This past week has been insane, what with getting ready to come to California, preparing the workshop and the house for the plasterers that will be coming immediately after we return from California, packing, hosting Tyler's dad for a night, welcoming coworkers who will be house-sitting for us, getting up for our 6AM flight from Albany, etc. (We'll likely be back-posting journal entries about all of these goings-on when we return.)

But now, we're here in bright, hot, dry California. I feel like a pale, blind, cave-dwelling mole in the face of all this sun! We have successfully procured my brother's car (THANK YOU, LIAN!), and hit the road towards Valley Springs where BlackHawk Ranch and powered-paragliding awaits us. It feels so good to be on an adventure together again!

Now, we're here at our little mom-n-pop hotel, and class starts bright and early tomorrow morning. I was nervous all last week, but successfully blocked it out because I was so busy. Now, the nervousness is starting to seep back in. I'm not afraid of heights per se—I'm only afraid of falling from them or jumping off of them... I am an earth-based creature at heart. Can hobbits fly? I guess we'll find out!