It really is a shame that my camera died back in october

--because i would love to post gorgeous pictures of salt lake city here!!
i can not say enough good things about salt lake city! it was beautiful. literally every single person we met or talked to from the salt like flight crew to the airport to the bus drivers to the residents to hotel workers to the monk we hung out with, were amazingly nice and kind. it was as though we had enetered some alternate universe where everyone was kind and happy. truly unbelievable. there were oodles of kids in salt lake! every family was super young with at least three kids but simultaneously super nice. we never once heard a parents raise their voice...i can honestly say that we had an amazing experience in salt lake city. seriously.

but yesterday, we flew away from that land of gentleness and into the crazily populous san fran bay area...let's just say people haven't been so sweet here! still, we had a very fun few hours consuming at the ferry plaza building along the waterfront! and now, we're here in palo alto. palo alto=consumerism!!! yikes! i don't think i've ever seen so many strip malls and stores in one place in my life! i've also never seen so many really great looking asian restaurants in america as i have here. noontime just might find me eating pho and drinking vietnamese coffee!

luckily for us, we have a rental car and will be heading south once keith finishes his interview this afternoon. we can not wait to discover a less populated and beautiful california which i'm sure awaits us! tonight we stay in a cabin by the coast (thank you dear ariane!) with a fireplace!