Veryvery pleased

I have now gotten my wireless router up & running, and my office computer up and running and everything working together. Yay!

It has been a super busy month. As soon as I returned from California on Nov 28th, I did laundry, packed and headed out again on Nov 30th for another girl's weekend with Beth & Maggie. Beth is a fan of Air Tran, a local short-haul cheapo airline. She'd researched and found that we, in Roch, and Maggie, outside Boston, could get 1-way tix to Charlotte, NC for $70. Deal.

We went to Charlotte because a) it was bound to be warmer than Rochester in early December; b) Beth's been there and wanted to show us some sights; and c) Beth knew there is a huge outlet mall and she needed a party dress. Didn't matter to Maggie & me where we met, so Charlotte was just fine.

We got there Friday afternoon. Beth & I flew first to Baltimore, and amused ourselves in the airport for 90 minutes till the final flight. The new exercise machine on display in the Shaper Image store stopped us both in our tracks. It's supposed to simulate horseback riding. Imagine a lurid purple saddle-like seat rotating and grinding around. "Oh my!" said Beth. "I'm not sure they could show that in Rochester." I speculated about a thriving market for add-on attachments and wondered where they would screw in. Aaannnd girls' weekend is off to a ribald start, at 8 a.m. in the Baltimore airport.

After a quick breakfast of mini-cheeseburgers we caught the flight to Charlotte. Waited there for an hour for Maggie to join us, she had to fly to Atlanta and backtrack. The Charlotte airport offered no good amusements. Bummer.

We got the rental car, headed to the hotel, dumped our stuff and zoomed up the way. Beth wanted to take us to the race car shop. I have mentioned that her husband, Bob, works for Troyer building specialty parts for race cars. He also is the crew chief for Donny Lia, on the NASCAR circuit. I was interested to see the shop.

We pulled up in front of the shop - big building. We were to get a tour there and then head to the gift shop, Beth had to buy a couple things. So we walked into the lobby of the shop - extremely impressive. 3 real cars on display. Maggie and Beth are lurking in the background of this one, both of 'em photo-shy.



I'm wandering around, ogling the cars and starting to notice something ... familiar ... a stylized '3' everywhere. (K, you real fans are waaay ahead of me.) I asked Beth "Ummm, the '3' is that ... Dale Earnhardt?" "Yeah, he raced for Richard."



HOLY CRAP - I am Richard Childress Racing, for whom Dale Earnhardt drove. I am at ground freaking zero of NASCAR ROYALTY. I started to slightly hyperventilate. I am now so impressed I'm practically beside myself. Then, Royce came out from the back shop to take us on our tour. Nicest guy, what must he have thought about taking us three through the race car factory, but he was unfailingly polite. He did ask us if we knew about racing. Beth stepped right up and threw down all she knows, which is a whole bunch - by the end of the tour they were comparing notes about having been taught how to do lap timing by a legend.

I so wanted to take pictures in the 'shop' - the factory. The 800,000 square foot factory. With floors so gleaming nd shiny I was glad I was wearing jeans. With legions of Snap-On tool boxes, 5 or 7 cranes holding up the templates that measure that a body is stock, with several cars being worked on at various stages. Royce even took us into the 'trailers' that ferry the crews to the races. Wow - satellite dish, high-speed internet, wide screen TV, gleaming white lockers for all the tools, pluse seating area on the upper deck with even more space above. All in all, RCR looks like a great place to work. And everyone there is really really happy to be there. How cool!

Then we went across the parking lot to the 'museum', really a gift shop. I refrained from outfitting myself like a newbie fan. (It wasn't easy!) I am really looking forward to catching some of the races in 08. And visiting, a lot, when Beth & Bob move to Charlotte - it's in the plan but nothing definite yet.




