The Giant Dipper

The Giant Dipper, the huge roller coaster in the center of this photo of the nighttime Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, is an ancient wooden monster that rattles your brain and slams you around like a ragdoll...classic fun!

Waiting

Frank, center, waiting while Valentina and I did the Ferris Wheel (she discovered that she was afraid of heights while we were stuck at the very top!)

Pretty Lights

Bored Balloon Clown

We stayed with and played with Shannon and Vaughn Roach (lovely people, great friends from the old days), met up with the illustrious and very generous of spirit Kevin Cole, of KEXP radio (their live streaming is one of the most listened to in the US...highly recommended...this is radio at it's finest!), and drank cocktails on a rooftop with one of the best night views in town.

We also found time to trundle down to Pike Place Market where we saw this mildly grumpy clown guy who just couldn't seem to attract the kiddies to his wares. What's up with that?

Big

A Big Hello from California!

(note girl on Paul Bunyan's foot)

More soon...

Kalifornia!

We're in Cupertino in the Golden State, swimming, soaking in the sun, shopping like there's no tomorrow (or like there's many to come in Expensive Iceland!), and bonding with the wildlife (turtle doves, lizards, deer, programmers.) Blogging has and therefore will be spotty in the coming month...We do have some pix to show though, so be sure to check in every once in a while for updates from the Great West Coast, aka the Edge of The Modern World.

Sincerely Sunkissed and Stoked,
Maria and Valentina

Adventure

We went River Rafting!!! And we had sooo much fun! The picture to the right is not of our group, but is a great shot of the Green Room Rapids on East Glacial River, or Austur Jökulsár, in North Iceland. This river is rated a 4+, meaning it's not for the weak of heart. There were nine of us who went together, and along with a group of 16 Italians, we were split into four rafts with six people each plus a guide.

Our raft went down the Green Room rapids last, and we totally wiped out! Gulli, shown here on the left (looking like a MIR space station veteran) almost died...he was stuck under water in an obnoxious whirl pool so long that he is actually reassessing this whole being alive thing and thanking the River Gods Mightily for letting him keep on taking part in it.

We had a Super Great Extreme Rafting experience, despite how scared we were while being tumbled like so many socks in a washing machine. I know we'd all like to thank the Excellent guide crew at Activity Tours for making us laugh and for telling us we could Do This River as long as we stayed focused and remembered, above all, the immortal message written on the back of the best guidebook in the Galaxy: Don't Panic. We all touched Nature and found a far too neglected Core of Courage in our hearts during our four hours on the river.



We're all here in Svarfaðaldalur tonight, just south of the Arctic Circle, looking out past Eyjafjörður at the Midnight Sun as it dips it's toes in the North Atlantic and we're glad to be alive and happy to be together.


A very perfect weekend.