Autumn in Northern California

It rained here the other night and it really took me by surprise. It shouldn’t have, it’s officially autumn and the grocery stores are gearing up for Halloween. But the summer seemed to drag on so long that it’s hard for me to believe it’s over. What a long Missoula summer- the 107 degree heat wave, all the fires and smoke and ash...Even our car ride out of Missoula was a condensed version of the long, uncomfortable summer season, a sort of recap just in case we might forget. We drove straight into the sun for hours and hours. It felt like we would eventually run into it if we kept going straight, which we did. Since I'm still in that mindset and have been feeling disoriented missing our life and friends in Missoula it kind of snuck up on me when I also started to feel...well, cold. It seemed like such a good idea to give away all my coats and sweaters as we were leaving Montana. We’re headed to Guinea for crying out loud! No fleece or scarves will be necessary there! But I’ve got a few months in Northern California and while there won’t be snow here, there will be some cold days and nights ahead.

Time seems to be moving so slowly, especially since I don’t have a schedule right now, and yet, if it’s getting colder then it must mean that time *is* passing. And if time is passing then we will soon be leaving. In 6 weeks we’ll be getting on a plane. With so much left to do I’m feeling more anxiety than excitement at this point. In any case, these 6 weeks will be packed with a lot of preparations and travel. Some people have asked about our plans so here they are: Matt left California a week ago and drove to Texas to see his grandma. He is now on the East Coast (Virginia and then West Virginia) vising some of his siblings and his nieces and nephew. He’ll fly back to Texas in a week to spend time with his parents. I’ll fly to Texas with my dad in mid-October to visit Matt, his family, and my dad’s side of my family (all of whom live in the same city- a small miracle given that everyone else is so spread out!). I’ll fly back here on October 24th and Matt will drive here from Texas the last week of October. We’ll do some more visiting with family and then will fly out of San Francisco on November 6th.

In the meantime, though, I’m here at my mom’s place spending a lot of time with my mom, dad, brother, and my brother's girlfriend Julia, trying to catch up with other members of my family who live in this area, helping the cats adjust to their new home (this seems to be harder on them than the car ride), and slowly (very slowly) getting stuff done to prepare for our trip. We’ve set up a new bank account with free wire transfers, bought mosquito nets, registered to vote absentee, and received our visas to The Gambia (we’ll be passing through there to get to Guinea so that Matt can do some research for an article he’s writing). There's a ton more to do and I'll keep everyone posted on how it's going over these next 6 weeks.

Here are some recent photos from our time in Northern California with my family:

Matt, me and my brother on a hike in South Lake Tahoe. My brother and his girlfriend Julia treated us to a wonderful few days in Lake Tahoe to welcome us to California. The highlights of the trip were this hike, the hot tub, and winning $97 at the roulette table (A shout out to Matt who encouraged me to bet it all on number 27) during my first gambling experience ( I know, just what the casinos want, a positive first experience to hook me back in. Good thing I'm headed to Guinea. And I've already spent the money on a mosquito net so I have nothing to bet anyway).

My brother's girlfriend Julia and my brother on the same hike in South Lake Tahoe.

We were going to start out with an easy one mile hike to a place called Grass Lake but we took a wrong turn and ended up on the trail leading up some huge mountain. By the time we figured it out we were halfway to the summit. Five hours later we were still wondering around looking for Grass Lake. We never found it but had a great time trying.

Julia shaving Matt's head to help get him ready for the heat in Guinea

Post-Shave: Julia, me, and Matt

Morel and Curry enjoying their new kitty bed at their new home