Google+ and the minuses

Dear Google+,

You came into my life with promises of being the savior of my social networking needs. I knew there would be a price to pay - personal information doesn't stay personal where the web is concerned - and I was prepared. When you insisted on access to all of my pictures in order for me to get your app on my smartphone, I was concerned, but I thought we could work through it. So, I took all of the photo albums that you had and deleted them.

I didn't realize that you would turn around and stab me in the back for my actions, removing each and every picture from every blog post. Perhaps I should have know, the all powerful Google wouldn't have kept any boundaries between the gmail and the plus. It's all or nothing and I just didn't understand.

I've learned a hard lesson Google+. I don't know whether to let you go, or to focus on the good things you bring to my life and try to rebuild. We just met, but I am not ready to let you go, no matter what my friends say. I think you have potential to be great and I am willing to give it another try.

Sincerely (with potential love),

Sus

How to get around being poor...

Glimpes of good weather + Summer vacation = Itching to get on the road

Us:Poor + Gas:Expensive = No trips

No trips + Me = So Sad

It used to be that taking a road trip was the cheap option because people couldn't afford to fly. That is no longer the case.

I'm not completely losing out however, I will be heading to Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare Festival and also to Lake Chelan for our annual family vacation, but traveling to a specific destination is not the same as a road trip.

How can I solve this dilemma? Priorities do shift constantly and in the summer my priority is to acquiesce to my nomadic tendencies and hit the road. I don't know if I will get the chance - I'll be on the lookout for opportunities.

In the meantime, I will re-live last years adventures as I slowly finish blogging about them. Needless to say, I'm disappointed I didn't do them immediately, but if I got anything out of that trip it was knowing that we learn as we go.

Catching Up

So, uh, yeah. I kept thinking I would have time to finish up last summers post, but the funny thing is that thinking is not doing. I thought about it a lot - obviously didn't do it. The combo of school, work, kids, and life pretty much sucked away any spare time or desire I had to upload pictures or write about them.

Originally I had thought I would blog on the road as I went but I did not leave myself enough time to do that. It's something to note for future trips and would probably lead to more success as far as my stopping for the night early enough instead of driving for, oh, 16+ hours in a day? (Watch for that story).

Anyway, my point is that now that I am quasi-graduated and currently unemployed, I hope to finally catch up on last years trip and be prepared for whatever trips this summer may hold - which currently the only scheduled trip is to the Shakespeare Festival with my Mom in July. No doubt that will be a trip full of "help me" posts. Just kidding Mom. No, really. Love you. Mean it.

I hope to squeeze in at least one solo trip or maybe +kids trip in the van before summer is over. As my friend Shannon says, last year was the summer of spontaneity, this year, not so much. But, it's only the beginning...

The Art of Cartography

I've evolved the word.

Cartography is the art of making maps. Do people still do that? Haven't we already charted every corner of the world to the point that the mystery is gone? Maybe not.

My definition of cartography: The art of taking photographs while driving; creating a visual map of your trip through live-action photos; attempting to capture a moment on film as you live it.

San Francisco

Rounding the corner towards the Golden Gate bridge I realized that my camera battery was dead, so I did my best with to capture it with my cell phone. I love driving into San Francisco, but driving in the city is a pain in the butt if you have to go downtown at all which I did. We were talking about how idiodic it seems to have built a city in such a ridiculously hilly area, but I guess there really wasn't much control over that. It just happened.

These pictures don't do it any justice becuase when I was on the really steep part of the hill, I was too afraid to let go of the wheel in order to take a picture. Alicia lives at the top of that hill in the distance and when you get there the grade becomes like 9%! I felt close to vertical.

But I made it, grabbed her and we headed towards the Mission district for yummy pie at Mission Pie! Parking in the mission district didn't do anything to alleviate my anxiety after driving through the city. Leaving all of my possessions in my car with an assurance that the risk of break in was medium to likely, was hard to do. But I wasn't about to lug it all out. It was daylight and busy and my computer was covered. I would have probably cried a lot if I had come back to find it gone though, after just having lost my other one. It made me feel lame though to worry about it.

Headed to drop her off after during going-home time, plus there was a....Giants (?) game to boot. Traffic was really fun and sadly our visit was cut short by my readiness to get the heck out of the city. Next time I may have to BART in.

Alicia and I have been friends since High School. Ever since the frocto incident of '94. She just moved back to this coast from NYC and it's going to be nice to know she's easy to see again. Hopefully once jobs are secured and house is settled then we'll get to see each other more. Plus it helps to be in the same time zone again. We didn't even get a chance to be really weird.

I debated staying the night in San Francisco, but opted to move on towards Yosemite since I was already behind my original schedule and I didn't want to wind up having to drive 24 hours to get home because I ran out of days. I braved rush hour traffic, which wasn't too bad really, and headed east of the Bay.

The Road to San Francisco

The coast in general, but the California coast by Ft. Bragg especially, is incredibly windy (wind-y). When it says to go around a corner at 10 mph - do it. Highway 1 heading into FB is so windy I almost got sick the first time I drove on it. It's full of blind corners and there are bikers, hikers, RV's and semi-trucks on the narrow road that you can't see until you come around the bend. I have to admit that it was a lot more fun to drive it this time, knowing what to expect and being totally alone, than it's been before. I suggest, if you ever drive it, to put on something like flamenco music becuase it would totally fit that stretch of road!

Heading out was not quite as bad, still windy mixed with hills. It's absolutely beautiful though. There are redwoods and a gorgeous river then you get into the Mendocino Wine Country. My sister-in-law would love it here. I wanted to stop and take a picture in front of the landscapes but there was never a good spot to stop until I had passed it. Boo. So I did my best to take pictures from the car.

Northern California smells like warm honey. Something that is blooming here has this incredibly intoxicating scent that I couldn't identify but permated the air from south of Crescent City until I hit the big city. I didn't want to leave it. It reminded me of a greek legend, something about an island that no one ever left becuase it was like heaven there. That's sort of how I feel about Northern Cali, at least outside of the city...

Ft. Bragg

Kerry and I were roommates in college. Art school really. Neither of us finished, but our friendship has lasted the 13 years since. We lived together, got tattoos together (not matching), took a road trip across the US together.

I attribute Kerry's influence to teaching me a lot about living with other people and life in general and you gotta love a friend who the minute you get to town provides you with a toilet, a beer, and a cigarette after a long drive.

<-----Kerry and Dave.

Ft. Bragg is a typical coastal town with a cute downtown area and then lots of small, funky houses within walking distance of the main drag. It completely fits them and it smells of patchouli and old stuff. Brings back lots of memories. Buddy is the sweetest dog and she guards the house, ferociously wagging her tail when you come into the yard. She left her hair and slobber all over me and I took it as a sign I was accepted into the family.

We walked down to the Mexican grocery store and had some lunch in the taqueria in the back.

Kerry has always had eclectic taste and a love of antiques. Her house totally reflects that retro/bizarre-chic style.

Dave directs at the local theater and works for the Brittany knitting needle company making knitting needles. They are supposedly the best and they sure seemed nice. Sadly, I don't knit....yet.

They work a shift together at one of the local pubs. It's a hole-in-the wall trendy sort of place that serves beer and pizza. It was packed when I stopped in. It reminded me too much of my hometown and that freaked me out a little bit. I was having some sort of anxiety/homesickness attack while I was there. Although it was standing room only, maybe it was claustrophobia...?

After a good nights sleep and a homemade breakfast, I bid farewell and headed towards San Francisco...