Aside from pretty much everyone we were going to meet up with (four different people, actually) making different plans or not getting back to us, it was a fun trip!

We stayed in a B&B in the same house in Point Reyes Station where Philip K. Dick wrote "The Man in the High Castle," "Martian Time Slip," and "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" among other books. We got in a driving tour of the Bay Area including stops at the Marin County Civic Center in Santa Venetia and Rasputin Music in Berkeley.

Most of all though, we got to take in plenty of nature! The B&B was out in the countryside and deer would come up in the yard. At night you could hear coyotes and in the morning you could hear countless varieties of birds singing. Out in the Point Reyes National Seashore we saw grey foxes, voles, Tule elk, quails, scrub jays, vultures, and loads of other animals.

Also, on the drive down there somewhere in rural Sonoma County, I saw a condor! I nearly ran the car off the road.

The trip really helped me clear my head in so many ways, and will probably help with the backlog of writing projects I've got once I get started on those again. Marin County is stunningly beautiful, full of fascinating history, and a place where nature is so close you can touch it.

I'm pretty tired, and I've got a huge backlog of pics from when Mom and Dad were here too, so it may be a while but expect uploads starting tonight and going through the next few days.