''Not even on the 10 yet, we begin our journey--'' begins Robert.

Well, that's a silly opening if I ever heard one--you really need to start further back.

All June & July Robert had been studying for his comprehensive exam, & I haven't taken a vacation day since the first week of January. Then last week he got the flu, & wasn't able to talk in a normal voice, exist without a box of tissues at hand, or walk straight until yesterday. So on Monday 7/31 he took the comp, tissues, Justin (not pictured), Jason, Martin, & Ashley by his side. Despite the flu, it seemed to go well, & all went out afterward to the nice Mongolian place on Gayley in Westwood.

All in all, we didn't really have time to get excited about our upcoming trip until last night, Thursday, 8/3, when we went out for dinner with Brigitta & Ryan rather than cook our last night at home. We ate at the Mambo Cafe in Palms, a nice Caribbean restaurant; Robert had mango curry chicken in a good sauce, with fried plaintains & rice & beans, & I had a chicken & papaya salad; mango & coconut flans were lovely desserts. The food was good & $12/person with tax & tip, the atmosphere was nice, & we had fun. Brigitta & Ryan dropped us back home, & we packed so we could leave early the next morning. So, at 7am, we got onto 10W to head to Vegas.

By the way, these pages have been optimized for viewing at 1024 x 768 (my LCD monitor's native screen size). The pictures were all taken with our new Fuji4700 digital camera, at original resolutions of either 1200 x 960 or 640 x 480, and then resized on my Mac. The journal was originally written on my blue Handspring Visor in the memo pad.