travel | Change Is Hard

October 15, 2011
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Saying goodbye to the Pacific ocean

Yesterday was spent with the ocean; driving along it, walking beside it, smelling the salt in the air – feeling the wind in our faces.

Most of the day was spent near Big Sur, south of San Fransisco. We tried, earlier in the week, to visit the Pacific when we were north of the city…

…but fog made the driving hazardous and we gave up after a brief touch.

Yesterday, our last full day in California we wanted to watch the sunset over the Pacific.

So we picked up burgers and ate them on the beach while we waited. It was perfect way to end a lovely vacation.

Today we’re flying home, going back to our real lives, our Katie-girl, my job. But not before I get to meet Ellen in person! She’s coming with her two dogs and we’re going to go for a short walk! I can’t wait!

I have so many other fun and interesting things to share with all of you, more than I can ever get into this blog, but for now please enjoy the sunset over the Pacific. Complements of me.

October 14, 2011
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

Alcatrz musings

Alcatraz…what is there to say except that I’m glad I never lived there. Such sadness in such an idyllic spot with views to die for. Some did.

The cells were tiny, spare, hard. The best ones had sunlight. Solitary confinement cells didn’t have any light at all. We got to go inside a solitary confinement cell while the guard shut the door with a clang. Six or seven of us stood silent in the hot, humid total darkness.

Freedom makes a person smile.

So much tragedy here, the images are ghostly, faint, movie-like, and yet they were real. Much is told by people that lived the story. As one said, “Not much good came out of a stay on the rock.”