Tuesday, March 20

I got up, washed my face, put on some makeup and fluffed my hair. This was around 9AM. I had been awake longer than that but my sweetie brought me a cup of coffee and I enjoyed that while I laid in bed. So, I got out my list of phone calls and I made a bunch of them. Roommates.com people mostly. Princeton Club to see if I could transfer my membership. No. But I can freeze it and use it when I'm in town. It'll last me forever. That's funny because I didn't use it when I lived in town! I signed up on Monster.com and dug out my resume.

Mike got home an hour later and we left the house about 11AM. We walked clear across Eureka, well not quite. But we walked a long way. The weather was beautiful. Is beautiful, since it's about 3:40 right now. We just got home less than 15 minutes ago. This town is make for walking and biking. I love it. The downtown area is called Old Towne and is charming. We walked down to the Eureka boardwalk first of all. From our house that took about 50 minutes. Then we walked nine blocks east (I think) to Porter Street BBQ and split a delicious BBQ chicken sandwich with provolone cheese. Sooooo yummy. Then we walked nine blocks back downtown and split a peanut butter tart from this bakery called Ramones. The PB tart is one of Mike's faves and I can see why. Then we walked over a block or two to Mike's favorite coffee house and shared an apple fritter (another of his favorites) and a small Hazlenut coffee with cinnammon and half-n-half. Apparently there's some gross way that they flavor the beans but Mike can't remember what it is. Do I really want to know? Probably it's better this way.

As we sat out front of the coffee house and enjoyed the sun, strangers stopped to ask if Baby was nice and could they pet her? She's such a social, loving dog and just eats up whatever attention and affection she can get. This little boy walked right up to her and stared her in the face before either Mike or the boy's mom could stop him. I'd guess he was about 3. Baby and the boy adored each other. Baby'd never hurt a living soul, and Mike wasn't worried, but I'm sure the boy's mom panicked for a second. A large man with seemingly all his worldly possessions sauntered (I borrowed that word from him actually) up to a table where a scruffy man sat and opened his mail and plopped down next to him. The big man was a story teller and loudly started rambling about his adventures to anyone who would listen. He was talking for my benefit for a bit, it seemed, until Mike returned from inside the coffee house where he was using the restroom. Then the man promptly turned his back on me and continued his tale to the man next to him. The way the other one interjected it was apparent they knew one another well. They sort of reminded me of the old guys who sit in the balcony on the Muppet Show, but perhaps slightly less sarcastic. It was just as well with me that he stopped directing his story at me, as I was ready to go.

I noticed as we walked home that in the few places where sidewalks didn't exist that paths had been worn in by many walkers' feet. This is nice.

By the time we got home my legs and feet are so sore. I don't know for a fact but I'd say we walked four-five miles. Now I'm pooped.

Tomorrow we are driving to Santa Rosa. We are leaving at 4AM. I don't know if we'll have time for a walk. Maybe that's why Mike walked us so far today. I feel so much happier though. Why do silly humans forget things like this? How simple it really is? Fresh air, exercise, good conversation, good company (Baby the pitbull was with us), good food. It's really that simple.