Maybe in Oz

One of the weird but must-do stops on our trip was a visit to the Principality of Hutt River, an unrecognised micro nation that was declared sovereign from Australia in the 1970s.  The "ruler" Prince Leonard didn't agree with the wheat quota the government had introduced and ended up declaring war.  He used some obscure law to claim that their lack of response meant that he could succeed from the country, and thus his kingdom was born.  The principality has its own post office, currency, and passport stamp and seems to have a very different view from the Australian government on not having to pay taxes. A week before our trip I was looking at the principality website and discovered that the Sunday we were going to go was the 49th anniversary of the founding.  Prince Leonard died earlier this year, and there was going to be a celebration of his life that day.  It was invitation-only, but all you had to do to get an invitation was send an email.  So of co...

The following morning we got an early start on the long drive North to Kalbarri National Park.  The views on the drive are not particularly remarkable, so we were happy to get out and stretch our legs when we finally arrived.  The park was really crowded because of the holiday weekend, but we were able to find a parking spot and took a hike down to Nature’s Window.  When we rounded the corner to the rock we were surprised to find a long line of people waiting to take their Instagram picture inside the window.  Not exactly what we were looking for in a National Park.  I was able to sneak a picture quickly in between people and then we went back to the quieter part of the trail to explore the layered rock and enjoy the views.  It’s a pretty place, but I would definitely avoid it on a holiday weekend. After that we drove down the road and took another hike to Z-Bend.  It was not as crowded and gave some great views of the rive...

I had been wanting to do a road trip of WA North from Perth for awhile (that’s WA as in Western Australia, no Washington!).  I warned my parents and Phil before we went that it would be a trip of weird and wonderful sights, not your ordinary trip.  We flew to Perth on Good Friday and drove a couple hours North to our first stop - The Pinnacles in Nambung National Park.  They are really interesting sand structures and no one is really sure how they were formed.  It was a bit cold and rainy, but cleared up just enough to give us a rainbow over the formation as we started exploring.  We drove the dirt track around the park, stopping in a couple places to have a closer look.  The first section was all dirt, but as we drove on the landscape changed from red dirt to lighter dirt and green shrubs.  Rainbow over The Pinnacles  Driving through The Pinnacles the changing landscape After finishing the drive we headed to Cer...

George has been gone a month now and I still miss him all the time.  He was more than just a cat.  In April 2006 I bought my condo, and the weekend after it settled I went straight to Petco to find a cat.  My mom spotted him at the adoption event hanging with his litter mates, both of whom were missing limbs from who knows what unspeakable horror.  He was a gorgeous kitten and he looked like a George so I named him that and took him to my new home.   My new baby George Itty bitty Georgie Discovering the other cat in the mirror Green kitten eyes Tired baby Batting at frogs He saw me into my adulthood, and it was a learning experience for us both.  I remember one night he couldn't make it to the litter box in time and peed on the bed so he and I slept on the floor.  Another time I cam home from work to find him strangely listless with his mouth open and red.  I ran around trying to figure out if he had gotten into ...