Random Thoughts #13: Taste of Chicago music 2009

We have a condo in the city of Chicago. Our son and his friend rent it from us. Our son's roommate was out of town so I asked if I could stay on Friday night so I could see the city of Chicago's fireworks (set off on July 3).

Fireworks were splendid - we went to the Aquarium area. Great place to view the fireworks!

But what I want to talk about...is the music.

Saturday afternoon, July 4, had three free performances scheduled at the Petrillo Shell: Booker T., Guster, and Buddy Guy. Taste of Chicago is one of the only free festivals left in the U.S. - thank you Chicago and thank you sponsors!!! Because it is free, and because I love to go to things that are free, I get some exposure to artists I wouldn't have gone to see otherwise. And whoever it is that comes up with the programming - picks some pretty darned good artists!

Last week, when Taste of Chicago opened, I attended a performance by Cameo and then Charlie Wilson and the Gap. Both very good bands, and I was astounded to see that almost everyone in the audience (95% black) knew all the words to all the songs. It was quite an experience, being surrounded by exuberant, enthusiastic people singing along at the top of their lungs and dancing away!

Today's performance was also quite an experience. First, the audience mix was quite different: more white than black, and initially, lots of young people.

The first performance, Booker T and the DTB's, was very good. Booker T was an older black guy, and the band was white and early middle-aged, and included a blond female playing base. Their music was instrumental. The only song that Booker T sang was "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" - very well done, very melancholy with a soaking cold rain drizzling over us all.

Next band, "Guster," was one that I'd never heard of, but the young audience was going crazy over them, dancing, singing along. Needless to say this was a younger band, too - perhaps in their late 20's or early 30's. The drummer often played with his hands rather than with drumsticks. For this band, similarly to the Cameo and Charlie Wilson performances from the previous week - I was most interested in watching the audience. The bands were all very good but I wasn't familiar with the songs. But the young audience was SO enthusiastic!

After Guster left, most of the young people scooted out of there. I wondered if the Petrillo shell would be left largely empty for Buddy Guy, but then more people drifted in. Audience was more middle-aged, now, and smaller than Guster's audience. I thought that Buddy Guy had a hard act to follow: the young audience so clearly loved and was very enthusiastic about Guster, and the band did a great job of whipping up the audience enthusiasm and energy level.

Well, when Buddy Guy came out - he was the master. OMG - and then some. The word "legendary" comes to mind and it is fully deserved. WHAT a performance. Loose. Funny. Amazing guitar. Amazing vocals. Amazing feats. In fact, I still cannot believe such an amazing performace - one of the very best I've ever seen. BB King had a voice like a lion, and he could still put out some wonderful guitar licks, but Buddy Guy is a little younger (around 70?) and he PERFORMS. He entertains. He is utterly amazing and deserves all the accolades. I can see how he influenced Jimi Hendrix. And his music is also amazing and yanked me to my feet, even though I didn't know any of the songs!!! None of the other acts could do that.

But the most astounding thing: he kept talking about bringing in a very, very special guest. I expected someone like, say, BB King to show up. But no - it was a pudgy haole KID - 10 years old, I think. This kid played like a Buddy Guy - did all the tricks - even the playing with his teeth and with the guitar on top of his head!?! They even did guitar battles! And then - he SANG! In a high-pitched young boy's voice - very incongruous, singing the blues with such a voice, but it was funny 'cuz the song was about learning the blues from Buddy Guy!

Well, what an afternoon... Too bad it was so cold and rainy (I wasn't dressed for the weather - just had shorts and a T-shirt), but I am SO GLAD I went!!!

Random Thoughts #12: Financial Freedom

I just read an article about financial spring cleaning. Many readers weighed in with comments. Sometimes I think I could write a column on personal finance!

I'm now nearly 55 and my hubby will turn 59 later this year. We raised 3 kids & invested for their college years ago. Our oldest will still have enough for a down payment on a house after she graduates from NYU law school to the tune of $180,000, even though she went to UC Berkeley for 4-1/2 years and went to UCLA grad school (with no scholarship) for 2-1/2 years. Our second will be able to graduate from med school w/ a similar nest egg. Only our youngest may have some trouble paying for grad school, but we have plenty in reserve to help her out if necessary.

The bad thing is that our three kids have so much in assets that they don't qualify for any financial aid whatsoever. But is this really so bad?

As for my hubby & me, we have plenty for retirement so we work only because we enjoy what we do. It is nice to have this Financial Freedom.

It's not like my hubby & I have fabulous high-paying jobs. He is an engineer and started at only $18K/year, and I stayed home with the kids until I was 45 years old. Right now our combined pay is <$200K. So yes, this puts us in the upper percentiles for pay - we're not janitors or clerks - but nor are we investment bankers or top management (who are paid obscene and undeserved amounts of money, in my view).

So, how did we do it?

Generous grandparents and relatives helped, and so did some investment luck. My parents gave some stocks to our children - but not a lot. Just 100 shares here, 100 shares there. When interest rates were very high, they spent a couple of thousand dollars to buy a 10,000 CD for our oldest. All stocks were in dividend reinvestment. As for luck - you need it. And we had it. Sometimes. My parents gave our oldest 100 shares of General Electric about 25 years ago. It wasn't worth much at that time - perhaps the value was $1,000-$2,000. However, the stock split, and split and split again. Now she has nearly 2000 shares at $34/share - you do the math! My parents gave our second child 100 shares of ATT. At first that seemed like a great gift. ATT gave good dividends and it was considered to be a very good, solid stock. Well, that one languished and although it gave off some nuisance spinoffs and is worth more than when our son first received it, it isn't worth a whole lot more.

I also was very disciplined. When I was young, I was very poor, but managed to spend half a year in Europe for only $500 - less than $100/month. I made some good Scottish friends who taught me a trick or two about being frugal. Shortly thereafter, I read a great book by Andrew Tobias called "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." My key takeaway: "A Penny Saved is Two Pennies Earned."

So: I saved every penny that I could. And then, I invested it. I didn't want to lose any of our hard-earned and hard-saved money (it took a lot of self-sacrifice!), so my investments were usually very conservative. At the same time, I knew (from the Tobias book) that you had to take some risks, because inflation would eat up money kept in a standard savings account. My general rule was this: I would buy stocks only if they paid interest rates as good or better than what we earned in an interest-bearing checking account, and we then did dividend re-investment. My mother told me about dividend reinvestment and I also read about how powerful it could be, especially back in the 80's and 90's when no one charged anything for it. When interest rate were high, I also bought some zero-coupon bonds, and when our state put out tax-free zero coupon college bonds, I scraped together some cash and bought those also. I also put our money into IRA's when they first came out. We also bought a house when interest rates were high and house prices were low.

