Road trip! (Week 1)

          The baptism was an understated affair, that's just fine with me. :) I'm thankful for everyone that could make it in person and appreciate those that were there in spirit. Immediately after we head on back to Texas. It was a long drive but we made it around midnight I think. We got Sunday to rest up and get some things together. Driving Monday, I almost couldn't believe that Mexico was only a few miles away. I wondered at how human borders aren't always defined on the landscape, why we try to keep something in or out. We get to El Paso and Dad mentions that crossing into Laredo is very dangerous. They shoot people there and the police are owned by the drug cartels or something. Suddenly borders seem like a good idea but the ones there may not be very effective if Laredo/El Paso is a major conduit for trafficking drugs. :(
          Tuesday we pass through Arizona. I'd decided I liked that state the least, the desert there is particularly un-pretty and the atmosphere is unhealthy somehow. It felt wrong. Anyway, we hit California and stay in a lovely (i.e. really really up-class expensive) town Rancho Mirage. I'm certain the hostess at the Marie Callender's sat us the farthest back corner because we looked so frumpy. The room was nice, though, as were the pool and hot tub. :) Wednesday we make it to the Bay Area. I see my grandmother and uncle for the first time in seven years. They insisted if we hadn't sent them our graduation pictures in high school, they wouldn't have recognized us. We'd both grown so much. It was also decided that David looked like our (late) great uncle Gene (I think that's his name). It's the oval face and lop-sided smile. We had a great dinner (raviolis with rosa sauce I think), apple pie and ice cream, a game of hearts (I "won" with over 100 points).
          Next day we go for a round of miniature golf, 18 holes of fun. The golf place is one we'd visited many times when we lived in California. It was fun to play through it again (even if I "won" yet again with a par of over 50). Friday we hit up the California Academy of Sciences. We'd been there once before but it was renovated a few years go with a green roof (lots of cool plants, including poppies, were growing up there), and naturally there were new exhibits as well. It was a lot of fun to walk through them all and absorb mounds of information present. If I could afford it, I'd love to bring even a few students when I become a teacher.
          Saturday we went into San Francisco and checked out Fisherman's Wharf. The pier we started at was crowded (they all were actually), a farmer's market was going on. I wished so badly for thick wad of cash to buy gifts for you all! There were knit hats that looked like bears, jewelry of every kind, home decor like painted plates, light-switch and outlet faces (?), glass figurines (I saw several dragons), wind chimes, and so many other things. Street performers were intermittent, a group of friends playing around on unicycles, musicians from one-man bands, a man with either an accordion or guitar (he played a lovely melody and was kinda cute, lol), a bass player...the food looked great. Everything was touted as organic. It smelled as good as it looked. Peaches, tomatoes, oh so tempting. Fresh meats like fish, beef, not sure I saw chicken. We even found salmon candy. Very strange. We didn't buy it. We tried some cheese, it was amazing. I believe what we tasted was made from sheep's milk. It had a gentle flavor and texture, like this bit of white cheddar I'd tried a few stands before. It was worth over $20 a pound and we had nowhere to store it so we didn't get that either. :/ There was more inside this one building in front of the water (it might have been an old warehouse or ferry station), fish shops, a mushroom shop, coffee shop, chocolate, bread, pastries, sandwiches. I got kind of hungry but we didn't eat there. Instead we ate a few piers down. Mom insisted David try some crab (he liked it) and I got an amazing veggie pizza slice. I can still taste it, not greasy but not dry with fresh (real) cheese, onions, olives, bell peppers, mmm! So good.
          After lunch we do a bay tour on a ferry (Alcatraz was sold out for the day). Got a good dose of history passing an old fort, the bay bridge, art museum, Alcatraz. I didn't know that San Francisco's hills weren't always covered in green grass, evergreen and eucalyptus. It was yellow grassy hillside like the rest of the Bay Area (makes sense...).
          I take interest in a lot of things, hence the reason I say "I find it interesting that..." so often. I took note of the changing landscape as we headed west. The San Antonio/Hill Country area is unusually green, it's so far inland that often even the larger hurricanes that hit Houston barely sprinkle on most occasions. As we traveled north and west though, it did get drier. The light green gave way to darker, dirtier green to a brown I find quite ugly. Eventually the desert gives way to manufactured oases, to dry hills, to hills of dry golden summer grass, to farmland in the San Joachim valley. There were vineyards, orchards, farms, even cattle feed lots. In between it was rolling hills of that same golden grass. As we get closer to the Bay Area, more variety in the vegetation appears. If only the change in air was as pleasant. The air is clear through much of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona but as you near Los Angeles it gets dirty and hazy. It's quite sad, really; a state that tries to be so "green" has some of the worst air (and light) pollution I've witnessed. I often thought on this trip that my memories of this state were greener, more beautiful and pleasant than the reality. Then or now. Despite the mild disappointments, I still cherish them.