Adventures

There are moments you just know things.  Like when you know something is right or when something is wrong.  There are moments you see things clearly and it all makes sense and you don't have to fight the blur of distraction of life. There are moments when you can see a bigger picture, unhindered by the tunnel-vision of the task-driven day-to-day routine.  There are moments, when the clouds break, you stop and see things, realize things and bask in a simple reality, even if ever so briefly. Today as the sun broke through several days of rain and gloom to shine some light on the beauty being born beneath the darkness of the clouds, today became a day of clarity, of stepping back and seeing a bigger picture, of seeing the beauty and renewal of the heavy rains and dark clouds.  And it was a beautiful and calmly serene day.  The hills are brilliantly emerald green, dotted with little orange poppies and yellow mustard flowers.  The trees are blooming their flow...

Two Thousand Eleven?!  Oh my! My brother always says the key to a good blog is to have something to write about.  Yep, I would say that's true.  I have no big stories to tell.  January and 2011 has held work, a day trip to Sonoma, some time in the City (San Fran) and a head cold, like the rest of the Bay Area.  This last week, however, included the exploration of the town of Sonoma and Sonoma Valley.  Sonoma is where the Bear Flag Revolt occurred and Californians declared independence from Mexico in 1846.  California was even it's own republic for less than a month before it was annexed to the States!  But, Sonoma has much to offer the history buff, with preserved hotels during the mining days, old barracks, the last Spanish Mission built, and General Vallejo's home, who was a very prominent and prestigious figure in Sonoma after the revolt.  If you ever come to Northern California and are looking for a nice day of learning about the histo...

Hurried shopping, Christmas partying, airport hopping, crying baby avoiding, hello hugging, Christmas lights horse-drawn wagon riding and freezing, "Look how much you've grown!" exclaiming, Christmas-carol playing, Christmas feasting, family laughing, card gaming, football watching, fireside sitting, family internet browsing, couch napping, holiday reading, "White Christmas" movie watching, gift swapping, more feasting,goodbye hugging, airport hopping, crying baby avoiding, airplane window Hollywood sign looking, fifth airplane landing, and "hello home!" saying. Such is December!  How do we have time to think about anything else?!  Hopefully, we were able to to find the time to remember the little Babe born in the stable, God incarnate, to die so we may live. Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours! Got to visit my friends Carli and Scott in Seattle!  So good to see them!  Oh, this is Pike's Market, where...

I kept hearing about "Half Dome" when people would talk about Yosemite. I was always intrigued and thought I would see what the big deal was.  As I researched hiking Half Dome in Yosemite, I found many blogs, a few articles, and lists about the dangers of this climb.  Coworkers would talk about the stories of hikers witnessing people slide off the edge to their deaths and their own adventuresome tales of making to the top and back down again safely, getting lost and having to find their way back to camp in the dark with flashlights.  Not to mention, there are two large waterfalls and a rushing (raging in the spring) river to consider, which has claimed hundreds of lives of healthy people, just out for a day hike.  The warnings to proceed with caution and care are very present. The hike is a 14-16 mile round trip, normally, depending on which trails you take.  Jeff and I hiked up the Mist Trail and down the John Muir Trail, so, including our 1 mile each...

Rachel told me I should update my blog . . . I have to be honest . . . I have no idea of what to blog about this time.  I noticed I had started a new blog entry on August 8th, opened it, hoping I would have something to work with, and was disappointed by the fact that it was blank:  Blogger's Block? It's been almost two months since the last entry.  Tarah's been long gone and I'm sure much has happened during that time . . . New friends, new places, more trips, more bike rides, more work . . . But the questions remain in my head, "What do people want to know?  What do they want to read about? Why do they read and what do they care about? What's narcissism? What's sincerity and openness with us and our lives? What do I have to say or share that's worthy of their time?"  I suppose honesty and sincerity are valued.  I suppose not dressing things up or "packaging" them perfectly to make them more glorious than they actually are is valued. ...

Goodbye, Tarah . . .  Tarah, the last of my traveling friends, rolled out of the Bay Area Sunday morning with her mom to help drive the post-night-shift-sleep-deprivation-induced-intoxication-ridden-night-nurse on the first days of driving back to Minne-SOH-ta.  It is the end of a mini-era.  Sure, there will always be more people to meet and to become friends with, but these were the original Fab Five Travelers and friends I met when I first came to California.  They are special.  Tarah heads to NYC to start her new assignment there at the end of the month.  She's been great fun to have around and I will miss her unique sense of humor, sarcasm and wit.  I will probably miss her Minne-SOH-tan accent more than anything!  Okay, maybe I won't miss it the most of all, but I will miss it and laugh to myself when I think about it.  Soh long, Tah-rah!  Enjoy the East Coast, again! : ) California is finally warming up and finally feeling ...