My first Aloha (well,actually my 2nd)

My first real trip to Hawaii was to visit two of my girlfriends that were living there. I was lucky that one living on Oahu worked for United, and lived on the windward side of the island with her daughter. Francie and I had become friends while we both had a stay in the hospital in Concord. We were roommates and needless to say the hospital staff was very happy to see us go when we were released. Ah the good old days.......
But back to Hawaii. So, I planned to go spend a week on Oahu with Francine and her daughter Christy and then over to the big island of Hawaii to see my friend Mimi who was living with her brother Mike.
I loved seeing all the tourist sights of Oahu. We went to Waikiki and Hanama Bay, up to Punchbowl Cemetary and of course out to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona. We drove all the way around the island and saw the North Shore that is famous for surfing and saw the Ioloni Palace where the last of the Hawaiian Royalty lived. She really did take me everywhere. We also went to Christy's Girl Scout island rally and I was in a three legged race with her and other sundry things that her mother couldn't do. (She has a bum knee) I had so much fun that I had a hard time leaving the island but flew over to Hawaii to Kona where Mimi and I began our adventure there.
Mimi is very tall and exotic looking and attracts everyone whereever she goes. Men offer her things every time we go out and she just smiles and politely says no thanks as she meanders through her life. She is a stunning woman with a classy way about her and one of the nicest women I have ever been friends with. She and I started by hitting the local hangout called Huggos and the party began. Oh we did plenty of sightseeing. She had found a local boy that she had fallen for and he came with a huge Hawaiian family and when you come to visit you are Ohana (family). So, Aunti Tio would take me shopping, and Uncle Keke would take me to the Beach. I had a luau in my honor on the Sunday after I got there. The pig and all. It was about 30 people asking if I wanted to go with them to see this or that? Did I have a car to drive me here or there? Take theirs, they wouldn't need it on Thursday. It was a wonderful feeling of love and community that they gave me. For a Howlie I was ok because I was Mimi's friend. They made it so easy to fall in love with them all. I got to see the volcano erupt while hearing one of the Uncles tell tales of Pele, the goddess of the Fire. He even brought a bottle of Gin to throw in the Volcano to appease her. You bet I did too!!!! Everywhere we went there was someones cousin or realtive that lived close by and we needed to stop and say aloha to. I learned so many phrases while I was there that it was amazing I could talk english when I got back.
I saw the island through their eyes. And it was the only way to see it.
I know a lot of people who say they don't want to go to Hawaii.That it isn't that big of a deal. But I am here to tell you that the Aloha spirit once you see it up close, never leaves you. I can honestly say that I don't go back to Oahu anymore. I don't like the island as it is too overpopulated, but I do love Maui, Kauaii, and Hawaii as they have that same spirit and people there are willing to be friendly and helpful if you are respectful of their culture and island. After all they were there first.

All that white stuff and it didn't stick!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Last Tuesday I was home cooking our Thanksgiving since we both had to work on turkey day, and all day long it snowed.Sometimes hard, sometimes lightly but little soft flakes fell all day long. It made the roofs all white and the streets just barely covered in white and just enough at one point to make our back yard look like a winter wonderland. It was very nice while I was indoors not having to get out in it. I have to say I was worried about Wednesday morning when I would have to get up before the sun and drive to work. But it was dry and clear and you wouldn't have known it had snowed. There was no eve-idence of it anywhere.
I had made Cal take all of us (the dogs and I) down to the beach to get pictures of the snow there, but there wasn't enough there to get in the picture, just the arctic wind that they had been talking about. Needless to say we weren't out but a minute or two. Damn but it was cold!!!!! So, I have to say I really would not take up skiiing or snowboarding anytime soon. I really don't like the cold at all. I love to look at it from a warm dry place.
Cal and I had talked about going to Yellowstone in the winter. I thought that it would be beautiful to see with all the snow. Now, I am rethinking that idea. I think early fall would be nice. See the leaves change color? Don't you think? Me too! Much better plan! I will rent a film about it in the winter if I want to see all the snow.
Hmmmmmmmmm, perhaps this is a sign I am getting old and will not be willing to try all those things that in my youth I wanted to do? Has time finally caught up with me and I will not be willing to go an explore as much as I still want to? Nah! I won't run with the bulls in Spain, but who would be that stupid? No, I just won't climb K-2 or Everest or go to Machu Pichu. No, I will stick to Italy and New Orleans and places that are warmer climates. There is still a lot to see that I haven't and I can see them all when there isn't snow.
I am pretty sure of that now.
I will sit here and have a nice glass of wine, maybe a Frogs Tooth Temparnillo, or maybe a Willamette Valley Pinot, choices seem to be in my favor today.
Wishing you all a happy turkey day and that you are safe and warm as I toast you from the cold region of Oregon.

Stormy weather

Now that I live here in the great Northwest, I am learning about the new weather that I get to live in. I have always loved to experience the different seasons. I love the changing colors of fall, and I really don't mind the rain and cold of winter. But, I have to say that I love a good storm, when I can stay in and watch it rage around me. I am not so happy about it when I have to drive to work in it. But I must say it does afford some amazing scenes to unfold. This morning was a full moon that was setting over the ocean when I left for work at 6:30 (yes, AM) It cast a glow to the water. It's too bad that I was really busy trying to keep my car from sliding on the icy roads. They were frosted over from the rain. I slipped and slid everywhere!!! Ah the joys of it all. Then after I got to work, and unwrapped myself from my coat and scarf and gloves, I then got to hear that they are predicting snow tomorrow here at the coast. SNOW!!!!! AT THE COAST! What happened to the west coast being warm I ask you? Oh yea, I am in the Northwest(Sigh!) I am not missing the sun, I am not missing the heat or the dust or the oak trees, but I am not ready for snow. Uh-uh! No sireee, no way jose, that is not what I wanted at all. The up side is that I am off the next two days. So, although I am going to be going out in it if it does, it will be on my terms, meaning Cal will be driving, not me. And I will be bundled up just like the transplanted California girl that I am, from head to toe, cuz I don't like the snow!!!
Although it would be pretty to see in on the beach...............Ok, as long as it goes away by Wednesday morning when I have to go to work I guess it will be ok, but I will not stand for it any longer than that, do you hear me Mother Nature??? I am just voicing my very vocal opinion!
Now, if all of you don't mind, I am going to go see if Overstock.com has an electric blanket on sale. I need one for my bed if we are going to be having the white stuff around here. The dogs can only keep me warm for so long then I need a little help. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Adventures in driving

Moving to the Northwest has become an adventure in itself for me. I am learning all the ways to stay warm in the cold and damp. And I have to tell you I am not bad at it. For the most part I like it. I can bundle up and I can go inside if it gets too cold. I have always loved rain and storms as long as I didn't have to drive in them. Well, now I get to learn that too. I only work about 10 miles from my house and most of it is driving through town so it isn't bad. I only have to get on Highway 101 which is about three blocks from my street and follow it to the turnoff for my work and I am there. There is a stretch that takes me over the Seiletz River and Bay. Now, I used to commute to San Francisco every day over the Bay Bridge, so going over two very small bridges shouldn't be any problem right? But I have always had an overwhelming fear of drowning or being trapped in a car in the water. So, of course, for those that know me well, I learned to sail, and love to be on the water in a boat. Am I a good swimmer? No. Am I strong? No. But I keep putting myself out there subconsciously I think to do those things that I fear most. Like crossing bridges every day. Living at the ocean. So, now I am reading up on all the defensive driving techniques when driving in the rain. I must admit, at 6:30-7am in the morning there is very little traffic to worry about here. In fact, before 7am, the only place to get coffee is at the 24 hour Safeway that has a Starbucks, every other coffee drivethru place doesn't open until 7 or after.
So, I try not to get distracted when driving in to work first thing in the morning. But some mornings it is hard when the fog or clouds begin to dissipate and the pinks and mauves and orange begins to blur together to make this collage of colors that light up the sky and the calm straits by the bay reflects it while the drift wood creates this drama of textures. I had to pull over and watch a group of migrating birds come together in a V shape and head south over the water while the reflections of colors changed from pinks and purples to firery reds and ocher smudged with brilliant coppers as the sun made its debut. The waves in the distance began to come alive from just light shadows to white flashes that caught a bit of color themselves as if hearlding the coming day. I sat there watching without thought of anything but to remember how vivid it all was at that single moment. If I had spent the time pulling out the camera and adjusting the lens, I would have missed the play of colors as they quickly changed from one to another.

