My Honeymoon, Day One

Monday, September 27, 2010

I am in a forest. I love the smell of the pine and redwood trees. The smell reminds me of summer vacations. When I breathe it, I feel my light and airy, like the worries of home have been left behind.

My mother is in the hospital. They want to keep her there until Wednesday or Thursday. I told the doctor about my situation and she agreed that a few days out of town would do me good. Mother seems to be recovering just fine and my sisters are supposed to visit her. I need to sometimes remind myself that she's okay and being looked after by professionals. One of the blessings my father left her is an excellent health plan. I won't have to pay for her hospitalization. Too bad I'm not entitled to the same, but I'm not going to worry about that today.

John and I have been to this hotel before. Since it's our honeymoon, we splurged and are staying in a cabin. It has a gas fireplace (which it's too warm to use) and a kitchenette. The kitchenette has a two-burner stove and a mini refrigerator, as well as a microwave and a coffee maker.

I do not plan to do any cooking here. I am on vacation. And, even though we got married three months ago, this is our honeymoon.

We are in Nevada City, California. Today we wandered around the historic district of this little gold rush town. We ate in a Mexican restaurant. We browsed a used bookstore.

Back in our cute little cabin in the forest, we can't get the internet to work. The indicator says we are connected, four bars, but we can't seem to get online. I don't understand why this doesn't work, the hotel provides free access. It's okay. This is vacation. I don't really need to know what my Facebook friends are up to.

I can just enjoy being alone with John. This is the best relationship I've ever been in. He loves me just as I am. I wish I were thirty years and forty pounds younger.

Day Two

This place has cable television! Shows we've heard of but have never seen!

I still can't connect to the internet. I called the office again today and they said there is no password. They said would restart their system. It gave me the feeling I'm not the first to mention it doesn't work.

Today we went out to breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Half of this hotel has been converted into housing for "active seniors". The altitude here makes me feel weak. I wonder how the active seniors manage on the steep hills. I understand it snows here in the winter.

Today we wandered through the historic district in Grass Valley. I found an early Donald Duck teapot in an antique store for $550. No, I didn't buy it. It was cute, but I am not insane. I liked a cute bear cookie jar better. But my home is too full of clutter and I don't need it. So I didn't buy that, either.

John is limping badly. The walk through the villages was too much for his hip. We need to ask his doctor about this.

The young lady at the front desk told us we could walk up the hill past our cabin and we would come to a really nice garden. I'd like to take a look, but I don't want to cause John any extra pain.

We brought takeout food back to our cabin. We spent the evening watching shows on cable like The Bill Cosby Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway? It was really nice to cuddle together and laugh.

Day Three

This morning, I walked up the road to see the garden. I came to a sign at the top of the hill that said, "DANGER KEEP OUT!" So I walked back. I don't know if the garden is somewhere past the sign.

We had to check out by 12 o'clock. Of course, we got interested in a movie on TV that played from 11 to 1. We're going to have to look for that one on Netflix so we can find out how it ends. It's called HOSTAGE .

When we were back in Sacramento, but not home yet, we noticed a strange vibration in the car. Then suddenly a loud noise. There was something wrong with one of the tires. But somehow, the car rolled along just fine. We took the next exit and pulled over to look at the tire.

The tread had completely come off one of the tires. But the tire was still inflated.

We drove to the nearby Firestone store and bought two new tires. We were lucky that no one was hurt.

Mother will be coming home tomorrow.

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