Investing can be stressful & time-consuming. There was no on-line investing 15-20 years ago. I spent nearly an hour on hold to buy the zero-coupon college bonds, and I really sweated over which ones to buy.

But it sure paid off, many years later! I'm not an investment guru or genius, but here's what worked for me:

1. SAVE when you are YOUNG.
2. First fund your 401K, then your IRA, then (if you have children) your kids' 529 accounts (but don't overfund your kids 529 accounts as the money can ONLY be used for college)
3. Invest in income-producing things such as real estate, dividend-paying stocks (w/low P/E ratios), & bonds before getting too wildly speculative.
4. If you give your kids money (we bought various stocks for them), don't let them know that they are independently wealthy until they are older. Otherwise, what incentive do they have to work?

The hardest part for many people may be saving when they are young. My husband was also very poor so he and I were of the same saving mentality. It was probably easier for us to be self-sacrificing than it is for our suburban kids with their comfortable lifestyle.

I was VERY disciplined and always looked for ways to save $$$. For a long time, we had only one car (bought used) - big savings on insurance, repairs, maintenance, etc. We had no cell phone until recently. We still have no cable TV. We try to leave a "light footprint" and I try to consume as little utilities as I can while still being comfortable (I switched all our lightbulbs to compact fluorescent, I keep the thermostat low in the winter & high in the summer, etc.). I ride my bike to the store when I can and try to be efficient in use of our car (our most recent purchase - and we are in our peak earning years - was a Honda Civic). When our relatives gave our children monetary gifts, I put it into their college fund. When our children were given toys or clothes that I thought were too expensive or impractical, I often returned them and bought diapers or food with the money. Of course I did this only when they were too little to know any better. When they were older, I'd sometimes asked them if they REALLY wanted a certain gift - if they didn't care, I returned it. When I was in college, I bought clothes at Salvation Army or Goodwill, much to my mother's horror (and she was even more horrified when someone would compliment me on my clothes, and I'd say, quite proudly, that it cost only 50 cents at Goodwill!). And for most of my college years, I rode a bicycle. I never bought convenience food. We never ate out until my hubby got his job, and when we ate out (maybe once a week, before kids, as part of our weekend entertainment), we ate only at cheap ethnic restaurants - our bible was a book called "The Cheap but Good Chicago Restaurant Guide." Whole chickens used to be cheaper than their parts, so I used to buy a chicken, cut it up, and make 4-5 meals out of it (before we had children, that is). In college, my husband and I lived on $1/day for food! We often had friends joining us for dinner, too!

We always looked for big ways to save $$$, too. Having only one car was a big savings. Another was our apartment. When my husband started working, most of his colleagues were also fresh out of school like us. However, they lived in fancy apartment complexes that cost $500-$600/month. We always looked for the cheapest apartment we could find - $200-300/month. My husband's colleagues would buy new furniture, or rent furniture (we all knew we were only going to be living in the area for about 2-3 years before being sent out "on the road"). We looked for a used furniture store & bought all of our furniture for a few hundred dollars at most. Our biggest splurge was a used piano (my husband was a passionate piano player - this was his recreation) which we sold for only a little less than we paid. We sold most of our furniture when it was our turn to go "on the road" so our net cost over the few years was very small (especially since we bought everything used).

I didn't buy much for our children, either. Most of their nice things (toys, clothes) came from my mother. When they were too young to care, I bought used clothes, and I accepted all hand-me-downs with gratitude. I was very selective about toys - I only kept toys that I thought had good play value. I found that color pens, scissors, tape, and a big stack of scratch paper was often the best "toy" of all. I did buy selected children's books as we moved frequently and also lived overseas until our oldest daughter was 10. However, when we were in the U.S., I always looked for the nearest public library.

Our big family vacations, once we moved back to the U.S., were car camping trips. I'd spend less than $1000 on a 10-14 day vacation. And we had wonderful vacations to many great national parks!!!

However, as we got older, our backs got more sensitive to the hard ground so we'd mix camping with a night or two at a lodge. This was also a good and reasonably-priced vacation. If the weather was bad, we'd eat out rather than attempt to cook at our campsite.

And did this all pay off!!!

First, our children can all graduate from college debt-free. They all turned out well. One will be a lawyer with an NYU law school degree (she said starting salaries will be $100-$150K if she works for a private law firm), one will be a doctor, and the youngest will do well in whatever she ends up deciding to do (she is a top student and extremely motivated).

Second, my hubby & I have Financial Freedom. We have no debt and we could live off our interest and dividends if we both lost our jobs tomorrow. This is just incredibly empowering. First, we both work because we like what we do, not because we need the money. If our jobs ever get tiresome or stressful, we can walk away from them. No worries about mortgage, paying for kids' college tuition, etc.

Third, we can now live very comfortably when we are older and NEED more creature comforts. For example: although I don't mind a short camping trip in a place with soft ground (e.g. the mossy Pacific NW or perhaps a place like Indiana Dunes where we sleep on sand and not rock like in Colorado), I do now relish the ability to stay in a motel when we feel like it. When I was young, I was very tough and would travel with three young children & all their bags, but I would never pay for porters, restaurants, & other services. I always made sure I carried enough food, water, & diapers for a worst-case scenario trip (plane delayed, etc. - I had to spend over 12 hours at the Tokyo airport with our three kids, the youngest in diapers). Now, if my husband and I are tired, we'll find a Starbucks and plop down and enjoy a $3 cup of coffee. If we are hungry, we'll look for a restaurant. If we see something interesting - for example, we were in London and I noticed that my favorite opera was playing - we'll just whip out the credit card and pounce on the opportunity. No worries about costs. In fact, I even have all our credit cards on full autopay 'cuz I'm so confident that we'll always have enough to cover.

I can't emphasize enough how great this feels!!!

And if there are ever any grandchildren - we know we'll be in a position to give our kids a head start on providing for their children's college!!!

Random Public Thoughts #11: Costa Rica

We spent a fabulous 8-1/2 days in Costa Rica. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the country is not only beautiful with lots of interesting things to do, but everything (except the roads) works very well!

We were also very lucky in that we were blessed with good weather. It rained, but not at critical times.

My sister sent me a link to a tour that cost about $1000/person, not counting airfare. However, we decided to do it on our own instead. We were very last-minute in pulling the trip together - it would have been better if we'd started 6 months early. However, everything ended up working very well and we had a much nicer & more adventurous trip for less $ than a tour!

