One Year Older

(Originally this entry was titled "Dance Movies" but then I decided I wanted that ensuing section to have its own entry.)

So for my birthday (April 19th), I took my long ass overnight shift off and promptly informed Marty that he would be scheduling something for the three day weekend that would be available due to this day off. He, in typical Marty fashion, when asked what we were doing as the weekend drew near, played it off, "We're going to McDonald's!!!" or "We're going to watch truck pulls." (his version of tractor pulls, I guess).

So what did we actually end up doing?

So, I received an email Wednesday evening stating that I needed to pack an overnight bag with change of clothes and hiking boots. Now most people would think, "Oh cool, we're going to go hiking!!" Well, I know Marty. I know better. Take one weekend I put in his hands, stating I wanted him to plan some big events since I had been doing so for a while previously. Marty thinks he can't plan, but he's very meticulous, making up little packets of info for me: Event One - pack such and such. And a "master" packet for himself with all the actual info. It's all very cute. One of my little packets from this previous event said to pack warm clothes and a windbreaker. Hmm, maybe sailing, one might think? But nay, we jumped out of a damned airplane.

So, as you can see, I put no faith into the obvious with Marty.

Thursday afternoon we went to Cafe Gratitude, a raw/vegan restaurant that we frequent. You can read a good description of Cafe Gratitude at Marty's blog. Although an avowed meat eater, I enjoy the food there, although find that it doesn't "stick" with me all that long. But very, very tasty.

Then we drove up to Sonoma and stayed at a bed and breakfast up there called the Sonoma Chalet, a funky place with some interesting decor. We stayed in the Mural Room which included this very creepy doll in our room's closet, which we both said upon seeing, "Eeewww!" in that "Oh, my, that is very creepy." sort of way. We first saw it looming out of the darkness of the closet.
Since it was so exceptionally creepy, I took a photo with my phone camera as it appeared to us. And then with flash, just so you can see it better. I mean, who puts that kind of creepiness in a guest bedroom closet?!?!














But despite this, it was a fun stay, going out on the Sonoma main "square", taking photos, sampling cheese, eating tasty meals. Lots of French oriented food, likely due to Sonoma/Napa Valley being a massive wine growing area. Lots of Spanish oriented architecture, likely due to California being under Mexico. In fact, being on the square, park in the middle, stores lining the outside, felt like being in New Mexico, Santa Fe, Albuquerque. After our day, we went back to the B&B and did some reading in the antiqued-out sitting room, me having a tiny bit of cream sherry. I don't usually drink but the whole idea of having some sherry in this sitting room felt fantastically uber "haughty" to me, so I had to. The breakfast in the morning was fun, being served by the owners of the B&B and Marty going a bit bonkers with my new camera.

Then we went to see the ruins of "Wolf House", which was a rather massive stone house Jack London was building for himself and his wife. It burned down right before they were set to move in later and although some reconstruction had started, he died three years later. I took photos but haven't processed any of them so you can go here to see photos and read about it. Although I have to say, the two photos look almost exactly like two I took...

Then we drove down to Napa and had lunch at a fun little tapas restaurant with a decidedly French flavor, very tasty. I think I gained pounds on this trip. Friday night, after coming home from Napa, we went to see a dance performance, which ties into my previous title ("Dance Movies") and will become more clear in that post. We saw a show called SCUBA which is a co-operative venture between several dance venues across the country to introduce new dancers to the national touring circuit. As I understand it. You can check out the proposal for yourself.

So Saturday we get up early and go out on a boat to go whale watching. It ended up being whale searching and sea bird viewing. Our naturalist was very into birds. VERY into birds. But we got to see the Faralon Islands, off our coast, which is a natural bird preserve with a couple of houses for researchers who live out there. The water was fairly choppy and tossed the boat about a bit. Well, a lot. I've never really been prone to sea sickness, maybe a little queasy occasionally but nothing worse. At first, I was fine, riding the swells with my body, letting my body swing with the boat, not stiffening up against the tossing. It really does help. As we approached the islands though, maybe an hour and a half into the trip (I think), I started feeling a bit nauseous. And then it just started to get worse. I think I would have been fine if I'd been able to get off the boat at an hour and a half but it went on for hours. So I stood there, swinging with the waves, trying to decide if throwing up would actually make me feel better or not. Then I went into "cab" of the boat and sat down. And then got right back up again to throw up off the stern. Mmmm, fun. But I did feel better afterwards, at least from the really awful nausea, but continued to feel rather queasy for the rest of the trip. Marty was feeling pretty ill as well and we were both pretty wiped when we got home.

So that was my birthday "weekend". One year older. And older.