John and I are in northern California...

We arrived Monday night. He had to drive up on a business trip so I came along to keep him company.

It rained on us ALL the way here (a very nerve-wracking 9-hour drive) and it will probably rain on us all the way back home tomorrow. Small worries, I know.

I'm in a nice hotel room and don't have to cook or do anything actually... and I do have an old, slow laptop that we brought along; however, this place has only dial-up to offer, so the internet connection is frustratingly slow (we're in a relatively small town and I haven't had a speed over 28.8 yet).

I've been watching the news channels and reading online about the earthquake and tsunami. It was all so much more devastating than we all originally thought.

I can't believe so many people (mostly children) lost their lives so quickly. I am assuming that most will never be found...that they were swept into the sea. It's all so very sad especially for the survivors who have lost family members.

So many, many people.

As you can gather, my mood is rather dark, so I'll just stop here.

Wish us a safe drive back down to Southern California (where we've been told that it is also raining).