Me in front of the Richard Childress Racing museum

After all this excitement we went for wine tasing at the Richard Childress vineyards. Opulent place, and they're making the best they can from the local soils. I still think, eeeeych. My palate is branded for Monster California Reds. Oh well, could be worse. I could think that east coast wines are good. ;-) We had the rudest 'pourer' I have ever encountered. We had to buy one of 3 wine tasting packages, which was a flight of 6 or 8 tastings. She allowed no time for us to really get the nose or the taste. "Nyext wine now. You teste." (She was Russian, I think) But we ended up buying 2 bottles.

Went to Speedy's BBQ for dinner. Here's the first culture clash: "Smoking or non-smoking?" the hostess asked. My reply was "My God, you still do that here? How last century! NON SMOKING." The BBQ was served within 4 minutes of ordering - hence the name. And the servings were bigger than our heads. Beth ordered a dinner, Maggie & I opted for sandwiches only. We all lunched off the leftovers the next day.

Saturday we started off at a mall that the bartender had recommended, the night before. We started in Dillards, a Macy's-ish place. Beth had in mind the style of dress she wanted. And it looked really really bad on her. At this point, we pulled everything in her size and started forcing her to try them on. "But I don't like this one." "But you've got to try it on so we can see what works and what doesn't - neckline, sleeves, fabric." "Oh, OK..." At one point Maggie & I started sounding like Stacey and Clinton. And Maggie grabbed what turned out to be the dress. Flattering, pretty, and even on sale. We snapped a picture with Beth's phone, sent it to Vicki (her fashion-conscious daughter) for approval. The comment back - "Nice dress. I love the socks." (She had left those on for the try-on) Beth started to say she was wearing the socks with it the night of the banquet.

We shopped there a bit more, forcing Beth to try on pretty jewelry that might go - you'd think this wouldn't be hard! And we stopped at Macys and forced her to try on shoes with heels - Maggie's doing again. Beth had been joking about wearing fuzzy slippers. And was more serious about ballet flats. She does have trouble with her knees and wanted to be conservative. Maggie made her buy shoes with heels - the nerve! - and relented on ballet flats as a back-up for after pictures were taken. Oh yeah, the dress was for the racing banquet, where Donny Lia's championship win was celebrated. Many cudos to Bob, the crew chief and coach.

Sat evening, we drove to downtown Charlotte to see A Tuna Christmas. If anyone else has seen this, let me know. Is it a bit racist?? A couple of points in the play had us Yankees exchanging glances - they didn't just say that, did they? The big giggle point came when one of the frumpier charcters came on stage in an outfit that included a sky-blue Christmas decorated knit vest and Beth muttered "I have that vest" in a quiet tone of outrage. Then she added "Vicki hates it." I laughed, she laughed and I kept making sotto voice snarky comments about wrapping up for Christmas until we were both in tears. Maggie, on the other side of Beth, caught a contact fit of giggles. Thought they were gonna throw us out!

Sunday we had time for a quick drive-by of the race track, and some sightseeing in the country side. We got to the airport with plenty of time, the rental return went very fast. So we sat in the airport and finished the sweet wine from our tasting purchase. Went well with the bagels and peanut butter were were having for breakfast.

And another girl's weekend successfully had. We haven't yet planned the next, although I think I volunteered to start research.

Man, I do love witing for this blog when I sit down to it. Gotta run now, to hit the stores before they close to get stuff for the party tonight. I'm going to Kathi's for a low-key friends & family thing.

Happy New Year, all!

More adventure

The house is quiet, with the 3 cats settled down for the morning. All 3 doing well in their temporary home - Emma was gregarious right away. Phineaus took a day, but he's out & about and getting everywhere. I found him in the wardrobe under my blouses this morning. Note to self, keep doors closed! Alex, the most shy/unsettled by change has been walking around a bit today. He prefers the far corner under my bed, but it was good to see him out and getting something to eat.

I've been finally putting things away in the house, clearing shelves and tables - those cats are great jumpers and extremely curious. I've also been prepping for my human guests - looked around and discovered that I needed towels and more bedding. Last time I had guests it was summer. So, shopping during the Xmas frenzy. Ooof - I'm so glad I'm able to get out during the day when it's not quite so busy.

