indefinitely indefinite

My grand plan did not quite work out the way I had initially intended. Almost a week after arriving in San Francisco, I decided that I was not ready to settle there. After having the opportunity to survey the country and be a part of some truly beautiful landscapes and communities, San Francisco is too claustrophobic for me.

SO...

I set off again in search of trees and air and stars in black skies. I am now in Forestville, CA, staying with an old friend of my fathers. Forestville is in Sonoma County, CA about two hours north of San Francisco. Lauri, Michael, Scout an Jonah literally live in a cabin in the trees with their three dogs and cat. The trees are massive and hundreds of years old, the river below is full of river jade, obsidian and other beautiful rocks, and the sun has been shining constantly for a week now. The community seems to be stuck in time and completely unaffected by what goes on outside their foliage walls.

Lauri doesn't have a guest room,  so I have created my own on their back porch. I live in Jack's tent and each morning wake up to the most incredible scene outside of my screened tent window. Fog rising off the river, hummingbirds and bluejays flying only a few feet away from me, and my skin gets covered by the shadows from the leaves and branches of the trees above me.

Shortly after I arrived here I realized my car's radiator was nearly dead, and I can't move on until it gets fixed, so Michael hired me on to paint house siding and the owner of the lodge at the bottom of the hill hired me to work nights at the bar for the rest of the week. My radiator money will all be earned by the weekend of the fourth, and then I will probably continue on to Portland (although, I really don't want to leave here!)

When I got here I only thought I would be staying two days, so I only have my film camera with me (this means pictures will have to be posted later).

I have applied to a really wonderful job- and if I am lucky enough to get it, I will gladly give up my traveling. I don't want to get too excited about it, so I won't say anything else, but keep your fingers crossed for me!

the last day on the road

We had been told by many different people that the things we would see on Route 1 would make everything we previously witnessed pale in comparison. 

All of those people were right.

You know how people say that things are "breathtaking"? Well,  I was literally having to remind myself to breathe each inch that our car crawled up the coastline. 

My parents honeymooned at Big Sur, and I spent a lot of this drive thinking about them, especially about my dad. This was the home of many of his heroes; this was the birthplace of many of his favorite poems and novels. Every once and a while during this trip I would think about my dad, but this was the first time that I missed him a painful amount. I would love to be able to tell him all about this crazy journey and about all the things I had seen and the people that I had met. I always felt that he was a little jealous of me for being brave enough to live in the Czech Republic, and I know he would have loved to live vicariously through me on this trip as well. 

Brea (not the tar pits) and LA

The two days that we stayed in Brea at my uncle Leo's house were spent relaxing. Though we had technically been on "vacation" for the past two weeks, it had not felt like it with the hours of driving and the rushing from place to place. We laid by the pool, we ate good food and drank good drinks, and Jack constantly tried to get me to noodle fight or to play some kind of game with him (so competitive).

The first night we were there I felt an earthquake and Jack saw a coyote. Perhaps we should have taken those as signs.

I got to spend some time with my uncle Leo and ant Teri; anything Leo says still causes me to roar with laughter. 

This is what my Uncle Leo does everyday now that he's retired: he plays golf in the house.

Most of my family came over Tuesday night for a delicious barbecue a la Teri. Ant Kathy and her boyfriend, uncle Dave and his girlfriend, Uncle Brian, Alex, Brianna with her new cute baby Danielle, Uncle Tom and Ant Karen all came over. I had forgotten what a mixed bag my mother's family is. All wonderful people, but all VERY different. 

and introducing Danielle!

Here is Brian and Leo trying to get her to smile for the camera

The next morning we said farewell and headed to Los Angeles. We experienced the bad LA traffic and spent the time talking about what we would do if there was an earthquake.

Then we went to the Hollywood sign.

We then made our way back down the hills to the actual Hollywood.

look how little Shirley Temple was:

After we had our fill of Hollywood, we drove out to Venice Beach, which was great. So many weird, wonderful people and a pretty clean beach. We watched street performers, sat under palm trees, walked in the sand and the water, and listened to the incessant chanting of "get your medical marijuana prescription right now, the doctor is IN" standing in front of buildings with signs such as Dr. Kush. 

Jack eating the best ice-cream EVER. 

I became very homesick on the beach. I missed everyone, and I started to ask myself "What the hell am I doing?" I missed Graham, I missed my mother and my sisters, I missed all of my friends, and I missed a sense of stability. I had no idea if I would like San Francisco or not, and I was terrified of what would happen when we got there the next day. Venice Beach was where it finally hit me : I left my home and everything else I have ever known and loved. I am headed towards the unknown; I have no idea what is going to happen next. 

Ok, I had to temporarily forget those heavy feelings as we had to leave the beach to go to Amelia's (one of my high school best friends) house. After tight hugs and girly giggles, the three of us went off to get sushi. The sushi place was delicious and full of attractive LA people. Amelia and I caught up and shared stories about leaving everything behind and starting over. She seemed to be happy with her decision to leave, so it gave me some hope that I would be happy with mine as well.

The next morning we woke up, and drove to our future.

No viva las vegas

Our eyes were tired from all of the Utah beauty, but when we pressed on to Las Vegas our eye's exhaustion turned to pain from all of the ugly. I suppose it was pretty warm, but I still see no excuse for the multitude of overweight women wearing crop tops and shorts that more closely resembled underwear. 

