On the Road

Travel.

As a kid, I feel like I traveled quite a bit...though we barely left California and never left the USA. I was extremely to lucky to grow up where I did, where so much change -- in topography, climate, and culture -- in just a few hour's drive. Often, when thinking about "travel," many people automatically assume that means going somewhere international, and poo-poo domestic travel as "not real." And while I, too, think it is important to get out of your home country, that it helps you gains some perspective, I don't think people are inherently wrong or ignorant for doing so. We live in a huge and diverse country, hell, I live in a huge and diverse state...so even going to another part of my state can be a huge cultural shift for me. To me, travel is getting out of your comfort zone and home and experiencing something different.

Family reunion in Eureka...underneath a Redwood tree in my
aunt's backyard

This thinking, and appreciation of this type of travel, stems from how I grew up. Our vacations did not involve going to far-flung countries, or even cities or states very far away. Most of our travels as a whole family occurred within a few hours of home, and involved a car ride, wriggling in the back seat, and perhaps a punch or two -- this was before the days of any sort of entertainment in the car other than a book -- and an eventual arrival to the Redwoods or maybe the Monterey area or something. My dad's schedule (and, I think, general dislike of being too far from home) defined a lot of what we were able to do as a family of four.

I loved getting away from home for a little while. Hotels were the coolest thing when I was a kid -- there were pools! Unlimited ice in the halls! The chance to get some junk food from the vending machine RIGHT THERE! Then there was the camping -- which we still do to this day; when I was little we only did this one or two summer weekends a year, and it meant going to the River and playing with my older cousins, chasing after a kid named Neil with shaving cream for the Sadie Hawkins dance, and playing at this magical place called Piggy Park.

I do remember a few plane trips -- we went to Disneyland (every once in a while, my dad was able to join us), and once to this far-flung place called Austin, Texas, to meet relatives...I remember being on the UT campus and thinking it was the most neat-o place in the world and maybe someday I could go to school there and hang out in that huge library. But mostly I remember the car rides with the four of us.

Should I ever have kiddos, I'll be hauling them on some international travel. But equally important will be the local trips, visiting and appreciating the things we have right in our own backyard, and understanding how those experiences are vitally important to the people they will become.



This is a part of the BootsnAll Indie Travel Challenge. Each week, they give a different prompt...I'm starting a little late; this is in response to week 18, "Family Travel."


I'm working on catching up!

Putting the labor back in Labor Day

It was Labor Day weekend...which for me has always signaled the end of summer, as it's the last weekend we get up at the River.

Last year was extremely difficult, and I couldn't wait to get through it.  This year, however, it couldn't last long enough!

We started off Saturday with another run around the loop. I thought we had gone quite a bit faster...but I was wrong. I think. The final time was the same, but we had one slower mile than last go 'round... there was one point where B & I were going at around a 9.30 and that felt awesome.

The pain in my leg? Not so awesome. In fact...pretty much the opposite of awesome.

Once I got back to camp, it was time to take down the site. This may sound easy -- after all, camping is just a couple of tents, right? But no, at our campgrounds, the sites are like outdoor cabins, and include all the accoutrements of one. Tarps, tents, refrigerator...all needed to be cleaned, moved, stored. It was a good little workout. 

Such a good workout that floating down the river sounded like a good way to cool off. Boy was I wrong. This float lasted FOREVER, since the river was almost running backwards. Instead of floating, we had to paddle most of the way. At least I earned my many, many drinks that night (and burnt off even more at the dance).

Sunday meant a 2 hour walk, including a trip over to our rival park on the forbidden trail. We felt like teenagers sneaking back there, as none of us have been there since we were told not to go. Of course, the minute we exited the trail, someone caught us, and we all reverted back to our 15 year old selves. It was pretty humorous to me! After we arrived back to our park, I was extremely exhausted!

It was a great last weekend to an interesting summer. And we made it...through a whole year of a roller coaster ride.

Every day I'm shufflin'...

Extended Family

On 4th of July weekend, we were lucky enough to have many members of our River family join us in a special tribute to my dad. The River is the last place I saw my dad, and if it wasn't special to me already, it is even moreso now.

We dedicated a bench in the bocce ball area, a place he was so excited to see when they first put it in, to him.

It has now been almost 11 months, and I can hardly believe it. Thankfully, we have a great support system everywhere we go, and his memory is alive all over the place.

Summertime Rolls...

Thankfully...summertime has rolled right to a close.

The end of summer always brought mixed feelings for me. Often, I was ready to go back to school or do something. But Labor Day also meant take down weekend at the River, and saying goodbye to all our summer family.

This year it was particularly hard to say goodbye...for obvious reasons. We had so many people rallying around us from this special group -- from the services to taking down our camp to the party that got held in the campgrounds (which my dad would have HATED....but we loved) to feeding my brother & I incessantly -- leaving them was particularly hard. I skipped out on goodbyes...I was upset on Saturday night and not feeling well, and couldn't handle a dance. Pulled an Irish goodbye and headed home.

I must say, however, this summer at the River and life in general has been bittersweet. Aside from the events of the last week or so, which turned things upside down, this summer has been a weird one. It's been a complete roller coaster, and not necessarily the fun kind... Occasionally it was, but...I dunno. I am glad to see this summer end.

This summer did, however, bring this song to my head quite a bit. From about early July on, it's been in my head quite a bit (not sure if that's when I first heard it, or circumstances brought it to mind...regardless...{love}).

(and...if I knew the video featured so much of Dave, who is getting hotter and hotter the older he gets, I would have shared earlier!)

Day Trippin'

Supposedly, it is summertime. Apparently, those of us in SF and the immediate Bay Area have done something to offend Mother Nature, because not only has she not deemed it appropriate to wake up the sun much, she also hasn't turned the heat up past 60F...FOR OVER SIX WEEKS.

Now, you might say...Mark Twain once claimed, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." You'd be right in that it is usually cool here in the summer (but not that Mark Twain said it...someone else did). And, every year we all kind of complain, but by August our whines are silenced and the weather turns up and we can wear skirts and dresses once in a while and not have to wear boots and tights with them. This year, however, has been more than riduculous.

What? Me? Upset? No...I really LOVE being doused in fog while walking my dog in the morning and wearing my winter jacket to work every day. In August.

So, it seems appropriate that on the weekends, we try to escape. I think we would do that normally, but it feels even more desperate now. With no sun and only cold, it is too easy to spend every night curled up in front of the heater (no kidding...many of my friends have been pumping theirs on full blast lately. In AUGUST.).

My fingers are crossed that the next few weekends will be warm up north at the River. In an effort to break out of the city and into nature (ahhh...nature...love), my friend and I are taking a little drive on Saturday to hopefully drink a little wine and hit the beach for a few hours. Will the sun touch us with its beautiful rays? We can only hope.

Same goes for the next two weekends...the next one, a group of friends and I are heading up (sans parents, I think, for possibly the first time ever in my life, not for the best of reasons, unfortunately. And, yes, I am an "adult"...amazing) for a weekend of beach and floating to the bridge (and perhaps some flip cup here & there), and then the final weekend, Labor Day, when I wasn't really planning on going up but certain circumstances have made my presence more necessary.

Three weekends at the River. I don't know that I've done that since I was a teenager. Hopefully, the earth will tilt on its axis enough to grace us with some sun!