5/28/09 This lesson is done.

SO the second reason I am grateful my trip got completely upended was because on the morning of the 28th I was with my friend Ria when she went to court.
Ria had a stalker. It was a guy who asked her out and she went on like 2 dates with him, got bad vibes and said "no thanks". He persisted in contacting her and harassing her so she pursued a restraining order through the courts, and when she got a temporary restraining order he backed off..... until it lapsed. Then there was more e-mails and letters. So Miss Ria finally asked for more help. She got a lawyer and asked if her friends would help her cover the legal fees. http://riamegnin.chipin.com/anti-stalker-legal-fees She was kind of amazed at how many people donated.

I had been planning to arrive on the 28th just in the afternoon after court. It kind of gave her something to look forward to.
But Miss Ria was still scared.

Ria is over 6 feet tall and has a black belt in a martial art. I've seen the video of her blackbelt test in which she disarms people with various styles of weapons. but somehow this man and this process made her afraid. Recently I spoke with one of our friends who was expressing his amazement that anything could make Miss Ria afraid because she is such an impressive person in so many ways. However I think everyone has that space of doubt and insecurity, and when someone else goes to the personal place and they prey on that insecurity and doubt, it can make it harder to find that center and hold ones ground.

I'm 5'5" on a good day. I'm in slightly better shape from yoga and bellydancing, but physically I'm not exactly intimidating to anyone.
However when it comes to my friends I am fierce. I have known Ria for almost 13 years. We lived together for a year in college, and so whenever my dear friend loses sight of who she is, and what her strength and heart make her capable of, I'm a very good reminder, or as Ria has said it's more like a swift kick in the butt reminder.
Besides I had let it be known that whatever lesson the universe was trying to teach my dear friend through this man's crazy actions was done. So if I had to show up and be the support in person... so be it.

Ria's friend Kate was there for court too. She'd helped Ria deal with court days multiple times before. This is Kate.
She and Ria have been supporting each other all year through their own various challenges. I'm so glad Miss Ria and Kate have had each other for support.
We both gave Miss Ria as much support as we could before going into the court, and once in the court she sat in front of me and I literally had my hands on her back until the case was called up front.
Ria's laywer was very good, very precise. It is always nice to watch someone who is good at what they do and does it for the right reasons. Ria's was the first case. the restraining order was granted for three years, with relative ease. There is a possibility he will ask to make it shorter, but that will be an issue for another day.

At the end I wanted to walk up and look that man in the eye. I wanted to give him the serious look I get when a person has really crossed me and tell him "no more" and tell him in person this was done.
But the laywer had done her job, and ours was to leave, and go have breakfast at a diner in celebration and support of Ria.
Ria said she felt empowered. I am very glad.
We went back to Ria's after brunch, hung out a bit with Kate took some deep breaths, let things out, talked about stuff and things and then and took a few pictures.


(tired Liz picture, but also good Keira the cat picture)

Then Kate had to go, so Ria and I wandered to the pond that is right near her house.
They have paddle boats there. Ria in all her years of living there had never been on those paddle boats. We decided to remedy that, and had a lovely ride around in the paddleboat.

We spent that evening at the movie Wolverine. Ria the writer wanted to rewrite the whole thing, but I figure after a stressful morning, action eye candy without much plot is just fine.
What I remember most though is the conversation we had on the way home.
Ria and I typically have good conversations, this one was again about angels.

I think this was the night Ria made the really good food, but it might have been the night before. I can't remember. I just remember that I wasn't really hungry but then the stuff she made was so good (and reasonably healthy) that I had to try it. nummy.
It was a good day, and like I said before it me being with my Ria that morning was EXACTLY where I was supposed to be.