I am sure that people passing by me wondered at what I was doing at the side of the road, but sometimes, that is where the magic is. It isn't always on the rim of the Grand Canyon, or standing in a forest of ancient trees. Sometimes it is in a moment of time that comes from nowhere and leaves just as fast. Sometimes you are the only one to see it. Doesn't matter if no one else does, it just matters if you feel it in your soul. Something clicks and it feels right. I know that I have always found that even the smallest of drives have divulged some great wonders and there is always something to be seen and learned and be in awe of  if only we take the time to look. So stretch out your wings, your feet, and your tires and see whats in your neighborhood, or around the next block from you. I would love to know what you have found.

I once found a big purple house when I was driving around. I was amazed at how very big and very purple (I mean grape colored purple) this house was! Then there was a time when we (Cal and I) got lost and found a great craft fair in a tiny little town in Nevada. Cal still doesn't let me live it down, but we bought some wonderful handmade Christmas ornaments. We also took the loneliest highway in the US. Highway 50 I think it was across Nevada to Ely. We learned that the trantualas were giving birth and that they then migrated to somewhere(That's another story!). They were crossing the road by the thousands as we were driving over them! Yuk! But it was very interesting at the time that we found out. So, there can always be an up side to driving to your destination.
I truly believe the old saying, It isn't the destination it is the journey that makes you wise.

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..............

Alot of you asked me when I said I was moving to Oregon if I would be bothered by so much rain. It is so damp up there! It's so cold and wet! Aren't you going to miss the sun? Well I haven't survived the whole winter yet, but I think my sense of adventure has kicked in.
I live in a two story house that has a small view of the ocean from our upstairs deck and when there is a storm I can even see the waves if it clears up. Since it is two stories we feel the 60-75 mile an hour winds and hear it when we are watching TV.  I have a bay window in the dining room and I can see the rain hitting it sideways sometimes (but not for long periods of time). The rain is here and it is raining almost every day. It is cold but still it hasn't gotten as cold as to freeze yet. But when there is a cloud break, it is spectacular! Being at the coast has it's advantages. I am buying a lot booof sweaters and hoodies, and  boots, but I have to tell you that I love it when it clears and the air is fresh! There isn't the dust, everything is clean and green and vibrant all year round. I drove to Newport which is like going to San Luis except I go past Cape Foulweather and it is a spectacular view when I do.
I do admit to missing my friends in Paso Robles. I miss you sorely, no ifs, ands or buts about it. But if I have to be somewhere else, I love it here. And it is so exciting to explore the area and see the beauty that is here. It is everywhere around me. And now that the new year is here I am finding that I am cold all the time!!! But I have not lost my sense of adventure, no siree! I am still sticking my head out on my days off and seeing if we can move around without an arm or a leg freezing off.
Last Tuesday Cal and I took the dogs and ventured off to McMinnville to pick up some wine (what else?). It had been clear for a few days but very cold. We wanted to get back as it was supposed to start raining again that night, and when we got out to walk the dogs only 60 miles inland, the temperature had dropped to 35 degrees there. In Lincoln City it was a balmy 40. We about froze. We came back before dark so as not to worry about snow or ice. I really have to say that I don't like the continuous cold and damp. But I am not melting so the Good Witch Glenda will just have to find another way to be rid of this wicked witch. So, let us hope that the weather will give us a day or two of warmer weather soon so I can actually feel my feet again. I am going to invest in socks with little batteries in them I think.

Daylight Savings Time Again!

I have never been a big fan of Daylight savings time. I say leave it alone! When traveling I hate the time changes and the different ways of having to change around your schedule even though your body doesn't know that just because you have flown to the east coast it is now later or earlier or whatever it might be. You are still hungry at the same time and I want to sleep at the same time. But now you have to get up earlier or get an extra hour of sleep and make sure the clocks have changed. REALLY?
But, today, I have changed my mind about it all. I got up and when I left for work there was light instead of dark. And there was this glow of pinks and light blues in the big marshmallow clouds that brought on the noontime rain. I even stopped on the way to work to take some pictures by Sieltz River where it comes to the sea because it was so beautiful to be there at dawn. Then coming home I stopped at almost the same spot to take another couple of pictures of the last rays of sun catching the tops of the thunderheads moving out over the ocean as the sun set. It was incredible that I was able to be there for it. No, I was only traveling to and from work, but I think we forget in our daily busy life to notice the beauty around us in our own backyard.
I always want to see far away places, but I also know that I just have to look around and I will find a park or a beach or someplace close that I have not explored (especially now!). So, if I can't take a vacation, I can get to know my area and make sure that its natural beauty of the everyday things do not escape me. Even in the dead of winter or during a rainstorm there can be something that can restore and replenish your soul. With all the negative things going on in the world, I for one want to find the positive and the beauty and see if it will make me feel good. I want to laugh and enjoy them and share them with all of you.
I will really learn how to put pictures on here one of these days. Oh well, for now I will just enjoy Oregon's liquid sunshine.

Dreaming of Vacation

I have started my new job this week and as with all new positions there is a lot to learn. My head is swimming in acronyms and new systems on the PC and what goes where, not to mention names of people I have met once. I have two things in my favor right now. My age and my philosophy. I know that I can conquer the work because I have done harder jobs in the past. And I don't take it so seriously as some of the younger ones do. I find that people that are half my age take it soooooooooooo seriously that you would think they were going to DIE if it didn't work out. I would just find another job. Now that is not to say I WANT to lose this job, just that my life would not end. My identity is not with my job as with some.
So, when I am getting too tied up in what has turned out to be 10 and 12 hour days my first week on the job, I take a break and think of where I want to go next on vacation.
Let's see will it be Yellowstone? Or shall we take advantage of being here in the Northwest and go up the coast of Washington and see British Columbia? I have seen this part of the world and it is spectacular! Then if it is as cold and rainy as they all say it will be all winter long, maybe I will want to go someplace more warm like Hawaii or New Orleans? Or Florida? I would love to see the Keys.
I will only get a week next year so it will have to be either close to home or we will fly in and stay in one place, no driving around. So, now I get to imagine all those places and what Cal and I would do in all of them. It is a great game for a gypsy like me. Almost like a mini-vacation in itself.
I have always found that the planning and learning about all the things that are at our destinations to be 50% of the fun of vacation. So I will begin to find out things about all these places over the coming months.
What's the best seasons to see them in. (I hear Yellowstone in the fall is beautiful!)
When is it less expensive? (I hear the week either just before or just after Thanksgiving at Disneyworld is discounted)
When is it just after tourist season but still good weather? (We like Feb-March for Hawaii when the Whales are there but not so many people)
What other things are there to see that isn't the obvoius things that you normally know about? (In New Orleans I would like to take a cruise of the Mississippi on a riverboat)
What tours are available and who does them? What's the pricing? Do they have off season discounts?
(In Hawaii they always have discounts and competative pricing on just about everything! We wait until we get there to look into it, but normally I make calls and start checking things online)
I also start checking out books from the library about the area that I am going to to learn about the area and its legends, folklore and any State Parks and local scenes or festivals that may be happening during the year.
I also will contact the Chamber of Commerce or the Visitor's Bureau when I have decided where we are going.
I like to know as much as I can so that we can enjoy all of the area. Cal likes to just go and be surprised so I usually don't share all of this with him till we are there. Then we decide on things we want to do and see. But at least I know all there is around.
When I get there I talk to all the locals I can to find out what they think. That is usually what makes the trip more special to me.
So, for now, I have my first days off in my first week of my new job. Already I am planning my vacation.
I guess I work to live, not live to work. Sounds a lot more fun don't you think?

