Site seeing on the fly

We just returned from a brief but happy last weekend of summer vacation.  Although the to-do list isn't any shorter, we dropped everything and headed north.  All for good cause - the trip was a happy little jaunt that went off better than I expected for the lack of planning.

The pretext was visiting a family friend, a retired priest who moved from the East Coast to the West Coast about the same time we did. My aunt has been worried about him, and I was anxious to see him in hopes that some of his scholarly wisdom would inspire my kids to seek the good, true and beautiful.  He didn't lecture about noble things much, but conversed with the kids over pizza and ice cream and showed them a tin soldier toy store in his town that enthralled them.  And although he is in his 80's, I think he enjoyed the toy store, too. It was almost a museum of specialty soldiers set up in realistic battle scenes true to historic details - a treat since we had just finished Edward Eager's Knight's Castle not too long ago.

From his hillside retirement retreat, which also houses a winery (we didn't have time to taste, but grabbed a bottle to take home), we zoomed by Santa Clara University in San Jose - home to another mission, which we only glimpsed (just as we just waved at San Juan Bautista from the highway) because we couldn't find easy access parking.  Then we continued north to San Francisco. Our first item was to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and then see some redwoods.  I wanted to stop and walk across part of the bridge, but it seemed like everyone else in California had decided that this weekend they wanted to go to San Francisco also. It took us an hour to go about 10 miles. The line to park at the foot at the bridge was so long that we probably could have sent a contingent across the 1.7 mile bridge and back before parking. So we didn't walk but drove across the bridge.  But where are the redwoods? My husband had done this trip back in his college days and thought the forest was right across the bridge.  And we'd seen Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at the free movie theater on base - those big trees provide shelter for the apes right across the bridge!  But we drove and drove and didn't see what we recognized as a forest.  Around twisty turny roads through the Muir Wilderness we wandered, but eventually we gave up, stopped at a scenic overlook, let the kids out to pretend to fall off a cliff, and then turned back to the city.

From the pristine air of the Muir Wilderness we went to the malodorous airs of Fisherman's Wharf, the very touristy tourist trap in SF.  Why here? To see all the weird people, my youngest daughter assumed. She was disgusted by the people begging for marijuana and money and hawking bad art and off center religions, except she did like the vendors selling crocheted character hats.  I wasn't charmed either.  A stop at the Ghirardelli outlet for a free sample and a bag of chocolate chips (maximum amount of chocolate for minimum price) restored our good spirits. And everyone cheered as we drove up and down some of the precarious streets of Nob Hill.  Free thrills!

From there we headed to Chinatown, but the place had mostly shut down, as by that time it was nearly eight o'clock.  Drove by City Lights bookstore but didn't stop as parking was again impossible and the night clubs in the neighborhood were starting to pick up business.  So we turned our car toward our hotel in Oakland, where I found a Marriott where we could stay for free with points.  Dinner was at a little Thai place that was delicious. Our waitress was dumbfounded that we had seven children. She called the entire staff out to gawk at us. "Seven! Seven!" She sounded like she was about ready to cry, I'm not sure whether from joy or disbelief.

Sunday morning after eating our fill at the free breakfast and packing up (short stay - didn't even swim, usually the highlight of our rare hotel vacations), we drove a little ways to Palo Alto to go to Mass and tour Stanford, which was prettier than I thought. My oldest has said he doesn't want to go to college in California, but I like visiting campuses and admiring libraries. I was impressed by Stanford's chapel , but my 16 year old suspected Masonic connections (too much conspiracy theory reading).

From Stanford we headed to Carmel-by-the-Sea to see the burial place of Junipero Serra at the Mission San Carlos Borromeo, which was beautiful, but the boys were more impressed by the luxury car show in town - 3 Lamborghinis! 2 Rolls Royces! Bentleys, Ferraris, Teslas, and a McClaren!  The Corvettes were outclassed.  They ohhed and ahhed as we strolled toward the beach and a view of Pebble Beach golf course. I sipped luxury coffee.  Then we ate a picnic lunch from the grocery before hitting the PCH for the drive home.

It must be whale migration season because we didn't just see one or a few whales along the coast; we saw dozens. According to the internet, July - September is humpback and blue whale migration season.  We didn't have binoculars or a big enough zoom lens to tell what kind we saw.  After awhile, the novelty of "Oh look! A whale!" wore off.  But "Oh look! A hippy!" never wore out.  Big Sur is on our list of places to go back to and camp, with all the VW vans.

At any rate, although it was a short trip most of which was spent in the car, it was still vacation.  Everyone was mostly cheerful.  Well-timed snacks are essential for this kind of travel.  I was able to get some reading at my children done - selections from Fr. Schall's Another Kind of Learning, which I finally completed.  Excellent.  Hoping to inspire the older boys to take charge of their reading beyond what is assigned in class.

Muir Wildnerness

Fisherman's Wharf

LCJC and me with a mermaid nursing statue, Ghirardelli Plaza.

Stanford Chapel

Figure of Philosophy, Stanford Library

Mission San Carlos Borromeo

Burial Place of Junipero Serra

Wine country

Bl Junipero Serra's cell

Your chariot awaits...

Why, yes, that is a Lamborghini...

Happy Baby

All those white dots are whales spouting or jumping.  Need to get a better zoom lens...

She reads!

Matilija Poppy