California, the Sequel

After the fun time we had with my parents, we were a little reluctant to say goodbye. The time went by too fast. We headed up on Wednesday to Chad's aunt Sarah in Santa Cruz. We drove right through what might be considered the bread basket of California- there were so many grape orchards, and fruit orchards, and nut trees and fertile grpwing places. And also one very stinky cattle farm. It was amazing pulling into Santa Cruz- there were acres and acres and acres of strawberries. More than I have ever seen in my life. And also other berries. You could see the berries from the road- red and ripe, and I SO wanted to just pull over and start picking. And stuffing my face. We made it to Aunt Sarah's house and they were so kind to let us stay for the night. We went to Main Street and ate at a delicious little pizza place, Kianti's. A novelty of the place was that in addition to giving the kids crayons (in a clean, empty tomato paste can) they also gave the kids a ball of dough they could mash and sculpt and play with to their heart's contents. It was definitely a good thing to keep their hands busy. After eating, we wandered around Main Street and down to the boardwalk. It was a fun evening. The next morning after some pastries (and deciding it was time to start exercising again) we headed out to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I had to take this picture because there's one of me just like it when I was about 12. After two full days at Disneyland, with tons of lights and sounds and over stimulation, going to a place where everything's a very calming blue and you wander around and watch fish swimming and the kelp forest waving back and forth in the current of the water, it's definitely a different kind of fun. But as one of the premier aquariums in the U.S., if not the best, it was SO interesting and educational. We saw jellyfish and schools of fish swimming, we saw penguins and sea turtles and sea otters, and we touched sting rays, starfish, sea anemones (totally had to spellcheck that one), and attended presentations on sharks, sea otters, and the deep sea. Outside on the deck we could see sea otters swimming around in the kelp right outside in the bay. It was very cool.

After our day at Monterey Bay Aquarium, we headed northward to San Francisco to Chad's grandma's house. When we arrived, Grandma Eileen was there to greet us. At 91 years old, she's pretty spry for her age and while we were there, we went out to eat two times at her suggestion. The first time was to In N Out, and the second was to this Chinese restaurant down the street that had awesome Lemon Chicken. I had to laugh to myself when were were at In N Out and she was chowing down on her Hamburger and chocolate milkshake- how many 91 year old ladies do that??? It was pretty sweet. While we were there, we visited all of Chad's old haunts: the Devonshire Little Store, the lemon tree in Grandma Eileen's backyard, the Smiling Rock face down the road, and, of course, Big Rock. Chad's mom spent hours at Big Rock, young Chad would spend his vacation days on Big Rock with his cousins, and now, Aubrey and Andrew love Big Rock. It was almost not even their choice. Big Rock, as its name suggests, is just a giant piece of rock jutting out from the ground. It is pretty tall and good for climbing on, sitting on, and jumping off. While we were there, we took many visits to Big Rock, which is just in a large open field two doors down from Grandma Eileen's house. The lemon tree in the backyard was bursting with huge, ripe, fragrant lemons which of course had to be made into homemade lemonade. Chad was awash in nostalgia as he made it- using the same kitchen tools and exact same method he did when he was a boy. He showed the kids how and now they're hooked on homemade lemonade as well. He also marked their heights on the doorjamb of the kitchen- another tradition dating back to Chad's mom's childhood. There are many, many names on that doorjamb and many memories associated with it. I hope that it will always stay in the family.

For many years, we've heard of this restaurant that Chad's mom and aunts and grandma go to every time they visit. I think Chad has felt a little left out of this delicious food. So, we made it a priority to go to Duarte's. They had some delicious Cream of Artichoke and Green Chile soup and Ollalieberry Pie which we bought and took home with us to eat with Grandma Eileen. It was so good. I'm a fan, seriously, of this Ollalieberry Pie.

We also went to Fisherman's Wharf. That was fun. it was way crowded and I almost got myself and my children run over by a tour bus, but other than that, it was great. We were able to tour some historic ships that used to go in and out of the bay. That was very educational as well. We were so disappointed not to be able to tour the Ghiradelli chocolate factory, on account of the fact they no longer give tours.

We were there from Thursday night to Saturday night and Sunday morning we left way early for Utah. Now, Grandma Eileen has never been the overtly affectionate grandma. But she woke up with us at 4:30 in the morning before we left and carefully made us all pb and ollalieberry j sandwiches with her shaky grandmotherly hands. They were each wrapped in a piece of waxed paper and tucked into a bag for us to take with us on our trip. For some reason, that meant a lot to me... that she would wake up and take the time to do that little act of service for us. It might not seem like much, but to me, it really was, and I was glad to have that memory to keep with me as we left her house.