Camping in the Sierra's

Due to the fact we never had a lot of money, my Mother would make it a point of taking all of us camping. She would work at tents and food and all to make our trip a good one. We would go up on the Oregon Creek past Grass Valley at North San Juan to camp most years. It was a beautiful place with swimming holes and friendly people and a small stream that that opened into a wide sandy bottomed swimming hole under the over pass for the raod. There was a covered bridge into the campground that some used to sit in the rafters with water balloons waiting for the cars to come through.
I loved that place. My Uncle Pont and Aunt Norma would come with my cousins sometimes, or we would invite other friends to come along. We would swim all day and eat food cooked on an open fire. Smores, hot dogs, hamburgers, fried potatoes with onions, and eggs in the morning with bacon sizzling in an iron skillet. Makes my mouth water. We would drink the water from the creek after boiling it and get the meat from Babe's market in town. ,
We also made alot of summer friends both the locals and the ones staying in the campground. It was the place of my first innocent summer romance.  His name was Bill Butterworth and he worked at the lumbermill that summer. He had come on the weekend with some friends to swim at the falls, They were about a half mile up stream from the campground. I was 15 and it was the first year I was allowed to go there. I had met other kids my age and we were all there swimming and having a great time. He and his friends pulled up in an old yellow pick up truck and they noticed us and the flirting began. It was so fun to talk to someone who knew the area, and Bill could track and had lived there all his life. He knew all the back woods areas and offered to show us the local spring to get water, and all the places to go to swim and hike. He was going to go to college in another year to be a Park Ranger and was into conservation. He loved the wilderness and was a bit shy until he talked about it. We were two peas in a pod.
That day he drove us back to camp and stopped to meet my parents. He talked with them for a while then asked if he could take me to the falls the next day after he got back from church. My parents said yes and we then spent the rest of the week hiking and swimming every free minute he had. With the back drop of the Sierra foothills, the clean air, the cold clear water, and at night no lights to blur the millions of stars, we had a picture postcard week. It was hot during the day, and cooled off in the late afternoon. The summer breeze would come up about 4 o'clock and it was like your skin was being wrapped in a blanket of warmth. It felt so good if you had been swimming in the icy cold water that flowed down from the higher elevations. We would have dinner and sit around the open campfire roasting marshmallows and then stretch out and watch the stars move through the night sky picking out the constellations and one of us usually knew the legends behind them.
The day before I was to go home he took me to a place he called Blue Hole which was a couple of miles down stream that we floated to on inner tubes. It was off of a fire trail, and down a gully but it was so beautiful. It had a small waterfall that fed into it and a deep pool that had two big boulders in the middle that were flat on top so you could lay on top and sun bathe and a small sandy beach on the far side. It was peaceful and not a sound but birds and the water. We pulled the innertubes onto the beach and swam and sunned and played there most of the afternoon. Then we started to walk back to camp.  Bill and I were both feeling a bit sad that the week was over and I was going home, but he finally got the nerve to kiss me (not my first kiss but certainly one of the sweetest) and hold my hand walking back. It was a perfect day so we walked slowly in the heat not talking much. We even passed up a ride home so we could draw it out a little longer. We got back to camp and took a last swim in the stream and then he was gone with promises to keep in touch. Neither of us did.
It was years before I ever went back there. I just didn't want that perfect week to be altered in any way so I didn't go back with my parents ever again. It will always remain a week of perfect summer fun in my mind. I think we probably all have a summer vacation that was just that good that you never want to spoil the memory of it? It will remain untouched always in my memory as such an innocent and perfect moment in time that you can't recreate. Like a rainbow or sunset that you come across unexpectedly.You just have to take it as it comes, not run for the camera, not wish that it could be more than it is, just be one with it and be thankful that you are there to have had that moment. Right then, it was yours, all yours, and know that in your minds eye it will always be there for you. After all, that is what made it so perfect and special.

Weather when traveling

Although I have never been farther away than Hawaii or Mexico, I have had some interesting weather related adventures while traveling.
While living in Laughlin I flew into Las Vegas coming back from Oakland from visiting family to find that we had to circle McCarren airport for half an hour as a thunderstorm was raging below us. Then we had to wait while they basically squeeged the runway so we could land. It was an experience I will never forget to get a birdseye view of Las Vegas as we circled round and round watching the clouds hover over the south end of the strip and airport. It left me to deal with flash floods on the way home for 90 miles and rerouting through some interesting areas that I would never ever have seen of Nevada, Arizona and California to get back home that day. I learned where the high ground was at Searchlight, Nevada was and found my car could do more than 90 mph across the low flat part where I was trying to stay out ot the way of any flash flooding.

Then there was driving back from Tahoe when a freak snow storm hit the night before we left. I was with a group of women from work in my girlfriends mother's Lincoln and no one had ever driven in the snow. The carburator froze up twice, (once in the middle of highway 50 in downtown South Lake Tahoe while it was snowing) and once as we were leaving the next day. I lied and said I could drive in the snow because they all looked so scared and tired as we had not gotten much sleep the night before. They had closed Highway 50 the night before, we didn't have chains and we all needed and wanted to go home. We were broke, hung over, really, really grumpy and none of us wanted to spend another minute in each others company. It was not a fun 4 hour drive home. But it makes a good story now! My friend Beth found a phone booth (pre-cell phones guys!) to call AAA when the car died the second time while we were leaving Tahoe. We were trying to get over the "hill" as they call the beautiful Sierra's and there was a phonebooth but it was full of snow. Poor Beth climbed in up to her butt in snow to make the call. I stayed with the car and a nice man came by and got it started. I looked like a getaway driver when I careened around the corner to pick her up and keep the car running so we couOld get out of there. We fishtailed through the snow there and back on the salted and well ploughed Hiway 50 and I prayed all the way to Placerville where we stopped to eat get coffee. (Tea for me even back then.) What an experience that was!

Cal and I also were leaving Tahoe and taking the back way to see his Mom up in Arnold so we had decided to take Highway 4 across. It was October I think and there hadn't been much weather anywhere so he was going to show me the lovely eastern side of the Sierras. We got caught in a snow storm at night on this little two lane road over the mountains. They close it when it snows, and all I kept thinking is they would find us in the spring frozen to the car. Cal kept telling me it was fine, we didn't have chains but we didn't need them. I was so scared because I couldn't see in front of us or either side of us. When we got to his Mom's he was telling her how bad it was. I wanted to shoot him!!!! Then when I did get to drive it in the Summer, I have to tell you I was even more elated that we had made it at all! The road was even smaller than I thought, barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and the drop off on my side was straight down into nothing but more trees. It is a road I love in the summer but never any other time.

The last adventure that I had was one of the earliest. My girlfriend Anne and I had gone down to housesit for her grandmother in Pasadena while we were on spring break one year in college. She had just lost her husband in an accident about a year prior to this so we had planned to go to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm and do all the tourist things to have a good time. We went to the Ice House and saw some comedians that went on to become very big and hit some clubs while we were there. She had purchased a new super Beetle VW. It was beauty! On the way home, we were coming to the grapevine and we heard there had been snow but that it was still open. Anne was beginning to freak out as she couldn't drive in snow. I told her we could do this, they weren't requiring chains yet so we would be fine, just needed to go slow. She was still nervous, so I drove. We did fine going up. On the way down a 18 wheeler, lost control and started going down sideways. We had left plenty of room between us so I started doing what any smart person would do...I started to brake so I would slow down and stop. The ice decided we were going to go around like a top. Everyone else had pulled off to the shoulder so there was no one to hit, so we kept spinning around and the truck was like a wall coming at us. All we could do is sit there and swear! At least that's what I was doing. Anne hid her face in her hands and kept mumbling about her car. The car slowed enough that the only dent was in the hood where it kissed the underside of the box on the 18 wheeler. The nose cozyed right up under it and put that small dent in and stopped us. Didn't hurt anything else and we were fine. The trucker was fine, and police showed up minutes later and helped unwedge us from the truck and we were able to go on our way. As soon as we got to the next town we went and had a drink. I think we both shook for an hour after we got out of the snow. But then we had a good laugh and another good story to tell.. Hey, maybe I can drive in the snow!
Most of these people I have lost track of as it was so long ago, but these things, well, they make up the fabric of my life. Without them I would have had a lot of empty space. I hope you all have lots of stories of friends and places. How about sharing them?

Thunderstorms!!!!!!

