My new hat and I...

took a vacation. The bf came too. The cats, sadly, had to stay home.

We three went to the Sierra Nevadas. On the first rather inauspicious night, I was attacked by bedbugs (yup, they're everywhere) and we had to sleep in the car. On the second day I was scared shitless by the steepest, windingest, no guardrailiest road I've ever encountered. Sheer 4,000 ft. drops. Gorgeous views I was far too nervous to fully appreciate.

But by the third day, things got better. I walked around the largest tree on earth. I stood beneath a waterfall. I stumbled upon a lush meadow. I recognized my boundaries and declined to climb up a huge rock overhanging the mountains. We cooled off in a pristine, placid swimming hole in the Kaweah river. My hat provided nice shade.

After a few more sweltering hours of driving and a long ferry ride, we indulged in a little oceanside camping at Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island. Kayaked around some pretty cliffs and caves and watched bright orange garabaldi glide amid the underwater gardens in the clear, cool water beneath us.

Lastly, we did LA. Tar pits, Farmers Market, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Los Feliz. I finally saw the fantastic and long-anticipated puppet exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. And Japanese painting at LACMA. Sat next to this guy, and his dog, at dinner. Watched Hellboy II in Grauman's Chinese Theater. I even went shopping in Beverly Hills (okay so it was for tea, but it still felt luxurious)!

Finally, we drove back through the searing, dusty, agricultural San Joaquim valley to chilly temperatures here in the East Bay. This morning I made myself some organic Yunnan tea blended with French Provençal lavendar and bergamot, I'm now washing and drying all of our clothing and bags on hot hot hot, and I'm ready to write furiously.

Because I'll be returning to the East Coast in a few weeks...