Begin at the Beginning

I sent Scott an email a week and a half ago saying that I wasn't sure what his vacation plans were (as he had previously mentioned that he did schedule some for last week), but that I was taking a class on Friday night ( having JUST dropped off Teen number 1 at college the day before) and I asked if he was going to be around the following week. Subsequent conversations ended up with an invitation to join him and both of us pouring over a map thinky, thinky, thinking. Lots of pointing around and "Ooh! How about THAT?" happened. Many frequent flyer miles had been racked up by Scott's frequent trips to Asia on business, as well as Marriott points for hotels, if needed. He generously threw many points my way, enabling me to afford pet sitting and taking the week off. What a generous thing to do! Yay! If I were a Queen I would knight him Sir Adventure!

"Sir Adventure after a dip in the Discovery Bay"

First, we thought about a road trip to Nova Scotia. Then we decided that was too much time on the road traveling and not enough time on ex-poohtitions. So flight it was! We booked tickets into San Fran for Saturday, with return flight from San Jose the following Thursday.

Back to the map pointing...We decided to visit his aunt and uncle in Discovery Bay, on the Delta of the San Joaquin River first. Our next adventure was to head to Yosemite, to hike and camp for three days, followed by a trip to see the giant sequoias in Mariposa. The last day was a trip up the coastal road, Rt 1 to San Jose.

Day One:

I went to Scott's house and pushed him out of his bed at 3:15 AM. We were at the airport by 4:00 and on our plane by 6:00. One short stop in Cleveland and back we were on a plane to San Fran. And, let me tell you people, first class rocked my face off! I have never traveled first class, never been to the Elite lounge at the airport for coffee and snacks, never zipped through check in using the Uber Keen Elite Travelers isle. What a wonderful experience!!! Hats off to Continental Airlines for the great flights, the best landings and take-offs I have ever had (why is that??? Can United and US Air's pilots suck THAT MUCH??? It was a striking difference. Hmmmm.) Anyway, we landed in San Fran in the afternoon and proceeded to Mountain View to pick up our transportation.

Did I mention that it was 103 degrees that day?? Well, it was. And since we were riding THIS **SQUEE!!!**:

Our Iron Steed, a Honda Goldwing

it meant a hot, hot day, after a day of flight from a just-barely-dawn Boston. But THIS is what we came to:

I met Scott's aunt and uncle, and we jumped into the water to cool off. You could practically hear the sizzle as we hit the water. We chased a duck around the boats in the bay, me telling it I saw some oranges in it's future (chef that I am, duck a l'orange was not far from my mind, obviously). Splashing, giggling and water spitting ensued (until we saw the duck poop floating in the water, anyway). A wonderful outdoor shower and then a few beers later we had dinner on their dock. Mmmmmm. Mexican food and fruit salad!

Then we hopped on The Steed after mapping and trying to make our petulant navigation system pay attention to what WE wanted, which was the town of Tracy, where we would stay for the night. I have not slept that hard in a very long time. And, I would need that sleep because the next day was even more amazing than the first...