Last night I sat in my living room and watched the awsome power of Mother Nature. We had a storm come in that had gusts of 65 to 75mph and what I hadden't expected was the thunder and lightening that lit up the sky. When Cal and I moved to Laughlin we were looking forward to the Monsoon season (July to September) where the big thunderheads would move across the vast expanse of the desert we lived in and from our porch we could sit and watch the storm hit the small line of jagged peaks. The lightening would bounce all over and it was like being in the middle of a 1960's light show. We would open a bottle of wine and sit out there watching for hours until it was upon us. The rain would pound down and rage for a while then just a quickly as it came it would be gone. It would be soaked into the sand and a couple of hours later you would hardly notice that there had been any storm at all.
Here at the ocean, it is more wild. The waves are huge! I can see them crashing and building up farther out in the changing gray of the sea. The rain sounds angry and then the lightening was all around us at once. I am surprised with all the wind we had we didn't lose power. I watched the power lines outside swinging as if they were a jump rope. All my windchimes were working overtime and this morning I took most of them down as we have another one coming through tonight. Best safe than sorry I guess. We had snow in the mountains and it will be beautiful if I go out and look. I pity anyone that had to be out in it last night, but it was beautiful to watch from the safety of my home.
Cal and I have traveled through a few storms in our travels, and I will write about those in the coming days now that I have remembered them. But we were in the southwest in Mesa Verde with his sister Patty. Driving out to one of the sites there. It had already been a great trip with Patty. The road was on the top of a mesa, and it was a straight stretch of road when we saw the clouds gathering. Then at the end of the road where we were headed, a big bolt of lightening struck a tree right in front of us. We were all three dumbfounded. Cal pulled over,and we were deciding to turn around when we saw the smoke begin. Then came the ranger telling us to evacuate and go to the visitors center for instructions. Well they were so prepared for these types of fall storms they had it out in an hour but it was very scary for us. That was an amazing moment for us all and we had a great story to tell everyone at the Visitor's Center later. But I was awe struck at the raw power and yet amazed at the beauty of Mother Nature. She sure knows how to put on a show. I for one sure like to watch...from a comfortable distance and inside...I admit, I am not going to chase storms. But I do love the pictures of those that do.
Enjoy the winter. I think it just arrived.

Growing up camping

My Mother used to take us camping every summer as we didn't have the money to go on other types of vacations. It was either visit relatives or camping is all I remember. But our camping was in the Sierras up near Grass Valley and I loved it. There was swimming and laying in the sun, hiking and when I got into high school there were boys. The summer that I started high school I had my first summer crush. We went camping at the Oregon Creek campground and I had met some girls my age or a couple of years older and we were swimming and hiking and it was the first year I was allowed to go to the "falls" which was about a half mile from camp up sttream. It was a place where all the kids hung out to get away and the local kids were always there. I was very shy back then (no, really!) and more into nature than anything else, but I wanted to go. So we hiked up and spent the afternoon there. It was a glorious day of hot sun, cold clear water and fun. I am not a great swimmer (that would come the next summer when I learned to surf) and so I was not diving off the rocks. Some local boys showed up in a bright yellow pickup truck.
There were four of them. But one set himself apart as a 6'2" giant with huge feet and a big grin. His name was Bill Billington. He worked at the lumbermill that was the biggest business there. He was a senior at the high school and going off to college in a year. Played foot ball and was very shy himself. He kept smiling as he cavorted with his friends in the water, but eventually his friends made their way to meet my new friends. We all hit it off and Bill and I found we loved nature and he offered to show me some of the local spots. The drove us back that afternoon and he met my Mom and explained that he would like to take us all to Blue hole swimming and then for a hike. The rest of the week we would meet there in the campground after he got off work at 3 and go for walks to the natural spring, to a meadow where we watched for wildlife, seeing deer, a fox, and a bear foraging. And then to Blue Hole for swimming. A wide space that was deep and dark and cold but calm and sandy on the bottom with a beach. A little hard to find but close to a fire road so we had no problem getting to it. 
I had stars in my eyes and he was able to talk to a girl for the first time. I didn't know it at the time but he had always had problems talking to girls. He found it easy because he loved the outdoors and most girls didn't. He talked of wanting to be a forest ranger, and going to college to be one. He wanted to go to all the National Parks and we talked of the ones I had seen and the ones we both wanted to. It was an innocent summer romance ending with a few kisses. But he opened my eyes to the natural beauty that lay at my feet there just outside of the campground. I found that if I stopped to look I would find the most amazing things very close to me. He taught me that in just the 10 days I knew him.
I cried so much when I had to leave, with promises to write. We never did. But he left a piece of himself with me in sharing that love of his surroundings. I began to read books by people like John Muir then. And I guess that is when I became an advocate for saving the planet. And when you explore I try only to leave my footprints.
So, now when I travel, I have to thank Bill Billington for leaving that impression on a 15 year old girl. I hope that he became a park ranger, as I think he would have inspired many kids to protect the nartural beauty around them, if nothing else show them how to appreciate it.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig...........

I drove a total of just over 2000 miles these last few days and I have to tell you coming home felt good. I loved the drive from Paso Robles to Lincoln City. Those of you that have not made the drive on 101 should take the time to do it. It has some beautiful spots. Not only do you go through San Francisco and Golden Gate Park, but you wind through the Coastal Redwoods of both Mendocino and Sonoma. You pass the vineyards of Windsor, Healdsberg, Geyserville, and Hopland and then into the mountains where the air is clean and fresh and the trees are green and dark.
When you begin to see the Redwoods they look like the rest at first and then the road tightens and you begin to slowly wind through the tall beauties. If you catch it at the right time of day the sun filters through and you know this is part of heaven. There is a drive that you can take that parallels 101 called the Avenue of the Giants. I took a portion of it and found some astounding groves. But if you don't want to get off 101 you do go right by Richardson Grove and Jensen Grove. At one of these just pull over and stand with your hand on some of the oldest living things on the planet. When you think that some of these trees were around when Jesus walked the earth, then it makes you both humble and joyous that we have these wonderous trees still around to savor. I stood there near sunset with the sun making golden sunbeams through the branches and felt the quiet and stillness of the forest they have stood for a thousand years. Amazing.
Then you begin to see the seascapes. Ever changing, and yet the constant that is the sea. Crashing against rocks or lapping against a beach it doesn't matter to me, it is all amazingly stunning in its wild natural exhilarating beauty.
As you go farther north and hit the Oregon coast you will begin to see the haystacks as they are called. The large rock formations in the ocean that up and make such a wonderful display for us. You see driftwood beaches and long stretches to walk. The  pace slows as does the speed limit when you cross into Oregon, but the scenic splendor gets better. You find yourself faced with more turnouts at views that will take your breath away and places to get out and stretch your legs and take lots and lots of pictures that you will want to keep.  It is a long but gorgeous drive that if you take the time to see it will stay with you for  a life time.
Cal  and I have been extremely lucky to see many of these types of drives that we have done all over the western US. Doing it alone this time was fun and a bit disappointing as I didn't have anyone to share the blue sky and the wonderful scenes with. So, take someone you care about and put them in the car, share a little time on the road with them.
I am home staring a a gold and blood red sunset, with Cal and the puppies by my side. It can't get much better than that. But I have the memories of the Coastal Redwoods, the miles and miles of vineyards, and the coast line I have come to love in my mind and in my camera. I cannot think of much  better than that.

Once I called it home.

My wonderful friend Bri has graciously put me up for a few nights while I am visiting her in Paso Robles and concluding my business here. It is always fun to visit with friends and especially to stay with them as you get the late night talks and the early morning conversations while feeding the dogs and getting the child or children off to school. Her son Chris is 4 and we are having a great time reading books and learning what he will and won't eat. I find it fun and insightful to be around th e everyday things thta my friends do that I am not usually around to see. It makes me feel more at home with them. Well, I guess I should.
I have seen a lot of old friends over the last few days and wish I had time to see more but I didn't get to. I took a drive that was my favorite one and know that I probably won't get back this way anytime soon. This chapter of my life is over but I am moving forward to a new part and parcel. It will be interesting where I land.
The trip I am on has taken many turns. I have learned that when you travel as in life, you need to take things in stride, find the good in everything and move on when it isn't.
I am leaving friends behind here that I sorely miss. There are beautiful places that I picture in my mind that I can take with me along with times and conversations with those friends. Until I grow old and senile I will have those too. My grandmother once said you really only have your memories when you are old to keep you comfort. So, I am going to make many more memories of all kinds of places and interesting people along the way.
But I will miss my friends and Paso Robles that I once called home.

Can you ever go home?

Tomorrow I will go back to Paso Robles for a few days. Can you go home again? Is it still going to feel like home? I will find out. There are so many I would like to see and spend time with but time will not allow me to do so. I have business to take care of and then it is back to Oregon. But, I will look out at the Oak trees and the town I had come to love one more time. I will try to see some of my friends but I have found from past experience that you cannot go home again. As we move on, so does everything around us and our "space" is taken up or reshaped as those make room for others in their lives, yes, we still matter. I don't mean to imply we don't but we don't have the same place and connection. There are a few (very few I have found) that you can pick up where you left off with and feel like you are back home again. There have only been three people I know that has happened with.
So, my journey continues this week. Nancy will return to the North and I will go south. As usual we have had a good time without having to make it a good time. Relaxed and happy we both are as we go on are separate ways.

