Home

Good to be.

Ces says good to be home because he doesn't have to go anywhere, and he "knows the house like the back of my hand". Says a lot.

Tom and I are glad to be back to our garden, which has gone nuts.

Griff is happy to be home to his newly shipped cell phone, since I ran his former one through the washer in Santa Cruz. Oops.

Thank you for traveling with us.

Big Sur in pictures, July 19, 2010

Mist Man, has super powers.

The human nest you may reserve instead of a Yurt.

The end to a perfect day at the lodge bar.

July 17th, Big Sur, by the skin of our teeth

　
When people say that driving Route 1 in California is: beautiful, treacherous, remote and loooong, they are right on the money. The farther south we drove from Big Sur, the more numb my hands became on the steering wheel, and I was feverishly scoping out helicopter landing sites in case we had to get Cesare out of here. Then, decided to let that all go. (Though didn’t stop me from asking the desk clerk at the lodge where helicopters do land here. Got that now. ) Cesare actually went from worse to better while we were in Santa Cruz. Fingers crossed.

_____________________________________

We stayed in an adorable hostel in Santa Cruz, which was actually a network of cabins. We were just three blocks from the beach. Apparently uncharacteristic of Santa Cruz weather, we were able to make it a true beach day and the kids had a blast in the waves. The kids multiplied by 2.5 with cousin Judy’s kids Roman and Chiara and friend Darcy’s cutie pie Rioma. (Pics of the five of them included). The same fun bunch met us in Yosemite last year and all of the kids really hit it off. Once again Darcy, Judy and Tom and I drank too much, and had a lot of laughs. Judy is a great role model for parenting, takes it all in stride (Roman! Chaira! Step outside for a beating… I want to get caught so they’ll put me away in a nice quite cell with three squares a day!”) I love that she and Darcy find entertaining the things we find annoying about our wonderful sons after 12 days on the road. I’m going to remember that beating thing.


Flowering cacti in Capitola, east of Java

Cousin Judy, honorary cousin Darcy

Cousin Roman on far right, and Chaira in the middle. Honorary cousin Rioma sandwiched between.

The yurt at http://www.treebonesresort.com/ . I'm betting the video of the yurt I'm trying to load, below, is never going to happen.

At the Santa Cruz hostel, I found a scale. It was really about time to check, and the damage wasn’t too bad. It did make me think, though, what these twenty something blond waifs from Germany and Holland really needed a scale for. As Tom and I chowed down on prosciutto and duck pate with Boudin’s sourdough in the communal kitchen and the waifs prepared their instant oatmeal and their donated after market produce it made me just a little self conscious.

____________________________________________

Ces and Griff enjoyed the beach and being with their cousins. For a cool $60 the four of us caught a movie and went out on a limb for some popcorn (after the $11 parking for the beach). How California could possibly be in a financial crisis gives one pause.

________________________________

We have just arrived at Treebones Yurt resort in southern Big Sur. Griffin keeps chanting “This is like heaven” and I suppose it is. Perched on a hill overlooking the ocean are 14 yurts of different sizes. Ours has two queen beds and a ping pong table! I’ve tried to embed a video I took of the room, but picture is above.

_____________________________________

Ces has been too unpredictable to keep traveling south, farther away from the city. When we leave here we return to San Francisco to a nice hotel (I’m over the hostels) for our last two nights and fly out on Wednesday.
I keep forgetting to say what a life saver, and what fun it has been to have Gypsy with us (the GPS that my Mom and Dad gave us recently). We found our way back to the hostel last night from nearby Capitola in Cantonese. Kate, we also have played several of the games you sent us! When we are not yelling at each other, it’s nice to have some family fun.
　
　
　

San Francisco July 13, 2010

The view from our hostel in San Francisco, at Fort Mason is ridiculous. These shots are steps out the back door: Alcatraz...

the hostel

Here are a couple of shots of the boys in Seattle before we left:

You would like to think that JFK is one of the strictest, most attentive airports one could pass though. But you ain't seen nothin till you attempt to law abidingly get through SeaTac. Things with which we passed through JFK (and Newark in February) were verbotten here. Staffed largely by grandmothers who have a thing or two to teach you no good travelin youngins, contraband tossing included a hand slap and a lecture. Cesare's cherished honey from Pike's Place market... tossed. Tom's handy all purpose tool from my Dad, which admittedly could hold a flight attendent captive, was ordered tossed at SeaTac but got a nod at JFK.