5/27/09 The shaping of a new adventure

Wednesday morning I woke up early to go to the UPS store and use internet there. I still needed time to process, and think about what had happened a little. I took the shuttle to the store and spent a good two hours there writing and checking internet andsorting things out for myself. My parents and I were planning on taking a cab back to the airport around 10 so I was doing my best to get back before 9:30. I got off the shuttle and realized I would be a little later than expected so I went to call them and realized my phone was gone. Also in those two minutes searching through my purse I realized I didn't have my camera card or the reader that allows me to put it in a USB port. Not having the phone was bad, but the thought of not having my pictures made me want to cry. I couldn't figure out if I had dropped my phone on the monorail, but I figured I had left my picture reader hooked up to the computer at the UPS store.
I think I managed not to be hysterical and my parents were just like "hey we will go back to the store in the cab on the way and you can run and check."
We had a really good cab driver who was incredibly nice, and spoke about how some cabbies will be rude to people, but he thought in his job you get to see a lot and you should enjoy it and the people. I think it's a good theory.
I beleive his name was Johnny Kako, and if you are in Vegas, see if you can get his cab. Listening to someone who enjoyed his job made me calm down. Then when I got to the UPS store the girl there too one look at me and handed me both my picture card reader with card inserted, and my phone. She said she saw that I left the reader connected, and then saw that the phone had fallen under the chair. SO i got both back, and was incredibly relieved and grateful.
Even more grateful because if I hadn't dropped my phone I might not have realized I had lost my picture card & reader until it was too late.
Sometimes things work out really well for me in ways that are completely unexpected.

At the airport I talked with my mom more. Over the course of our vegas trip she had told me some things about herself that I didn't know, or didn't fully realize the impact of certain things on her. I want to say this in a way that is respectful to my mom's privacy, but it is also a really important part of the story for me. My mom has had seizures do to medical issues, and they have caused her to lose long term memories.
I have had this lingering feeling that mom doesn't really know who I am, and what is important to me. For a long time it made me frustrated, and at times it made me sad, but ultimately I figured it was just a holdover feeling from adolescence.
It's not.
My mom doesn't remember my life growing up.
She doesn't know who I am because she doesn't have the context I expect her to have without those memories. She didn't know whether or not she was a good mom, and she didn't know how much I can handle things because she doesn't have those memories. She worries a lot about me anyways, so mostly she has just been responding from worry.
It's sweet and it's sad and it gives things a whole new perspective.
But what my mom said at the airport is that, seeing me deal with everything that happened to mess up my trip impressed her and made her understand how well I deal with things. She also said the trip gave her a chance to really see me more, and understand more of who I am. This is the thing I am most grateful for out of the whole trip. If I had to have two of my friends essentially bail on me when I was flying out to see them to get this, it was totally worth it.
My parents flight left about an hour before mine.
I had time to wander around the airport and grab a sandwich before getting on my flight to San Fran.
I flew on Virgin.
I believe Virgin is more expensive on cross country flights because it is direct, but if you can get a short cheap flight on Virgin or if you have enough money so you don't care FLY VIRGIN.
the guy at the Vegas flight desk was hilarious. The flight attendants were nice. They sold headphones that go over your ears instead of ear buds which I prefer headphones 1000 times more, and they have this things in the seat in front of you.
They call it red. It allows you to order sandwiches from flight attendants, allows you to personalize your TV and movie watching with a certain selection free and a cetain selection paid movies. THEY HAVE FREE VIDEO GAMES (they are old school and simple, but they are built into the seat in front of you.). They also have a good selection of the Virgin music catalog programmed into the Red system.
I spent the first part of the flight playing majong, then I got the headphones and started making a playlist. I didn't get even halfway through the playlist before we touched down. I could totally lfy Virgin across the country and be completely comfortable and distracted and not even notice I was on a plane. The only thing they could fix is I couldn't figure out how to listen to music and pay video games at the same time. Oh and by the sumemr they are planning on having internet.

When I touched down in San Fran I felt like it was exactly where I was supposed to be. I felt light. I know I was probably made happier by my flight on Virgin, but it was more than that. It felt right.