We arrived in San Jose late in the evening, March 16 and overnighted at a Hampton Inn near the airport.

The next day, we took an Interbus van (VERY nice system - they have an excellent and easy-to-use website for pre-booking transportation with door-to-door service) from our airport hotel to Monteverde, arriving at our hotel ca. 12:30 p.m. The road from the airport to the Monteverde cutoff is fine - a little narrow, but paved. However, from the cutoff it is all dirt road - very nasty and I was VERY glad not to be driving!?! The Interbus was $29/person and worth every penny with prompt and punctual pickup and dropoff wherever you wish.

Monteverde is all dirt roads, very dusty and many very steep. The traffic is surprisingly heavy, too, so if you walk around you're always getting a cloud of dust in your lungs.

However, our hotel was lovely and the food was excellent and reasonably priced. Our hotels and all the restaurants we ate at were guidebook-recommended. Lesson learned: listen to the guidebooks! Advice was excellent - why not learn from the experience of others?!?

We started our afternoon with a walk up a steep road that was not really recommended by the guidebooks. It was OK, but the lesson was learned: listen to the guidebooks...!

We did a night walk at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. It rained steadily and was interesting tho' the steady rain put a damper on things and we didn't see much besides sleeping birds (including a hummingbird sleeping in its nest!) & tarantulas, bats, a few tiny rain (of course!) frogs, glowworms, fireflies (astonishingly bright!), a tiny phosphorescent mushroom, and a few tiny insects.

The next day we had a guided tour at the Cloud Forest Reserve. We lucked out - we arrived just in time to see a quetzal pair in the trees near the parking lot! The reserve is lovely - such a rich diversity of plants. Not too many animals or insects, though, and the birds are easier to hear than to see since they typically are high up in the canopy. The easiest birds to see are the hummingbirds at the hummingbird garden, and they are quite a sight - usually at least 5-6 different types buzzing around!

It is much cloudier, cooler, and wetter at the Cloud Forest Reserve than in Monteverde or Santa Elena. Monteverde & Santa Elena were sunny and rather warm. There are various hotels tucked away off the road. We stayed at El Sapo Dorado - very nice!

We did a canopy walk the next day, around various trails and across 6 suspension bridges. This was nice but it was surprisingly difficult to spot animals, birds, or insects. However, we lucked out and got nearly perfect views of a tribe of howler monkeys playing, eating, and traveling in the trees right in front of us on the last and longest bridge. It was fascinating and we watched them for more than an hour!

On Day 3 of our trip, we traveled from Monteverde to Arenal by van (over horrid dirt roads but through rich farmland tucked amidst rolling hills - really lovely scenery!), horse, boat, and van. We were in the middle of nowhere but the horses, boat, & vans all showed up! The van picked us up right on time at our hotel and took all our bags. It was a lovely day - we drove through Santa Elena then plunged on through more dirt roads winding past coffee farms, mango trees, grazing areas, and more. We had spectacular views of some volcanoes, then made our way down to Lake Arenal. There was a "soda" in the middle of NOWHERE. Lots of vans and cars, people waiting in line for the toilets, and a modest but clean counter selling food and drinks. We were introduced to our guide who didn't speak any English. Apparently we were the only people going in our direction. Where was everyone else going? Maybe up to Monteverde? On raft trips? I don't know!

The ride was flat but very nice, following a very bad dirt road skirting the lake. The road would have been punishing for a vehicle (one did, indeed, pass us), as it went through streams and was muddy and rutted, but it was a nice path for horses. There were lots of birds, butterflies, and the usual rich plant diversity. In fact, there seemed to be more birds & butterflies than in Monteverde - certainly more visible. It was still a lovely warm, sunny day!

However, although the horses did the hardest work, it wasn't all that easy riding them. I made the big mistake of unzipping my pants (because it was so warm) and riding in shorts. The back of my knees were rubbed raw against the saddle. When my horse trotted - and it did, quite often - I was jolted up and down. VERY hard on the tailbone! However, I asked our guide to shorten my stirrups, and that helped a LOT. When my horse trotted, I would stand up in the stirrups, sparing my tailbone the banging around. It also helped to reduce the rubbing, though I really should have put my pants bottoms back on.

The jostling up and down made it very difficult to take pictures. However, I enjoyed the novel experience! As we moved along, we got better and better views of Arenal, a very active and spectacular-looking stratovolcano with steep sides.

We finally stopped for a break. I examined my legs and was horrified to find that the back of one knee had been rubbed into a huge red raw sore. The other knee was OK 'cuz the stirrup had been short enough. I put my pants legs back on, but the damage had already been done. We enjoyed a splendid view of the smoking volcano across the lake, with a delish sweet pineapple snack!!!

We went off road a little, on what appeared to be more of a trail, closer to the lake, but then we were back at the road once more, then stopped - in the middle of nowhere. Our guide dismounted and helped us dismount also. I was puzzled, but he showed us a trail going down to the water. Apparently we were at the end of the ride, and we were going to be picked up by a boat. However, the boat hadn't arrived yet. We waited a little while - SF looked at birds, I walked around and took pix.

Boat arrived to our spot by the lake in the middle of nowhere. We entered - lo and behold! There was our luggage!

We enjoyed a splendid ride across the lake, surrounded by lovely green hills and the smoking cone of Arenal!!!

The boat dropped us off by the dam - also in the middle of nowhere, but a van was waiting for us! The van drove us to Arenal Lodge - wow! That was a really lovely place, too!!!

I was REALLY impressed at how well all the connections worked. Here we were, being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, riding our horses to an even more middle-of-nowhere spot, being picked up by a boat (no dock; it just came right up to shore) & driven to another spot w/no dock. My boss said he'd be sweating and worried about horse/boat/van not showing up, or getting robbed!?!

I guess those things don't run through my mind...

Arenal Lodge sits on top of a hill and has a spectacular view of Arenal volcano rising dark and violently out of the green. It has a couple of its own trails which are totally different from each other and very nice. One trail, which is by its tiny informal "zoo" (just pecciaries and deer) and butterfly garden, wends its way through a very rich rainforest. The other trail, called the "Plantation Trail," started right outside our room and goes down a grassy slope, past various pseudo-plantations (coffee, pineapple, bananas, heart-of-palm, etc.) and ending near a lovely gazebo with hammocks and spectacular views of the volcano and the lake. The landscaping was very nice - beautiful torch gingers, lots of Gesneriaceae (relatives of African violets, except that many grew as epiphytes or climbing vines). However, because this "trail" was more open, it was much easier to see birds.

