C-c-c-cold California

 

NOT taking the gloves off in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California 

In late April, my husband and I braved the COVID situation and traveled to Northern California for six reasons: two sons, son-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, son's boyfriend.

If there weren't a horrifying global pandemic swirling around, the traveling aspect could have been a smidge more enjoyable. The weather was unusually chilly. It being a pandemic and all, we couldn't duck into coffee shops or restaurants to warm up. Instead, we spent dozens of hours outside. Shivering. Here, my husband chose to order a spin on his favorite gin and tonic. It was ... refreshing (?). I went for the Sonoma red.

As we drove up the coast, we took the obligatory touristy photo of the Lone Cypress on the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. I hopped out of the car only long enough to snap the picture and then jumped back in for the heat. That poor tree looked chilly. 

 

During a spin through Marin, we stopped at Nick's Cove, a roadhouse in Marshall, California for their famous oysters. We decided to live COVID-daringly and eat inside. We tried the oysters barbecue style, figuring a little warmth might be involved. They were warm, but we chose to wash them down with cold drinks. Kind of cancelled out the tummy warmth, but made for a delicious lunch.

And these sisters finished their lunch just as we arrived. 

Maybe they were also praying that it would warm up? 

Reyes Requires Resourcefulness

 

A visit to Point Reyes Lighthouse near San Francisco was supposed to look like this. Except it didn't. No thanks to COVID-19, the lighthouse was closed. It's a small area and too risky to let people clog up inside or in a line down the stairs approaching it. Instead, I looked down on it from the hill above it, at the entrance to the staircase, all gated off and forbidding. I positioned my iPhone's camera lens inside one of those little diamond voids in the chain link fence to take this photo.

And here's a picture of the stairs we didn't get to walk on, with the stair safety warnings partially obscured by the COVID-19 risk notice. I guess you could say it's a layered look.

Traveling Again: Hiking with Royals

I traveled again. Yay! In April, I hiked in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California. With a princess and her older brother. 

This is a travel blog, after all. For the last eight months, my only contribution was to share an article reporting that NOT traveling is bad for you. Ready or Not, there we went. In April, my husband and I flew cross country from Boston to California. Fifteen months had elapsed since we last hugged our grandchildren. We decided that as double vaxxer's, we would take the risk of the 5% unprotected by Moderna's vaccine. 

It was beyond fabulous to be with the grandchildren. My son Alex photographed the first moments when my husband and I met up with the kids. They leapt into our arms. We hugged. (But we didn't kiss. That was the deal). We squeezed. We cooed. We swayed. 

And then we swapped.

Things people say about the ache one feels from the separation? It's true. Face Time, Zoom, Google Meets are all great ways to stay in touch. But they're nothing like the real thing. When you're together in real life, you get the little moments. Like this one. 

Sage (shown protesting why anyone would question her choices from the charcuterie platter). She made a sandwich of three crackers between two pieces of bread.