April 2008 - spring renewal

Back in California, I was restless still.  A few days after returning from BC I set about on a drive to visit friends north of me.  Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Sacramento - I guess just about every California town that begins with 'S'.  I drove through Big Sur with my windows down, and took my time doing so.  The fresh pacific air is shielded here from the filth produced on the mainland, and I relished my privilege place along PCH between the shore and the cliff.

I had lunch with Nicole in Santa Cruz, unaware that in less than a year we would fall in love with each other.  In San Francisco, as I was leaving Alex's apartment after a late night of bar hopping with him, Jess, and Evan, a rabbi invited me to his home for sabbath lunch.  I had to decline, of course, for I had places to be.  I was due in Sacramento for a night of drinking with Adam.  Then, on Sunday, it was back home for me.  Back home again.  I was expecting company soon.

Mel was coming into town later that week, and I had been making an effort to become more involved with the CouchSurfing scene, ramping up for my trip to Europe.  I met a girl who worked as a photographer at Disneyland at a CS ArtWalk gathering on Thursday that offered to get Mel and me into the park for free on Friday.  So that's exactly what we did on Friday, straight from the airport.  Then we went to another CS event, a pancake breakfast, on Sunday morning.  She stayed with me for a few more days and then went camping with Kyle.

Passover came and went with relative insignificance.  All I really remember between Mel leaving and April 29 is researching, packing, stressing, budgeting, going to the DMV, and waking up late in the day.  I just remember being excited for my first trip to another continent.  I left for Toronto, the first stop on my trip, on April 29, but that whole venture is basically May material.