The Arenal Lodge dining room has the same spectacular view of the volcano, and there's a deck outside which overlooks a small but pretty infinity-type pool + 2 jacuzzis as well as the volcano.

We watched the volcano erupt at night - it is far away but you can still see the lava or boulders rolling down. I wish we'd gone on a night tour, but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. It's too bad 'cuz it was a clear night and a tour (I'm sure they bring you much closer to the volcano so you can see the eruption more clearly) would have been spectacular.

The next day, we made arrangements to drop our bags off at Tabacon hotel, and we went on a hike in Arenal Nat'l Park. There's not much to the park. There's an observation point which is little more than a giant pavilion. The taxi driver dropped us off at the trailhead. Actually the trails go in two directions. One, the Heliconia Trail, goes back through tall sugarcane-like grass and trees laden with bromeliads, to the entrance (which has the only toilets in the park). The other goes in the opposite direction and skirts the flank of the volcano.

Since it was lunchtime, we elected to do the shorter Heliconia Trail and eat our leftover dinner which we were carrying around in its styrofoam container (I had the foresight to bring plastic forks and knives from Chicago!). Good call on our part! After eating we tossed the styrofoam, used the toilets, etc. Facilities were quite minimal and all we could do was sit on a low wall, but I was glad to have the toilets.

We then walked back, crossed the road, and went on the other trail. That was a terrific trail! It starts through the tall sugarcane-like grass (there were snakes in there!), and then moves into rainforest with tree ferns & the usual great diversity of plants (but somewhat drier than Arenal Lodge's rainforest). The forest ends abruptly at a 1992 lava flow. The trail goes through the lava flow and then descends back into forest at the other side. We only went as far as the lava flow and didn't continue all the way to the end of the trail due to time limitations (we asked our taxi driver to pick us up at 3 p.m. so we had to watch the clock). I was fascinated to see catleya and epidendrum orchids growing as PRIMARY COLONIZING PLANTS on the lava!?! There were also other species of plants that look very similar to colonizing plants on Hawaiian lava flows. Really, really interesting!!!

But most fascinating of all was Arenal. From this trail, we could actually see the boulders tumbling down the mountain!?! As they fell, they kicked up little puffs of dust. At one point there was a whole swarm of 'em - maybe 30 or so - tumbling down together! It was absolutely fascinating to watch. From time to time a huge puff of smoke would emerge from the top of Arenal - quite a sight, like a mini Mt. St. Helens.

On the way back, when I redescended into the forest, I saw a beautiful giant damselfly. Its wings were transparent except for the very tips, so it looked like a helicopter rotating. Its body was about 8 inches long, very slender. Really gorgeous. It alighted on a tree, but a little too high for me to get a picture - too bad. But I got a nice look, both of it in flight (which was fascinating), and then at rest (when I could see clearly that it was indeed a giant damselfly!).

We made it out at 2:45 p.m. (arranged pickup time was 3 p.m.), but happily, our taxi drove up just as we emerged from the tall grass! Perfect timing!

When we got back to Tabacon hotel, SF was upset that our rooms still weren't ready, but they suggested that we go to the hot springs while we waited.

The hot springs were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Wow, that was one of the nicest things I've ever done in my life! One guidebook says that you stay at Tabacon at your own peril, since one volcano flow stopped only 500 m away, but you can die happy. So true! The hot water comes out of the volcano, but what is so amazing is the landscaping. It is a wonderland of waterfalls and criss-crossing streams in the most incredibly lush tropical gardens. Since I'm from Hawaii, I have high standards for tropical landscaping, but I was REALLY impressed by these gardens. The various pools are varied, from tiled to completely natural, and some are exquisite with little bowls of colorful flowers floating in the middle. There's a lovely restaurant, excellent showers - I cannot put into words how amazing that place was. When you stay at the hotel, you can go there for two days so it pretty much pays for the cost of the hotel room, along with the fab breakfast buffet that is also included in the room price. I must bring my 81-year-0ld mother there - she will love it! My late uncle would have loved this, too. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience this in my lifetime!

Another amazing thing, besides its sheer beauty and the hot water, is the lack of mosquitoes! I guess the insectivorous bats must eat most of them, and I suppose they can't breed in the hot water, either (although the bromeliads certainly provide lots of breeding water).

We went back in the evening but I was disappointed not to see the volcano erupting. However, what I didn't realize was that I was looking in the WRONG DIRECTION!?! Not too smart!?!

The lighted tiled pool was fine, and I had fun going down the water slide into the warm H2O, but it is a bit spooky wading in the black waters of the unlit "natural" pools. Not as spooky as, say, swimming in the ocean at night, and the water (and air) was nice and warm, but I think daytime is definitely better.

I wandered around the hotel in the next morning and went for a swim in the hotel's pool, too, while my hubby & college-age son slept. It was raining, but the hotel's pool was warm (heated by the same volcanic heat at the hot springs, but a little cooler), the air was warm, and in a bathing suit, who cares? There were some large interesting lizards lounging by the pool, and there was also a large drowned insect about the size of my hand, that looked like a black wasp, but which was probably a wasp-mimicking butterfly.

We enjoyed the fab buffet breakfast which included beet juice (took me awhile to figure that one out), rice with beans, and local fruits (mangoes, pineapple, papaya) as well as more standard breakfast fare.

Then it was back to the hot springs! It is REALLY nice at the hot springs in the morning, and the weather doesn't matter. In the morning, it is mostly hotel guests, and not too many. It felt as though we had the place to ourselves. This time, my hubby & I wandered all over the place, trying out all kinds of "soaking" and "hydraulic massage" spots and the different temperatured pools.

We had lunch at the hot springs. There's a nice buffet there, but after the huge b'fast, we didn't have enough room for another buffet, so we opted for the a la carte lunch. It was reasonable, given the setting and the quality of the food.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel for our next Interbus transfer.

Interbus apparently contracts out some of its driving. We were picked up by another type of van around 2 p.m., and we were the only passengers.

We left the lush tropical rainforest of the Tabacon area, and skirted the base of Arenal, traveling around the opposite side of the volcano. It was a lovely & interesting ride, past fields w/grazing cattle & horses, and small towns. I remember crossing a bridge w/holes in it - I'm glad I wasn't driving. The bridge crossed a spectacular wide rushing river. The road wound up & down through a varied and interesting terrain. However, we seemed to have some mechanical (transmission) problems: from time to time our driver (a young, nice-looking guy) would stop and crawl under the car, and he looked a bit worried.

Well, finally as we approached a fairly large town, but while we were still out in a very rural area by a large hacienda, he pulled over and killed the engine. Apparently it was now a pretty major problem.