Today I head out for a ski trip. More adventure. This was planned way in advance of the reality; I've been shopping the sports stores like a crazed thing - looking for ski gear at reasonable prices. And I'm not really sure what I'll want. I tell myself that the jacket shell & fleece, and ski pants, will come in handy for cross-country skiing as well, so it's not a bad investment.

All this frenzy has given me the excuse to not have shipped Christmas cards this year. O bother. I plan to do New Year's cards, now. It's down in writing, now, it will happen.

I'll let you know how the trip goes soon. Wish me grace and elegance!

Blizzard. I has it.

A very cold, snowy blustery day outside. I'm workin on my list of ToDos. It keeps getting longer the more I think about it. But I have made some progress around the house in the past week, reorganizing things. I have to - got several guests coming over. First are Alex, Fineaus and Emma - Tanya's cats are coming to stay on Tuesday. Then my brother John & sis-in-law Amy come on the 23rd or 24th. So I must curious-cat-proof, and also get the guest room rehabbed. (It is where my suitcases exploded after my recent trips.)

Some musings:
* Dust - where does it come from? I have electric baseboard heat, and the windows were closed and heat off while I was in CA, yet there was a layer of dust on everything when I got back.
* Dust - much of mine is fuschia-colored! I have a chenille throw and beautiful silk rug in that color. I think they're doing the textile equivalent of out-gassing. One day I may go downstairs to find the throw has completely dissolved.
* Time passes so much more quickly in Rochester than in CA. I think it's the relentless march of the seasons. My time in CA seems like ages ago, it was only a couple weeks. I think people age faster here than there - visible proof abounds, too.
* Christmas cookies seem to be multiplying like mice around here. Was invited to a cookie exchange last weekend, so I spent Sat baking. Went on Sunday and between meeting lots of women and eating cookies I ended up like a 2 year old on a sugar high. It took me hours to come down! Not fun. And there are still cookies here, I've started giving them away by the plateful.

And helpful advice, redux:4 things you really really will be glad you did, if your parents are still living.
1) Visit at least twice a year. Pick one room each time and help them clear it out.

2) Get power of attorney and health care proxies in place for their state. Get their wishes very very clear and detailed - much can be made of the phrase "for my comfort" for example - what exactly does that mean to your Mom or Dad? Being parked in a chair in front of Jerry Springer at high volume? Having a radio on to classical music? Get details - imagine they can't move and are being cared for by not you.

3) Move them to a location you want to visit/live in for a while. One with no snow. (Ooops, that would have been my preference. See what happens when you don't plan ahead?)

4) Get them to talk with you about money. If they resist, play on how much of a mess it might be if you need to decipher their accounts, house ownership, insurances, etc. under the stress of someone having landed unexpectedly in the hospital. Money is energy - to be used and accounted for. It's really hard to figure out someone else's; and if you have to get professional help it's very expensive.

OK, time for me to start dinner - get the oven going and warm up the downstairs!

The Yurt!

My recent trip to the Left Coast was beautifully bookended - the exhilarating, inspiring, healing Quantum Leap in Vegas to start with, and a trip to the incomparable Big Sur Coast to finish. I am so fortunate to have been able to stay a couple days with Pat and Jamie in their yurt. This is, of course, the famous Feng Shiu’ed yurt.

Jamie is the ginger one!








The Yurt is about 550 square feet. Well, being a Yurt, it's of course not square. There are 12 segments that radiate from the central skylight. Pat is grooving on the small, efficient space. She quoted a friend who said that "If you have to unplug the vacuum and move the cord, your house is too big!" (My little houseen meets the criteria on each floor. Course, it does have an extra long cord. But it's nowhere near as compact as the Yurt.) The Yurt feels very spacious, and of course there's such wild beauty just outside. Pat does have a bathtub on her deck. She's not one to cavort in the famous Baths on the other side of the property, which are clothing optional but no one does. Go in clothed, that is.


I arrived at Esalen on a cool, foggy day. The area is beautiful no matter what the weather.






Molly’s Celica was perfectly messaged to fit right in.




