Jillian's Journeys (July 6, 2006)

Usually, I am not fond of mass emails, but since most of the emails I receive tend to ask the same questions, I figure that I might as well answer all of them at once. Also, I would like to keep in contact with all of you, even though most of us are separated by great distances (some more than others), and I wanted to be more proactive about it than just waiting to reply to emails sent to me. Consider it a summer Christmas card.

To those of you who have never received an email from me before, thank you for giving me your email address. I would love to keep in touch with you.

My summer has been going wonderfully, with lots of travel and more yet to come. As some of you know, I just returned from a week-long family reunion in Lake Tahoe where I got to know many of my relatives much better. It was also an excellent opportunity to get some exercise. For just the fourth time in my life, I rode a bike and totally wiped out going down a hill. I was very grateful that I landed in nice, soft grass rather than concrete. The next day, while I was still sore from that, my dad, my aunt Shirley, my uncle Mark and I hiked up to the top of Mt. Tallac. It was a little bit of a challenge, involving careful cutting through snow banks, but a lot of fun.

We enjoyed fireworks both at Squaw Valley on the third and Lake Tahoe on the fourth (for those of you who are in Romania, that's our Independence Day). The fireworks we saw on the fourth were astounding to behold, many bright flashes of light reflected on the vast, smooth water of Lake Tahoe.

For now, I am home. I'd like to know if you'd be interested in receiving something like this on a more regular basis, maybe after I return from each of my trips. If so, please tell me. I'll try and keep it brief. If not, I would still love to hear from you, and I will still reply to your emails as promptly as I can.