Ah, the summer road trip. Brings back memories, doesn’t it? Kids crammed in the back seat, elbowing each other for more space, choruses of “are we there yet?” Our summer road trip took us up to Northern California to see family and friends.
Just getting out of town was a big challenge for us. We had been cat-sitting for about a week and needed to drop off dear Charlie before leaving. By the time all our errands, chores and tasks were completed and Charlie was safely delivered, it was prime time rush hour on the 405. No blasting out of town for us; we finally reached cruising speed when we hit the “grapevine” just before sunset. Our first stop was Buttonwillow for some fuel, food and coffee. A few hundred miles, several hours and a couple of leg stretches later, we finally pulled into the hotel parking lot in Sacramento.
The early part of the next day was some great quality time, spent hanging out with son Jason in his cool new apartment. He showed us around town and cooked us lunch. Around the late afternoon, it was time to head over to the Bay Area to see more family who were gathering at my husband’s step-mother’s house. What a surprise when we pulled onto Arloa’s street to find a block party going on, complete with a live band! Brother-in-law Gary had already asked if Russel could sit in and play a few songs, too. How cool is that? After some music and merriment with the neighbors, the family all gathered around the dinner table for a fabulous home cooked vegan dinner. Since Arloa had a house full of guests, Russ and I had made prior arrangements to stay with some friends in the Santa Cruz mountains. So, after dinner, we were off on the winding roads through the redwoods.
We slept so late the next morning! At home, we’re used to the bright L.A. sun greeting us early, coaxing us out of bed – but our room was so dark under all those trees. It wasn’t until JJ yelled, “Hey, guys, it’s 10:00!” that we were stunned awake.
After breakfast, we headed down Highway 9, through more redwoods, into Santa Cruz, then along Highway 1 to Carmel. We spent at least two hours at the Carmel mission – easy to do, a lot of history to take in and much beauty to photograph. Then we were back in the car, headed for San Luis Obispo, our stopping place for the night.
The next day, we explored the Bluffs Trail at Montana de Oro State Park. I think we stopped to take photographs as much as we walked – but we still managed to work up an appetite. We sat on a driftwood log on the beach and ate our sandwiches and grapes.
Then it was time to get on the road home. Our road trip may have been on the short side – but it was a great trip, a wonderful last hurrah for the summer.
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