The baths are perched right over the sea. The natural hot spring water smells slightly eggy. Sitting in the baths watching and listening to the Pacific is something I plan to do rather a lot the rest of my life. It’s heaven.






Me at the Buddha shrine.




And I find Quan Yin wherever I go.




Sadly, THIS is my current view. Brrrr!

Gratitude

What an amazing trip. Pics to come. Meanwhile, I am so thankful for my wonderful friends who:

- put me up: Peri and Brian, what a gift to stay in your lovely place and learn the language of Emma & Cabo; Kristen, and daughter Suzanna in the 'spa Pasatiempo' with romping Danny, Wanda, Belle, Landau, Scarlet and Sateen; Barb, daughter Julia and handsome Bill in the lovely Santa Cruz mountains, with Reba still going strong;
Astrid and daughter Anika, in Carmel Valley with Sheba popping in & out; and Pat in the properly feng-shiu'ed yurt at Esalen, in residence with Jamie.

- let me borrow cars: Brian, thanks for letting me borrow the Mazda, and Molly for letting me borrow the Celica. I am so glad I got stubborn all those years ago and learned how to drive stick. Zooming along in the sports cars was a high point of the trip.

- met with me for meals, drinks, coffee: Dave, Tony, Mervat, Pam, Caroline, Jeff, Courtney, Nancy, Carol, Debbie, Mitchell, Sara, Arthur.

- met me in the San Jose airport as it was the only time that our Venn diagrams overlapped: Kimberly!

- met me for the first time: Dave! what a riot!

- met me to finish off old business: Logan.

The time zipped by so fast, I am still thinking of people I want to see and things I want to do - so I can't believe I'm back in Rochester already... and it's snowing here; it rained this morning and the water on the deck is frozen. And I'm glad to be back, and continuing to launch my new life. I have lots of ideas and waves of support from the left coast. And a zeal to bridge between here & there, starting with some consulting work. Soon!

I could get used to this

I am living like a nomad, tossing my stuff in the (borrowed, thank you so much, Brian & Molly) car; stayed with Kristen again one night, then Barb last night. If it wasn't for the occasional time when highway 17 comes to a grinding halt, Barb's neighborhood off Summit road is ideal - feels like high CA mountain, but it's very close to both San Jose & Santa Cruz. Great open yards, beautiful starry starry nights (the light pollution from San Jose doesn't reach there.)

So far, I've managed to keep all my things with me and even added more. I've been working the storage space, rediscovering precious stuff - high school yearbooks! Glassware from both Grams! Rocks! (K, we have a problem with the accumulation of rocks in our household. Inherited that from Dad.) I have culled more books and made a big donation to the Saratoga library today and have a plan for getting all the stuff to where I'm living now. Phew, one more chore almost finished.

Whole huge chunks of memories have come galloping back into front brain as I drive around here again. Street names, how to avoid traffic, stores, favorite fall neighborhoods. The drive up Villa to Castro in Mt View was aglow today with red red liquidambar trees. Beautiful against the fall blue sky. In some places, bushes are red & yellow, the purple salvia is in bloom. Barb even had daffodils open in her garden! It's a riot of color here.

I have an early coffee meeting in Cupertino tomorrow. Must get some sleep, Barb and I stayed up way too late last night. With champagne.

Postcard from California

Impossibly beautiful fall day: High clear blue sky, bright warm sunshine; trees changing colors, energy and joy and traffic all over the place! Perfect day for golf, as I write this from Pasatiempo, an Alister MacKenzie course in Santa Cruz. I'm at my kick-ass fun smart gorgeous friend Kristen's house. The laptop I'm writing on has to have the screen propped up and I'm told the original power supply was eaten by Danny, the new collie puppy. !!! That can't be good for the system.

