Adventures in California

I have much to share with you, my friends. But we'll have to do it on the installment plan -- I have to post this quickly so I can do all my morning stuff and still make it to the office on time to an early webcast. I'll probably take vacation later in the week to finish documenting our latest trip (and to complete the requisite laundry, household chores, jet lag recovery, etc.), but for now, I'll give you the short version:

Tanner and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to California. We drove over 2500 miles, experienced temperature changes from 70°F to -5°, changed altitude from over 11,000 feet to almost 250 feet below sea level, visited National Monuments, walked along the beach, risked death by speeding around snowplows in white-out highway conditions, visited brussels sprouts farms and barren salt flats...and attended a close friend's wedding. All in about 4 days.

An epic journey by any standards, wouldn't you say?

I'm pretty tired. My car needs an oil change. And Tanner probably won't want to have anything to do with me for several months after all this. But I had a lot of fun.

I just make a few comments and share a few photos, and save the rest of the description for later, OK? For now, just a few highlights:

Neither of us had been to Death Valley before, and especially since my car's A/C doesn't work, what better time than in December? It was comfortable, gorgeous, and surprisingly full of tourists.

We did the appropriate gawking, noticing that there was an overabundance of oxygen available for jogging up the hills to the vista points. We also saw a real life roadrunner. (It didn't beep. At least not while we were watching.) I suspect it was a permanent resident of the Visitor Center, because it didn't seem to be the least bit shy around all the dorky tourists with cameras.

We used our GPS locator to verify that the government wasn't lying to us about the elevation (the way they lied to us about the moon landings and Bruce Banner's gamma ray experiments). An interesting and unexpected discovery that accompanied the GPS use was that humans (at least the males in my family) are pretty bad at determining whether roads are really flat while driving. There were many times we felt we were level when we were really going up, and other times we felt like we were descending while maintaining a level altitude. On foot, I suspect we'd be accurate, but in the car, our internal change-in-level detection was iffy at best.

But the entire point of the trip was to attend Russ and Melinda's wedding. It was an excellent event -- a lovely ceremony followed by a fabulous reception. In addition to the food, music, and surprisingly impressive dancing performances by the happy couple and their parents, there was universal and enthusiastic endorsement of the marriage, and endless (and well-deserved, in my opinion) tributes to the awesomeness and sheer likeability of the newlyweds. I think everyone who attended had a great time.

Tanner and I had a great time, too. And as you might expect, I have much more to say about the wedding, the time spent with my kid, and the various positive and negative qualities discovered about Utah, Nevada, and California. There are more photos to share, and maybe even a short movie or two. Until then, have a great day!