UPDATE, 11/2001:
I'm only wearing two but I ended up buying six of the handmade
bags. |
After I came back from Alaska I paused just long enough to repack
and headed for Bangkok and Northern Thailand where I
got to ride an elephant, float down a river on a bamboo raft and visit
a wonderful high mountain village, where I was able to buy amazing
handbags hand-made by the women who live there.
May found me, as usual, in France for the Cannes Film Festival,
but I managed a few days in London afterwards and got to ride
the famous "Eye" on the Thames South Bank with friends.
In June made a trip up the California Coast with Laura and
Dennis: Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey and finally San Francisco,
going all the way on spectacular highway 1. Stayed in Alameda with
the Kanes and got to fly in "Yellow Bird", their two engine
Cessna, all over the SF Bay and over the Golden Gate Bridge.
In July Laura and I spent a week in Provence, France and visited
many amazingly beautiful antique hill towns and also had some great
food.
Then back up to SF to see Ramblin' Jack Elliott at a concert in Crissy
Field. Spectacular site, good show.
Stayed quiet in August except for a brief trip with Sarah Jane to
Laughlin, Nevada for fun, boat rides and the poker machines.
Didn't make any money but I did break even, and it was worth it. Beautiful
drive through the desert to get there. On the way home we stopped
for a snack at the Bagdad Cafe, the one that was featured in the famous
film.
Sarah Jane loved the Bagdad cafe. |
The Southern Comfort conference in Atlanta. Went shopping with
some of the ladies, and we compared outfits with some of the
Hooters girls. |
Last year at the Sundance Film Festival I saw a documentary film
about the transgender community, Southern Comfort, which won
the Grand Jury Prize. I was so moved by the film that I decided to
attend the Southern Comfort conference which takes place in Atlanta
every year. I met many wonderful people of all spectrums of the transgender
community: male to female transexuals, female to male transexuals,
cross-dressers, people who were half way there and many others still
trying to sort out exactly where they fit into the gender equation.
They shared stories with me and I was graciously accepted as the token
GG (generic girl) all week.
In October, with next year's Iditarod in mind, I went to dog mushing
school in Bend, Oregon where I got to meet Rachael, the amazing
16 year old musher and her dad Jerry. There was no snow as yet so
we did the training using wheeled vehicles. I got to go on a 17 mile
ride with a 12 puppy team learning the dog mushing sport. And later
in the day I got to pooper-scoop and kiss all of the 100 dogs in Jerry's
yard. I'm still washing the dog poop off my boots. Anyone interested
can log on to www.sleddogrides.com.
And I'm off to Egypt, a Nile Cruise and Jordan in November 2001.
Stay tuned . . .