Ria had arranged for a shuttle to take me to Monterey because she didn't feel up to the drive. I met a woman there who teaches at Esalen. She was just coming back to the country after doing a workshop i beleive in Bali. She was a very nice woman with a lot of wisdom. When I looked her up online this is what I found. http://www.movingventures.org/
It's her company, and it gives a good description of the good she has been doing there.

We had a good conversation about culture and people, and she gave me two practical pieces of advice, one of which I used on the trip, and one of which I will use in the future as the need arises. The first practical piece of advice is when traveling by plane wrap breakables in a good bit of fabric. The other of which is to as much as possible when looking to fly somewhere deal directly with airlines and try and find someone who is feeling helpful to check into tickets, because you might get a good deal.

The ride was peaceful. After the conversation died down I read and felt calm and good. Ria picked me up and then she had to go almost directly to a women's group she is involved in. Her group is a closed group because women are processing more personal issues, but I was just as happy to sit on Miss Ria's bed and go online and rest and relax.
I ended up calling my friend Meg (See Michigan from last year's trip) at one point and we talked for I think hours.
I made friend's with Ria's cat Kiera, so much so that the usually skittish kitty was all over me by the end of the night.
Ria came back, I think made late night good food and we talked and then crashed.
I was VERY glad to be at Ria's.

5/26/09 Liz's surprise extra vegas day.

So Tuesday was my surprise extra vegas day. I had brekfast with my parents and then since i had a surprise extra vegas day I decided I would see a show.
I really enjoy Cirque du Soleil, and I've only ever seen them once in person, so they my first choice. I wandered to the half price tickets place and got tickets for Mystere which is the Cirque show that has been running the longest on the strip.
After getting the tickets I spent the rest of the day walking the strip back to TI where the show was and seeing hotels I hadn't seen prior to that.
I went to the Bellagio.
This is the ceiling inside the lobby.
The Bellagio also won my heart over with a giant sunflower ferris wheel. I did not go on, but admired it from afar. On the other side of this garden were some indoor hot air balloon replicas. However the main reason I went to the Bellagio was I heard they had a chocolate waterfall. Again visions of Charlie and the Chocolate factory sprang to my head. It was not quite that grand, but still mass quantities of dripping chocolate is quite a sight to see.
From their I wandered back up the strip seeing some rather unsurprising vegas sights
Like statues commemerating Sigfriend and Roy, and some unexpected
This little mediation shrine to Brahma I believe was in between the Bellagio and Ceasars palace as one was walking. I stopped to look and meditate for a moment.
It was quite unexpected in a town where there are certain sections where the street is littered with cards with women topless. Vegas has a lot of variety and I think they are still working on making it work.
Oh and on Tuesday President Obama was in town. He was giving a speech at the convention center, and people were commenting on how Vegas had been hurt by the presidents comments about CEO's taking flights to Vegas on private jets. I would have loved to have seen the president, but I was too busy trying to get to Cirque du Soleil. Still I had to walk through protesters. Primarily they were protesting Harry Reid, and Democrats in general, but there was some Obama protesting as well.
I walked by TV crews near the protestors. They weren't especially rowdy protesters, and I figure wherever the president goes there are probably protestors. Most were upset about the ecomnomy, which I can understand, but personally I think it is a little early for the railing against what Obama has done, as at the time it hadn't even been 6 months in, and the problem is kind of enourmous. However I appreciate people exercising free speech even when I don't agree with them.

I have no pictures from Mystere. Cameras were not allowed. It was a good show, but I was a little wanr out and I think nodded off into my own dreamland a couple of times. On the way back I got to see the Mirage's "volcano" show which is fire and water and lights every hour at night.
I pretty much crashed when I got back as walking the Vegas strip made for a long day.

5/25/09 In which we ride the wind.

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.
-Stephen Crane

My morning started off with a call from Curt. Curt said he was not going to be able to make it back to San Diego in time to meet my flight because while his girlfriend was attempting to drive the two of them back to VT where Curt was to catch a flight home, her car broke down. He was calling to ask me to change my flight.

