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| My favorite pic from my going away party |
As I said before, a big part of this RTW trip is to reconnect with friends from different parts of my life. I met Amy on Kwajalein Island, RMI back in 2005 as I started my overseas teaching career. She was also new but had a few weeks on me as she was working with the wee little ones and didn't get the summer 'off' like the rest of the teachers. A lot happened for Amy in the 3 years we lived on that speck of coral in the middle of the Pacific, she got married, and when I left, she was 5 months pregnant. People come and go in the world of overseas teaching (only 2 of the people in this picture are still on Kwajalein) but you always remember the ones you start with. :)
Amy, her husband Mark & little Marcy are now living in California, a perfect next stop for my trip. I ditched my crazy van driver and traded up for a ride in Amy's Subaru. It is always odd the first time I ride with someone I met on Kwaj because we only had bicycles there so it looks strange to see someone driving instead of pedaling.
After a lovely lunch on Friday we headed down the coast to take in the sights of Big Sur. I have always been a sucker for crashing waves on the coast and we had a great day to see it. We caught up over a bottle of wine and then hit the highway up and down the coast.
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| Big Sur |
Of course I needed to reconnect with her little Sprout since I only met Marcy once and I am pretty sure she didn't remember it. At three Marcy is a mini version of her mother and ten times as funny (sorry Amy). She corrected my diction and I did my best to plump up her three year old syntax. As soon as she informed me that it isn't polite to say "Yea" when someone is trying to get your attention, I informed her that "'Hey' is for horses." Not sure if she is still using that one but got an email from Amy awhile after I left thanking me for the addition... :)
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| Marcy helping me with the parsnip puree |
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| Checking out the Christmas lights |
We hit the beach on Saturday and Mark played photographer as Marcy fed us some sand food, which we happily pretended to eat and put our toes in the coldest Pacific waters I have ever felt.
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| yummy! |
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| Notice how we throw the kid in first... |
I had another reunion treat in Monterey as well, one of my other friends from my Kwaj days is now living near Amy and Mark so I got a chance to see Clancy again and we caught up over a lovely dinner (even though there was no meat) at the Daniels home. Bill even saved the day on Monday when Amy couldn't bring me to the shuttle pick up spot. Advantages of working with computers rather than children, you can walk away... Good things for me think about as I consider my career choices.
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| Kwaj reunion, in jeans and sweaters... so strange |
I got to play tourist on Sunday and hit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf and Walmart.
It was so great to hang out with people I used to eat every meal with and connect after three years.
Thanks for a great visit Amy, Mark, Marcy & Bill!
Next stop... Hawaii
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