Going To Town (Tues., July 22)

Alas, there comes a time in every NoCal resident's life when it is necessary to descend to Silicon Valley to worship at the shrine of Fry's Temple of Doom; this was our day.

We started out in good cheer, as the sun was lighting the treetops; on the way down through Bracken Brae's trails and vales, we passed a denizen of the woods who was walking her dog -- and her bird, in a cage strapped to her back (Bird Dog Walk, I guess).

We assailed the tortuously winding Bear Creek Road route to the Valley, and came dizzyingly down into Los Gatos -- the other Capital of Cute, sister city to Capitola on the Coast, I guess -- where we repaired to The Great Bear Coffee House for a shot of courage to face the day (cappuccino, that is).

Our first foray was to a mall in the area that had the biggest damn' Target Store I've ever seen; I was too overwhelmed to buy anything but a couple of boxes of Kleenex, but John bravely purchased a few things we needed.  Then it was on to the glorious Bed, Bath, and Beyond store, a few paces further along our road -- I could probably lose all of our fortune in a place like that, but we restrained ourselves to a few necessities.  (Leenie, I'm going to use your gift certificate there for a real duvet before winter strikes our hills.)  

At last, we reached the goal of the pilgrimage:  Fry's Electronics, the Church of the Silicon.  If it looks like an Egyptian temple on the outside -- and it does -- the theme is carried through with verve as you ride up the outdoor people-mover and into the darkened entryway, where spiffy uniformed  and well-informed lackeys await your every question.  I don't need to tell you that John really worshipped well there -- and on the way out, we passed a huge (plastic) statue of the Pharaoh Dog -- seriously, he was canine of features and all golden -- but not a Retriever, I thought -- unless he was meant to symbolize the retrieval of our funds into his vault.

Sated and pooped, we headed home, up out of the Valley of the Mammon and back to our etherial mountain aerie, thanking our Creator for bringing us safely back to Heaven.