The girls and I decided it would be splendid to spend 8 days on the northern California coast with my mom. And it was. I love the ocean, especially the Pacific coastline. My parents have a new 40 ft travel trailer which I thought might be a pain and tight, but this thing has it all. Bathroom, full kitchen, DVD/CD player, flat-screen tv, indoor/outdoor speakers, comfy beds...made me rethink trailer living... We stayed in a RV park in Bodega Bay, about an hour north of San Fran. It was pretty chilly at night, more so than normal the local people said, but I loved smelling the eucalyptus trees and walking down to the beach and hearing the waves crash against the sand. We loved making smores in the middle of the day and leaving the dishes in the sink until the next morning. (My dad, "Mr. Clean," drove us up there, parked and hooked up the trailer, then left us = fab.u.lous.) We went to an Apple County Festival in Sebastopol (one of my favorite Cali towns from back in my Deadhead days) and ate apple fritters, bought handmade soaps, watched a canning demo, saw amazing crafts, big sis did a beekeeping demo (knowledge from her Philadelphia Homeschoolers beekeeping class) with a Sonoma County beekeeper, and listened to some awesome bands. We walked through magnificent Redwoods, dazed by their grandeur and sublime beauty, all the while looking for gnomes and butterflies and treehuggers. We played in the cold Pacific water and had sand in places sand should not be. We found endless supply of seashell booty and laughed at the boobing heads of sealions peeking at us way out in the tides to see what all the screaming laughter was about. We ate salt water taffy for appetizers at dinner and flew kites and made baby voices at sea lions on a pier. We went to farmer's markets and bought local, organic produce and cheese. We shopped in cute, little boutiques and perused shops with seashells, smoked salmon jerky and retro toys. We went antiquing and thrifting in quiet, shingle-sided towns. We visited the schoolhouse where Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed. We visited an old barn that birds lived in. We ate organic, handmade ice cream in flavors like strawberry jubilee and deep, dark secret. We visited local sites and lighthouses, climbing sandy hillsides high above, overlooking the ocean and sandy dunes. We walked along the Russian River and chatted with some people at the Sundance Festival (a gay community festival). We stayed up late watching Glee episodes on my computer and slept in until 10. We played games and rode bikes and ate fish-n-chips three times. It was a good week.
What a lovely end to a beautiful summer. This was by far one of my most favorite summers, visiting with friends and family, traveling a bit, going to Lake Tahoe, crafting, camping in Sonoma, all of it was awesome! We go back to Mexico in 3 days. I'm a little heartsick, but it'll be okay.
(I know this was a long one with a lot of pictures---but it was more for me, so thanks for hangin' in there!)
What was your favorite thing about your summer?
