return triumphant

[lilamp]

some highlights...


tahoe (june 19-25):
- wedding went remarkably well!
- property boasted lovely wildflowers, wilted boutonniere crisis deftly averted by bonnie c.
- i (barely) managed to not trip on my dress
- geoff successfully avoided crying until completion of the ceremony
- food was a big hit (especially sushi chef of course)
- televison for rock band was not operational :(
- many many people gave toasts
- none of the conservative relatives showed visible grumbling when we toasted to getting married in a place where everyone can now marry
- brunch at riva was pretty good, but i'm still slightly bitter about the $$$ they charged
- crazy opening day traffic madness resulted in some people not making the boat ride, alas
- awesome mark twain impersonator spoke some choice quotes about love before we signed the official paperwork (in the middle of the lake)
- saw many friends i wish i could have spent more time with
- by saturday evening i was utterly exhausted from being social nonstop since thursday
- had a good time saturday night nonetheless!
- the weather stayed gorgeous through sunday, which boasted a very lovely sunrise
- packing up was hard work, made more challenging by having to send lots of stuff back with other people
- woke up monday morning to onset of smoke (thank you california for not bursting into flame until after the wedding!)
- geoff and i checked in to another rental property, hottubbed, got massages, had great sunset dinner at the chart house
- tuesday tahoe basin filled entirely with smoke, so instead of going hiking, we went to the movies (indy 4) and then wandered into a wine shop for some tasting
- had dinner at friday's station at the top of harrah's and could barely see the edge of the lake for all the smoke
- sunset was mostly nonexistent, it just went red sun, red sun, red sun, very slightly pink smoke, dark
- wednesday drove home



yosemite (june 25-29):
- picked up rental kayak on the way home, managed to execute janky mounting next to torpedo on the crv
- packed, napped, drove
- avoided asphyxiating and dying in fiery crash due to lantern leak
- camp 4 ranger actually opened the kiosk early, and we were set up and ready for napping by 10am
- lazy thursday afternoon, curry village pizza and margaritas
- friday slept late, floated down merced
- geoff went in the drink and lost his beers
- smoke finally started clearing up a bit
- saturday tenaya lake, forgot insect repellent but luckily saved from mosquitos of doom by kindness of strangers
- hiked up to the end of the ridge where the tenaya peak climb descends (hike along ridge looks pretty brutal)
- blue sky at last!
- paddled about the lake a bit
- longest shower adventure ever due to shuttle fubar, followed by dinner and el cap meadow
- eye of sauron up top looking for the nose, likely photographers readying for the morning
- got stopped on the way back to camp by trolling rangers for (barely!) rolling a stop sign
- got to take field sobriety test, woo!
- sleep early for morning excitement
- got to watch hans florine and yuji hirayama through telescope as they just missed reclaiming the el cap speed record (by 2.5 minutes)
- took off before afternoon exodus and made it home in time for dinner

back to reality:
- going back to work is strange
- unpacking will be a long and arduous process, especially since much of our stuff is scattered at friends' places
- marriage license was successfully returned to sf city hall, so we're actually legal (it was a day late, but luckily they didn't care)
- tonight i will go to the gym for the first time in a month

p.s. hans and yuji went back this morning and succesfully set the new record of 2 hours 43 minutes!