Road Trip

Once upon a time, circa two years and four months ago, I stepped onto a plane and begun my journey to Boston.  I remember that day pret-ty well.  I had known I would be moving a year before it happened, but naturally this little fact did not set in until a few hours before boarding my one-way flight.  Those were a sad, sad few hours.  And they were followed by quite a few equally sad days missing the people and the town and the life that I had left on the ground.

However, I am convinced these past couple of years were meant to be.  If you want to prove that you can be a grown up and fend for yourself, then picking a new city and starting over ought to do the trick.  It has definitely been a life experience I won't soon forget.

Now I will once again be missing the people and the town and the life that I'm leaving behind.  Last week I loaded up my little SUV until you couldn't fit so much as another shoe inside or the poor car might burst, and then I set off on my second cross-country trek.  This one was by car, and this time I was headed back to sunny California.

I think there were a number of reasons for this move.  It wasn't tied to any particular person or place or weather forecast.  Sometimes you just feel like it's time to move on, and that's what has to be done.  In this case, I know I will be returning to the East Coast many times (courtesy of my job, which I will continue to do, but with San Francisco as my home base) and I know I will see all of my favorite Bostonians again.  That knowledge is helping me enormously in my efforts not to be sad.  Along with the fact that this move has required me to take TWO WEEKS of vacation.  The sheer happiness of vacation is pretty much canceling out any sadness I may have otherwise felt.  Sorry, Boston friends.

Moving on. You can't drive 3,000 miles across the country without snapping a few shots with your iPhone.  So here's what I got.

This little car was a trooper.  Here's what it looked like right before we took off.

Because it was the middle of December, most of America was cold, gloomy, and dead.  My view from New York to Nebraska looked exactly like this:

And this:

We did make a few interesting stops.  Like this restaurant in Kearney, Nebraska where each table is served a bucket of peanuts:

...and then you toss the shells here.

Or our lucky discovery of this ultra 'classy' restroom....

In case you were wondering what a classy restroom in the middle of Nebraska looks like, here you have it.

We did see this pretty sweet windmill farm in Wyoming.

However, the rest of Wyoming was covered in snow.  This was just the beginning...

After stopping at this little diner in Rawlins, Wyoming the snow began to come down very hard.  The final twenty-four hours of the trip were really tough.

Fortunately I had my driving buddies to snuggle with me:

And after several days on the road, I was practically elated to see this sign.  (Yes I did pull over on the side of a busy interstate to snap this photo.)

Of course it didn't hurt that I was greeted by glorious 60-degree sunshine... a very welcome change from the frigid 3-degree conditions I had experienced only the night before while stopping for gas.  And so 3,000 miles later and 3,000 miles wiser, I am a Californian once again!  For now anyway.  No promises that I will stick around here forever.  But until the next thing comes along, you can find me here on the West Coast.. hopefully warm and happy and tan!

Moving Out

What an exhausting feat to go from this:

...to this:

And I'm way too embarrassed to show you what my closet looked like. Suffice it to say it was not pretty. Good thing I made these neat signs to help get organized:

And so only a day and a half behind schedule, I left my empty little apartment behind and hit the road. Goodbye, apartment. You were great to me and I will miss you lots! 

Hello December

In merely 12 DAYS my grandpa is coming over and we are going to begin our road trip across the USA. That is not a lot of time. Especially for a serial procrastinator, who incidentally has not begun packing. But you know, I have been doing every other possible thing I can think of that doesn't involve packing (like shopping for earmuffs, getting oil changes and haircuts, doctors appointments, gym-time, hockey games, brunch outings, hot baths, watching football, you name it).


I woke up this morning feeling a tiny bit sick. Which I knew was a sign that I was about to feel A LOT sick. So in a aggressive maneuver to outsmart the germs which are attacking me, I have consumed no less than 12 chewable Vitamin C tablets today, each one with more than 400% of the recommended daily Vitamin C allowance. Because that's supposed to supercharge your immune system, or something like that. (And perhaps they were citrus-flavored and delicious and tasted like pure sugar.) ANYWAY, it did not work. So much for natural cures! I need real drugs. You know, like nasal sprays and Excedrin and Dayquil. 


OH guess what? It turns outs that I love December! I don't know how I forget about this fact every single year. I think I accidentally associate December with January and February. But that is silly... they're completely different. December means pretty lights and Christmas decorations and vacation time to look forward to. And holiday music and trees inside houses. And cute boots. And vacation time. 


Man I really can't wait for vacation time.