On the road again...........

I am sitting in our resort in Windsor just above Santa Rosa on a very beautiful Sunday morning watching Hot Air Balloons float by. It is early and I am amazed at how fast time goes when you are traveling and having a good time. Nancy and I are here for a little girls R and R before I have to go to San Luis Obispo next week and I was so happy that she could join me for a couple of days so we could do a little wine tasting and explore a little more.
As usual, yesterday we found a small festival called Artisano in Geyserville and it had lots of wine and food and crafts! Wow! We had so much fun, but I had too much wine. Not as young as I used to be I guess. I was in bed at 8:30 last night. Goes to show me that I can't run with the bulls anytime soon. But there is something to be said for early to bed, early to rise. Watching the two balloons glide silently across the sky this morning was a wonder to me. So, maybe it was a good thing.
I know most people don't like to take long drives to their destinations anymore, but I for one still like to. It was over 500 miles for us and we took separate cars but we made stops along the way and saw things that other people bypass in their rush to their destinations. We saw some beautiful old victorian houses in Eureka. The small town of Trenidad has a small cove that was sparkling in the sun and showing off for us as we took some pictures of the rocks and the aquamarine sea. We slowly drove through some of the coastal redwoods that you see taking Highway 101 and of course the scenic views of the Pacific ocean on a sunny day stole the show.
Nancy and I have been traveling together for about 25 years now and I never tire of her company. We have gone through a lot together and she never ceases to amaze me in her ability to enjoy everyplace we go and find everything good in an area. She has seen me through a broken leg on a trip we took in Yosemite, and now here in Windsor but she has an unfailing sense of good humor and grace. She takes it all in stride and keeps going forward. I love that about her. She has also taught me it is the journey not the destination that counts. That is why we travel so well together. She is an old soul and she teaches with sunshine and love. It's good to have a friend like that. Everyone should. I am very lucky.

Traveling with Family part 3

On the final stage of my month long journey with my Mom and child, we set off for the part I was most looking forward to. Not that visiting all my relatives wasn't great, but I love seeing the National Parks, State Parks and the places along the way. We headed across the panhandle and into Texas to Amarillo. We found a place to eat called Granny's place. It has sawdust on the floor boiled peanuts on the table and the best steaks and BBQ ever! The music was great too!
Next we crossed into New Mexico. At first driving along you think, yea, just desert, but then it begins to sink in. The subtle colors, and the striations in the rock formations, and as you begin to feel the openness and the quiet it becomes a wonderful spiritual place. of course I had to tune out a 4 1/2 year old and my Mom, but we stopped at a couple of outposts  and I just walked around. I met an old native american who pointed out the hills around us and told me stories about the tribes that used to live there, while my Mom shopped.
We then headed to the Grand Canyon first the south rim where we spent one night. It was beautiful and all the things it was supposed to be. I was amazed by the size and granduer of it. Then we went to the North Rim. Wow! If you haven't been there, everyone should go. It is smaller hotels, less space to walk around, but if you get a cabin in the park you can be sitting on the rim and wake up at sunrise as it hits the canyon. it is in a word breathtaking. There are deer that come up and eat the grass while it still has dew on it. While I marveled at the canyon from the porch of our cabin. The lodge has a terrace that sits right on the edge of the rim and at night they build a fire in the outdoor fireplace that four 6' tall men can stand next to each other in. It's huge! And keeps you warm while you star gaze over the grand canyon.
We then went to Zion National Park which is another jewel that everyone should see at least once. All these rock formations and water seeping from the rock. Then there is the Narrows. The Virgin river runs through the canyon and it carved between these granite rocks a path for itself. People hike in the summer when the river is low up the canyon to see the Narrows. It is where the canyon walls are so high that all you see as you are hiking in the river (of extremely icy water I might add) is a small (narrow) ribbon of blue sky above you. The walls are straight up so there is no place to go, so you need to be aware of climate changes and all that. They have flash floods and you don't want to be caught there when they come down and channel through the Narrows. But I walked down to part of it and it was extraordinary.
We missed a lot of Southern Utah as we were headed to Las Vegas next. There were so many other places I would see in the future in that area that I loved. All are worth the trip.
Vegas Baby! yea, I took my Mom to see one of her favorite singers there. Tony Bennett. We got a babysitter from the hotel, and went for a night on the town. She really enjoyed seeing him. He wasn't bad, but I thought Sammy Davis Jr was so much better. (Yes, I am dating myself!)
Then we finished off the trip with three days in LA. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm for the kid. She had done exceedingly well on this trip and my Mom wanted to go with us to the Parks. But she didn't want to walk it so I ended up pushing her in a wheelchair all day. I have to tell you on a scale from 1 to 10 it was a 2. She really was not even trying to have a good time. Shannon and I went back that evening and had a blast but my Mom, well, she should have stayed at the pool. The rides were too fast, too high, spun around too much or too noisy.
But it was a month of driving and a month of watching my Mom and daughter laugh and play and bond. Me? Well I got to see alot of 11 states. Got to get lost in the wide open spaces of Wyoming. Nearly got married in Oklahoma. Almost found Oz in Kansas. And found that traveling is in my blood.
Even now, in my new town here, I see a street that bends around and I wonder where it leads. Sometimes I turn to see where it goes, sometimes I take the groceries on home. I think that's why I love the ocean so much. There is all that beyond tha is just over the horizon.
Coy
She

