Concerts and California and a beach trip too

I've been slacking on my blogging, mostly because I've been getting ready to travel, traveling, or just returned from traveling. I'll try to catch up a little with this post.

My last "what's going on in my life" post covered the first of three Def Leppard concerts, the local show in Ridgefield, WA. A couple days after that, I was off to the beach with hubby for our anniversary. We stayed at the Surfrider outside Depoe Bay, Oregon. We were only there for one night, so we didn't have any big plans, but it was very relaxing. We walked on the beach, explored some tidepools, and took a bunch of pictures:

Computer store in Lincoln City with a funny name:


Moon and shadowy trees:


Sunset:


Strange life form found on the beach:


And another one:


We came back Saturday, and I flew to California Sunday morning for a trip back to Tracy and another concert.

As usual, it felt weird to be back in Tracy. It has grown so much since I moved away in the late 80s, from a little over 40,000 people to over 80,000. I stayed in a hotel near West Valley Mall, which sprouted a decade or so ago from what used to be tomato fields and turkey farms. They say you can't go home again, but you can. It's just that home isn't home anymore. Places change, people change... yet there's still enough that's familiar to dredge up a ton of old memories. And speaking of old memories, I met up with a couple of people I hadn't seen in over 20 years! It's so interesting to get back in touch with people from the old days, reminiscing but also exploring what kind of people we've become. Adulthood seems unreal, or maybe surreal, when you're 16. Yet here we all are with our spouses, kids, mortgages, and careers. Wow. The years have gone by too quickly.

After my 2-day nostalgia fest, I picked up Laurel at the airport, and we headed to Concord to see Def Leppard again. The show was great--as usual. I'm too tired to write a detailed review, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, these should be enough:

Jason Bonham, son of John Bonham, drumming for Foreigner:


Styx:


And my Def Leppard collage:


The rest of the pics from the show are in my Flickr account at http://flickr.com/photos/crumj/sets/72157602089134911/

I got back from CA a week ago Wednesday and led a mostly normal life till last Wednesday, when I was off to Auburn, up by Seattle, for my third and final concert. I think I'll cover that one in a separate post, because this one is getting a bit long, and I'm getting a bit tired.