I told him of my other situation, vented a slight bit without blaming, and tried to get myself calm enough to think. My parents came with me to an internet cafe at the Hawaiian Marketplace. I think the people there felt sorry for me because they didn't charge me for the first hour as I sat there on the phone and on the computer trying to rearrange plans and get things set. I called Ria, because I wanted to know if there was any other chaos in store, and she said no, but she was tired of driving. I made her stay on the phone with me and we made plans.

For the record I would advise people out there not to buy multiple flight ticket packages, because if you miss one of them the whole rest of the series will be cancelled, and on top of that if you have flown one of the flights most of the time you DO NOT have the option to change the others even for a fee.
I will also note that Continental has at least one customer service person who believes that it is a good idea to argue with a slightly sarcastic customer who has just learned this lesson the hard way and is angry. Because of this I will probably avoid flying continetnal in the future. I put a high premium on polite. I can take lost luggage or lateness, but employees who feel the need to argue with someone out a whole bunch of money because of friends plans changing and not knowing obscure airline rules.... well that's where you lose me as a customer.
However I had a ticket from Virgin set up to go from LA to Seattle, and was able to change that one over to whatever type of ticket I needed for their $75 fee.
I turned out that it was actually cheaper to change over the Virgin flight to a Vegas to San Fran flight, and buy a separate ticket from another airline home from San fran than it would be to change the Virgin flight over to a Vegas to Boston Flight. (i think this is because the virgin flight was direct).
This meant I got an extra day in vegas, and got to visit Ria a little early, and she only had to drive me to and from San Fran which was shorter driving, and we were going to get to see her friends who would be in San Fran for the weekend, and see maker faire. This plan made Miss Ria happy, and me well significantly happier than I was. I think I would have been happy, but I was still trying to assimilate everything. Happy came later. Happy came sparkling at me in little doses for the rest of the trip, but the biggest thing was going into the desert to clear the bitter from my heart, and letting it go as I left.

My parents and I went to lunch nearby, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.
The wedding was beautiful and I couldn't not be happy.
My aunt in the middle with my cousin Brian to the left, and my cousin Brendan on the right.
My cousin Sarah and My uncle Jay
The groom cried, and I LOVE that my cousin married a man who was brought to tears, in a beautiful way, at the thought of getting to spend the rest of his life with her.
It was incredibly sweet.
The wedding and the reception were at the flamingo.
The reception was held on the third floor terrace outside. and for much of the night it was gorgeous
OH YEAH
Remember how I said when we were little my cousin and I used to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory and go the the candy store down the street from my house. (http://www.fariellosconfectionery.com/
I love that even though I grew up in a small town I can find it on the internet ). well this is what Sarah had at her reception.My dad said it was an homage to Sammy's, I'm not so sure, but it made me smile, plus it had little kid pictures of the bride and groom all over it.
They also had a mini photo booth where you could take half your pictures home and put half in the wedding photo album. VERY COOL. I had issues with the photo booth though. I don't always like having my picture taken.
Anyways eating drinking and dancing commenced.
The lasts shot is my cousin Brendan and his girlfriend Katie. Brendan lives in Boston, and I pretty much never see him. This is kind of silly and will likely be remedied in the future, especially considering his girlfriend Katie will be going to Tufts vet school and will probably move to Worcester. Katie is very cool, and we chatted a bit throughout the weekend. I had some really good conversations with both of them, and was really glad about that. I loved finding out that Brendan has grown up into someone with a good sense of humor, a good heart and is smart enough to pick a very cool girlfriend.
SO that was the first part, it was kind of warm early on in the reception, and Sarah's aunt on the other side wished for a breeze to come back. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
The wind kicked up like MAD. At one point I was standing on the dance floor with my arms stretched out and ACDC was playing (I think it was you shook me all night long) and the wind had kicked up full force so i was just feeling it blow against me.
Unfortunately the massive wind caused a few casualties and a little wedding reception carnage (thankfully nothing living was damaged)
more than one of the lights broke
There were taller standup tables with centerpieces on them and this is from the table blowing over and the contents of the dish scattering
But I think the Bar blowing over was the piece de resistance

All in all it DID make for a memorable wedding, and unlike say hail or thunder and lightening or any other major weather event we didn't have to go inside and stop partying. We just had to clean up around the carnage, and staff took away anything electrical that looked like bad things would happen.