Traveling with Family part 2

Staying with my Mom's mother in Oklahoma in June was not what you would call a vacation. My grandmother looked at us as free labor. So we canned the fruit that was ripe, we cleaned out a couple of closets she was meaning to get to, and mopped floors, all in the heat and humidity that I have come to hate. In the afternoons when I could sneak away I would take Shannon in our car and drive the 6 miles to Okema where my Mom had gone to school and see the town that was closest to where she had grown up on the farm. The town Castle Oklahoma has a building at  a crossroads that consisted of a small store/post office/gas pump/feed store. That was all there was to Castle, Oklahoma. The best part was the Coke machine out front. It was one with ice in it? You pulled out one of the 6 ounce bottles that were so icy and cold. That's what I remembered from when I was little and used to go there. But for everything else? You drove the 6 miles to Okema. They had three blocks of shops and a 5 and dime store. They had all the schools too, but I never went to them.
Also, I wanted to escape my Grandmother's matchmaking. I got up for breakfast the first morning and there was a man sitting at the table. I thought it was a cousin or such. Nope, it was the meter reader for the water company. Apparently my Grandmother knew his mother, and had invited him to meet the poor divorced woman from California. After that there was the Preacher's son from her church, the tax assessor who just loved kids but couldn't have any, and the kid from Mrs. Kerry's brood that was not good in school but a good farmer. Even my 4 and 1/2 year old was beginning to roll her eyes at all these guys. She would make excuses for me and we would go off to the "city" to get something for my Mom or for us. Mostly we wandered the isles of the 5 and dime amazed at what they carried. Shannon and I could not explain half of it.
She met alot of my cousins and her great aunts and uncles. My Mother for most of the trip and been telling me how much I had in common with my Aunt Sharon, how sofisticated she was, how I would really like her. Now, I was raised in California. I am educated, but I am NOT a snob, I am NOT uppity. I say this because I love my relatives and had fun with my Uncles but really didn't share the interests with my Aunts of being married and knitting and sewing quilts. I worked everyday, so my life was different then theirs was all! There I go defending myself again.
Anyway, when my Aunt Sharon came to visit, I was so excited. Then she came in and Shannon and I about dropped dead from laughter (which was very mean of us! Bad us!) My Aunt Sharon was wearing a lavender polyester jumpsuit with matching shoes, matching purse, lipstick, eyeshadow and bow in her very very blonde hair. She promised to take us to all the great 2nd hand stores where she found all her good buys when we came to visit her. She also wanted to take me to her hairdresser so I could have my long hair done up and off my neck like hers (almost a beehive). Shannon had to go outside so as not to laugh. Now, I have nothing against shopping at the thrift stores. I have nothing against any of it, it was the buildup that my Mom had given her. I was expecting Nordstrom's or something from Dallas, and I got something from Hee Haw. That's all. My Aunt Sharon is a great person and I had a great time with her and my Uncle Dan. I just had to put aside my expectations of what I thought they should be.
My Uncle Red (Uncle Coy) took us all to a barn dance before I left. I was surprised when they said Shannon could go too. But since it is held in a real big warehouse thing, and it is a dry county, everyone comes. It is a social event every month. So it being so hot, I wore a halter top dress. My aunt told me most would be wearing jeans, but if I was going to be dancing I wanted to be cool so she wore a dress also so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable. We drove 56 miles to this place. My Uncle Jerry brought vodka and tequila from another county where you can buy liquor. We bought the mixers there. And the country band played. There were people from babies to 95 there. Everyone danced.
We all had a good time. I met alot of people that night. I was introduced to everyone. Saw the Preachers son again and danced with him a few times. But then there was Hollis. He had to 6'8" and 320 if a pound. He asked me to dance and I was polite and said yes against my cousins shaking their heads no. We talked a bit and he two stepped me around the floor. That's when I realized he was drunk. He literally picked me up and swung me around the dance floor. When the dance was over he hugged me and said, "I sure do like you! You need to meet my Mama."
"Ok, but could you put me down please" I asked.
"In a minute, you need to meet my Mama." and then he started to walk toward the door,
My cousin Coy (yes, I know he laughs about it too.) started to follow us as I began to yell.
"Hey Hollis? Where ya going with her?" he asked
"I want her to meet Mama."
"She here?"
"No, she's home"
"Uh, Hollis, you can't take her home with you."
"She want's to meet Moma" he explained
All the time I was slung over his shoulder in a short dress. I was not feeling good about this at all.
"Did you tell her that you were taking her home?" Cousin Coy asked him
"I dunnno, dont matter, I'm gonna marry her so its ok."
"WHAT! Put me down now! " I yelled
Hollis lightly slapped my butt, "Don't yell, Momma says you shouldn't yell"
By now two of my other cousins had joined Coy and my Uncle Red had shown up.
"Hollis what are you doing?"
"Sir, I'm taken her home to meet Momma, cuz im gonna marry her."
"Did you ask her yet?"Uncle Red asked him
"No, I wanted to ask Momma first."
My Uncle scratched his head, and then crossed his arms over his chest "Well Hollis, I can't let you take her home tonight as she needs to be in church in the morning with us, so how about I bring her by after church tomorrow and then your Momma can meet her then?"
"No, I want Momma to see her now." His grip tightened on me.
"Hollis, I can't let you take her, and that means Coy and the others would try to stop you. (Hollis laughed) I know you would kick their butts but then my Momma would call your Momma and then they would be mad at each other over it and then we wouldn't be able to go fishing in the pond anymore. So, do you think maybe we can do this tomorrow instead of tonight then we can all still fish? I'd hate to not go fishing, What do you think?"
Hollis thought about it, "Well, I sure do love to fish in that pond of yours. I guess I can wait until after church." He sat me down and then explained it to me. By that time the blood had rushed to my head not to mention the tequila and I was dizzy. "Tomorrow, after church you meet my Momma ok?"
"Ok" then my cousins led me away as my Uncle kept Hollis busy. My Mom never even missed me.
The next day I never saw Hollis at church. I asked my cousin about it.
"He won't remember it. He is probably still asleep in his truck somewhere."
We had a big Sunday dinner with all my Aunts and Uncles and cousins at my Grandmas after church. Fried Chicken like I remember and all the trimmings. I ate until I couldn't move! it was the best meal all week. We started back across country with several jars of jams and tomatoes and pickled things that I had never heard of.
I never got back to the farm again. It was an experience that as an adult I think of as a peek of my Mom's past. I now know why she was happy to leave the farm. It is a hard life. I have new respect for those that choose it. I don't think I would have the gumption to live that life.

Traveling with Family part One of Three

My Mother approached me about taking a month long trip to visit family and seeing the sites in the western and southwestern united States with her and my daughter (then 4 1/2) in June. She wanted to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, (which really wasn't much back in 1979) I wanted to see Zion and the Grand Canyon. And I had not seen some of my relatives, my godmother in Colorado in ages After a couple of months of planning and with my Mother's promise to help drive, the naive thought that she would be able to navigate the map, we set off early one morning east. We had a CB radio installed so we could get help if needed. Boy, did we ever need help!
We made it to a small town in Nevada the first night where I should have known what the tone of the trip was going to be when my mother unloaded bottles in the windowsill in the bathroom that overlooked a small casino alley. There were flashing signs and noise but we were all too tired to worry but Mom didn't want someone to come in through the window ads the latch was broken, then promptly took a sleeping pill. I laid awake guarding over us most of the night.
Next stop was Saturday night at Little America in Salt Lake City,Utah becuase my Mother wanted to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing in the morning. I just wanted to have dinner, put Shannon down for the night and go to the bar for a drink. I ran into a girlfriend who was a singer in a band and found out that in Utah after midnight on Saturday there was no alcohol served anywhere. We still had a good time catching up. My Mom got to see the choir and I got to sleep in thank you Jesus!!!!
Then we got to cross the Rocky Mountains. I say this with great respect. Because I had seen them before but in June they still had snow. As we began our ascent, I was in shorts a tank top and sandals. It was warm and clear with clouds in the distance. When we stopped for gas, I noticed it was beginning to rain, no, no, not rain, what? snow? in June? The attendant at the station said we would need chains to get through the Eisenhower tunnel within the hour as a snowstorm was coming. My Mother hadn't driven in snow in 30 years, she was beginning to panic. I remained calm and drove through although I had never been in snow but once. I just remembered from driver's ed class to slow down, don't break fast and never try to turn out of the way you are skidding, or was it the other way around? Anyway, we made it to Denver. The drive took us right next to the mighty Colorado river as it wound around the mountains. Some places it was right next to us. it was so fiercely wild and beautiful. It is a drive that I highly recommend for everyone. If you have time to follow it as goes down through Colorado to Arizona you should at least take part of it before they dam up the whole thing. We were lucky to see it before it became a small stream.
As we had dinner that night in a related restaurant to the one I worked in, the server brought me a drink. She said some people from the bar sent it to me. I said there must be a mistake, I was not from Denver. She said they knew me from California. I went in and was delighted to run into some customers from the restaurant where I worked. They had family in Denver. What are the odds!
We got lost in Wyoming and had a great sing along with a trucker who got us out of a potentially dangerous situation as there were flash flood warnings all around where we were. (We zigged where we should have zagged on the map, or  so my Mom said) We never did see Mt. Rushmore as they were fogged in the day we got there, so I bought Mom and Shannon lots of pictures of it. And in the fog we couldn't find the building of Crazy Horse..
Then right outside Salina, Kansas I saw my first and preferably my last twister. I was on a major hiway heading for Oklahoma, the place of my birth. Where most of my mother's family is still residing.
Up to this point, my Mother had only driven about an hour of the trip. She didn't like the sun on her side of the car, she couldn't drive in an unfamiliar city traffic and she was out of state and unfamiliar with the traffic laws so she was gun shy and almost put us through the windshield more than once. So, I got the hint that I was going to drive. To say that after just over a week of being in the car with my Mother who is a worry wart, nervous nelly, and gasps at everything, you would think I would be ready for anything. But it was the tone of voice that got me.
"DON'T look over here!" She gasped. So, I ask you, what would you do?
I looked. And saw in the distance a very dark, taller than anything I had ever seen twister and it looked to be coming at us.
By then I was very good at talking on the CB radio with the truckers. So I got on there told my location, and got the trucker just in front of me about two cars up.
"Ladies, see that black cloud up ahead, that's hail. I want you on my mudflaps and stay there. When you see my brakes, brake slow and sure and hold on, we are gonna get out of the way!"
"10-4 broken saddle!"
And that's what we did. I got in behind him and that hail hit, we kept going about 70 mph and I was so intent on his taillights that Ididn't realize it had changed to just rain until he was talking to my Mom.  Shannon blissfully slept through it.
We had dinner with him and his partner that evening and drove into my Grandmother's house late that night. That's when I found out about sleeping in the storm cellar and why I don't want to live in the south. I hate the humidity.
It was strange to wake up not knowing if the house was still going to be there. I kinda know how Dorothy felt.I woke up my Grandmother bossing my Momma around, I was already picking up the accent. My daughter was already feeding chickens. I was told to get up and start helping with breakfast. My vacation was over as far as my Grandmother was concerned. It was time to marry me off to a local boy.. But that's for part two of this trip.

