Road Trip, chapter 8: Homeward Bound

This is kind of embarrassing, but we can’t recall much between Sacramento and Redding. Lots of almond trees (a pronounced like cat), a couple views of Mt. Lassen, and plenty of heat. That’s about it.

Road Trip, chapter 7: Heading North

One more treat awaited us before leaving San Diego: we were able to see one of our hosts’ daughters and their son. These were the childhood playmates we missed the most when we moved away from San Diego. I may still have “Twangy Guitars,” the vinyl record she gave me for my ninth birthday.

As we sat outdoors nibbling on my world-famous apricot scones, another hole opened up in the space-time continuum. I was being sucked in!

Road Trip, chapter 6: The Old Neighborhood

The sun was going down by the time we finally left behind LA’s endless sprawl. Probably just as well: if we’d been able to see the beaches and seaside towns along the way to San Diego, it might have taken us much longer to get there.

I was born in San Diego sometime late in the Bronze Age, and now eagerly anticipated bringing my family to the old stomping grounds. The area has changed immensely since we left around 1960, but I was still able to get to our destination without consulting a map – and in the dark, too, thank you very much.

Road Trip, chapter 5: Sweet and Bittersweet

We awoke to a clear, sunny day showcasing the mountains along the northern perimeter of the LA basin. As a loyal Northwester it’s hard to admit that – that – that – parts of the Los Angeles area are beautiful. I also remember friends telling me years ago that they lived near Pasadena for a year without knowing that Mt. Wilson was practically in their back yard.

Road Trip, chapter 4: Comin’ into Los Angeles

We’d come back to San Luis Obispo in a heartbeat, and we didn’t even see the beaches or the Cal Poly campus or the neighborhoods or the surrounding hills and wine country.

We pulled into town on a Thursday evening and headed for the Farmers Market (for my money, it’s a street fair). Get this: every week about six blocks of the main street through downtown

Road Trip, chapter 3: Big Sur

B’bye, Monterey – thanks for the memories. I’m associating you with a power outage, deep-fried artichoke hearts, and the aquarium, in that order. Yes I know it’s unfair – we can talk about it later.

Houses and commercial properties thin out quickly approaching Big Sur’s unofficial northern boundary somewhere outside of Carmel. What kind of place is this, where even farmland and pastures look out to the ocean?

Road Trip, chapter 2: Bay Area and Coast

Refreshed by the hospitality and love of dear friends, we left Medford and headed for the Bay Area. The temperature climbed steadily as we descended from the Siskiyous, then further wound our way down from Mt Shasta toward Redding and more serious heat. Those of us in the Pacific Northwest can be such wimps when it comes to weather.

Road Trip, chapter 1: Hit the Road

Maybe we’d just fly down to Southern California for our niece’s wedding. Long way to travel for a weekend. Should we drive? Of course not. But… it would be great to visit some of our favorite people. We could go to San Francisco. And Big Sur. Love Santa Cruz. Haven’t seen the Monterey Aquarium. What about Hearst Castle? Yep – it’s time for a Road Trip.