Today, on my way to Kristens, I visited my former house, was afraid that it would be this big grief event. It wasn't. I am happy to have moved on. I love northern CA and am actually looking forward to going back to Rochester. Hunh???? I am committed to supporting family, hanging out with Dad and Greg, Andrea and Gavin. And maintaining these closer family ties. I've been telling my dear friends here what fun I've been having reconnecting with all my relatives. And CA is here for me when I want it. I will get work that pulls me here every few weeks for a while as I do love it here. And I'm happy to be straddling both worlds. Let's see if I can add a few more worlds to bop between!!! I've got room for even more great places.

Doh! Rochester! What was I thinking?

As I woke up in California today, I know I am home. Not sure yet how or when I'll be back here permanently, or even if I will, but I will be back here a lot, for chunks of time. I love it here - the energy, the light, the air, the people. What a gift to be able to step away for a few years and fall in love with this place all over again!

I attended my second James Ray seminar this past weekend. So good; great experiences, processes, learnings. (K, I don't really like that word but it is a short cut to the picture.) I commit to working diligently to keep hold of this feeling. I read some great books to prep for this - The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and Power vs. Force by David Hawkins. And that's about 1% of the suggested reading list, more to come. I reconnected with some wonderful people I met last seminar, so we'll get back in touch to encourage each other to keep with the learning. And I met some wonderful new folks. This adventure just keeps getting better!

Flew into San Jose yesterday afternoon, Peri picked me up. We stopped at East West Books, so I could see if there's interesting talks there while I'm in the area, a gorgeous new Whole Foods in Mt. View, Elephant Pharmacy - a supermarket of alternative stuff like homeopathy and herbal suppliments, great products for the home (environmentally friendly) and a regular pharmacy too. Oh, and Yoga supplies, of course! Then on to her place. She & Brian cooked a whole salmon for dinner - amazing! (We'll be having more tonight!) It's been so great to be here, and it's not even been 24 hours yet.

I was worried last week that this trip would be sad, boo hoo, the life I gave up. It's not at all. I am so happy and not even fussed about where I'm living now. I know I can be here any time I want - and I do.

We slide into Fall

It was beautiful, 82 degrees Monday. Grabbed the opportunity to get outside, on the river trail that borders the U of R campus.





U of R in the background


Looking upriver to downtown Rochester

Then it rained Tuesday and the landscape changed - at least in my backyard!



3 hours worth of work



And look, more to come!




Halloween across the street



Ghostly decorations next door

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Barbara are swinging through town to visit this weekend; we'll eat here tomorrow morning and then take Dad out later. And then I may have to throw together a costume and find a Halloween party to crash!

One more notch on the 'busy' amp; it goes to 11!

I am doing too much. The house is a wreck - started putting up curtain rods in the living room (the sheer was very artfully tacked up with push pins) and the rods didn't fit so I launched out to get one that did - HOURS ago. We had been having beautiful weather; Monday it was sunny and 82 so I spent the whole day outdoors. Cold front hit so it was 60 and raining all day yesterday. Today when I set out on my errand, it started clearing up and I somehow found myself at my new fav coffee shop (thanks, Eric!) sitting on a sidewalk table reading the most Amazing Book.* Then I went to see Kathi, we had dinner, then back to her house for a bit. I got home around 9, the place is still a wreck and the paper fairy has laid down today's 4" on the dining room table but I made a beeline up to the football room with a pressing need to blog.

* Amazing book - Power Vs. Force (the hidden determinants of human behavior) by David Hawkins. I have seen the kinesis muscle testing done, believe it with all my being. And this book ties in morphogenetic fields, quantum physics, chaos theory, all great spiritual teachings into simple elegant observations such as "Force always moves against something. Power, in contrast, energizes, gives forth, supplies and supports." and "The universe holds its breath as we choose, instant by instant, which pathway to follow; for the universe, the very essence of life itself, is highly conscious." Yes, everything is one energy. Our bodies are constantly responding to our thoughts - which can be weaker power attractors, or negative. Repeated patterns of thought can cause the body to align with these - and cause disease. I'm annoting this book like crazy as it ties together other things I've read/learned, and experienced. I'm expanding exponentially to take this all in and want to be moving very fast. Trying to sit with it and let it sink in instead!

