I wanted to write this yesterday but our stay at Yosemite was so nice that spending time looking at a computer seemed dumb. So, yes – we’re off! We left yesterday morning after spending the previous evening watching my niece Tallulah as her parents Wendy & Ben celebrated their 7th anniversary – congrats! 
(Isn't she gorgeous?)
I always feel like it’s a privilege to spend time with her and to love her as much as I do – AND I got to watch Hasan put her to bed when I started getting scared that she was crying so much when I tried to put her to bed (good thing to know about him). When Wendy, Ben, Hasan and I were talking when they got home, I realized that me and Wendy (or at least just me) are sort of pretending our impending separation due to my moving is not happening. We talk about it in passing or about superficial aspects, but I can feel neither one of us wants to say goodbye. Starting to cry thinking about it…
Anyways, so we left and drove down to the Googleplex (corporate headquarters) to have lunch with my cousin Bablu. We got to eat a famously free and fabulous Google lunch (from several Google cafes) while watching Googlers bicycle around the Googleplex. It was yummy - thanks Bablu!
Started the drive to Yosemite and in Tracy, CA I fell in love with Hasan again. My thoughts on feeling “in love” are that it’s a temporary thing – like any emotion – that ebbs and flows. Looking for that all the time in a relationship is like looking to feel happy or sated 100% of the time in life – it’s not possible. So when it comes, I treasure it. We were at a gas station and I had stepped out to dump some trash from the car while Hasan used the restroom. I had taken the printed directions out of the car with me to organize them, and it was so windy that the papers started flying out of my hands. I started running after them, so worried that they were going to be gone, that I would end up being unorganized on the trip (yes, my car has navigation – but I believe in backups), that I might get run over if I pay attention only to these pieces of paper instead of the cars driving around me, that the guys filling up their cars were laughing at me while I ran after them, which then reminded me that I had ran after these papers while leaving the car unlocked and unattended. I had gotten a few of them back but decided to walk back to the car, plotting how to deal with the lack of printed directions on the walk back. I got to the car, intent on being positive and not pissed off or nervous. Just as I walked up to the car, I heard Hasan call me and I turned around – frowning, he says. You know what….he had the missing papers! I don’t know how he did it, but I swear I felt like Cinderella. He had all of them and I just couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. I felt like Cinderella and he was my prince. It was magic and I fell in love again.
On to Yosemite…what a great drive. As we neared the park in the mid-afternoon, the road got mountainous and curvy – apparently something Hasan had never experienced. He got very nervous. I asked him what I could do make him feel better, and his reply was “DRIVE 15 MILES AN HOUR!” That’s when I knew it was a good time for us to switch and him to drive. The drive into and in Yosemite was so spectacular. We stopped shortly into it and joined some others at a beautiful vista point. Here’s Hasan ensuring that a note I had written on that tree was carved in for life.
Ours wasn’t the only note on the tree – but hopefully it will stay there for a long time.
We had a fun time trying to find a place to stay – ended up at a nice place called Indian Flat RV Lodge. No bugs, nice bed, great bathroom. Had chicken strips and hamburgers for dinner – quality road trip food of course, and went to bed.
Today was the day for the scenic drive and stops through Yosemite. We were blessed to drive through there in the summer when the road that goes all the way across is open. We took pictures with Half Dome, took a dip in what Hasan likes to Tallulah Lake (actually Tenaya Lake), and so on. The road – Tioga pass – takes you on the highest point that automobiles are allowed to cross in California…nearly 10,000 feet! That’s pretty amazing.
And now we’re just about to finish barreling through Nevada. Let me tell you – on this ride through Nevada on the US 6 – you see NOTHING but mountains. OK, mountains and deer and cows and horses and coyotes and jackrabbits and desert and other such things. A deer even crossed the road in front of us - and just stood there. Seeing as how I don’t want a deer to mess up my beautiful new car, I was quite thrilled when Hasan slowed down to pass the menacing Bambi lookalike. Sometimes this terrain is beautiful to me, sometimes it’s ugly and drab, and sometimes it’s endless. I’ll be glad to be out of Nevada and into Utah tonight.
Stay tuned!
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