California 10

10. Destination...California

Drive West on 80, stop before you drive in to the ocean. Pretty simple. So one would think. February is not an ideal time to be driving 1600 miles through snow and ice, but I had my brother, lots of music and Stephen King short stories to keep me company. The trip had been relatively uneventful (minus people getting walked in on in gas station bathrooms, gazelle sightings, and toxic trail mix) for the first day and a half. Living my entire life in places with snowy winters, the snow we had encountered was not an issue. Having just gotten off the phone with my parents, telling them everything was great and that we were on our way to Sacramento, we began the trek across the Sierra Nevadas. Cue blizzard of the century. Approximately 45 seconds following the phone call, the snow started to come down. There would be no turning back once we started through the Sierras. There was a heated discussion about continuing or stopping. Onward. The interstate was closed to trucks. It was also closed to vehicles without snow tires or chains on their tires. Hmmm...living in Chicago, tire chains were not the types of chains one needed. Therefore, I got to pay approximately $100 for a gym teacher from Reno to install snow chains on my tires. You might be questioning why we continued and I am still questioning that myself. Rolling through the mountains driving 23 miles an hour, arguing about whose fault it would be if we end up like the Donner Party, unable to see more than 2 feet in front of the car, things got a little tense. I have never seen a snow like that before. I am glad that we lived to tell about it. Things were touch and go for awhile. The next day I dropped my brother off at the airport in San Francisco and promptly got myself lost in the city. Managing to find the Golden Gate Bridge, I pulled into the viewing area with approximately 4003 other non-Californians and took this lovely photograph.

Welcome to California.

9. Postcard scenery

The redwoods are pretty incredible. As are the stars. Being in the sticks had it's benefits, but there were moments of terror as well. Walking home from work one day, I about had a heart attack when I thought I thought I saw a mountain lion. Just the neighbor's dog. Having found a mostly eaten deer carcass the week before, I don't

think my fear was too unfounded. Then there was the time I thought I saw a wolf under my front porch. Wolves don't live in the area, which is why I was extra scared. But there were bobcats around and I grew to be less afraid of the eyes watching me in the dark. Oh, and on a night hike I found some glow in the dark fungus. It was the coolest thing. I was with a group of students and thought I was imagining things, but sure enough, we found some luminescent fungi.

8. Wine Country

When I used to think of wine, I would think of rich, sophisticated people dressed in suits eating brie and discussing whatever rich sophisticated people discuss when in social situations, or I would think of groups of college kids drinking wine (with a classy name like Carlo Rossi or Charles Shaw) that was scooped from a plastic drawer into a solo cup. Sonoma County, California is wine country. Close to Napa Valley, but maybe slightly less well-known. I was told by many folks that it's better than Napa, but being in Sonoma, they are obviously biased. Regardless, it is beautiful! Rolling hills and mile after mile of perfect rows of grapevines. Sonoma county has over 250 vineyards. Thats a lot of grapes. There are many different events in wine country, one being Barrel Tasting. Two weekends in March, where wine makers give folks a preview of the next year's releases. Sounds like a good idea, right? For the wine makers, yes. For Laura, no. I learned a lot about wine, what goes into making it, the process, etc., but I still probably couldn't tell the difference between a $3 bottle of Charles Shaw and a $70 bottle of De Loach. So Barrel Tasting weekend comes around and you get a wine glass and visit the various wineries. There's great wine, music, food and lots of people. The whole purpose of the event is to get people all loopy on wine and then entice them to buy 'futures' of the wine they are sampling. Futures are offered at a percentage off of the cost that the bottles will probably cost once they are released (I say probably, because since the wine isn't fully aged, it will taste different once it is released the following year). So we're having a great time and visit a place where my friends are friends with the owners. The very nice people at Graton Ridge Cellars. It's no secret that I like deals, so the idea of a large percentage off of anything is difficult for me to resist. Add a couple glasses of wine and an amazing salesman named Greg to that equation and you get me (who has purchased a total of approximately seven bottles of wine in her lifetime), spending a paycheck on a case of wine that I will not see for a year. It all happened so fast. I'm still not sure how it all transpired. So, once I figure out how I am going to pick up my order from California, you are invited to my house to enjoy some delicious Petite Syrah and Chardonnay!!

7. Summer Camp

I definitely thought my summer camp days were over. It had been great volunteering the past few summers, but work at summer camp again?! Well, that happened. It just made sense with my schedule, and I had the opportunity to take a pretty cool job. Lots of planning, organizing, scheduling and a bit too much office time, but it was a good summer. It was definitely a waaay different summer camp experience for me. My role was a lot different. I enjoyed myself, learned a lot, and became an Excel wiz. This guy Casey and I had the same job title, and did pretty much everything together all summer. If we were more than three inches away from each other for more than an hour or so, it felt weird. He's phenomenal and I don't think I could have done that job with anyone else. He is also the master at making Excel spreadsheets. He took me under his wing and taught me more than I thought there was to know about spreadsheets. I got to work with many incredible, talented, funny people. Experiencing something familiar but having it be a completely different experience allowed me to really think about my previous camp experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to re-realize the gratitude I feel for my time at CG and the amazing people whom I love so much!!

6. Are you a California Department of Transportation Employee??

I love the color orange. I love it so much that I never realized how many people don't like the color orange. Especially how much they don't like wearing orange attire. Around May, we were discussing the color of our staff shirts. it thought it would be a great to have orange staff shirts. So I suggested it. Tangerine looked like a beautiful shade of orange on the computer screen sample. Somehow they got ordered and were on their way. Well, when our tangerine shirts arrived, they looked a bit more like a highlighter than the gatorade cap color I was anticipating. Oops. I couldn't blame this one on anyone. We all looked like Cal-Trans workers. Needless to say I am not allowed to have any input on shirt color next year.