- - -

Other stuff: making plans for my first trip to northern CA to visit in over 2 years and I want to see everyone, go all of my favorite places and take lots of pictures and start planning how to spend more time there! I'm slowly getting in touch with people to mooch spare rooms, get the party started (thanks, Nancy & Peri), cap it with a sublimely life-changing time and encounters on the Big Sur coast (thanks, Pat!) I've been trying to get on left coast time by staying up to 2 and sleeping to 9; it really makes the days seem shorter. But it's not too hard to do, I may have rediscovered my natural rhythm.

- - -
What's kicking off this trip is another spirituality seminar - in Vegas of all places. The books I've been reading lately have been in preparation; and as you've read the books are blowing the top off my mind. I anticipate otherworldy great vibrations and huge personal growth from this. November 07 is going to be an amazing month in my life.

- -
A love note: to Incubus - how, how, where does your poetry come from? Best love song ever is 'Dig' on the Light Grenades CD. Your work has gotten me through some low spots and smiling out the other end. Thank you so much!

LBD happier now

And so am I. The Entrepreneurs Conference at RIT was fantastic for me, and it seems like all participants and attendees were happy with it. I have met a couple students who want advice re: their current projects/business plans. Hey look at me, I'm an 'elder stateswoman'! TFC!!!! And I know that of which I speak!

I also met people in 'the community' (as opposed to working at RIT) who are business owners, VCs, etc. What a great way to get plugged in. I'm still buzzing from the day.

Oh yes, LBD, she was sad . So I wore her out to an 'networking event' a couple weeks ago. Garnered rave reviews, as appropriate! Next, out to dinner.

Gettin plugged in!

So excited! Tomorrow I'm on a panel about marketing new ventures at RIT! Check out the Entrepreneurs Conference

I'm on the run tonight; more this weekend after the conference.

What does it mean to "be" Peace?

In the tumult that is currently my life, I have been digging deeper into me. Maybe that's stirring up some of the turbulence. Hmmm. Anyway, I have been working on meditating, and focusing on the sayings 'As within, so without' and 'Be the change you want to see in the world'.

So I have been thinking and feeling Peace. It amazes me the new level of comprehension of my self-dialog. Man, it's no wonder the world has troubles - I keep having arguments with people in my head. And about trivial stuff, too. Anyone who's had sucess in getting the brain to move out of this mode, please share. I'm making progress but all tips and advice are welcome!

Meanwhile, this is a most excellent resource: Attract World Peace

NASCAR!!!!

Here’s me at a NASCAR race, in the pit at Spencer Speedway. And I liked it! The sound the modified stock cars make as they fire up, as they are all in a pack taking a flight around the corner, rumbles through every cell in my body - in a good way. Beth’s husband has been doing racing forever. He is the crew chief for a car, goes to the races to set up the car and work with it on the weekends. He was helping out a crew at Spencer, not “his” car & driver. I took some picks of the cars and the light had fade before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture of me, so Beth obliged with her camera phone.





The car, Chuck's #4

The car that Bob crews for is closing in on the final 3 races for the season, and currently is in first place in points. Beth & I are planning to go to Connecticut to see the last race in October.

A couple weeks ago, I went over to Beth’s on a Friday night with a movie. 30 minutes in, her phone rang. “Yes. OK. OK. Sure.” She turned to me and said, “We have an active fire. I have to go!” Hilton Ladies Fire Auxiliary supports the firefighters with beverages at the scene, and food afterwards as desired. So we headed out to the fire hall, where the other ladies of the Auxiliary were gathering. There was some milling around, and Beth and I headed to the store to get bottles of water and headed out to the fire. We carried the water in past the trucks and hoses and the paramedics to the scene.

As we headed back to the fire hall, I told Beth that she has been the architect of several of my firsts this year. She said “whaat?’ I replied: “Working at the Carnival, Golfing, NASCAR, working a fire, watching a Drum Corps competition, eating a 'garbage plate' …” She said “I never thought my life was so interesting!” Maybe I can make a business out of this – I’ll jump into someone’s life and show them how interesting it really is. Hmmmm….

