We’ve spent months looking forward to our son and daughter-in-law’s visit (and future grandson!) from Kansas City. We packed their visit as full as we could get it, bookended by trips to their favorite burger place, In-n-Out. The week went far too quickly.
Their plane arrived in the afternoon and we were on the road the next morning to Fort Bragg, California – about four hours away. It was a great way to catch up in the car with our ever-present goldendoodle, Tilly, being severely spoiled along the way.
Driving through MacKerricher State Park is both magical and spiritual. The light breaking through the magnitude and Christmas aroma of towering pines. The thick pine needle bed spotted with ferns and forest undergrowth. Necks begin to ache, but you can’t stop looking at their immense height and straight-backed presence. How long have they been there? What stories could they tell?
Driving from the Central Valley of California, it was thirty degrees cooler on the Pacific coast and a welcome change of pace for all of us.
Scott and Baird did some fishing (and starfish finding) in a few different spots while Ryann and I soaked in the salty air mixed with all the pregnancy talks!
Downtown Fort Bragg has the cutest shops. We found Christmas ornaments, ice cream cones, and more baby souvenirs.
We.ate.so.much.seafood! It was heavenly!! Fresh from a few feet from our tables. We tried three different restaurants and fell in love with the last one in particular (Baird’s choice) with crab rolls and lobster bisque and fish tacos and clam chowder and salmon and a pup lying next to us as seagulls flew overhead in case someone dropped a morsel of fish while aged fishing boats drifted in and out of the harbor. Perfect sixty degree days spent with people we adore.
(okay, and one scary moment – in flip flops…!)
After two days in Fort Bragg we drove back home for a quick sleep then back in the car to head to San Francisco for a Berkeley college football game. What an incredible campus that has produced remarkable graduates and ideas. (Oppenheimer being fresh on our minds.)
We got to see a glimpse of the pre-game celebrations in the quad as well as walk by the fraternity and sorority houses as they celebrated…well, anything for beer pong!
(plus a baby Berkeley onesie and sweat suit!)
We left the game a little early to have the chance to walk around the gorgeous campus.
J. Paul Getty, Gregory Peck, Jack London, Patty Hearst, Isaiah Thomas, George Takei, Robert McNamara, Michio Kaku, Earl Warren, Joan Didion, Betty Friedan, Thomas Kinkade, Beverley Cleary, Aaron Rodgers, Edith Head, Steve Wozniak…..a few of the graduates from UC Berkeley.
We all went to the top of the clock tower for an incredible view of downtown Oakland and San Francisco.
We had all just watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo so Ryann did a quick reenactment in the tower-ha!!
Taking a food detour from our seafood journey, we ate at a Mexican joint in downtown Berkeley with delicious horchata and tamales. The perfect food to drive a couple hours home, right?? It was a sleepy ride.
Baird and Ryann got to experience our frustration the next day when we got all settled in to watch a Chiefs game only to find out it wasn’t playing locally (trumped by the Raiders!) We’d already eaten a big brunch (thank you, Scott!) but we piled into the car to go to a nearby bar for wings and appetizers to watch the game on their screen.
Then off to Jenkinson Lake – a quick drive up the hills from us, stopping by an apple orchard for the first cider donuts and apple cider of the season.
A huge thank you to Scott for alllllll his driving (which didn’t hamper the wit and wisdom coming from the driver’s seat.)
We were all tired on the day of their departure but we’d crammed in as much California as we could while they were here. Having kids is one thing but being around humans you genuinely enjoy is a gift I continually cherish. There were MANY laughs, late-night talks, so much future planning and more than a few tears when they left.
They’re ‘babymoon’ involved a mother-in-law (ha!) and constant car travel but we had a fantastic time. Baby Boy did not cooperate, however, by kicking for us, but we’ll get him back one day when he wants to stay up late to watch SNL.
Tilly was enthralled with Baird and Ryann – she always is. They let her do things she normally doesn’t get to do when they’re not here. (Speaking of future paybacks!)
Tilly goodbyes and one more trip to In-n-Out and then suddenly, they were gone.
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