Though I have read about and seen in movies the glitz and glam that is Las Vegas, I was in no way expecting to see the excessive splattering of fake gold and glitter, and enormous buildings and breasts that we witnessed immediately after entering through the pearly gates of the city of sin. 

small small jackie in a big big world

The fountain show at the Bellagio

(it was pretty cool)

Jack had intended on gambling while we were there. He had twenty dollars and wanted to spend it playing black jack. We entered the Bellagio and discovered that to even get on a table it was ten dollars and then you had to bet and all of that stuff that is involved with gambling, so he decided it wasn't worth it. Then we tried to play on one of the machines, and we couldn't figure it out. It wasn't meant to be. 

We decided we hated this city. Then we left. 

I napped (the ugly proved to be more exhausting than the beautiful) and Jack drove us to Laughlin, Nevada where my great aunt and uncle lived. 

Aunt Frances and Uncle Tony (rumored to have family members in the Mafia) are wonderful Jesus lovin' gamblin' folks. They took us to a delicious steak house located inside a casino (Jack ate tacos), and in our dinner conversation the fact that I had never gambled came up. Uncle Tony was appalled and as soon as we finished eating, we marched up to the video poker machines and I lost 15 dollars of Uncle Tony's money. I felt like a big ole family disappointment. Tony, however, won $150 in a quarter of the time it took me to lose 15. 

It was so very nice to spend time with them and to hear stories about my family, but we had to get back on the road. This time we were headed to the city of angels to see my mother's brothers and sisters. 

Utah was

unpredictably gorgeous. Look:

We stayed in Beaver, Utah. There is nothing to say about Beaver, Utah.

Fort Collins, CO

We were relaxed and rested by the time we left Wetmore, looking forward to a little city life and Everclear margaritas in Fort Collins. Abby Cape, one of my closest friends from the Czech Republic lives in Fort Collins, and we were staying at her family's home. Abby's house was just like her: cute. Her father had a huge garden in the back where much of their food came from and was even raising his own Thanksgiving turkeys. I still cannot understand how someone could eat something that they have raised and watched grow for such a long time. Abby had embraced their fate and names them Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing, Yams, etc.

  And look at the garden!

What else is there to do during the day in Fort Collins besides taste beer? Apparently not much, because that is just what we did. New Belgium gives you free beer! free!

We were feeling pretty good after the free beer (did I mention that it was free?!) Abby's dad made us delicious pizza that night and then we went out to drink our Everclear Magaritas!

Oh yeah, he we are really excited about Magaritas!

At the Magarita place we met up with Julie Bloom and she is just great! After we were good and drunk we walked on over to The Vault where we were greeted by two girls making out while a guy was creepily staring. Just as I thought to run in the other direction I heard the faint sound of a banjo in the back of the bar and marched toward it. The band consisted of a bunch of old men and a woman from Wisconsin playing familiar tunes. I was a bit homesick at first, but Julie Bloom and I started stomping away, ending the night as happy as I could be.

The next morning we said goodbye to Abby, to the free beer, and to the little gnomes who had greeted us a few days earlier. 

Wetmore, Colorado.

The elevation began to increase and the roads started to wind as we neared Jack's aunt and uncle's home in the hills (mountains?) of Wetmore, Colorado. When our little australian, gps-woman-who-we-have-yet-to-name told us we were only a few feet from our destination, we saw a small woman with long blonde hair running towards us. "Ah," Jack said, "I had forgotten how energetic she is."

Mary, smiling and smelling of patchouli, excitedly showed us around the a-frame cabin where we would be staying. Jack and I agreed that this was the nicest place we had stayed thus far.

After our quick tour we made the short walk to Mary and Chas' house and had a glass of wine with the two of them. I immediately grew very fond of both of them. Both are extremely intelligent, giving, funny people who seem to love each other and nature more than anyone else has ever loved anything.

The next morning I woke up and I could see no other houses, no cars, no people- just trees and grass and animals and mountains. The sky was far bluer, the grass far greener, and the flowers far more vibrant.

The window I was seeing all of this out of was located in the most wonderful room. Right at the top of the a-frame, scarcely decorated, the most beautiful view, and the bare wood for walls- a room that was meant for a writer or an artist (or someone who fantasizes about being both, me.) I felt very lucky to be staying in this room, if only for a few nights.

We spent the day hiking 10,000 feet in the Sangre de Christo (sp?) mountains.

 

Here we all are!

That night we went out for a delicious Italian dinner at the nearest restaurant (45 minutes away).

That night was like Christmas Eve. The next day I was able to spend the whole day on my own. There were no plans, there was no driving, and there was no one else. I had a hard time sleeping in my beautiful room as my mind reeled with ways to spend my Kaitlin day.

Kaitlin day was spent hiking, rock hopping, laying in the creek, walking through wild flowers and removing myself from my head. It was everything I could have asked for in a Kaitlin day.

That night we packed up to leave. Jack and I were sad to be leaving such a place, but we had more people and places to see. We said our goodbyes to Chas and Mary, hopped in our magical van and descended down the winding roads toward Fort Collins, Colorado.