robbin' and stealin'

on sunday afternoon, we hiked in the windy hill open space, located on top of the santa cruz mountains. it was sunny, windy (as promised), and beautiful. at the highest point in the park, one can see the pacific ocean to the west, the san francisco bay to the east, and the length of the mountains and peninsula stretching from north to south. we have some pictures to prove it.

here is a panorama taken from the highest point in the park (marta is standing at the same place at both the left and right of this picture--click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see what we're talking about).

look how happy we were on that hike.

it was so much fun.

how can such a beautiful hike end with such ugliness? when we got back to the car, we saw that the rear passenger side window had been smashed, the entire car had been ransacked, and missing was the canvas tote containing our cherished california hikes book, ipod, cell phone, nalgene bottle, ipod car charger, personally significant coin purse, credit card, and, well, pieces of our souls.

now, now, now....before you say that we should not have left our belongings in plain sight, you ought to know they were well hidden. this burglar was a curious thief. we told the sheriffs that we hid our stuff, but they suggested that we never leave anything in the car--ever--and leave the doors unlocked to save the windows. it's something to consider.

marta proudly displays her makeshift window.

does this seem familiar? it should.
while driving from pittsburgh to madison, we stopped along the ohio turnpike to buy coffee. it was late november, raining, cold, 10 pm, and ohio. we were out of the car for 4 minutes. when we got back to the car, the passenger side window had been smashed into a thick coat of glass on the interior of the car, and there had been significant theft. it stunk.

fortunately, marta's parents were traveling on the same turnpike the following day. they caught up with us, provided us with some comforting words, and took a few pictures. that time was a lot harder to deal with.
they can steal our phone. they can steal our ipod. but they can never steal our FREEDOM!