AR/CA

I'm back! sort of.

was in Arizona for the last two weeks, and now in california. A summary, day by day:

April 17: plane to Seattle. I'm so sick of planes. and yet, I STILL love airplane food. what gives?? Babysat my 3 year old niece while my sis and bro-in-law went out for their 4 year anniversary
April 18: took my sister's dog for a run (ie let it take ME for a run.) Errands to help prepare for the trip.
April 19: drove through Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, and into northern Utah. HARDCORE.
April 20: drove through Utah and into northern Arizona. Saw hippy commune in southern Utah off the highway. as my sister and her husband put it: "we're just weekend/yuppie hippes. they are REAL hippies."
April 21: Sedona! saw the town and got a FREE Vortex map at one of the 100s of new-age stores there.
April 22: went for a hike at Bell Rock and walked by an Energy Vortex... which we could not detect. Darn you, elusive vortices!!! I was really looking forward to recharging my crystal!
April 23: went to Slide Rock state park and dipped in the stream for a little bit. My niece took a spill and had a puffy lip for about 5 days... poor baby! figured out why it was called "slide rock"
April 24: drove south to Tucson, i.e. the hottest place on earth. listened to the Beatles song where they mention Tucson, rocking out in the car.
April 25: chilled out in Catalina State Park (north of Tucson) and went for a short walk/hike. and drank a bazillion gallons of water.
April 26: more hanging out
April 27: went for a 5 hour, 8 mile round trip, 1000 foot elevation gain-and-loss, 90 degree heat, 125 ounces of water consumed hike into the Catalina Mountains. Got needles stuck in my hand by both Prickly Pear Cactus and another unknown type of cactus... ROCK ON!
April 28: My niece needed a break from the heat/desert
so we went to the Zoo. Tucson Zoo = TINY, but at least she got to feed the giraffes
April 29: the fam decided to get out of the heat (with a pregnant woman in her third trimester and a 3 year old kid, who can blame them?) and we drove west through LA and then north on the way back to Seattle. Slept in a very sad RV park
April 30: drove north and was dropped off at an exit between SF and Sacramento. My delicious friend Joanne (of Kenya/Peace Corps fame) picked me up and brought me so generously to her home in Saratoga CA.

so i'm back in civilization! with quite a good tanktop-tan, by the way