It was a pretty long day
I have one more story from the night, but first I kind of forgot to put in the bachelorette party story the part where I pulled out my hip scarf and showed the girls some VERY BASIC bellydancing moves. This whole idea stemmed from a facebook conversation with my aunt, and the fact that bellydancing seemed like a perfectly good thing to do while we were waiting for some of the other people to show up for the bachelorette party.
Anyway at the end of the reception I was waiting by the elevator and a group of the grooms friends from Kansas stopped by. This included one of the girls who had been at the bachelorette party. She said "Well it's okay if we have to wait, because this girl knows how to bellydance, and she showed us last night." The elevator door opened at that point. I blushed smiled and noted that one of the Kansas City guys was checking me out. Really though red head, little black dress, and she can bellydance, who can blame the guy for at least checking.
At the moment however my mom was standing 2 feet away from me, and I was waiting for my dad to either day goodnight or take the monorail back with them to the hotel. so I couldn't just give chase into the elevator. Then ultimately after my dad came over I was too exhausted from the stress of the day to hunt down the cute guy from KC who had wandered off into the casino. (I know I'm totally disappointed in me too, but I needed sleep to make my brain catch up to my plans.) I don't remember what day it was but I did see him again, and again it was in the elevator. We chatted briefly, and he seemed nice as well, but again my mom was standing next to me in the elevator. Alas.
Miss Liz went back on the monorail and got some much needed rest after the winds of change blew through her vacation.

5/24/09 In which Liz attends a bachelorette party and hits a snag in the planning.

Sunday morning i met up with my parents. We had breakfast in the Sahara's cafe, which looks like a diner only it has no natural light. It kind of made me crazy. I wasn't sure how I felt about Vegas. There is something about the desert being made into what Vegas is. We hopped on the monorail. (if you ever go to Vegas I think the monorail is invaluable).
In Vegas each Casino has a theme/style. The sahara where we stayed at is an old one, and I think it's theme might be desert/classic Vegas. Harrahs has kind of a Country music theme, (not my favorite
Outside of Harrah's there was a series of carts where they were selling things. For the most part people in Vegas tried to sell my dad, But this girl,
She was selling hippe dresses, and I'm pretty sure my old beat up purse gave me away. Her name is Eden (but she's Israeli, so its pronounced differently). She is amazing with how she can tie up the dress into different shapes. She works for http://www.irisimpressions.com , and not surprisingly I ended up buying a hippie dress. Eden was veyr cool though, I probably wouldn't have bought it if she wasn't SO if you don't want a hippie dress and you see her, run away, because she's just that good.
From Harrah's we walked by madame Tussauds, we didn't go it, but pavoratti was outside.
Then to the Venetian which has a venice theme.
I love that at least vegas puts the money it makes into arts and design.
We saw living statues, and a performing arts venetian style show.
Also there were singing gondola people, but the pictures are too dark.
From there we went to Ceasar's palace where they had a fountain of the gods which came to life once an hour.
There was also a trojan horse replica at FAO Schwartz
And then a walk by aquarium in the back.

After all this it was time to head back for the reception and girls night out. Most of my pcitures are form the girl's night out, as the reception involved lots of people I don't know and I was too busy attempting small talk to take pictures.
Here is our beautiful bride at her current ageAnd here she is decked out in bacherlorette finest.
I also got to have a really good conversation with my aunt that night, which was nice. She told me little bits about the family i didn't know.
The reception was in the penthouse so I got some good skyline shots

Also Sunday was the first of the interesting phone calls I got. Jacob called and said the weekend I was supposed to be visiting he was going to be in Canada dealing with a girlfriend issue. I asked him if it had to be that weekend, and it seems he felt it did. This was the first of major upheaval in Liz's travel plans, so keep checking, because what i posted in the beginning as to the itinerary well that's about to change. As of 5/25/09 and we get to play where exactly in the country is Liz. It's a fun and interesting game.