Thank goodness we weren't on our way to the airport!?! It was now late afternoon and everything was golden-green. Our driver talked to a couple of people who apparently worked on the hacienda, and made some calls on his cell phone (these Costa Rican cell phones are amazing - they seem to work everywhere). Our driver and one of these helpful strangers gerry-mandered a fix - they used a machete to whittle a piece of wood to plug a hole in the transmission. Someone drove up and brought some transmission fluid. It took quite awhile - maybe an hour or so - but eventually we got going again (amazingly) and we limped into the next town.

We waited quite awhile there while our driver bought a part and attempted to fix whatever it was that was wrong with the transmission. I walked down the road a bit and admired (and then bought) some beautiful mangoes that someone was selling by the roadside. Smart move (those mangoes were absolutely delish, as we found out when we ate them the next day)! The golden-green gave way to dusk before we were finally on our way again.

It grew dark quickly. We were supposed to be in Manuel Antonio by 6 or 7 p.m., but we didn't leave the town until past 6 p.m. and we weren't even halfway there! I was worried about the car but our driver said it should be OK. And then, as we drove in the dark, we came to a virtual standstill. There was an accident somewhere far, far ahead. The roads are two-lane only, and narrow. There are LOTS of large trucks on the road: they drive mainly at night. In fact, most of the traffic = huge trucks.

This was bad - really bad. We were out there for hours. Luckily, I had saved part of our breakfast, and I had some fruit-and-nut TJ mix, because there was no way to get any food. Se Fok called ahead to our hotel (Villas Mymosas). I was worried about the car breaking down again, but in the dark, with no way to get to a town. In fact, sometimes our driver would climb under the car again...!?!

Finally, at about 9 or 10 p.m., we got past the accident and were on our way. There was a half moon and lots of stars. But we were all worried about the car and the leaking transmission fluid. In fact, when we got to another town, our driver stopped and refilled the transmission fluid. I felt SOOO sorry for the guy, and I was impressed because he never gave up! After dropping us off, he was still going to have to drive home!?!

Anyway, we got to our hotel at 11 p.m.+ I gave our driver a $20 tip - I felt so sorry for him. He thought we were paying our fare and that we were thus short-paying, but when he understood at last that we had already pre-paid and that this was only a tip, he was VERY happy.

Our hotel was OK - nice, very pretty pool and very large rooms. However, we had a view of barbed wire, and there weren't many services. But at this point, all we wanted to do was collapse in bed!

A.m. dawned bright & beautiful & hot. We had a very nice breakfast by the pool. I enjoyed mine: rice & beans with chopped mango and scrambled eggs. I talked to the guy at the desk about getting a guide for Manuel Antonio, and he said he knew a very good guide, so we set up for the tour that morning. At 1 p.m., I had signed up for a "Sunset Catamaran Ride," and Randall made arrangements for us to be picked up at a restaurant by the National Park.

We noted the iguanas lounging around, and I saw a Mon Titi monkey scurrying between trees. Our taxi came to pick us up right on time, and met up with our guide, who was also taking around 2 Northwestern students!

Our guide was absolutely terrific - I couldn't believe how good he was at spotting things!!! He had a really nice spotting telescope which was great for taking pix. We saw a couple of different kinds of bats, different lizards, several birds, and a couple of different kinds of sloths. Fascinating!!!

The beach at Manuel Antonio is very nice. The water is warm, too, and thus very pleasant to swim in! They even have makeshift showers there!

We loved it in there but we had to leave so we could eat lunch before our getting picked up for our boat ride. We went to the restaurant that was recommended by Randall (person at the desk at our hotel). Food was good but bathrooms were not! I wandered around taking pix & buying a towel & sarong for Anela & Keala.

Bus came to pick us up. It was surprisingly packed, and it turned out that a LOT of people sign up for this boat ride.

The boat ride was OK - it is a party atmosphere, with booze (included in tour) and lots of young people out to have a good time. However, there's really not all that much to see, and SF & Alex felt out of place and uncomfortable. As for me, I always enjoy chatting with random people so I had a nice conversation w/someone from Boston. Most of the time, it is just ocean. We saw some dolphins once, and then we went to a place to snorkel. It was a rock in deep water. The fish hang out by the rock. It was interesting, but not exactly spectacular snorkeling. As Alex said, Hanauma is better. Turned out that dinner was also included, but I came out of the water a little too late and thus didn't get too much to eat.

Next day, we were scheduled to go on a kayaking excursion in a mangrove swamp. Our guide was a lady from Switzerland. This was a morning excursion which ended with a lunch, and it was quite interesting! The swamp was beautiful, and we had some very good views of monkeys and other animals, including a baby crocodile. We saw something rare - but I forgot what it was! At any rate, I really enjoyed this trip, and the lunch afterwards was also quite good!

We were dropped off by our hotel, and after catching our breath, we decided to walk to town by a side road, and catch the bus back. I wanted to buy some coffee. The walk was interesting, and the town was also interesting. Our Swiss guide told us that there would be a farmer's market the next day, but that they might be starting to set up that afternoon. Sure enough, they were starting to set up, and it was fascinating to see the stuff they were going to sell (I wasn't sure what all the fruits/veggies were!). The setting was nice, too - by the water and sandbars. Because of the sandbars, the water was very still & quiet & peaceful.

We caught the bus back, and then we headed went to the Hotel Costa Verde for our last evening's dinner. That proved to be a fortuitous choice! The hotel was lovely and has LOTS of Mon Titi monkeys. Our restaurant had a splendid view, and great entertainment: before dinner, the monkeys were playing right next to us, rolling around and tussling on a corrugated iron roof. Then after it got darker, the bats came out and kept the mosquitoes away!!! The dinner was excellent and reasonably priced, given the setting & ambience!

We were worried about getting a bus - apparently they don't run too often at night. But finally, one came along, and we got back to our hotel, packed, and went to bed.

Our final day was STILL action packed. We left ca. 6:30 a.m. without incident. Through Iguana Tours, I hired a van to take us to drive us to the airport, with stops at Carrara Nat'l Park and also a bridge that was supposed to have lots of crocodiles, and also photo stops as desired. Smart choice!!! It was great!!! There really aren't many places to stop for pix - the landscape is interesting, but there aren't, say, scenic pullouts. However, it was nice to have the option to stop, and it was REALLY nice to stop at Carrara and at the bridge. We took a quick hike into Carrara, and we saw a trocan and toucans!!! I also saw a Jesus Christ lizard. Carrara is a drier park, but it has a stream running through it, and going early in the morning is great - not too many people and enough wildlife if you look for it (wildlife is never obvious!). We went all the way to the end of the main path, ending at a bridge, where we were thrilled to see a toucan pair high in the trees!

