Happy New Year and Anniversaries

Happiest of New Years to all our friends, family and fellow travelers reading this post. I haven't posted for more than two weeks due to poor internet connection, and I've missed recording our adventures. Brief Facebook posts are not a good substitute, but at least it keeps us in touch.

This past year has been an eventful one for us, to say the least. It was only two years ago that we decided to change our lives so dramatically.  We began our RV experience in a tiny Cruise America camper for a month.

 Two years ago on New Year's Day we were also in San Diego, in Campland on Mission Bay at $150 for one night - New Year's Eve! (We won't do that again.)  It was a whirlwind tour of western America in 30 days - from Chicago to the west coast and back; we stayed one night at each stop. We decided that one month in each place would be much better, and so the new dream was born.

At the time I actually had a dream job at Columbia College Chicago as a tenured full time faculty member in the Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling Department. Teaching is what I've done my entire adult life, and this job was the culmination of my professional development. I was a Board member of the American Dance Therapy Association, also a great privilege. I had many, many wonderful colleagues and students. I had never considered leaving all that until the trip across the country in that tiny RV. Who knew life would unfold that way it did?

Although I have traveled back and forth across this amazing country several times in my life, something about seeing it at this stage in my life is different. This time it feels so much less about me, my needs, my goals, my destinations, and so much more about what I am encountering. I feel almost invisible, and the immensity and diversity of the landscape and the people/cultures we meet are what it's all about.

So here we are in San Diego again, celebrating several anniversaries. It's a two year anniversary of the inception of our dream to travel full time in an RV. It's a 13 year anniversary (today!) of our marriage, which has been full of adventures. We went contra dancing last night for New Year's Eve. Rick and I met contra dancing, and its a great way to renew and remember some of the high points of our relationship. And finally, it's a seven month anniversary of the start of this most recent and boldest of adventures.

San Diego has been a lot about zipping around on the network of speedy parkways, getting to places to see. Driving here is SO different from driving in LA, which was torturous.  Here traffic moves quickly and as the locals say, it takes about 20 minutes to get anywhere, including downtown and the beaches, from where we are staying at Santee Lakes.

There's a great dog beach at Ocean Beach, which we and Kona have enjoyed several times.

We've visited Balboa Park, and one of my favorites, the Mingei (art of the people) Museum, which focuses on contemporary, historical and international craft arts.

As some might guess, it was not Rick's favorite place. He managed to amuse himself though.

For our anniversary Rick and I gave each other experiences of our choosing: a few hours at a spa for a massage for me, and a sail on the Stars and Stripes on the San Diego Bay for Rick.  The Stars and Stripes in a famous Americas Cup competitor, and is now a part of the Maritime Museum, as are these two tall ships.

(To be continued, my internet is bogging down...)