Tom went off in search of a sailing opportunity today, while I took the boys to the Exploratorium. There were some hands-on exhibits there that while Cesare took an extra long time to enjoy I could see other patrons getting a little antsy. I wanted to tell them that we literally flew 3,ooo miles for Cesare to experience this do-hicky, that he hadn't stopped talking about one or two of those things since our visit last year! But I didn't get all righteous with them given that there were Germans, Japanese, French and other far flung folks there, and our short hop from NY sob story would sound a little played.

After spending SEVEN hours there today, and another FIVE at the Pacific science center in Seattle, I heartily endorse using an iPod to pass the supervision-time. It blocks out all of the abundant noise in these places. I highly recommend somthing like Coldplay, or for intensity: Phillip Glass. If you lean toward the dramatic, and really who among us doesn't, you can stand back and view your life as a film, with a great soundtrack, even if the story is a little dull.

When we were at the Seattle science center I laid my hand on a heart rate meter. In addition to telling you how cardiologically fit you are (I'm not), it also had a "tenseness" meter. I rated high. Tell me about it. When I'm in these enormous places, with hundreds of people I live in fear of Cesare getting seperated from us. The thing is, he would never know he got seperated. Cesare wouldn't know he was lost. He'd think he is right where he is. Zen, isn't it?

Tom never got to sail today, but enjoyed a rare day in SF where the sun shines and there is no fog. The view of the Golden Gate and the islands were pristine. He did a lot of walking along the wharf. We had dinner at The Stinking Rose. Carla recommended we go there 15 years ago on our first trip here. Remember Carla? Everything is coated, dipped and infused with garlic. It was superb, again.

Thinking lots about our garden. Our neighbor, Rich, is on watering duty. Hope New Paltz friends will help themselves to tomatoes and peppers that are sure to be ripe and ready.

Looking forward to Santa Cruz on Thursday and hooking up with cousins Judy, Roman and Chiara. (Judy, DON'T see "Diabolical Me" before we see you, the boys want to see it with your kids, in 3D of course.)

Thank for tuning in.

July 11, 2010

Doing the Seattle things to do today. Last night went to the Seattle Improv Theater, one that Tom and I went to 15 years ago. It was as funny as we remembered, and Griff and Ces volunteered to get up on stage and act out the fictitious childhood memories that two of the actors were narrating. At one point Griffin was required to scream like a girl. He clutched his head, and let it rip.

Pacific Science Museum was fun yesterday.. Cesare rode his first two wheeled bike, suspended 30 feet in the air, with a counterweight below requiring no balance from the rider. Threw his hands up and whooped. Saw the the new Twilight movie in IMAX. OMG.


Some friends have said they aren't able to comment at the end of the blogs if they wish to. I realize now that one must sign in, or register to do so. Shouldn't be hard for the technologically challenged among us. We're very happy to hear from you.

Pics

Starfish this morning.

The dudes in the Hoh rain forest, no rain.

Way too much time in the cabin.

Ruby Beach

Griff and Mom on Kalaloch Beach.

Ces waiting for his feet to be buried by the sand.

Morning on Kalaloch Beach.

Handsome dude.

Mist on Kalaloch.

Bella's house from Twilight, in Forks.

Mt. Something.

Sun in Seattle!

July 9, 2010 Day 2-5, The Electronic Blackout Zone, and the Gifts.

We left Seattle on Tuesday, the 6th and took off for the Olympic Peninsula. There was a fair amount of disagreement and head scratching about whether there was indeed a Mt. Olympus, or Olympia on the peninsula. Cesare, the keeper of Greek myths was certain we were blurring myth with reality, but I was certain there was something big out there.

I took remarkable public transportation from Seattle to a suburb, Bellevue, to pick up the rental car. It was a bus/tram/train that went under water, through a tunnel on tracks, but emerged on a road and morphed into a regular bus. Looking around the bus/tram/train I was reminded that we’re in i territory: the home of all things Microsoft and Apple (and Expedia.) Everyone, everyone on the bus was engaged in i business iPods, iPads, Mac laptops and other gadgets. Suffice it to say, it seemed everyone of any age was wired. An older man in the rear of the bus was… reading a book. Clearly shunned by the others, poor fella, he seemed to know he should stay in the back of the bus.

You could eat off the floor of Bellevue. Colorful, landscaped and with the backdrop being the white frosted Mt. something, not surprising it is the home of Bill Gates and other execs in the i world. (I’m going to say Mt. Rainer.)

Since the morning of our third day here, the north west has been hit with the most unusual beautiful-wave. It has been around 85 and sunny, not a cloud in the royal blue sky. Profound gift number one. (Two, the plane not falling down was one.)

Our drive to the peninsula was about three and a half hours including a 30 minute ferry ride. As the snow topped whatever-mountain range on the peninsula came into focus (truly will get back to you on what mtns rise here), Griffin said “It looks better than HD!” Well, it was a clear day.

