Leende joins me in California, courtesy of the USPS.

Leende is a voracious reader, tackling a two-foot-thick copy of Milton's Paradise Lost in front of Geisel Library at UC-San Diego.

Leende hides among the vines at the feet of the Sun God on the UCSD campus.

Leende hangs out at the UCSD Gliderport, just south of the Torrey Pines golf course. From where she's sitting, she can't quite see Black's Beach (clothing optional!) at the bottom of the cliffs.

Leende watches the sun set over the Pacific.

Lucy the Bulldog meets Leende the Weasel.

The "weasel seat" on my bike, as I ride around Menlo Park.

Leende favors public transportation—in this case, the Caltrain.

At the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, Leende lounges among the pumpkins while I go looking for pumpkin ice cream, bread, pie, and even sausage.

Leende suns herself on a rock at China Beach, just west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Leende critiques the faux-classical architecture at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Other pedestrians in the park mistook her, briefly, for an actual weasel.

Leende takes in a moonrise over San Francisco.

On a blustery October day in Brighton, England, Leende hangs onto the balcony for dear life. Visible in the background is the Brighton Pier.

Back in Durham, North Carolina, Leende meets a local.

Leende crawls over a Japanese-themed sculpture in the Duke Gardens.

Leende naps near the foot of the Duke Chapel.