5/23/09 In which Liz Departs for Vegas

Saturday morning I finished packing in pretty much plenty of time, and briefly visited with my friend Kelly before heading off. Kelly is giving a CD I made to our friend Trista who is moving to San Antonio Texas. So Now I have a place to stay and people to visit in Texas. Texas is now officially on the travel list for some point.
On the way to the airport and everything I had some pretty perfect timing.
I stopped briefly at James' house and had enough time to stop in the hammock for about 30 seconds
I need to make a date with that hammock sometime this summer.
Oh and for next summer the tour will be going to I believe Martha's vineyard for the occasion of James and Becky's wedding. I am so very much looking forward to it.
Except for the fact that I couldn't make the key let me into James' house everything went smoothly getting onto my first flight.
I flew to Houston, bought chocolate there, and had enough time to stop and get a massage in a brookstone chair before my next flight.
I got to Vegas at 10ish their time which was pretty late for me. I should have looked around for a shuttle, but instead took a cab, and the price was RIDICULOUS, but it's vegas so if your not awake, you pay. Next time I will know better.
Pretty much by that time I was wiped so I headed off to bed.

5/22/09

So Friday was not a traveling day, but it was an interesting day, and if I had thought to put my card in my camera I would have pictures.
I made friends with a baby duck named Oliver, and held him for a while. He was black and yellow and cute and fuzzy.
Then after that I went to the Red tent Temple, and talked with people about my cousin and my grandmother and how my grandmother was so much a part of the connection between us and how she would like that I was heading off to Sarah's wedding.
I also told Princess stories including one involving a friend from college who when we would play dress up we would say we were pretty pretty princesses.
Friday was a good day.

5/20/09 Liz along the way.

So I started this blog because I was planning adventures and wanted a way to document them. I wanted people to be able to see the wonderful things I get to see in my life. Not just places, but people and how they are terrific, and helpful and funny and wonderful and perfect and whole in who they are in the moment.

I draw a mandala for every person/ household I visit along the way because it is a memento of a moment holding what the person brings and what I see. It is a snapshot of their adventure and my gratitude in being an invited guest to behold.

Writing this blog made me pay attention to the adventure that is my life.
And somehow when you pay attention to something you tend to find it more.
So since that point in time the level of adventure in my life has gone up significantly.
I love being part of adventures with other people.
Sometimes the call of that adventure takes me exactly where I'm supposed to be, and others its like a siren's lure to places I may do better to avoid, or don't fit right for me.
When I go traveling I usually end up exactly where I'm supposed to be, and its funny because even on the unexpected detours, I'm still in the right spot.

Last year's trip was a good mix of planning and then letting go and leaving space for adventure.
I did my best to carry that over into this year.
Only when you have an adventure it changes you.
I guess this is the place where the mandalas come in. I've drawn lots of mandalas, given many away, torn a few up, kept some and I think even lost some. The one's I've drawn on my travels really focused in on what i wanted to capture about the person or place it was for, and the spirit of the moment. After last year's trip I had this idea that it would be good for me to sit and try sometime to see what I could come up with for myself. I kept putting it off, but then someone I know made me make good on my promise to myself, and the act drawing made me much more clear about where I was and what is was that was changing in my life. That first one was pretty fuzzy and had lots of smudges. I've drawn a few for myself since then, and it has really helped me to focus on where things stand for me and all the elements, figures and patterns in my life. The picture at the top is a more recent one.
It's good to be able to look at myself along the way.
It's good to be able to show a picture of things a little more close to home.
I'd like to do more of that. I'd like to post adventures and events that are a little more local to me and not just wait for big trips.