We stopped in Sol Duc for a night, in the center of the Olympic national park. It is a source of natural hot springs that, for better or worse, has been funneled into three swimming pools. Believing in the inherent medicinal powers of the springs I shouldn’t have been surprised to find it was a Mecca for the elderly and the suffering. Tom and I sat in for a while and there was a way too detailed story from a gentleman to the right of us about his optical MRI that wasn’t all that relaxing, I’ve gotta say. And, he didn’t even have his eye in the water- so I don’t know what’s up with that.

Leaving Sol Duc to head to the west coast of the peninsula was magical. I’ve been out to the north west several times, and have never seen the sun. It wasn’t even raining in the rain forest. Griff wanted very much to stop in Forks, the mythical home of Bella and Edward (and Jacob) from the Twilight series. Griff was hoping to see some of the significant spots from the films, the high school, Bella’s home, the Cullen’s (vampire’s) home etc. A very small, sleepy town: Forks didn’t deliver for Griff. We saw what remains of the Forks High school, which is being torn down to make way for the new HS, no doubt funded by the loads of filming proceeds. The front of the vampire’s house was here, but it was suggested that the back of the house (all glass, looking out at a magical forest) is on Vancouver Island. Griff was so disappointed that the real world wasn’t even close to the make believe. I don’t think Ces was disappointed, firmly grounded in reality he. Which reminds me of a clock Ces and I loved at the Pike Place market. In the center was a Buddha and in place of numbers around the circle of the face was the word “now” twelve times. That’s Cesare in a nutshell.


I’m writing from Kalaloch, on the outer coast. We have a cabin overlooking the ocean, the seals and the driftwood. We stopped at Ruby Beach to see the amazing sea stacks. See the pics.

Griffin is a doll and game for anything. He waded out with me to see the seal rocks more closely and when he saw one of the distant figures out there lift off in flight. He insisted that there are nothing but gulls out there and heckled me until I had to reveal that out here, in the magical northwest there are flying seals. Cesare made sure to bag some sand for his nurse/buddy Michelle, and picked up many a polished rock that he knew his friend Rose would love.

This morning, another blue sunny morning, I went down to the beach early and found the tide at it’s lowest, easily 200 feet out from last night. The rock outcrops revealed starfish and sea anemones. Spectacular. Gift three.

On this, our fourth day in the semi-wilderness, I’ve come to accept that unlike our friends the Berkowitzs and the Pickerings, the Brotman/Schwarts and many more, that it doesn’t come easily to our family to leave our electronic connections behind and be at peace (and wonder) with nature. After three nights in cabins with brief forays to the postcard beautiful world around us we’re ready to kill each other. In a nice way. Last night we played several rounds of no-talking canasta. It was a thing of beauty. A different kind of beauty, of course.

Our sweet Ces is seizing a lot at night, and drowsy during the days. He’s game for anything, though. He stood for a long, long, long time in the water yesterday allowing the waves to bury his feet in sand. He never looked up to see where the rest of us were, not once. I made a mental note that he isn’t really cognizant of his safety, or his whereabouts. I mentioned this to Griff who agreed. Much later, after the boys found the best zombie defending driftwood sticks they could find and went, boldly, into the mist to battle what few zombies might be here in the north west (with no electronics, of any kind? Really?) Griff caught up to me and told me he had schooled Ces in where the beach access was to our cabin, what our cabin number was and what to do if he found himself lost. Gift four, five, six seven, eight….



What we’re reading:
Cesare: Flying through the Lemony Snicket books on tape. You can’t beat listening to anything read by Tim Curry!

Griffin: The Wizard Heir, Chima

Tom: Gave A Fraction of the Whole a good shot, but never quite got hooked. Looking at Rocket Boys, a memoir by Homer Hickam about his improbable career at NASA after a simple start in Coalwood, West Virginia.

Me: The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks , by Rebecca Skloot about the origin of the HeLa cells that were, literally stolen from her in 1951 before she died of cancer and have been divided trillions of times and shipped the world over. Her cells were used by Salk to create the vaccine for Polio and hundreds of other life saving uses, but her rural and poor descendents, who have never been compensated, cannot even afford health care.

Griffin has repeatedly regaled us with a dead on imitation of the joke told by the dog in “Up”: “Master, I have a joke. There was a squirrel and he said, oh no, I forgot to store nuts for the winter and he died. The joke is funny because the squirrel is dead.” With Griff’s gift for accents and voices, it kills every time, but Tom said that after the 700th time or so, it gets annoying. Griff said “Well then I guess we’ll have something to look forward to”. Note: it is a four hour drive to Seattle.

I have lots of pics, and I'm trying to upload. Check Back!