Then - the Tarcoles Bridge - WOW!!! We had splendid weather, and all these monster crocodiles were lounging around in that splendid setting!!! What a sight!!!

That was the last sightseeing stop, and now it was back to business: getting to the airport. I was worried, because our flight left in around 2:30, and we needed to get to the airport by 11:30 a.m. I wanted to leave our hotel at 8 a.m., but the Iguana people recommended leaving at 6:30 a.m. I'm glad I listened to them!?! Although the drive looked fairly short on the map, I think it is at least 2-3 hours with no problems (winding, narrow 2-lane roads are the norm), and I was very worried about running into another accident!!! Our drive from Tabacon was supposed to be 4-5 hours, and it took us 9 hours!?!

However, we were very lucky and although there were some slow spots (we'd get stuck behind a slow-moving truck chugging up a hill), there were no major accidents. Weather was beautiful & the landscape was very interesting. We made good time and thus we stopped at a souvenir shop. I suppose our driver got a cut of the sale, but I was happy 'cuz I found a coffee that someone told me about, and I was also pleased to buy some beautiful wood bowls. It really was a very nice shop and I was happy we had the stop!

We made it to the airport at 11:15 a.m. - right in the nick of time, just 10 minutes before a huge crush of people arrived!

Checking in at the San Jose airport is REALLY slow. Security checks all bags by hand, and it is a VERY slow process. If we'd arrived just 10 minutes later, we probably would have been in line for well over an hour.

It's good to arrive early: there's lots of shopping (the ubiquitous "Cafe Britt") at this airport. So, if you are early (as we were), the wait will pass quickly.

The splendid weather held and I was fascinated to watch the landscape unfold beneath me as we headed back to Miami. It was very lush, level, & green in Nicaragua. Carribean was lovely & blue with some islands surrounded by cornflower blue. Even the tip of Florida (Everglades) was interesting! Florida is so incredibly flat. I wonder how it formed - is it a giant sandbar, or what?

Miami airport & immigrations is a really cruddy place/setup. It took us over an hour to get through immigrations!?! You have to allow 2 hrs+ for layovers. A 1 hour layover would be impossible. It turned out that our flight to Chicago was delayed until midnight. I don't recommend American Airlines!?! And the Miami Airport has lousy, unhealthy food.

But the bad experience in Miami was just a blip in what was otherwise a perfect vacation!!!

Random Public Thoughts #10: Scattered Family, Separate Lives

I have a million things to do but don't feel like doing them! We are going to Costa Rica in a few weeks and I need to finish up the travel arrangements (we've booked air and hotel but I need to book transporation between airport/hotels etc.). I need to finish our kids' tax returns (one going to college & one going to grad school; the middle one is in his 3rd undergrad year). Our house is a total mess. And I promised Xmas newsletters (!?! February is nearly over!?!) to several people!!!

However, I really enjoyed re-reading my blogs so I'm going to be self-indulgent and write another one.

My previous blogs were about movies and the past. What about the present?

Our family is scattered... I live in the Chicago suburbs, but my hubby moved to Shanghai last September. Our oldest daughter is working in LA and our son is at U of I in Champaign. Our youngest is still at home but she hopes to get into a school far away (she'll probably hear from colleges in late March or early April).

I recently returned from visiting my hubby in Shanghai and our daughter in LA. I came away quite comforted with their comfortable lifestyles. The last time I visited our daughter, she lived an impoverished student life in an absolutely awful apartment. Now she has a good job (she makes more than me, and I'm a CPA and have been working for over 8 years!?!) and a nice apartment in a convenient neighborhood.

My hubby has an even more conveniently located apartment in a very nice part of Shanghai. He leads a simple life: he walks to work (about 15 minutes), and he can do all his errands en route. Bank, haircut, supermarket, bakery, restaurants, clothing - you name it, it is on the way. If you like Chinese food, you will be in the midst of culinary heaven. If you like cheap, your wallet will be in heaven, too. But with all these material temptations around him and unbelievable prices (divide prices by 8!), my hubby buys nothing and eats very healthily. He buys soup from a restaurant that specializes in slow-cooked, rich-brothed soup, and pre-washed veggies from the supermarket (he could get veggies for much lower cost if he'd shop at the local open market, but as he said, the food is so cheap anyway, so why bother?). His dinner, then, is the veggie heated in the soup for a minute until it is cooked. His breakfast is bread bought from an excellent bakery. He usually eats lunch out with his colleagues - for less than $1. He says he LOVES living in Shanghai because it is SOOOO convenient and so cheap!!!

When I looked at my hubby's apartment possibilities last August (2005), I wasn't too impressed, but I must have been looking at the wrong places. Also, I was only there for a few days in August and felt very disoriented. It was miserably hot and humid, too. This time, with my hubby showing me all the great places to shop & eat near his apartment, and with the brisk winter weather, everything somehow seemed to make more sense.

My hubby took a day off and we went to see some of the Suzhou gardens. They were VERY nice!!! The cold weather kept the worst of the crowds away, along with it being mid-week. The gardens are designed to feel like you are constantly seeing new vistas wherever you go, framed by round doors or lacy wooden window screens. They don't look like much from the outside - typically they are surrounded by high walls. But when you get inside - WOW! And this was winter, when many trees and plants were still dormant!

And now I am back in the Chicago suburbs again. We don't know how this separation is going to work out, but so far it seems to be OK. My hubby is very busy and travels a lot - even when he was based here in Chicago, he was gone half the time, and worked long hours when he was home. I get very absorbed in my own work, too. Our youngest daughter drives and is quite independent so we all lead our separate lives. Although our son is "only" a 3 hour drive away, he only comes home for major holidays: Thanksgiving, Xmas, Spring Break. He stays in Champaign during the summer. Our oldest hardly ever comes home, though she'll come back for her sister's high school graduation.

Someone at work said he can't conceive of living the way we do. However, so far this seems to work for us...

Random Public Thoughts #9: Low-cost living

At age 53 I am very lucky and have a comfortable life. My hubby got a decent job after graduating with a M.S. in ChemE. His starting salary was $18,000/year which seemed like a princely sum because we'd been living on my fellowship stipend of $350/month (tuition free).

The amazing thing is that we SAVED on the $350/month. We had friends over for dinner frequently, and we took driving trips all over the place. We had a wonderful rich life.


