Home Again, Happy New Year and End Credits
So here I am at home. There's no way around it, really. My vacation is officially over and I'm still on California time (although I'm starting to wonder if I'm not on California time in general as I was a relatively early riser there). My last sight of San Francisco from the airplane window was, fittingly enough, a cloud coming in to shroud the city. The shock of the return was softened by the fact that I was coming home to my nice new apartment, and the Intrada issue of John Barry's The Deep and BSX's issue (ordered through Moviemusic.com, as I never order from BSX directly) of Jerry Goldsmith's The Going Up of David Lev (a fantastic score in the vein of Masada) were in my mailbox.
I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Aubree, who is the reason why this trip was even possible in the first place. She opened her home to us and was an ideal host, and it is because of her that Dan and I had the experience that we did in San Francisco.
Upon our return, Dan was queried on Facebook how our trip was. His response: "Man, words can't even describe… it was fantastic, thanks!"
And it's true. Reading over the relevant entries in this journal, you'll be able to get a pretty decent picture of where we were and what we did. What you really won't get, because it just doesn't translate into language, was not only the general laid-back nature of the city itself (although that certainly didn't hurt), nor even all the things we did (though they were indeed fun), not all the food we ate (although it was all delicious), but the vibe. That was the most relaxed I'd been… well… ever.
This was a trip that I'll always remember; this journey was a gift to myself, conceived when I thought I'd be celebrating one thing. I ended up having so many things to celebrate, and something that made this vacation so satisfying is that I felt that I truly earned it.
There is more I may discuss about this journey and what it meant to me in time. For right now, however, I'm going to just say that this picture here, taken by Aubs on Sunday at Hippie Hill in front of the drum circle, captures me at my very happiest:
ADDENDUM: I have edited my previous entry to include the restaurant we ate at the last night of our stay (Nopa) and to replace the original archival picture of the drum circle with one taken by Dan (the flautist I mentioned in that post is prominent in the shot). I've also edited the earlier entry to replace the generic "Six Sisters" photo with one of me in front of the Grateful Dead house.