Our first trip to Hawaii

When Cal and I first got together I didn't realize the man had never taken a real vacation. Oh he had gone off for a few days here and there, but never for more than that. He had never planned a real honest to god week or longer vacation since he had left home. Now, please remember that this is MY side of this story. I am sure that his would differ if asked, but since he is not writing this, well, he will have to live with my telling of it.
I wanted to go back to Hawaii. I hadn't been back since my girlfriends had moved back to the mainland. One had lived on Oahu and one on the big island of Hawaii so I had been able to see alot of the islands by visiting them. I wanted to spend a week or two with Cal in a romantic place and show him the Hawaii I knew. He was dead set against it. It would cost too much, we couldn't afford it, he wasn't going. Ok, I said, I have the time off, so I would go without him and see him when I got back, but I was going with or without him. (It was early in the relationship and I was very independent!)
When we stopped arguing about it, I asked him for a budget, and if I could work within that budget would he take the time off and go? He finally agreed with lots of hemming and hawing. $1500 for the two of us including air fare for a week. I wanted to go during the whale migration so it would be in the winter time. January to March.

We found that air fare in March was low. $199 round trip on Aloha from Oakland into Honolulu. Then $49 to Maui. Booked it! I found a timeshare that would give us a three night four day stay in Honolulu just for going to the presentation. We went and got it. $199 for the reservation hotel in Honolulu. I called a repo service I used in Oahu and asked if they could loan us a car while we were there. They did. No rental car for the four days! I researched for a place on Maui and found a Hawaiian family owned hotel that was not near the popular side of the island and booked a two night stay at the beginning a one night at the end of our Maui stay. It was $65 a night. So far so good We found a reliable but cheap rental car place I think called Dave's rental that was like rent a wreak, but they ran great. But the best was yet to come. I found that at Waianapanapa State Park in  Hana the cabins were $15 a night during the week so I booked it for 5 nights! We were going for almost two weeks and I still had money left over!
We found coupons for everything from early bird dinners to whale watching. Saw so many whales that it was a life changing experience for me.  We snorkled in Hanama Bay at 6am to beat the crowds and walked in Punchbowl when the rain came. We found the grave of the founder of baseball (Cartwright was his name!) and then spent Cal's birthday sitting on the lanai in Waianapanapa watching two humpback whales tailslap in the beautiful ocean in front of us while sipping some rum concoction Cal had made. BBQ's almost every night in front of our very rustic cabin. Watched the geckos play on the windows at night and the mongoose chase each other during the day. Took naps and side trips and found the blue pool to swim in.  We didn't eat at the best restaurants and we didn't bring home alot of souveniers that trip, but the things I remember clearly are the moments that made it most special. The BBQ in Hana (There are only 4 places in Hana to eat and two close at 3pm) that we stumbled on, the grave of Charles Lindburgh sitting on the magnificent cliffs overlooking the pacific, Oheo Gulch as it splashes down to the sea on the other side of  Haleakala. And the crater itself at sunset freezing my butt off as we sat in the car watching the beauty of it.

You can't buy that in a store, you can't bottle it or put it in a picture and send it home no matter how hard you try. But you can remember it once you have been there. It burns into your brain. Never to be taken away. It is even hard to explain to those that haven't been there. They just don't get it. And maybe for some (I have run across one or two) they can't feel the majesty and beauty of seeing a sunset that has brought tears to my eyes, or seen a giant sequoia that is over a 1000 years old that takes my breath away. Or understand why I can sit on a small boat to catch a glimpse of a whale day after day. To experience these things, to go out into the southwest and see where ancient people used to live, to hear the songs of the Hawaiians sung, or for that matter to hear the songs of whales singing to each other,  these things make me feel connected to the earth and the ocean and the people who came before and the living things that are here now. You can't buy that. You can only live it enjoy it, embrace it. Do it everyday. Not just on vacations but find that moment every day to freeze in your brain to make it a special moment. What have you got to do today in the next moment? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Sunday drives with Shannon

When I was a single parent and working two jobs to support us, my daughter Shannon and I usually only had Sundays off together all day. I won't lie and say that we spent those days doing fun things all the time, because Now, my parents never really did much of that, and really you didn't want my Dad driving us around as he was sure to have had a few or many drinks and it would be unsafe. So, it was my own willingness to explore the world around me that kept me going off into the unknown of California to see what was out there.
I don't know if I passed that trait on to my daughter. I don't know if she will pass it on to her children. But I do know that all the short trips that we took are embedded in my memory bank, and when I see parts of California or hear of an area we have been to I smile because I took a Sunday drive with my daughter and listened to music and her, talked of mundane things, laughed and shared a space of time.
Now she is grown up and far away with children of her own. She has her own perspective on things, but I have the past history with her to keep. Funny, thats all we have of our children when they grow up. They become adults and although they are always our children, we are not the guardians of their lives as we were when they were entrusted to us. They have to find their own Sunday drives to take, and explore in their own way. We as parents have to take a step back and find a solo journey.
Were all of those trips the greatest? Nope. Were they all special? probably not. Some were fraught with problems, some were bad from the get go, some were magical. Some were calm and relaxing. But they made us strong and experienced and savvy to the world around us. And I wouldn't have given up any of them.
So, here's to Sunday drives anywhere you want to go.

Flying at any age

When I was out of high school a couple of years and working full time and going to college part time (keeping my options open ha-ha) I was invited to a friends wedding in Tahoe. Two other high school friends of mine were going but I could not leave at the same time as them so I thought, I will fly up to Tahoe and drive back with them. It was only about an hour flight from Oakland to Tahoe. So, Debbie and Sue were going to meet me at the airport and our weekend adventure would start. I felt very grown up flying for the first time, short flight, had a fake ID and going to the land of gambling and sin as in Nevada with girlfriends.
I got on a small plane that held maybe 40 people. Sat next to a window so I could see the sights and had a businessman sitting next to me. I still felt very grown up. My flight was at 6pm in June and was a beautiful night as we left. The captain was able to point out Sacramento and as the sun began to descend to the west it put a wonderful glow on the sierra mountains as we began to climb over them. Some still had snow on the peaks. They began to loom largely in my vision as we passed over them and then all of a sudden we dropped. My stomach felt like it was in my brain. It didn't help that I had a glass of wine while flying. When I asked the man next to me about this aberration, he said we had to land down in the valley near there and he pointed to a very small, very thin strip that looked like it ended in Lake Tahoe itself. I didn't feel very grown up anymore.
I watched as we began to circle very fast in my humble opinion down into a very small space between two very large mountains. It took us 15 minutes to circle down from the top of the mountains to come around to make our attempt at landing. The pilot said there was a bad cross wind and it would be a bit bumpy. I hit my head on the overhead once before he finished telling us to put our seatbelts back on for landing. Funny, I was so wanting to enjoy my first look at Lake Tahoe from the air and all I could do was close my eyes and pray we didn't land in it.
When I finally felt the plane hit the ground, I then prayed we would be able to stop on the runway, and when we did, I was ready to cry. I am sure my makeup was a mess by then from hiding my face in my hands.
I was able to pull myself together by the time I got off the plane and walk to where Sue and Debbie waited for me. Back then Tahoe didn't have a terminal, just a shed to set the bags and overhang to wait for the plane. I wanted a few shots of tequila and a good cry but instead I got a conservative bachlorette party with the bride's womenfolk and her new friends at the basement of the catholic church where she would be married in the morning.
I looked at Mary Magdelene and thanked her for saving me that day. I also thanked her for not allowing the church from coming down around me after all the sinful things I had done. Having been raised between my mother a good Southern Baptist (tent revivals and Oral Roberts) and my fraternal Grandmother (the devout Catholic) I knew that at some point I had sinned in someone's eyes. I knew that I was going to hell from what I remembered from all the Sunday School teachings that contradicted all that I had been doing since I left home. Fake ID and all.
So, the next day we watched our friend walk down the isle in a beautiful white dress and say I do to the man of her dreams. I have often wondered if they are still married all these years later.
The rest of the weekend was spent as most single women will do, looking at, talking to and flirting with single men. We interspersed seeing the sights around the lake while doing that, but the main objective was having a good time with a few good looking men our own age. Ah yes, some things don't change with the ages.
So, I learned a couple of good things that weekend, I don't like small planes going over large mountains. I do like Tahoe at least without snow. I loved driving the mountain road home when no one else did.
Since that time, I have slid off the runway in a large plane after a bad rainstorm. Sat on a runway while a thundeI rstorm raged, and been rerouted to Nashville because of a blizzard. There was nothing to do in the Nashville airport for three hours, believe me I tried! And was upgraded to a convertible in Baltimore during a snowstorm. How's that for luck? Oh yea, I had my luggage lost when I went to Hawaii for a week. They found it the day I was leaving.
I still fly. Mostly because it is the only way to get to some of the places I love to go to. I make the best of it, but I don't have to like it all that much. I dont' like giving up control to some pilot I don't know. I don't like those people who tell you it's safer than driving a car. I think they are the ones that will scream the loudest and sit next to the emergency exits. I read all the instructions but I don't think it will help much if you fall from the sky. Seriously? But I think positive. I don't write about this to scare anyone, but I find it amazing that they really can fly. But I feel very grown up when I board a plane. Even if I  become a very scared child inside. Amazing isn't it?

