forestofglory

I just got back form Bodega Bay yesterday. My parents rented a big house for themselves, my family and my siblings. It was very nice of them but it was a rather stressful trip.

Things where arranged so I could not get much quite or privacy. The house had an open floor plan, so that all the public rooms and the kitchen where one giant room, and with so many people in the house someone was always in that room taking or watching something. I was sharing a small room with both R and the kid, but even when the room was free the sound form the great room traveled and it wasn't actually a quite place to sit. I ended up struggling with sensory overload by the last day.

The house was also in one of those annoying subdivisions full cul-de-sacs and lacking in sidewalks. Plus even though all the houses where in fact a bit different form each other they all felt very samey which made getting around confusing.

In contrast to the built enviroment the natural enviroment was lovely. We where able to walk to the beach. There was a rip tide so we couldn't get in the water but it was still lovely to walk along the beach. I spent one morning with my kid walking along and looking for tide pools. We saw sea anemones, sea stars, barnacles and muscles.

There where other things I liked about the trip too. The house had really well equited kitchen which is uncommon for that kind of thing. R and I made Chinese food for everyone for dinner one night which was fun. We played a lot of board games. My kid loved spending time with family especially her cousin. So it wasn't a bad trip, but it was a lot and I need some time to sit quietly by myself to recover.

I just go back form a trip with my family to Santa Cruz.

We left a bit before 1 on Wednesday, picked up the kid from preschool and drove down to Santa Cruz we made good time and got there around 3:30. It wasn't quite time to check into our AirBnB so we stopped downtown and got ice cream. Then we checked in and R took the kid to the boardwalk for a little bit while unpacked and had a bit of downtime. Next when did some grocery shopping and got take out pizza for dinner. We came back the house and ate and put the kid to bed. They had some trouble falling asleep in a new place so it was long process. Then we hung out on the sofa for a little bit before going to bed ourselves.

The next morning I got up before everyone else and enjoyed slow morning for a bit. It was raining pretty hard -- which is not what one expects in May in this part of the world. Once everyone was up we headed for the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It's such a great aquarium. We arrived in time to see them feeding the Deep Ocean tank. The tuna go so fast! The kid was less excited by the actual fish but enjoyed running between all the interactive bits and pushing all the buttons. We had packed a picnic lunch but couldn't eat outside by the great tidepool due to the rain. So we suck our outside food into the cafe.

We got back to Santa Cruz in the mid afternoon with time for more boardwalk time and for me and the kid to play at the beach and get in the water a bit. For dinner we had a bunch of pre-made stuff, two kinds of ravioli and a bagged salad. Bedtime was easier the 2nd night but still difficult.

On Friday morning we drove out to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, which has some lovely old growth redwoods. We took the short self guided nature loop -- the kid got pretty into finding the numbers. We saw several banana slugs, and spend a little bit of time in the nature center there.

We headed back to town and had lunch at a dinner before going to the MAH. I really enjoyed one of the exhibits Guided by Ghosts which featured three interconnected timelines -- the artist personal history, the history of Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans in Santa Cruz and international events.

After the Museum, R and the kid had some more time at the boardwalk and I took a walk. Then R had some time by himself in the arcade while I played with the kid at the beach. They where very enthusiastic about playing in the waves and we got pretty wet. Right at the end though the they tripped and got their face wet and that scared them so we had to have lots of cuddles. We went home and took a shower together then had some time playing with electronics. R made french toast for dinner which was delicious. The kid went to bed without much trouble and we where able to watch some TV.

Saturday started out clear but was predicted to rain latter. R and the kid went back for more rides at the board walk and I took a walk down on the wharf -- there where a lot of sea lions out there! As I was heading back it started to rain and by the time I got to the car it was coming down pretty hard. We had picnic lunch in sheltered bit of the boardwalk then went into town and got ice cream. I tried rolled ice cream for the 1st time. I got salted caramel with chocolate whipped cream and mochi bites. It was really good -- but I felt bad about how much work it was to make -- mixing it up seemed like so much labor. Then we headed home -- it was kind of a long drive with heavy rain.

It was good trip, but I'm tried now. I've maybe planed a bit too much travel for this month. Since I'm now home for four days (including today) two of which are work days before I head to WisCon.

One of my friends who lives in the UK is going to be in San Diego for a work trip. I'm going to fly down for a day a see and see her in person! So I thought I'd ask here if anyone has advice for things to do in San Diego?

So last Thursday R and got into the car and headed north. We were heading for Portland, OR, by way of Ashland.

We stopped for lunch in little town, that looked like an old railroad town. I had a fairly decent meal of pasta with pesto. Rural California is better than rural Iowa for vegetarians.