Final day at Yellowstone; on to the wedding!

July 19, our last in the park, we split up. John & Amy headed out to take a hike. Greg, Andrea, Gavin and I puttered our way through more geothermal areas and ended up at Yellowstone Lake.



Sapphire Spring




Yellowstone Lake

We picnicked, then swam for an hour. The lake is beautiful, cool and very clear. We headed out after the swim, got hot again quickly, and Gavin crashed in the way back seat. 30 minutes up the road, we saw an animal jam up ahead. Looked to the right and saw bison in the picnic area just off the road – so I quick pulled a Uturn and into the picnic area. And Gavin woke up nose to nose with a bison. He handled that pretty well.

The bison were all over the picnic area – rubbing their rumps on picnic tables, nudging down young saplings as they scratched their chins, rolling in the dust. We spent 30 minutes cruising very slowly through the area, snapping pics.







Back onto the main road and slowly cruised through the rest of the herd. Headed up to dinner at Canyon Village, which was pretty good.

Next awesome sight was the ‘grand canyon’ of Yellowstone. We spent an hour cruising through and gawking. On the way out, we saw someone else dive to the side of the road, so we followed – and saw a wolf running through the undergrowth. We think. It was gone so quickly. That night we wanted to get to the hotel before midnight, so we headed out of the park. Stopped for one major animal jam and saw an elk with full rack, and feasted our eyes on the glory of the park on the way out for the last night.

The next day was a zoom through Idaho back to Salt Lake, to get to the pre-wedding BBQ at the Alta Lodge out of Salt Lake. And we made it. It is a darn good thing that we’d been at 8000+ feet for the previous week. We hit Alta at 10,000 feet and felt woozy and weak all over again. Alta is in a beautiful spot. We enjoyed seeing more family again and the dinner was superb. There were 100+ guests staying at the lodge.



Greg & Andrea with the Alta backdrop

The next morning, all the guests scattered – the insanely fit ones like Zoe and her finance Peter, cousins Julie and Guy went for a run (and Guy lives in Australia at sea level!) We opted for a hike up to Cecret Lake. Beautiful spot, glad I went. But man, did I get out of breath!




High meadow – is there anything more beautiful?





The lake – no swimming, too bad.

I headed back to the lodge and Steve, Colette and their son Kayden did me the honor of coming up to visit. I had known them in San Jose, they moved to Salt Lake a year before I went to Germany. It was so great to see them. I was wondering how it would be, seeing parts of my previous life. It was great!

The Wedding was to start early evening. The plan was to hike up the hill – OK, mountain, across the road to a high meadow that Peter and Zoe wanted for their ceremony. Fortunately, the landowner objected (sorry, folks!) so we all went back to our rooms to put on our pretty shoes and headed to the lower patio for the ceremony. It was beautiful and with an incredible backdrop.







The wedding was great, the reception fun. We danced outdoors until the last possible moment and then humped out suitcases up to the van for our early morning departure. The flights home were fine. Gavin & I saw Shaun White (AKA the Flying Tomato) at O’Hara. He’s very cute in person – and tiny.

Got home at 5 p.m. At 8 a.m. the next day, I started a 1-month contract for work. 2 days later, my fridge died. I am so grateful that it waited until I was back, it didn’t have much food in it but it still would have been such a mess. So I slammed into work, working at a card table and folding chair, and having to put all my food in a cooler, and borrow a cooler, and replace my fridge. Thank goodness for American shopping – I bought a fridge at 8 a.m., for deliver the next day. Try that in Germany – no way. And my house got disordered all over again, and I spent time putting it together again. This seems to be a pattern! Of course, as Ilya Prigogene uncovered, a system comes to maximum disorder just before it reorganizes at a higher level. And the level it reorders at, I believe, has a lot to do with intent. Ya just can’t tell me that chaos theory and quantum physics don’t intersect!

