road trip! (hill)

when i was younger, i wanted to do a stint in the peace corps and i wanted to work at club med. big plans. well,  i did work at club med lindeman island on an exclusive island inside the great barrier reef in queensland, australia. (does this mean i’m shallow?) miracle of miracles … somehow, i wrangled myself into a job as a tennis instructor. i hope you can imagine the goodness of an experience like this … champagne at sunset on the 8th hole of the golf course overlooking the blue blue water,

running on the wooded trails unsettling swarms of butterflies, being silly (it’s in the job description) to get the guests to cast off their city-selves and loosen up … the list goes on. we did work insane hours keeping the gms happy … it was like hosting a 6-month-long barbeque.

the best thing that came from my time there was cynthia brown. she’s part of a well-known wine-growing family outside melbourne, she had a serious job in the village in the human resources office, and she was my roommate. besides the wine she generously shared with me, and her willingness to have double slumber parties (don’t let your imagination get too carried away!), she was a wonderful roommate and we’ve been friends ever since.

well guess who’s coming to road trip with me … cynthia!

we’re taking the vw van for a spin on july 1 (to see my 2003 spin, see escape artistry). destination: yosemite, las vegas, grand canyon, zion np, moab, boulder, salt lake city, portland, oregon and california coasts, and everything in between. all in 16 days. whew!

cynthia has been wanting to take up photography, so she’s now well-equipped and ready to rumble. our road trip may be a photo safari of sorts. we’ve both signed up to participate in picture summer and will be learning more about photography and sharing our images along the way. how are you picturing your summer?

internet access depending, i will be blogging in periodically … stay tuned!