I mean this week alone has included (among other things) The Green St Music series at the Lucky Dog (http://www.luckydogmusic.com/), a friend's first summer barbeque, the knitting girls (in their current incarnation) last big night out on the town for a while, and will include a red tent (http://www.kalimahealingarts.com/Red_Tent_Temple.html)
All of those adventures involving much less travel than my flying to Vegas on Saturday, but still involving. terrific, helpful, funny and wonderful people.

Like I told someone earlier this year, there are lots of good people out there.

But there is a way in which I am reluctant to put everything out there. It's easy to talk about travels to see old friends, because things are clear. Life in the moment is still evolving, sometimes the picture is messy or fuzzy and quite frankly sometimes people would not want me with my little camera showing them off to the interwebs (as my friends say)

And I LIKE that this blog is about adventure, and things that might be a little out of the ordinary. I want to keep it that way.

But I like being in the practice of finding adventure in my own backyard, and I love showing it to others. Besides some days I think everyone's life is it's own tour de force, qualifying for the label Not a Rock Star Tour.
So along with the big trips, you might see a few more Liz along the way mandalas and posts, and a bit more local fare.

Happy adventuring all.

Planning for the 2009 west coast tour (5/13/09)

HI!
Long time no post.
I've been having adventures of a varied and different sort for the past 10 months, but I figured I should start with the things I never got around to posting from July/August, before getting into the 2009 tour.
So here is the finished version of Jacob's tour poster, and then the two scarves made for my Seattle boys
Here's Jacobs,

Here's Dan's They were both pretty big
After that I kind of got into knitting baby blankets because a bunch of my friends got pregnant/had kids, and I was welcomed into a wonderful group of ladies who have vast knitting knowledge.
In other posted about news I did end up going to a UCONN women's game, It was great and UCONN rocked as usual (Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were in the seats behind the team). I would post pictures, but I forgot my camera, and I don't feel like asking Trouble for his pictures.
And well there were lots of other adventures too, but those are stories for another time and place.
Meanwhile back to the 2009 tour.
On Saturday May 23rd I will be flying into Las Vegas late in the night.
I'm staying at the Sahara hotel. So if you find yourself in Vegas between the 23rd and the 26th look me up I may give you crash space.
On Sunday May 24th I will headed to a bachelorette party for my cousin Sarah. This is Sarah and I.
Okay so we're a lot older and bigger now. When we were little Sarah used to come over a lot and we would watch Annie and Charlie and the chocolate factory and walk down to the candy store. Our grandmother died before I turned 10 and after that we didn't get together as much, so I have old pictures.
ANYWAYS Sarah is getting married in Vegas. Bachelorette party is on the 24th.
Monday May 25th = Sarah's wedding.
Tuesday May 26th I am flying to San Diego to visit Curt.
(I'm not reposting Curt pics you can look him up under yellowstone)
Wednesday May 27th - Hang out in San Diego (Potentially Ride on bakc of motorcycle) Thursday May 28th- fly into Monteray CA and visit Ria.
Ria has a court date that day. Hopefully it will be her last. She has had a stalker whom she is trying to get a permanent restraining order against. However she also has lots of fabulous friends who put there money where there mouth is and helped her with legal fees because everybody deserves to be safe. You can read about it here http://riamegnin.chipin.com/anti-stalker-legal-fees
Ria's reward for making it through court is that she gets to again come and travel with me. Ria is currently my favorite traveling companion.
Friday May 29th Drive down the coast from Monteray to LA, and Liz REALLY wants to see the beach at Santa Monica.
Saturday May 30th- Morning in LA then fly to Seattle ( like I said I HAD to go back to Seattle)
Sunday May 31st - I get to hang with Darya and Jacob in Seattle. I fly out that night and take a red eye home.
Monday June 1st = REST

So that's this years tour. My next challenge in planning is to figure out how to use RSS feed to post this in places my friends read

For those of you iching for more travel blogs who can't wait til I head out, my friend Jen and her family are currently on a cross country trip themselves for a much broader and cooler purpose which is creating videos to help educate the kids in America about the environment. Here's there blog
http://www.ourrenewablenation.blogspot.com/