Japanese Garden & Playing Tourist

Bethee & I went to the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Gardens in Washington Park today.

Holy Mackerel!

It was absolutely amazing. We couldn't have for a better day to go.

And it was just what I needed after such an emotionally charged adventure.

A little peace, a little om in the midst of a storm.

I sat down at one point, and my body sighed.

I realized that this was the right move.

The best move.

I became aware that my fear had become my flight.

First Day in Portland

Bethee & I arrived in Portland on Monday (July 6th) at about 5:30 in the morning.

I had a hard time getting sleep, despite us being up alllll day and driving allll day.

Because by the time we arrived the sun was coming up to greet us.

We were going to camp in Northern California, but it ended up being a low of 50 that evening, and we were just not prepared for camping in that climate. So we decided to be CRAZY and drive the whole freaking day. Just to give you an idea of how long that drive was we left Jenni's house Sunday morning at about 8:30-9 am. Yikes!

When we "woke up" and we were both ready to start our day,

we made a list of things I needed to do.

#1. go to Ikea and buy a bed/mattress

#2. go to Home Depot and buy paint for my bedroom

#3. Grocery store/Target for Pookah supplies

#4. Goodwill (woohoo!)

Then we started painting my room, which turned out gorgeous.

To see the rest of the pictures, and see how it turned out go to my Flickr.

**entry is back-dated

California Dreamin'

We made it from AZ to San Diego in just a few hours, arriving somewhere around lunch time.

We arrived on 4th of July, and made our way over to Pacific Beach to meet up with Jenni and her momma for lunch and I had a delicious mojito. Mmm. Minty Limey-ness.

With us traveling, her mom just landing the night before and Jenni having duty the night before, we were all a bunch of lazy-pants, haha. But it was nice just to relax, and the weather was so purdy. Only it was so dang busy out and about with all the crazy Fourth of July folk that I was totally distracted by all the pedestrians. 

....Some guy in a banana suit told me he liked the color of my car.

And I told him I liked the color of his banana suit. HA

Oh my goodness it was so nice to see Jenni, parting ways I cried for a good couple miles down the road. I miss her. But now we are in the same time zone! And flights to San Diego are:

 a.) cheap b.) short & c.) worth it

We originally planned on camping somewhere in Northern California, but come to find out the low was 50 at night, and we weren't prepared for cold-weather camping.  Sooo we decided to be crazy and drive all the way here. Which is about 18 hours or so drive. 

We got in this morning (Monday) at 5:30 am. We left San Diego at about 9:00 am.

Whew! We were exhausted. Except I was also on some kinda adrenaline/the-sun-is-coming-up-so-I-can't-sleep kick, and stayed up a few hours later, and then crashed for a wee bit on the futon in the living room with Bethee, because my movers haven't been here yet. I woke back up at around 8:30-9 and tip toed around the apt and took a much-needed shower, and started looking at furniture to buy at ikea. I need a new bed.

I could spend a fortune in that dang store. It's like a candy store for decorating folks.

Mmmm

Yucca

We've made it as far as Arizona today, we're actually about 3-4 hours away from San Diego now. But last night we got a little tired of being in the car and decided to settle in for the night at a really cute, kitschy motel in the middle of the desert, Yucca Motel. The blinds are the color of pepto bismol and the air conditioning is intense! It's like an igloo in here. Whew.

--Night before we stayed in Roswell NM at the most over-priced hotel ever. But we all really needed a good night's rest after not sleeping anymore than 3 hours each since we left on Tuesday. We woke up and walked around downtown Main St in Roswell before heading out on the road again. The desert is absolutely breath-taking. Beth and I were just in awe as we drove through the mountains/desert. 

We'll be spending 4th of July in San Diego with Jenni & her madre. And then we're heading up the coast of California. The plan is to camp somewhere in Northern California and then wake up and be into Portland within a few hours. We really are shooting for arrival Monday. So that Bethee can hang out for a few days, before her plane leaves on Thursday. 

Pookah is taking the trip quite well. The first two days she was on valium, but the second day she seemed really out of it, and I didn't like it. So yesterday I experimented and tried no valium, and she handled it quite well. Actually you couldn't have asked for a better cat to have in the car in my opinion. It was rather adorable. She hates wearing the harness, she acts like it's a straight jacket so I compromised with her and took it off. haha. So now I have a perfectly content cat, driving in the car without a harness and without meds. Awesome. I mean, she hates it. She'd rather be outside chasing lizards and all that. But she has managed. 

I've uploaded everything to my Flickr, up until this point. See them all here.

We're outta here! On the road again...

Farewells, Packing & Yard Sale

I finally got the rest of these photos up~check out the whole set here.