What gets you out of bed in the morning?

For me, today, it's the banana and fresh strawberries in the kitchen. They are calling my name.

What is this falling from the sky?

Rain? I thought I moved to sunny California.

In seriousness, the rain is good. We're apparently in year three of a drought. I saw the most convoluted sentence on the State's Department of Water Resources website saying that the recent major rainstorms did not significantly reduce our accumulated water supply deficit.

Several sunny days this week allowed is to use the pool, the hot tub, and the wogging path. Life is good.

Happy Weekending!

Phew!

We are home. Our travels were splendid, fun, awesome, and a tad tiring. We have a busy weekend of unloading Fred and unpacking, but we are so glad that we aren't travelling anymore, it doesn't seem like a chore.

I think I just made a rhyme. You be the judge.

Happy Halloween!

Scrumptious Autumn

A and I are driving 95 in CT and appreciating the beautiful fall colors of New England. We are on our way from Eastham, MA on Cape Cod to the District of Columbia. We've been on the move since October 8th.

After a quick stop to get our new apartment in Oakland we headed down to Los Angeles for a few days. The traffic there hasn't changed. The freeways are still massive and filled with plenty of people. I think some double decker highways are in order down there.

We lived the So Cal life in Long Beach for a few days. Sis and A had fun while I was working and we all enjoyed dinner with Grandma, a tour of the St. Mary, and a trip to Universal Studios. The new Simpsons ride was GREAT! The absence of a crowd meant we could re-live the wonderful days of childhood where we ran from the exit of a rollercoaster right back around to the entrance over and over again. We'll always be kids at heart. The Jurassic Park ride soaked us many times. We screamed and laughed a lot! That's the American dream, right? Churros, screams, roller coasters, and bad jokes. We had a blast and were scrumptiously entertained. I was particularly impressed with the larger than life Whoopi Goldberg cut out welcoming us to the tram ride. Instead of a lion or mouse, Universal has an Oscar Winning Whoopi as their mascot.

From Universal Studios we said "see you later" to Sis at the airport and took a red eye to Boston. Didn't we just leave there? Amazingly, it felt great to be back, even though we weren't really. A recognized the landmarks of the region from the airplane as we approached in the morning sun. The fall colors were abundant and gleefully gorgeous.

We hopped in a bright blue 2010 VW Beetle at the Rental Car lot and headed for Cape Cod. We joined up with A's family in a super relaxing house in Eastham and attended a beautiful wedding at the Orleans Inn. The bride and groom had their names printed on Hershey's chocolate bars! It poured rain during the whole wedding, but we hardly noticed. It was a sunny day inside.

We worked hard to finish the 1000 piece puzzle that was started before we arrived and went for a lovely walk on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. It was the most relaxing two days I've had since .... hmmm... I don't remember.

Today is beautiful and sunny. I understand we missed some snow in New England while we were gone. We are grateful for the good weather for our glorious drive in the blue beetle to DC.

Home Sweet Home

After a wonderful night in A's childhood 'hood, we have a signed lease and have a new apartment. Waaaaaa Whooooo!!!!

Sis came up to be our first visitor. We enjoyed lunch at Bocanova in Jack London Square, unloaded our car, and are off on more travels via airplane. HeShe (the car) is glad to have a rest!

First destination: LAX.
A and Sis are coming on the trip to have some So Cal fun while I do business.

It certainly feels great to be back in the Bay Area. Our new home has amenities that our old home did not: washer/dryer in the unit, hot tub, pool, Jack London Square, walking path along the bay, and much more! The four flights of stairs will help us get in shape, or encourage us to have groceries delivered to the house. We'll see.

Our road to heaven

Today is our last full day on the road. This trip has gone by fast. Neither of us are tired of being in the car. We are still enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest as we travel south from Eugene, OR.

The hills are covered in a foggy mist which makes for scrumptious views. Heading up one long uphill road into the clouds A said it was "our road to heaven". We are on our way to the heavenly state of CA.

Oregon's fall colors, sheep, and cows are entertaining us along the way. We had a great time with Andrew and Lynn despite the pooring rain in Eugene. Andrew's giant TV (seriously, movie theaters might make an offer to buy this thing) inspired us to buy a Wii now rather than later.

We bought a Wii!
We have a Wii!
We named it Wiible.

Last night there were many boxing, bowling, basketball, frisbee, and more competitions. My Mii wears pink. She is sooo cute.

Road Trip Stats:
Miles from Longmeadow: 3,420.
Number of States entered: 13 (including Ontario)

Apples to Apples

We hummed and hawed over the option to go to the Haunted Corn Maze and the boys decided to play a video game featuring barfing zombies. This was less scary than humans lurking in dark corn fields with chainsaws. The video zombies were only interim entertainment until the Apples to Apples connection arrived.

Apples to Apples is the best game ever! It's one that anyone can play and is perfect for more than four people, unlike Candyland. A and I find Apples to Apples is a great game to play with groups of people we don't know well. He is really good at it! If you haven't played Apples to Apples give it a try! AND feel free to invite us to play!