Back from my working trip to Colorado... it was crazy, worked two full 40-hour weeks, plus spending time on web site updates every night after the show. Was getting like 3 hours of sleep a night, less some nights. Yep, I was totally exhausted by the end of it.
Rested up for a day, packed for a day, loaded the car (it was SO packed... amazing how much stuff I packed into one Chevy Malibu!), and drove almost straight through back here to Long Beach and the studio. I am SO glad to be back. Back into the swing of things with sessions and all of the work for the studio.
The drive back was fairly uneventful. I did a long stretch of it at night, through Utah, almost deserted highways, and the stone formations of Canyonlands along side of the road, appearing like ghostly vapor strands ahead of me, then solidifying into what looked like snowbanks in the dark. Really lovely. Encountered a couple of rude drivers who wanted to hang right behind or next to me, or pass then drop back, then pass again, even though the freeway was wide open. But all in all, for 20 or so hours of driving (I didn't make amazing time, but I got here...), FAR fewer rude drivers than I'm sure I would encounter in a couple hours of city driving.
Pulled off the road into a Motel 6 parking lot in Beaver, Utah (couldn't resist a town with that name!) around 4am to nap for a bit. It got cold in the car though, without the heat running, and I was napped and back on the road by 6am. Pulled off a couple more times around 10-11 in the morning, just for a few minutes each time, when I started feeling drowsy, but other than that, came straight through. Had some traffic getting out of Las Vegas around 9am, not the greatest timing, but I did get into LA around 1pm, probably the best possible time to miss traffic for that last stretch of it.
Henry did pretty well. Lots less stress than flying. I had his perch tray set up with food and water on the passenger seat, but he was having none of that! Nope, he rode on my shoulder the entire way. And got lots of petting through those night hours when I could easily drive with one hand and pet him with the other. At my gas and rest stops, I got him to sit on the perch and eat some, and I got him an apple at one of the gas stations, and a plastic knife, and cut him slices, which he chowed down on. He didn't want to drink out of the water cup on the perch, so I gave him water out of the little lid of a water bottle! Could have bought some kind of cup, I suppose, but he was drinking out of that lid just fine. Toward the very end of the drive, he got really scared at something and tried to climb behind my neck, then took a fluttering leap toward the windshield/steering wheel. That scared me... I got hold of him and got him back on my shoulder, and he was ok. I have no idea what spooked him, but I'm glad that only happened one time. Also, he only messed on me one time the entire drive. He's getting potty-trained, which I'm actually working with him on, but I was amazed that he was waiting 2-3 hours between rest stops, to when I'd set him on the perch, to do his thing.
So... a long drive, but all in all uneventful, and I'm back and it's all good. Here with my guitars and my computer and some of my other stuff... very happy to be here and finally feeling rested after some extra naps and sleep since getting in on Wednesday afternoon.
Oh, there are more pictures from the Garden Show on the store's web site, here. Pictures of the gorgeous gardens there, although I don't think I captured them that well, but they are still pretty pictures. And pics of a couple of our new friends we made at this year's show. The show really is fun, just exhausting for one family manning the store and the show for that couple of weeks. Enjoy the pictures!
Rested up for a day, packed for a day, loaded the car (it was SO packed... amazing how much stuff I packed into one Chevy Malibu!), and drove almost straight through back here to Long Beach and the studio. I am SO glad to be back. Back into the swing of things with sessions and all of the work for the studio.
The drive back was fairly uneventful. I did a long stretch of it at night, through Utah, almost deserted highways, and the stone formations of Canyonlands along side of the road, appearing like ghostly vapor strands ahead of me, then solidifying into what looked like snowbanks in the dark. Really lovely. Encountered a couple of rude drivers who wanted to hang right behind or next to me, or pass then drop back, then pass again, even though the freeway was wide open. But all in all, for 20 or so hours of driving (I didn't make amazing time, but I got here...), FAR fewer rude drivers than I'm sure I would encounter in a couple hours of city driving.
Pulled off the road into a Motel 6 parking lot in Beaver, Utah (couldn't resist a town with that name!) around 4am to nap for a bit. It got cold in the car though, without the heat running, and I was napped and back on the road by 6am. Pulled off a couple more times around 10-11 in the morning, just for a few minutes each time, when I started feeling drowsy, but other than that, came straight through. Had some traffic getting out of Las Vegas around 9am, not the greatest timing, but I did get into LA around 1pm, probably the best possible time to miss traffic for that last stretch of it.
Henry did pretty well. Lots less stress than flying. I had his perch tray set up with food and water on the passenger seat, but he was having none of that! Nope, he rode on my shoulder the entire way. And got lots of petting through those night hours when I could easily drive with one hand and pet him with the other. At my gas and rest stops, I got him to sit on the perch and eat some, and I got him an apple at one of the gas stations, and a plastic knife, and cut him slices, which he chowed down on. He didn't want to drink out of the water cup on the perch, so I gave him water out of the little lid of a water bottle! Could have bought some kind of cup, I suppose, but he was drinking out of that lid just fine. Toward the very end of the drive, he got really scared at something and tried to climb behind my neck, then took a fluttering leap toward the windshield/steering wheel. That scared me... I got hold of him and got him back on my shoulder, and he was ok. I have no idea what spooked him, but I'm glad that only happened one time. Also, he only messed on me one time the entire drive. He's getting potty-trained, which I'm actually working with him on, but I was amazed that he was waiting 2-3 hours between rest stops, to when I'd set him on the perch, to do his thing.
So... a long drive, but all in all uneventful, and I'm back and it's all good. Here with my guitars and my computer and some of my other stuff... very happy to be here and finally feeling rested after some extra naps and sleep since getting in on Wednesday afternoon.
Oh, there are more pictures from the Garden Show on the store's web site, here. Pictures of the gorgeous gardens there, although I don't think I captured them that well, but they are still pretty pictures. And pics of a couple of our new friends we made at this year's show. The show really is fun, just exhausting for one family manning the store and the show for that couple of weeks. Enjoy the pictures!