well harvest was intense...a lot of running up and down and left and right. so i figured i needed a vacation. i've been wanting to drive down california and see friends that i've just moved away from and friends that i've been meaning to visit.
it had been awhile, but it was great to get onto that open road with just me, my music, and a lot of chocolate covered raisins. my itinerary included stops in ukiah (brand new nunamaker-bailey baby), sebastopol (i've got to see my peeps at paul hobbs winery), sonoma (a grown-up dinner party at the early-myers'), petaluma (haircut and scalp massage...priceless), san francisco (suppenküche, finally, as well as harris' steak tartare and tu lan). on my way down to santa barbara to visit alison at palmina winery, i decided to take the 1 through big sur and the like. beautiful coastline, of course...
then i finally made it to los angeles to visit darling danielle. i hadn't been to the city of angels since right after the infamous riots, so it was nice to see that the scars had healed. i did see taye diggs at bouchon, but i did not (sadly) see lindsay lohan passed out in the corner of bar marmont or britney spears and the kids at toast. of course, the last thing i had to do was walk hollywood blvd and i wonder what they were setting up for...
unfortunately, mother nature wasn't very willing to cooperate with me as it poured the last day i was in los angeles and while i was driving down to san diego amdist some gale-force winds. at the cactus garden in balboa park, i could clearly picture what the scene might have been like with all that rain...
so san diego was my southernmost stop and i finally got to visit jenn instead of the other way around. beautiful beaches...maybe made even more beautiful with the partly cloudy weather and high surf. but i thought san diego was supposed to be warm and sunny...i guess i'll have to come back when i can actually lay out at the beach!
more to come...
easiest view to get to so it almost feels like cheating. now i just need to come back and hike half dome and glacier point (both closed in the winter).
bridalveil fall where i watched some ice chunks break off from the top, which sounded like a cannon shots echoing through the valley.
mirror lake with what i call a t-rex skull stone. 
being alone and with the daylight quickly receding, this mirror lake loop hike was the only one i could feasibly do. although i was in mountain lion habitat, so luckily i had made some friends along the way...
now back to portland...