Of course, this was back in the mid-70's and things were cheaper then. Not Depression-era cheap, but cheap enough for frugal people (and my hubby and I were both frugal, and very disciplined). We stayed in one of the "best" apartments in town - we chose it because it was the closest to campus (we met in graduate school at UC Davis) and because its layout resulted in low utility bills. This cost us $210 a month, with another $15-20 for utilities (no cell phones in those days, and we NEVER made long-distance phone calls!). We spent $1/day on food. This was possible because UC Davis is an agricultural school. I was in Plant Pathology and we had a very good friend in Post-Harvest, which meant that we had access to all kinds of free fruits and veggies from various research projects. We ate very little meat and our meals typically were rice and a stir-fry dish with a few ounces of meat stir-friend with our free veggies. We rode our bicycles to class, to the supermarket, etc. Thus, we spent $210 + $20 + $30 = $260. Another $20/month accrual for my books, and we still had $50-$70/month "extra"! We saved most of it, and used part of it for travel and entertainment: $1 movies, $5 operas (the SF opera would perform at UC Davis), and camping trips almost every weekend during the summer. I worked about 20 hours/week during the summer so this gave us additional funding for our camping trips. It was truly a rich and rewarding life!!!

I learned about frugality from my soujourn in Scotland. My Scottish friends lived very simply, and their idea of a good time was a good walk. One chap presented me with a delicious stew that he'd made from road kill - a rabbit that was hit by a car. He cooked it over his wood fire (which heated the room, boiled water, made toast, and myriad other useful things) with mushrooms that he'd collected in the woods near his cottage. I was in the far northwest of Scotland for much of the time. There was no entertainment except for the outdoors and our conversation. Somehow, that was more that enough and my days always felt rich, contented, and full.

To this day, my idea of a good time is simple and usually free or low-cost. In fact, when something is very expensive, it detracts from my enjoyment. Thus, while I truly relish staying at a ***** hotel using hotel points from my hubby's frequent business travel, I don't think I could stomach paying full price for the same hotel room. I'm pleased that we have plenty of $ now and can thus go to museums or climb the Eiffel Tower (and we climbed rather than paying extra for an elevator) without hesitation, but we don't eat at expensive restaurants, nor do we go to expensive shows. Our idea of a really good time is hiking somewhere beautiful. Our visits to U.S. National Parks were most memorable to me, because of the varied and gorgeous hikes. We do some car sightseeing, and occasionally I will spring for something special such as a raft trip, but we have our best times on hikes, or by water.

My one indulgence is food. I used to buy a whole chicken because it was cheaper, and then cut it up and get 4-5 meals (for 2 people) out of it: 2 out of the breast, 1 each from the thighs and drumsticks, and a soup from the bones and scraps. Now I buy boneless skinless chicken tenders instead. I like to shop at Trader Joe's and although I avoid pricey wines, I don't hesitate to buy any food that strikes my fancy.

And writing this blog is no-cost entertainment for me, too!

Random Public Thoughts #8 - Swarthmore

I was lucky enough to attend my first-choice school, Swarthmore College in the Philly suburbs. It was small, co-ed, on the east coast (I wanted to get as far away from Hawaii as I could), very competitive, and near but not in a major city. Everything that I wanted!

At least for a couple of years. . .

A small college was a great place to start: it was easy to get into classes, and the classes were taught by excellent professors, not by grad students or TA's. The school was VERY well-run. The administration was unobtrusive but everything worked smoothly, logically, and (in retrospect) marvelously well.

The best part of Swarthmore, for me, were weekend outings. Swarthmore's extra-curricular policy was simple: they paid for activities (aside from a nominal and very minimal charge), provided the activities were organized by students, and posted and open to all.

Various resourceful students organized "Outdoors Club" outings. These ranged from backpacking trips along the Appalachian trail, to white-water canoeing in upstate New York, to canoeing through cranberry bogs in the New Jersey pine barrens, to camping on the beach at Asseateague Nat'l Seashore. All the trips were well-planned, from the canoe rentals to the food to the carpools to the splitting of costs (always very minimal). All I had to do was show up with my sleeping bag, clothes, and $5! There often was singing - some of the groups had wonderful singers with perfect pitch, singing in harmony under the stars. So beautiful - I loved it!!!

If I couldn't find an outing to go on, then I usually tried to catch a ride with someone to visit high school classmates in various east coast colleges. I had quite a few classmates in Boston-Cambridge, several at Yale, and my brother went to Columbia University in NYC. I would show up with my sleeping bag, unannounced! In those days security was not an issue so it was easy to sleep in the dorms and none of my friends and acquaintances ever turned me away.

One weekend I was stuck on campus with no Outdoor Club outing and no ride to Boston or NYC. I chatted with another gal who was similarly stuck and a little bored, and we decided to hitchhike to Atlantic City, NJ to check out the Monopoly streets - Boardwalk, Park Place, etc. It was a day's lark - I was most interested to see the Atlantic City Boardwalk - so different from Hawaii beaches!

In retrospect, what I learned most from going to a school like Swarthmore was that anything is possible. On one white water canoe outing, my canoe partner & I managed to wrap our canoe around a rock in the middle of the Hudson River. We were rescued (I was thrown out of the canoe by the force of the impact and floated downriver while my friend stood helplessly in the middle of the river!?!) but I worried about the cost of replacing the canoe. When I asked what I owed for damaging the canoe, though, I was told - nothing! After returning to Swarthmore, a couple of the guys brought the canoe in to the engineering lab & shop, fixed the canoe, and brought it back, only slightly worse for wear. The canoe rental place didn't even know that there was a mishap and took the canoe back without comment or charge!

One of my more memorable outings was a week-long backpacking trip in the Great Smoky Mountains during spring break. This trip was meticulously organized by an Eagle Scout who calculated hiking distances, lined up all the shelters along the trail, planned all the food perfectly, and set up car pools to get us there. The only thing he couldn't plan was the weather - we started out our hike in a downpour. However, we were all young and high-spirited college kids and this didn't bother us unduly. And we had good days too. One gal brought her acoustic guitar in a plastic garbage bag so we had good music (no CD players & IPods in those days!). I still remember a song that she sang for me - Streets of London.

It was a wonderful two years (with a year off in between working in San Francisco and traveling in Europe), lived very intensely. I made good use of my time, going out almost every weekend! When I stayed at the school, there were all kinds of interesting movies & performances, and the students were so smart & resourceful & interesting - I learned the most from my peers!

But two years was enough - after awhile, the smallness of the school, once seen as an advantage, became tiresome. It was easy to get classes, but there wasn't much choice. It was easy to meet people, and they were wonderful people indeed, but after eating 3 meals a day with the same 900-1000 people and seeing them the rest of the day in class or in the library, I was beginning to crave a little more anonimity.

