Get out of town

I seem to have a real "get out of town" desire going. When we lived in Reno, this would hit about every 4 weeks. And the nice thing about Reno, that many people don't realize, is that there are some really fantastic places to go within 1-6 hours drive. Early on, we went to San Francisco (4 hrs) about every 2-3 months. Later it became about every 6 months. We went to Napa and Sonoma Valleys (3 hrs) regularly, Amador county (2 hrs) for zinfandel tastings (zin is red). We hit the Black Rock Dessert (2 hrs), Lake Tahoe (1 hr), Yosemite National Park (6 hrs), Monterey (6 hrs), Lassen (4 hrs) and Mammoth (4 hrs). There was always a new place to explore, good food to eat, a cultural event to see, and if you weren't up for driving, then an evening in downtown Reno was like visiting a new place entirely.

I loved the Shakespeare festival at Lake Tahoe - except for the fact that our home phone number was the *exact* same number as the box office, except you had to dial 1-800 for the tickets. This little detail evaded a huge number of people everyday. It shocked and amazed me how few people understood the concept of a 1-800 number. If you can't understand a 1-800 number, will you be able to understand Shakespeare? Doubt it... just give it up now.

Some of the conversations went as such, "yes I know you are local, you still have to call 1-800". And people would ARGUE about this. "1-800 is NOT an area code" and "Ok, well umm, do you want to offer an explanation why you keep calling my house instead of the festival box office?" We even had people leave their credit card numbers, expiration dates and full names on our answering machine even though our message clearly stated "This is Hans and April's house, it is NOT the Lake Tahoe box office for the Shakespeare Festival. Please dial 1-800 first to get them and please do not place orders for tickets here as you will NOT get your tickets and we are tired of our answering machine tape filling up every night, your credit card will instead be used online to buy whatever I feel like buying". No, we never did that, but people STILL left their card numbers. I often wondered what they did when their tickets didn't show up.

Even two years after we moved - people tracked us down looking for tickets since we changed our phone number and left a new one. Maybe this year will be the first year ever we won't actually get calls for tickets. Last year we got one or two and I am convinced there is just someone out there screwing with us...

So anyways, here I sit, making myself homesick for Reno, or more appropriately homesick for all the places to go nearby Reno.

There are probably places like that here. Seattle is about the same distance from here as San Fran was to Reno. It just seems to take a whole lot more effort to go to Seattle for some reason. Maybe it is because I don't just crash on friends floors anymore - turning 30 kind of killed that desire for me - give me a hotel with a nice bed and shower that isn't used daily by 3 men and never cleaned (sorry Hans' friends! Loved it at the time though!). Or maybe that I now have expectations of places I want to eat or things I want to do as opposed to being forced to eat at only "hole in the wall" (but yet amazingly, quite fantastic) places. All in an effort to preserve most of our $20 per person weekend budget after gas for such 20-something escapades as going dancing at the newest hot spot.

Spokane is acceptable, at least in terms of having a little more shopping than here and more (or maybe it is just "new") food choices. We have yet to get to Portland. And trips to wine country? Well we are here. A trip to a winery is often quicker and easier than going to the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine. Local culture... there's an oxymoron for you. I have heard they are fun - but I find nothing appealing about watching boats fly up and down the Columbia in 100+ degree weather at the boat races.

I always said I could live anywhere as long as I was with Hans, he is my home. And this is very true, I "could" live anywhere, but that doesn't mean I would like it. This area is about as small and as "hickish" as I am willing to go and sometimes I think we have past that point. I always told myself I can buy online what I can't find in the stores. And yes, for the most part I can. But there is no replacement for wandering through the Nordstroms shoe department in a quest for a particular shoe you have never seen, but have only imagined in your head... or browsing some funky second hand store in the Mission district of San Francisco.

I love my home, which is probably why my urge to get out of town hits only about every 4-6 months now. There is always plenty of stuff to do around the house, not only that I want to do, but that needs to be done. It is nearing time to shelf the "need to do this weekend" list in favor of a shopping trip to Seattle. I need my Ikea, Sur la Table, Pikes Market, Banana Republic, Nordstroms fix. I am SURE we can find nice restaurants where taking a squealing infant wouldn't be frowned upon... And Leif really does NEED to see the aquarium in the next few weeks.