Road trip

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."
-Henry Miller

In our continuing battle against winter ennui, complete in its depressing and stagnant garb, we decided to take a mini road trip this weekend. The weather was actually quite clear and pretty, not to be confused with warm, but clear and pretty, as we headed out of town to visit Half Moon Bay.

Half Moon Bay is just south of San Francisco about 25 miles, but feels truly worlds away. You get the sense of a small beach town, driven by fishing and surfing and, of course, tourism. The town fringes a beautifully calm, crescent shaped bay that is its namesake.

Maverick's, the world class and VERY dangerous surf spot, lies to the north of town and, in the fullest part of the circle, white and black expanses of beach are tidily lodged between breaking surf and the rocky embankment of Highway One. Heading north of town to Mavericks, you pass through the more broken down part of town, the part you could see the Cannery Row crew happily inhabiting.

I appreciated how closely the obvious tourist part of town and the more realistic parts coexisted. Being from a small fishing, surfing and tourist driven town in California, this suited my sensibilities; to see both so readily.

We ate at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. This place was pretty cool with a nice outdoor fire going and dog friendly patio. The inside was equally rustic and yet cozy with the fishing and surfing theme encoded in the dark woody interior complete with roaring fire, pictures of those braving mavericks gracing the walls, and a huge fish tank that kept Babou still for about five minutes!

We shared the fresh seafood appetizer; a succulent little (and I do mean little) selection of ceviche and ahi poki served with tortilla chips and fried won ton wrappers respectively. There was also a little dish of mango salsa served off to the side that was very refreshing and simple and sort of extraneous, I would have switched that for extra ceviche and ahi poki before you could say "Babou sit down!"

That said, it was very kid friendly and the food was tasty. We spent the rest of our visit playing on the beach. Loco O. liked it a lot and actually braved the waters!



And Babou kept us busy keeping her out of it!




The drive home was beautiful, the sun setting in a golden blue puddle to our west. We got back feeling good to be home and decidedly still hungry. So we made ourselves a huge batch of ceviche and fried up an indecent amount of corn chips and ate to our hearts content.

It was good to be home.

Choose your own adventure

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost


Life has been so busy going by that I have again neglected my one piece of sanity—my writing. Isn’t it funny (not very) how when life gets busy, you neglect the things that keep you together the most? It seems that way with me, at least. I always think, “if I can just get this and that and the other thing done THEN I can write and do the things I really enjoy. But life goes by and you realize that it is going by either way and you must take time to fulfill yourself. So simple a thought, yet so easily forgotten.

So what has been doing? I have a lot of catching up to do—lots of reading blogs and lots of my own writing to do. Well…let’s see…May was a month of visitors, parties, and general entertaining and busy-ness. Toe healed early in terrifying manner—while flipping mattress making the bed, my toenail got caught on a seam and the rest is history—it took the whole thing off. After the essential screaming had died down and I had time to think it over, I realized that it was really a blessing in disguise. My toe healed quickly and I started running again the next day. It still makes me shudder thinking about it though.

June was spent traveling and visiting. I got to go visit my sis Mary Alice and Rescue Ranger graduate high school. He is such a cool guy, no one can make me laugh like he can. He has this goofy sense of humor that I can totally relate to and he just cracks me up. It was just amazing to spend time with my sister and her family and see her life and children’s lives. It made me think a lot about the paths we take and where they lead and if they really don’t just all end in the same place that destiny has already chosen our destinations and perhaps we are only in charge of the route. I am excited to see the roads Rescue Ranger will explore, as well as the destinations life has planned for him.

It felt great to travel again, but it definitely left me depleted. Traveling with Babou was tiring both physically and mentally. My husband had to work so he couldn’t join me and it sure is a lot more luggage when you are traveling with a baby rather than alone. I remember going on trips for almost a month with nothing but a carry-on. Those days are over!

I finally got back home only to take a family vacation with the dog, husband, and baby. Wonderful but, again, logistically a lot to contend with. We camped on the middle fork of the Eel River, snorkeling, swimming, and napping. I love being outside for blocks of time, and I hope that love of nature and watching the day turn to night, the excitement of the first star, are instilled in Babou. I hope she appreciates those moments.

And July, finally home, we have been busy with work and gardening and the travails of potty training. Settling back into a more rhythmic domestic life, one whose epicenter is a home, not a car or airplane.

Sometimes I wonder why my life is so busy and random and changing—so different from many lives. Sometimes it bothers me but deep down I know I chose this road, that life is most fulfilling to me when every day is filled with adventure and possibility.

Se-lah.