogued our trip so far in pictures on our flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottgoodwin/collections/72157605723758202/.

A quick (ya probably not..!) summary.

Day 1: Got in late afternoon.  Got settled.  Walked through the village.  Had dinner with a view of the river. 

Day 2: The walking tour of Vail.  We walked along the river a few miles to just about West Vail.  We stopped at a park and watched a bit of a girls lacrosse game.  On a side note can you believe they wear skirts?  I think if they want to wear a skirt to play a sport that they should be able to but it seemed like it was perhaps and expectation.  Personally I am not comfortable for very long in a skirt let alone playing lacrosse.  Elliott informed me that some mountain bike girls wear mountain biking skirts!  I guess one of his friends particularly enjoys this look when spotted on the trail, surprising.  On the walk back we stopped for gelato, yummy!  And eventually caught the bus back to our hotel!  We went to the grocery store to stock up and then went to a free concert in the park, which was a lot fun.  We were there early with all the families and kids, which was fine, and had a great seat.  Later on the concert turned out to be a drunk fest.  Elliott and I didn’t partake.  When we first got here I read the hotel guest book, don’t ask me why, I am a researcher by training!  Anyway they suggest drinking lots of water and staying away from caffeine and alcohol.  Apparently high altitude sickness is not as common as plain dehydration.  So we have been drinking a ton of water, but we enjoyed the concert nonetheless.

Day 3: One of my best days ever!  We drove to Stillwater lake.  Canoed around the lake, which was peaceful and stressful at different times.  We paddled out, docked poured out some of the excess water, paddled out further, stopped and read,, it got a little windy and choppy, “we” dunked our bag with the books and camera in the lake, and we struggled to make it back to the dock without being sucked into the outlet, relaxing and entertaining all in one activity.  Then we went on a horseback riding trip – amazing!  My first time ever on a horse, I had Norma, Elliott was on Blondie.  Julia was our guide.  She took us up to a cave that has Indian pictograms.  The horses went through a little stream (my favorite part!).  At one point my horse decided to go back down the trail.  I think she knew that I really didn’t like kicking her and pulling up on the reigns, but she made me.  She also stopped to eat nearly every 10 steps, hilarious.  We also ate at the restaurant next to the lake including homemade apple pie!  It was a wonderful day of new experiences, sunshine, a little rain, and a great escape from everything.

Day 4: Another great day, this time on the river, fly fishing with our guide Steven.  Fishing is amazing.  I didn’t think about a thing in the world while fishing.  You just think about casting and floating, watching the bobber or the fly and waiting for the fish.  The only thing I thought about was how I wasn’t thinking about anything!  We both caught a fish about 3 hours in.  Right after we changed to dry flies.  The fish were really cute, you can see pictures in our flickr pictures.  Please don’t laugh, they are tiny but as Steven said everyone starts somewhere!  After fishing we went to dinner at the GasHouse and then to the Beaver Creek Rodeo.  All I have to say is mutton busters.  Someone once told me that mutton busting was the funniest thing they had ever seen, I didn’t believe them but now I am a believer!

Day 5: Today.  We were both really tired.  I woke up to the blinking light at 5am and eventually went back to sleep but I woke Elliott up who couldn’t go back to sleep… oops.  Anyway we had a lazy morning and eventually got up and decided to to Edwards to get a coffee and to read.  This is a super cute town that we would stay in next time we come back instead of Vail, it just has more character to it.  Anyway we walked by an Aveda salon and we have both been daydreaming about getting a hair cut. So we walked in and scheduled haircuts for later and then went and got a coffee.  I watched a little bit of a pre book signing speech by Newt Gingrich, which was interesting and then had to leave for my haircut.  We are both cleaned and looking great!  After that we saw a movie, Get Smart.  This got bad review which I think were too harsch, I liked it, good action, good humor, a little romance – all wrapped up and enjoyed in a cute little theatre, perfect.  Tonight we enjoyed dinner in, we made pizzas – delicious and had York paddies for dinner.  It was a great day!

Tomorrow is Day 6 and we still have 3 or 4 more days to go!  Lots of exciting things left to do and see while kicking off our new marriage.  All is well for the Goodwin’s, in love and enjoying every minute.