Home, Sweet Home! - Los Angeles, CA (Part 2)

     
        My birthday week was out of the way and Christmas was quickly approaching!  Most of my friends were leaving to go home for the holidays. I was beyond happy to be asked if I would house and dog sit over the holiday!  :)

       It was nice to stay in my hometown in my friends' cozy place. I just loved being surrounded in a cute, clean environment with constant reminders of love and Christmas all around.  Having a little companion to stretch my legs with and love on was quite amazing as well.

My new B.F.F. Ellie and all the cards and packages that came for my friends w/ love.

     

The vanity mirror with a sweet note of appreciation.

 
        Even though the little notes and reminders of love spread all over the house weren't for me they made me feel warm and cozy.  I always smile when I think about the fact that 'You will become like the five people you surround yourself with the most' when I think of our friendship. I genuinely feel inspired, loved and appreciated when I am around them.  I admire how they interact and treat people with love, practice random acts of kindness and always extend open invites.
        Thank you friends.  I love you and I appreciate you.







        The week flew by and it was now Christmas Eve.  It was raining but we didn't care!  We sat in the back yard around the camp fire, laughed and knew that we were blessed to be around amazing people that were happy to be alive, appreciating and living in such a glorious moment.  It was a beautiful way to celebrate a day that is supposed to represent all things of goodness and light.

Jeramy and Kirstin loving the fire and the rain!

When no other wood burn the important stuff for the cause!  :p

Jeramy is a travel extraordinaire and the mastermind of GoHobo. (Hence the logos.) 
GoHobo is club that was started by getting people in the vicinity to get together for exploring, beach days, yoga hikes, football in the park and is rapidly turning into an online gathering area for budget and shoestring travel, hiking, backpacking, health, camaraderie and as they put it 
"all good things starting from the feet".  
Visit Gohobo's facebook, give them a like, share your travel stories and get inspired!  

         Christmas was everything I imagined.  It was modest and shared with my immediate family.  My mom made me some crocheted scarves and winter hats.  We had a sweet dinner and kept everything simple.  

          From here on I'll mostly just be uploading photos with captions from the rest of my time home so we can get back to the traveling bit.  You'll get to see some of San Francisco, Santa Cruz mountains, Reno, Portland and others in the next post(s). 

         As always, thanks for reading and sharing my experiences.  

xx, 

Nicole

A journey to see "The Angels"

Oregon was incredible! I was delighted to leave around 6 pm.  This way, unknowingly I would have the opportunity to pass by the magnificent mass of formed dirt they call Mount Shasta at DAWN! Ugh, the beauty is indescribable!

 

 

 

 This is a 360 view just past the marker for the Oregon trail.

Yes, those are camera straps! Film shots are coming soon.

After being in the sun all day I was completely exhausted.  I felt like sleeping as soon as I got in the car but the views kept me entertained and awake.

I landed in Sacramento around 1:30 am.

When I woke up it was 108 degrees outside! Mr. Pigglesworth was not having it. Piggie pool round two was necessary!  This time Emu-head decided he was going to join in.

After this, we scooped up all the cousins in Sacramento and spent a few hours at the river in Columa. Columa is big for it's GOLD and METEORITE! Yep, meteorite, dust that fell from a meteor when it crashed into the earth many miles away a just few months earlier.  Pretty cool, right?

The last surprise from this trip is that cousin Alisa would be joining my on my travels back to LA.  We packed the car said our goodbyes and left Sacramento around 9 pm.  This would put us back in LA around 3 am, except there was construction the whole way home.  We didn't arrive until 4 am.  I slept about three hours.  I was so happy to be back "home" on the couch at my friends' house. I couldn't wait to say good morning and start getting everything ready for an 11 am departure to begin my cross country/around the world trip the next day!

 My first task of the day would be to repack my three suitcases into one, small, lightweight backpack. (Thanks for your help cousin! You helped me keep my focus and I appreciated it.)  Second errand, to take Alisa and pick my mom up from the mechanic so mom can help me move my cars to her house for semi-permanent storage!

My mom and her second cousin, Alisa hadn't seen each other in almost 20 years! That's nuts!  So, I didn't tell my mom Alisa would be joining me. This way I could see the look on her face!  As my mom was introducing me to her mechanic, I said, "hi George. Nice to meet you.  This is my friend Alisa." I guess my mom didn't even see anyone else in the car.  My mom stooped into the car, her reaction was a little late because she had to realize it wasn't just my friend but her long lost cousin.  As soon as that clicked in her brain her mouth immediately dropped wide open and it was all hugs. Yes!! I did my part!

The three of us spent the rest of the day running my lame errands.  Going to the bank, buying one more ring to fake people into thinking I'm married while I'm on the road, picking my bike up and delivering it to a friend's house so they can use it while i'm gone and junk like that.

All and all a very successful two days!  Awesome times!