Road Trip Juicy - Part 3, Final Act

Final Act of our Road Trip Juicy adventures (for July anyway) - Mendocino. We never get tired of Mendocino, and neither does Cousin Jeffrey. Jeffrey comes here once or twice a year with his friend Nancy, and this time he invited us to join them. Another opportunity to hit the road to see people we love? No Brainer!!!

We'd met Nancy briefly in February when she was on her way to catch a plane at Charles Schultz Airport (yes Santa Rosa has an airport complete with Snoopy statue). This trip we got to spend some time with her and we see why Jeffrey enjoys her so much. Deep thinking, funny, full of life ... what's not to like? 

Cousin Jeffrey pimpin' his green olive ride.

(It does cry out for a pimento doesn't it?)

Baked eggs and scones in Nancy's room.

Looks like a movie set, right?

Actually "Same Time Next Year" was filmed here in Mendocino.

 Nancy and Jeffrey holding up the bench 

so we don't fall backwards on our heads.

Awwwwwww. We love these people.

 Art in the Garden event at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

We've been told Mendocino is all about "Wine and Weed". 

We did drink some wine, but there wasn't any weed,
not even in the flower beds.

 Fireworks everywhere in the form of exploding dahlias.

Peg o' my heart? 

Thank you Cousin Jeffrey for including us in your life like you do. "Same Time Next Year"? Love you dude...

Road Trip Juicy - Part 2

A little later in July, the Road Trip juiciness continued ... (see previous blog for part 1)

Friends of ours made a documentary about the kind of spiritual journeys Ted and I used to lead down to Teotihuacan, Mexico. (Did you know we did that? ... a long, unconventional story ...) The movie was premiered at the Topanga Film Festival last month, and since Lee (friend and filmmaker) and his family (our adopted Hanai* girls) were going to be coming there from Nashville, we bee-lined it down to Topanga. A Trip to Topanga wouldn't be complete without the running narrative of our friend Frank, who hopped in the back seat as we left Santa Rosa, and entertained us with story after story all the way down.

The film got a lot of interest and great feedback. If ya wanna see the trailer go to:   http://www.dreamingheaventhemovie.com/
And if you want to check out one of the other films we just LOVED, check out Jonas Elrod's journey into other-worldliness ... it's true y'all ...  http://wakeupthefilm.com/

So here we are outside of the theatre ... Above, left to right: Frank (he's a leader in the film), cousin Shelley (aDORE her), Peggy, Gini (she's a leader in the film too), good friend Colleen (she was in the film) and Tylor (Mee's nephew, our Hanai* nephew, and no he's not in the film) walking in the background.

Above: Lee narrating the morning films.

Above: Mee with Mister-Swims-With-Dolphins, and friend. 

This is Topanga after all ...

Above: Mee aka Princess Know It All.

If you haven't already checked out her blog, do it here ... http://princessknowitall.com/

The trip was quick, but the best hit of oxytocin ever! (Oxytocin = a chemical in the brain connected to feelings of love. Science is amazing isn't it?). We got to "love up" lots of people we knew (thank you Rita, Ed, Gae and David), put our toes in the Southern Cali Pacific ocean, and soothe our periodic yearnings for our Hanai* family, great friends, and that wonderful, anything-goes L.A. attitude. Yeh, Randy Newman had it right, "We love L.A.!"


(Oh and hey ... yes, I'm red-faced ... and I'm sure this is not necessary, well I hope it's not, but I feel compelled to apologize to so many of you down there that we would have loved to have seen. We slipped in and out like the stealth bomber, and trust you understand about the limited timeframe around a specific event.) 


*And hey again ... if you wanna know who and what our Hanai family is, check out our last year's blog entry: http://bubbatbone.blogspot.com/2010/11/hanai-halloween.html)


Oh, and stay tuned. There is a final Part 3 of our July journeys, comin' up ... xoxo

Road Trip Juicy - Part 1

July was road trip juicy. Feeling nostalgic for Summer Vacation, we took advantage of a slow time at the office, packed up our traveling bags and hit the highway.

Friends Wally and Shauna recently got a house on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene in the Idaho panhandle, and invited us to meet them there along with other friends, Bob, Marni, Chris and Bart. It took us two, long, stop-where-we-felt-like-it, road trip days to get there, and man-o-man did we ever love it. Biggest surprise along the way was Bend, Oregon. Slap bang in the middle of the state, surrounded by alfalfa hay and wheat fields, Bend is quaint, up-scale and has a youthful vitality that we didn't expect.

North of Bend, that first night, we spent in Madras, Oregon, a "blink town" if there ever was one. (Drive by too fast and blink, you'll miss it ...) Yes, it's tiny, but the town was the birthplace of oh-so-stupid-he-died, River Phoenix.

On to Coeur d'Alene the next day ... YEOW-ZA! If lakes had a Ms. Universe contest, this one would WIN! But more than the outer beauty, the experience of having a great time with friends we love, eating fabulous food, and having fun-packed adventures is the winning-est of all combinations...

above: View from Wally & Shauna's balcony

Breakfast al fresco

The boat has it's own motorized ramp that took it in and out of its garage just up the hill. Easy peazy.

We motored across the lake to Harrison, population 267. 

Lump crab cocktails ala Chris & Bart

A gout-fest waiting to happen.

Ted, Shauna, Marni, Bob, Wally (Chris Bart weren't there yet)

Evening full moon over Lake Coeur d'Alene

Okay, for sure this has a story ... 

...this was the shower in our room at the biker lodge we stayed at, just south of Bend. Honestly, I had a cringe-worthy time putting my bare body into a place where I knew every kind of perversion has taken place. Ted had no problem...

Harmony Festival-Back to the Future!

"Let's do the time warp agaaaaaaain!" (Sing to the tune in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.)

The Harmony Fesitval.

Where '60s/'70s Hippydelics merge with modern day Gypsy Steam Punk style. This festival is really not so much a nostalgic throwback (although it has that aspect too) as it is a current expression of free spirited individualism. Bladerunner lives ...