I'm glad that I did all the things that I did, so when I transferred to the University of Hawaii, it was with no regrets whatsoever. Since I entered UH as a junior and had already taken all my basic core courses at Swarthmore, I could sign up for all kinds of fun classes such as Soil Mapping, Plant Anatomy, Economic Entomology, Plant Taxonomy, Soil Physics, Ecology, Food Science, Geology of the Hawaiian Islands, Tropical Horticulture, etc. After working and wandering around for a year, I WANTED to go to school and learn again!

Such fun! Life was (and is) good!!!

Random Public Thoughts #7 - Trans-continental train trip

In my previous post (#6), I talked about a trip that I did to Scotland when I was 19, and mentioned the kindness of total strangers.

After wandering around Scotland and Europe for about half a year, I decided that I wanted to go back to school again. It was now early November, and I had gotten back across the Atlantic and was now staying with someone (which meant sleeping on the floor in a dorm room) at Swarthmore. Obviously I couldn't stay like this for long, and I decided to return to Hawaii until it was time for Swarthmore's spring semester to begin in January.

Somehow, I had found out about a trans-continental train trip from Montreal to Vancouver, that was supposed to be very cheap if you were under 21. I was now 20-1/2! My Swarthmore friend Cathy (whom I roomed with in San Francisco) had moved to Seattle and was living there with another Swarthmore temporary drop-out, Georgia. So, I had a plan: hitchhike to Montreal, take the train to Vancouver, drop down to Seattle to visit Cathy and Georgia, and then fly back to Hawaii!

I was very lucky and got a "good" ride from a lesbian couple while still on the New Jersey turnpike. One woman talked with me in the bathroom at a rest stop. When she learned that I was trying to get to Montreal, she offered me a ride as far as Boston, to her parents' house, which I happily accepted!

When we arrived at her parents' very proper home in the Boston suburbs, they didn't blink or lose a beat when their daughter asked if I (total stranger, Asian girl with huge rucksack) could spend the night there. They were happy to see their daughter again, greeted her partner as a family member, and were kind and hospitable to me in their proper East coast Yankee manner.

Thus, I had a safe ride with good company, and a good night's sleep in a real bed to boot!

Since it was November, the days were short, and there weren't a lot of cars on the road north of Boston. Thus, I remember having some trouble hitchhiking to Montreal, and when I arrived, it was already dark. Whoever it was that gave me a ride on that final leg to Montreal dropped me off by the youth hostel. However, when I walked up to the door, I found that the hostel was closed!

So there I was, on a chilly November night, with no place to stay!

A young man, perhaps in his 20's or early 30's, was walking by. He noticed me staring at the sign and he confirmed that the hostel was indeed closed. He saw the dismay on my face, hesitated a minute, then told me that I could stay at his house for the night until I figured out what to do. He must have noticed my own hesitation so he added that I had nothing to worry about - he lived with his girlfriend! So, OK, it was settled!

I ended up staying at their apartment for several days - when he found out that I wanted to buy that special train ticket, he took me to the station and helped me get it. It turned out that the train didn't leave for a couple of days, but he said no problem, I was welcome to stay with them until it was time to go. He gave me a little tour of Montreal, and helped me to buy groceries for the train trip - it was 3 days and 2 nights, and although it would stop to drop off and pick up passengers, I obviously would be unable to leave to buy anything.

His girlfriend was French Canadian (he was English Canadian), and even though she understood English perfectly well, she pretended not to understand anything that I said. I tried my high school French but I wasn't fluent enough to have a meaningful conversation. She probably was annoyed to have me staying there, but she was polite and hospitable even though we didn't talk much.

The train left Montreal some time in the afternoon, I think. I remember passing over glaciated, boggy terrain - quite interesting. Then it got dark. When we crossed the midwestern plains, I remember there was an ice storm - all the trees were coated in ice and it was beautiful!!! I didn't drive and have a house there so I didn't know how dangerous ice storms can be. From a warm train, for a 20-year-old from Hawaii, it was great!

I was anxious to see what the Canadian Rockies looked like, but nightfall came again just as the foothills were in the distance. I was SOOO disappointed!!! I pressed my nose to the window to try to see what the mountains looked like, but it was pitch dark outside - no moon, nothing to see!

And what was it like being on a train for so long? I brought a book to read, but spent most of my waking hours either looking out the window (I found this fascinating) or chatting with a young black artiste-type man who sat with me in our little booth. He was good company for the 3 days and 2 nights, but like so many other people that I met while traveling alone, we never met again. We shared our food (he had better food than I did; I think I only brought a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter to eat for 3 days!), talked about books and this and that.

The best part of the trip was the last leg of the trip. Daylight found us still in the mountains (probably the Cascades or the coastal range), and very spectacular ones at that. We were following a river gorge which cut through some spectacular scenery. I had no camera and made quick sketches in a futile attempt to try to hold on to and "keep" some of the beauty. When I looked at my sketches later, they just looked like pencil marks. Too bad! But definitely it was "the best for last."

I think we arrived in Vancouver in late morning or early aftenoon. My erstwhile travel companion wanted to maintain contact and hang out together but he made me uneasy, and he was gracious enough not to press the point and went on to wherever he was headed.

Instead, I tried to hitchhike out of Vancouver to Seattle, but had no luck. Because the days were now so short, it was growing dark. A young girl saw me hitchhiking and offered me a quarter for the bus! I hope I didn't take her quarter, but I did end up taking a bus.

An older lady eyed my backpack and asked me where I was going. I told her I was trying to get to a bus station since I wasn't able to hitch a ride to Seattle. She said that if I was able to get a bus, it wouldn't arrive until quite late, and then what would I do? Also, it might have already been too late to get a bus. So, she suggested that I come home with her!

So, a total stranger on the bus invited me to stay at her house. When we arrived at her house, I could tell that her husband was NOT pleased at her bringing home a stranger with a backpack, but he was too polite to protest, though he eyed me suspiciously. She put me up in a nice guest bedroom, and thus I was able to head out to Seattle in the morning.

It was a good thing - I didn't realize that it was a fairly long trip from Vancouver to Seattle! I arrived in the early evening, called my friend Cathy's house, and her brother gave me Cathy's new Seattle address and told me how to get there. Seattle is a fairly large city so it did take me awhile to find Cathy's place. But I finally found it, and had a nice haven for a little while with Cathy and Georgia.

So many nice people... I wonder sometimes, would I do something like that, offering to let a stranger stay with me? I'm not sure...