What a month May 2019 was!

It started on a beautiful morning of bird-watching at a county park in Oregon, included a state park and a parking lot in Idaho; a state recreation area and an independent campground in Oregon, plus a hotel in Oregon, then a county park in California, and then a driveway. But that was just the beginning. Eventually, I made it to a county park in Oregon, then a driveway in Seattle and a driveway on the Olympic peninsula, followed by a national forest campground in Idaho, an independent (and free) campground in Montana and then another independent (and very expensive) campground in Montana. Fourteen different places, five different states. It was a busy month!

And it was also a delightful month. I was terrible at the part where I wrote a book, but I was extremely good at the part where I thoroughly enjoyed my life and spent lots of time with people I love.

I’m not even going to try to pick a best moment, though. There were simply too many excellent choices. I barbecued peeps and soaked in a hot springs under the stars. I brought the dogs to a restaurant and found cool clothes at thrift stores. I failed miserably but entertainingly at building a campfire. I got to spend time with R and hear stories of his adventures. I went to multiple beaches and breathed deeply of fresh air on morning after morning. I ate great food — gluten-free cupcakes and fresh oysters come to mind — and took some good photos. (If I had faster internet, I’d post dozens of them.) I even went kayaking with my dog!

A white Jack Russell terrier sitting in the grass.
Zelda, content in the grass

I could probably spend the next two hours thinking about the past month, remembering all the things I liked about it. New moments keep coming back to me, things I wrote about at the time and things I didn’t. Playing games, watching Person of Interest, eating spicy seafood medley. Laughing about coconut milk. More laughing about coconut milk, which I thought was one of those stories where you had to be there, but turned out to be funny when shared, too. Having P’s co-housing friend J tell me how much she enjoyed Cici and how eager she was for the sequel. Just so much goodness.

But I’m still in the midst of the goodness, with stories to tell about the places I am and the places I’m going, plus adventures to have, both big and small. (Today’s adventures will include dumping the tanks and visiting CostCo, woo-hoo!). But if I get my act together, it might also include Yellowstone National Park! And I also need to write about my Thursday, where the need for clean water led me to make some unexpected, expensive, but quite delightful choices.