San Francisco Recap #6:  Going Home

After walking a distance approximately equivalent to the length of the coastline of California on Friday and Saturday, the Untamed Shrew and I spent Sunday chilling out at her house in Santa Clara, along with her sweetly hilarious husband (who told us as we left on Saturday, "Remember, it's bad feng shui to run over the tourists!") and their darling dog, Bones:



The Untamed Shrew was just about the most awesome hostess ever. Not only did she point out the long-famous but never-before-seen Gay Viking Lamps so that I could photograph them, she also set out cut bougainvillea in the guest room (in the best vases of all time).

She also gave me two presents. Two presents! Just for showing up! She left a book about redwoods on the bedside table with a note on top that said, "This book belongs to Velocibadgergirl."



She also stashed this T-shirt from Married to the Sea in the dresser with a similar note:




On Monday, we camped at Big Basin State Park, another redwood forest. Unfortunately we got there in the late afternoon, so the light was off for taking pictures and I didn't get very many decent ones.









We set up our tent inside a ghost redwood, a circle of trees left when a parent tree falls and the trees that started as sprouts around its base are left behind. It was incredible.



Then, sadly, it was time to pack and go shopping at Lush, pack, buy this book for a pregnant friend, pack, and say goodbye to the Untamed Shrew, her hilariously sweet husband, and their dear dog.

My wistful goodbye to California and its lovely weather ended up being long and boring instead of brief and bittersweet when my flight got cancelled and I had to take a 1:19 PM flight out of San Jose instead of the 6:30 AM that I booked. Instead of getting home at 2:45 as MB was getting ready to head home from work (super convenient since he could throw a rock from the roof of the machine shop and hit the airport), I rolled in at 10:30. By that point, though, I was so glad to be home (and more importantly, not in an airport or on a plane) that I didn't even care that it was late. I had an absolute blast in California, but it's good to be home all the same. Even if the trees here are kind of puny.



"Going to the woods is going home." -- John Muir