When Carrie Fisher died suddenly late last year, I knew it was time to stop putting off my bucket list. My kids assured me that my general approach to life has always been a lot healthier (“Ma, she did a lot of cocaine in her 20s”), but still… A few weeks later I upgraded to a junior suite (on my own dime) at the SCS in Toronto. Always wanted to do that. Worth it.
Now with the flimsy excuse that Jon is finishing his Masters at UCLA and I want to be there so we can not attend graduation together (we’ll be in Sequoia), I’m loading the dog in the car and driving out to California. And then, well, as long as I’m out there….
From Davidson we’ll take a week to go to West Hollywood; from there to visit friends in Ojai whom I haven’t seen in too many many years. Jon will be working at Sequoia National park, so I’ll be there for a few days as well. Then to visit my cousin Elizabeth in the mountainous Downieville CA. After visiting Liz, I’m going to drive through the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Black Hills National forest and the Badlands (where I’m staying at a place with no address, just a GPS coordinates!). Then off to Rochester MN, where my niece is a resident at the Mayo Clinic. From there, two of my sisters will join me as we cross Lake Michigan (on the pretty pricey ferry), stay in Holland MI and then drive into Canada to cross over Niagra Falls. Then on to NY. And, finally, home…with a stop in Roanoke to see Conor.