5. Yosimite National Park

My roommate Cary and I went on a short back packing trip to Yosemite.

We got to sit in traffic for awhile passing through Oakland. Nothing says California like five lanes of stand-still traffic. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the drive was longer than anticipated.

When we arrived to the park, the first campsite was full. We checked the next closest one and that was also full. Decision time. Do we drive all the way in to another potentially full campground or do we go back out of the park to the hotel we passed awhile back? Back we went. No Vacancy. Went to a campground, sites were $60. Keep driving. We finally find another campground. Sites were available and $20. By this time in the night, it seems senseless to set up our tent for the six hours we were going to sleep, so we slept in the car. Classy.

4.5 Everywhere you look...

Whatever happened to predictability?? Hopefully you recognize the words to the beloved TGIF staple show. While visiting San Francisco one day, I decided to find the Full House House. A task, scratch that, mission that I would not leave 'The City' before successfully completing. I had spoken to several folks who were unable to locate the house. I set out, following a fairly involved internet research session. I refused to become another statistic who mistakenly believed that the Painted Ladies are where our dear friends DJ, Stephanie and Uncle Jesse lived. So I set out on my excursion. My friend had to work in the city, so I was rolling solo with my free tourist map and little else. So I walked, and walked, and walked and walked. I stopped and enjoyed some Rice A Roni, saw Alcatraz from afar, walked up and down many a hill and then continued walking. I walked up the steepest street I have ever been on, then kept walking. I found the house, and saw Uncle Joey sitting on the front steps. I wish. I had about six seconds to enjoy my little victory and wonder what happened to TGIF's all star line-up before having to speed walk back to the Ferry Building. I raced through some seedy neighborhoods, stopping only once in the Fashion Discount store where I nearly made a very poor clothing decision. I made it to the Ferry with two minutes to spare. When I google mapped my route, I had walked about ten miles. Wow, it's a sad day when you're visiting a city and do little other that wander around trying to find a house where fictional TV characters lived.

4. We are Fools.

The weekend closest to April Fool's Day, many a fool converge on the tiny settlement of Occidental, California for the annual Fool's Day Parade. The town itself is approximately one and one half blocks long. People sure came out of the woodwork for this one. My friends and I all did our part in dressing up and bringing the crazy. We walked in the parade (which lasted about three minutes) and then hung out for the rest of the afternoon. I was fortunate enough to meet this guy named Joe, who was one of the more interesting folks I've met in a long time. 1. He's hysterical. My face hurt after talking to him for an hour. 2. Randomly enough he a

nd I went to the same high school. Granted I grad uated about four decades after him, but we did have the same Social Studies teacher. 3. He offered me a baggie of marijuana. When I said no thank you, he promptly disappeared and I didn't see him for a couple weeks. 4. He gave me two plaid buton down shirts. He gave them to this guy I work with to give to me. Not sure why. One is awesome though and I wear it often. He sent a message with the shirts that would be inappropriate for me to repeat here, but I think he was upset because I told him he couldn't follow me into the bathroom. oh, Joe.

3. Surfing USA!!

I have wanted to go surfing for quite some time and finally had the opportunity. There is one beach I would go to often and watch the surfers, but I didn't think they took beginners out. I had heard about how many people died on the Sonoma Coast and thought it better to stay out of the water. But, I found a little surf shack that offered lessons, so I slipped into a wet suit and ventured out with Bob the surfer and four new friends. Being in the ocean was amazing! Surfing is not easy and I was terrible at it, but I loved loved loved it. If I had started surfing when I got to California, I don't think I would have left. At one point, I decided to try and get past the

break and just hang out in the ocean, so I started paddling and paddling and paddling. I do that for a good thirty minutes, thinking I am actually making some progress. I look back and I am literally twelve feet from shore. Talk about defeating. I gave up on that adventure. The words pummeled and battered have new personal meaning to me, but not only did I not drown or getting eaten by a shark, I had a blast!

2. I used to consider myself a good driver.

Drove into a ditch. No excuses. Thank you AAA for getting my car back for me.

1.5 Random stuff...

My first Californian friend Noah nicknamed me 'starfish'. Not sure why he decided to give me the lamest nickname ever, but when you're one of Hubbell's Angels and you've heard the story where 'I made a difference to that one...' five dozen times, at least it gets a laugh.

I took this picture of my friend Gurpreet (who was kind enough to drive back to Nebraska with me) and it is probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

My friend Rachelle got married in Chicago so I got to spend some time with friends and enjoy the city I miss a lot more than I thought I would.

I got to see my cousins' band, The Henry Clay People, play in San Francisco. They put on a great show!

Casey is an avid disc golfer. He took us out and was very patient with us. This is my friend Cary at one of my favorite courses in the area

Being a native of Wisconsin, I was always irritated by those 'happy cows come from California' commercials. There were many heated discussions about whether or not happy cows do in fact come from California. I saw a lot of cows in California, and I have to admit, they look pretty happy. Happier, I don't know. Apart from the herd of cows I saw fighting over a ten foot shaded area in 105 degree heat in the valley, they look like they're living the life.

1. The Ocean

I fell in love with the ocean. From tidepooling to spectacular sunsets, the ocean off the Sonoma coast has become one of my favorite places in the world. The twenty minute drive from Occidental to the ocean along the incredible Coleman Valley Road might be one of the most beautiful drives in the country. Winding through forrest and pastures, passing by grazing cattle and the beautiful valley, coming up on breathtaking views of where the ocean crashes into land, there is nothing I've seen that's quite like it. There is something incredibly peaceful and inspiring about the ocean. I was fortunate to end many days watching a beautiful sunset at the beach. Something I miss and look forward to experiencing again.