Now we get to Yellowstone

Dining in Jackson

The next day of our trip, Tuesday July 17, we had a breakfast of sourdough pancakes at Jedidiah’s in Jackson, where they say their starter is over 100 years old. Various of us tried to explain that to Gavin. We left Jackson and headed up through the Tetons and took in the grand sights along the way. Saw a moose! We encountered a sudden, cold rain storm in the Tetons.



Beautiful scenery on the Snake river.



Yellowstone lake, and fire scar from the fires a decade ago.

We rolled in to Yellowstone through the south entrance and headed towards, of course Old Faithful.

Got there 40 minutes before she was set to blow again so we headed out on the boardwalk in that geothermal area. It was now a hot day, and we were walking where the steam and hot mud come spurting out of the ground, Andrea and I sought shade!

Greg, Amy, John & Gavin on the boardwalk.






Gavin, Greg, and Amy

After the geyser blew, we meandered back to the lodge, got ice cream. Headed to the Old Faithful Inn, as John & Amy wanted to make a dinner reservation. So we took in the grand log cabin that it is, and ended up sitting on the outside deck for Old Faithful’s next performance.

Along the way, John & Amy explained the ‘animal jams’ we’d see on the road: all the cars pulled over because someone saw something. Elk, Moose, Bison, Wolves, Coyotes: ‘CMF’ they called them, Charismatic Mega Fauna. So, if you see someone pulling over, make the dive too! The driving in the park is tricky – narrow 2 lane road with animal jams spring up out of nowhere, and the drivers are all distracted trying to spot an Elk, or a Bison.

We drove out of the park and got to our motel for the next three days. Lord, it was not good. If you’re ever in West Yellowstone (a town in Idaho just outside the western border of Yellowstone park), DO NOT stay at the Yellowstone Country Inn. My room was scary bad, including goopy stains on the wall, tacky splotches on the rug, and moldy food in the corners. I didn’t stay in the room that night. Instead, stay at the lovely Moose Creek Cabins, just next door. A world of difference. Clean, pretty, and nice innkeepers.

The next day we all got up, trooped across the street to Uncle Laurie’s for breakfast. Great place; insanely good coffee. Cold brewed, said Turtle. He grinds it medium fine, and steeps it in cold water for 16 hours. Takes the resulting tincture (or is it decoction?) and puts 2 ounces in a cup, heats it up with hot water. Absolutely wonderful coffee, no acidity or bitterness. I’m sure I ate breakfast but just remember the coffee. Afterwards, we headed in to the park. Stopped at more geothermal areas on the way.



Gavin in front of Beryl Spring



From the back, John, Greg, Andrea, Amy (maybe you can see Gavin down low)

Ended up at a picnic area for lunch (which the great folks at Uncle Lauries had packed up for us.)






The boys climbed the postpile

and then we all went swimming in the Gardner river.





Bathing Beauty

This was the first river swimming I’d done since my last camping in the Sierra – it was so great, I could feel my DNA unwinding. After we dried off, which took about 45 seconds in the 97 degree 15% humidity wind, we hit Mammoth Hot Springs on the way to the Lamar valley.




Mammoth Hot Springs Geothermal area



It’s not snow!



Lawn Elk at Roosevelt lodge.



Dinner that night was at Roosevelt Tower, and the worst in the park. Very boring, white lettuce kind of food. But the hours in the Lamar Valley afterwards more than made up for it. We drove for about 40 minutes after dinner into the valley, which kept opening up and up.





There were clouds and a distant thunderstorm. We pulled over after sharp eyes (not mine!) spotted a bison herd across the river bank. As our engines cut out and silence descended, we heard wolves calling. The left side of the valley, then an answer a few seconds later from the right. Some of us tried yipping to see if they'd answer, but they were not playing along that night.



Sunset lasts for hours there. We stood by the road as night gathered, watching the unconcerned bison browsing. John, Gavin and I walked down the bank to the river to see what we could see down there. Just an amazing view.

When it was full dark, we marveled at the stars and drank in the silence and night air for a while, then headed back to West Yellowstone as the rain started. It took 2 hours to get back to the hotel. This park is BIG.