In Ashland we stayed with my family friends and my parents who were also visiting. We went out to dinner, and to see a play. We saw Two Gentlemen of Verona, with an all woman cast. I'm not sure if it was just because I was tried but the play seemed kind of hard to follow and fragmented.

The next day we walked around in Ashland in the morning. I had not been to Ashland in a while, but it is really quite a lovely city. We bought supermarket sandwiches for lunch, and drove the rest of the way to Portland.

We stayed in a town on the outskirts of the city, that was not very interesting. The main thing seemed to be a big mall. We were pretty close to the light rail, but far enough that we needed to drive to get to the station. The 1st evening we met up with my friend and had thai food for dinner.

The next day we took the light rail into town. First we went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which had lots of great hands on exhibits. I particularly liked their ecology stuff which had games about restoration.

Then we walked over the river and had some lunch. It was fun walking in the downtown because there are so many small parks. After lunch we went to Powell's Books which didn't live up to my hopes. It was really loud in there! I ended up going into sensory overload mode and not enjoying browsing very much. I've never been in such a loud bookstore. After that to calm down we had some ice cream.

Next we visited the Japanese Gardens, which are really pretty and calming. For dinner we found a handmade pasta place downtown that was really good, and probably my favorite meal of the the trip.

The next day we decided to drive up and look at Bonneville Dam. The drive along the Columbia gorge was beautiful, with many waterfalls to see as we went by. I didn't realize before hand that there is a hatchery as well as a dam. So we ended up looking at the hatchery 1st. It was really interesting. They raise a lot different types of fish. We got to see some huge Sturgeon, seriously they are bigger than I am. We also got to see some of the salmon returning. At the dam we saw the the fish ladder, and read about the history of the dam.

After that it was bit time for lunch. We stopped at the nearest town, were lunch was both really slow and not very tasty.

After lunch we went on short walk. It had on of those flyers pointing out things to see, except the things where not there. Instead it was like "once their was building right here." This was not much fun to look at.

Then we drove back to town and stopped at the mall, were my friend bought an emergency belt and we had some tea. After that we had quite a nice supper, featuring a really nice cheese plate.

The next morning we got up early to have breakfast with my my friend before she had to be at work. Then we drove all the way back in one day.

On Monday we drove form Kearny, NE to Denver. Tuesday we took off form driving to hang out in Denver.

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Today was mostly just driving through Wyoming, which is very beautiful. We are staying in a small town almost in Utah. We had dinner at hole in the wall Mexican place which was good.

I'm back home! I never want to get on an airplane again and I have tickets to go out and look at housing in Iowa next week, and then yet more tickets to fly to the east coast for the 3rd wedding of the summer.

Anyways my trip to England was great. I stayed with jack in Cambridge for about the 1st week. I spent lots of time wandering around Cambridge, and visiting with people. I went to Granchester and had cream tea at The Orchard. That friday I borrowed a friends kitchen and made challah. jack and had an improvised shabbat which was very nice.

Saturday the 29th I went out to lunch with some very lovely friends and then helped them with some set up for their wedding the next day. Mostly folding napkins and a bit of sewing. Wish I had got to see them more. Their wedding Sunday was lovely. The ceremony was the most christian wedding I've been to -- but that isn't saying much. Most other people felt it was quite light on religion. They had nice food and ceilidh after. (Dancing is such fun -- I must find a way to do it more often).

Wednesday June 1 took the train up to liv. I stayed with her for a few days. We had a really nice time just hanging out doing low key stuff. I gave her a lesson in challah making and she answered lots of Jewish questions for me.

Then last Friday I took the train to eudoxiafriday.wordpress.com. I took some of the challah and lead shabbat diner. Was a bit nervous about it because she and her family are all christian, but I think it went well. Saturday we went to London and shopped. (I need b-day presents for my family.) Then met up with Pooh Soc people and had a meeting.

Sunday was kerrypolka and ewan's wedding. I'd never met either of them in person so I got to say "I'm from the internet" quite a bit. The wedding ceremony was adorable and I got to meet many other people who are also from the internet.

The dress which I wore to both weddings was a success. I got complements on it, and it was go for dancing in.

Monday Eudoxia and I stayed in, and invited our friend Ignatius over. We made scones and went into town to buy lunch and clotted cream. Then we came back and played board games all afternoon with a break for cream tea. It was an utterly brilliant day.

Wednesday I flew home -- leaving taking of from Heathrow around noon local time and avrive at SFO around 8 local time. It was mildly unpleasant but nothing went wrong. Glad to be home and seeing R and my family again.