My first trip alone

I know most women don't think of traveling alone, or even want to. They go with family or friends, or their lovers or mates. And I know that it is much less stressful or scary to go with someone else. It is more fun to share the adventure you are on with someone you can relate to. But some (probably most) women in their late 40's and up still feel uncomfortable going to a restaurant alone, or seeing the sights somewhere all by themselves. I have been privililged to know a few very strong and brave and intelligent women who felt the need to do independent things. Like do a walk about in Austrailia for 3 months. Or drive across the US by themselves to see the National Parks before going back to college. Yes, I am sure they were all warned about the hazards, and knew that they could be a victim at any point in time, but they still reached out to grab life by the scruff of the neck and run with it. They had good examples in history. Amelia Earhart for one. There are so many others.
I took a trip down the coast of California for a week once.  I decided to go see the coast and have no real plan of attack for the week.  I had friends I hadn't seen for a while that I would stop to see but I could wander down the coast and stay where I wanted,when I wanted and as long as I didn't max out my only credit card at the time, I would be able to enjoy a week of sun and surf.
It was in the early 80's and I was enjoying having a week of free time so I started in Santa Cruz. I stayed at the Dream Inn which at that time was a great hotel right on the beach at the end of the boardwalk. I spent three nights there as I met some younger people and ended up having a great time with them at the boardwalk and in Aptos. We enjoyed dinner at the Shadowbrook Inn the last night I was there which I would not have found on my own. They were all so much younger than I but it goes to show you that you can learn something from any age.
The drive down Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and San Simeon is so rugged and breathtaking that it takes you all day just so you can stop and catch your breath at all the phenomenal scenery. Stopping at Ventana or big Sur is always recommended but the jewel is the coastline itself. I never tire of it. It is not for the weak of heart with all the hairpin turns but the views are so worth it on a clear day. The sun sending sparkling diamonds over the water and the multitude shades of blue in the sea overcome the senses. Just keep your eyes on the road and pull off to really look at the views as they are what makes it all so worthwhile.
I stayed in Cambria on Moonstone beach, and took my camera down to the rocks setting up to take shots of the opera of colors that would sing with the sun setting. There I met a fellow photographer who was already set up and we talked until the sunset made us silent with its amazing chorus as we snapped picture after picture, both knowing we would never capture all of its beauty. He was an older fellow that had been widowed a few years earlier and was going up to San Francisco to visit his son. He and I shared a wonderful meal at the Sow's Ear which was his favorite in town when he passed through. Again another place I would not have found. I also took myself on a tour of Heast Castle and ended up sitting with a family on the bus up the hill. I couldn't place the face of the father but I knew I had seen him before. His wife and two daughters and I had a great time on the tour and I kept trying to place him. Finally I gave up and and asked him where I knew him from. His daughter who I had spent the last three hours with started to laugh, and gave him a bad time.
"Daddy! Doesn't know you! Your beard worked!"
His wife told me he was Greg Morris from Mission Impossible fame. I hated to admit that I did watch the show but it had been a while and didn't recognise him. We had lunch together and no one knew that a celebrity was amoung them. He loved it.
I spent the next couple of nights with friends in Morro Bay and enjoying watching them wrangle around each other because I was there. She never did like it when I visited. But Matt is like a brother to me and well, wives come and go it seems, at least she did.
Then I stayed one night in Santa Barbara and for all the hype, I guess I didn't find the real thing. I explored State Street, went down on the pier and ate some great food, but I found most everyone to be a bit too into themselves. I didn't like it much.
Last of all I took myself to Disneyland. I spent the day riding on the rides I remembered from my youth, that I had taken my daughter on when she was little and watching all the parents and the children enjoy what I so loved as a child. Some people looked at me strangely as I rode by myself or sat next to someone else's child that did not have a parent or friend. But most accepted that I was there having a good time being a child again.
I learned that I could go anywhere and not feel embarassed to be alone. That I was not a loser becuase I liked my own company. I met some very interesting people that I would not have met had I been in the cocoon of friends and family. I learned how to rely on myself to make my trip a sucess, and not worry that I had to be on time for someone else's schedule. Most of all I really had time to think about things or not. My choice. Something we forget about sometimes in our daily life.
I have taken many trips alone since that first one. I have really loved each of them. We learn more about ourselves when we take chances and step out of our everyday roles. I like that I am not afraid to go alone and do the things I love to do. But I love it most when I can share it with my friends and family because they want to be adventurous and learn something new and see all that there is out there to see.

Where was I? Oh yes, moving....

o, now that I have started this, let me elaborate. When you move, you bring all of your hopes, desires, along with your baggage with you to the new place. You lay it all out in a new enviornment and expect the fresh salty sea air to change the neurons and protons in your brain. Or you expect that you will see things differently. Or maybe with a new job or new spouse, mate, that things will be different enough for that "big change" to occur to make things different. But what we all forget is the one thing that is always happening is we are different every moment. No it is not really profound. Just the reality of time. We just need to be cognizant of it. Science tells us that the one constant is that all things change. Yet we as humans make the same mistakes over and over thnking that we will get a different result. What has this to do with moving? I watched someone try to take a chair through a doorway five times when the first four times it didn't fit. And never once did they change the way they were trying to take it through the door. Understandably they didn't want to take it upstairs through the sliding glass doors that are bigger and then back down the stairs but it fit that way.
I do know that I myself have those habits that I keep doing that are so self humiliatingly insane, but human. I know that I am smarter than that, even sometimes as I do it, but, what am I but human? As I moved this time I wanted to throw out so much of what I had collected over the years, mostly because I didn't want to lug it all up stairs and move it to the new house that was smaller (downsizing, who ever thought of that!). But as I went through things, the memories of trips to Mesa Verde and Yosemite came roaring back in full color and detail. I remembered the moose that almost made us run off the road in Colorado who could have cared less that he was in the middle of that road when we slammed on the brakes. I wanted to get out to take a picture of the majestic beast but it was getting dark. Patty was afraid we could have an accident on the side of that mountain there. That was the one and only trip we took with Cal's sister Patty before she died. So, I ended up keeping all those little magnets on the refridgerator, and all the trinkets that are collecting dust on a shelf. They don't mean much to anyone but us, but they do remind me of the great times and places we have visited.
Hopefully I will share some of those on this blog with those that want to remember or hear about them too.
Coy

Moving to Lincoln City, Oregon or anywhere.....

People move everyday. Across town, across the country. Away from home, back home. Always it is a stressful and sometimes exciting thing. Always tiresome at any age. There is the preparation for it, the anticipation, and the actual backbreaking moving of all the "stuff" you have collected over the years to the next phase of your life. In a way it is like being in your head and changing jobs, or changing boyfriends/girlfirends, husbands/wives etc. Interesting to me how they are all interconnected to each other. We carry all the old to the new. But I digress don't I?
Lincoln City was very different than Paso Robles in location. Paso is dry and inland. Lincoln City is right at the ocean and wet. But they are both small towns. They are both somewhat isolated from the rest of the state and larger cities. No real shopping centers (bummer!) But the commonalities that I have already found is that people are helpful and fiendly and ready to give you directions and tell you where to get the best deal or the best Mexican food in town. This has been a common thread in all the moves I have made.
Yes, those that have known me, know I am a gypsy at heart. I would live in a suitcase if I could for weeks at a time. I love to see new parts of this land. I love to talk to new people. So, moving, well I just hate the heavy lifting stuff. Bring in the muscle and I am good to go.
I have anchors that keep me sane in old friends that have been around in my adult life that are my "home" in my heart. No matter where I go as long as I can keep in contact with them I know I am still within reach of balance. So, moving to Lincoln City is to explore the Northwest and find a calm space to write more.
There are many good things here already. I will tell you about them in the future. Many interesting people here that we all have run across where you are. So, lift up your head and look around. Who are you sitting next to?
Coy