Where the airplanes equal the stars.

I survived the first week of school, believe it or not. The first two days involved a three mile uphill hike.  I'm not even exaggerating when I say it was straight up.  It literally was straight uphill.  We arrived to our campsite exhausted and practically dying from heat stroke.  There was not a single tree in sight, But somehow we managed to find a bit of scrub to lay under.  It really wasn't that bad of a hike, it was just the combination of the heat and our packs that made it so bad.  The next day for breakfast we had cliff bars and apples and made our way back down the mountain.
The view from atop our mountain was amazing.  You have no idea.  We were above everything,  to the left the city lights, to the right, the city lights, straight out in front of us, the ocean, and Catalina Island.  Above us, the endless and vast stars. The sea went on and on, and on one of our breaks up the hill, one of my friends said, "I know this sounds really stupid, but the ocean is really big."
The next day, when we reached the bottom, we all went to the ocean and fell into the waves.  After laying there and swimming for a couple hours, we all shouldered our packs once again and made our way up the beach to the Shake Shack.  There we all got hamburgers and malts and appreciated civilization and ice cream.
Once the trip was over, I went home and slept for hours, waking up very sore but thinking maybe it's not so bad here after all.

First day of school-Peace out!

Grace is studying hard at home.

Excited for homeschooling!

Long Days, Short Week

Last night the air smelled like salt.  Like salt, with a hint of nostalgia.
Yesterday we brought my friend Zoe back to the airport.  She is the one who made the Good Life music video with me.
She came here from Viroqua last Saturday and left yesterday.  She was here for a whole week.  Before she came when this was all still planing I thought a week would be plenty, that I would be able to say good-bye to her after seven whole days.
But the week went very fast, and as she said, "Long days, short week."  Which pretty much summed it up perfectly.
We filled up our days easily; I taught her to surf and she got a tan line.  We went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and took pictures of everything and anything.
We watched the sunset from the Huntington Beach pier and took more pictures.
And when Saturday came she packed up her things and got on a plane and went home.  And mostly I was jealous because she gets to go back to Viroqua and I don't.   Because she is going to be starting school with my friends.
I gave her a list of their names so she could say hi to them for me, hopefully the message gets delivered.
I'm sure it will.
But when she got on her plane and called me four and a half hours later to say that she had landed I realized how close Viroqua really is, I could just get on a plane and be there.
But in two days I will be starting school here, going on a camping trip with all these people I don't know but will be my friends for a year, maybe more.
And when I think those words I feel equal parts nervousness and excitement.  Because when I was back in Viroqua I was always wishing for an adventure, for change or something new. And here I've got it.  
So look out, Waldorf School of Orange County.
Here I come.