A week's worth of Northern California

William at West Cliff

With scattered Internet connections I was simply unable to post any articles from last Monday on. But the bottom line is that we had a wonderful time in Northern California and as of 8:10 p.m. Tuesday (Mountain time) we are back at our trailer in Tucson.

But here’s what you missed since I last posted on February 11.

On Monday I spent most of the day with my oldest son William, returning back to Danville about 8:30 p.m. for a short visit with my cousin Cynthia.

Tuesday, I woke early and headed back to Capitola and enjoyed a brief but enjoyable meeting with my granddaughter Brittany at the Starbucks there. Her 21^st birthday was looming on Friday, February 14^th and we enjoyed a nice time catching up.

Me and granddaughter Brittany

Brittany is currently enrolled in a medical assistant's program and is currently learning how to stab people and draw their blood. I offered to let her practice on me, but she isn’t far enough along in her studies to start wounding people.

The rest of the day was spent with William, including an enjoyable time watching surfers at West Cliff in Santa Cruz. Tuesday night was the night before the beginning of Lent and William and I went to a pancake supper at his church, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Aptos. During the day we also took William’s bike to a local bike shop for some needed repairs.

I met a number of William’s friends and had a wonderful time. After dinner I once again made the long trip over the “hill” back to Danville from Santa Cruz. This little trip got pretty old after the fifth day, which was Thursday.

Tim and I meet for lunch (that's his paddle board)

On Wednesday, I met my son Tim at Hindquarter’s Grill in downtown Santa Cruz for lunch and we spent some time catching up on his busy life and made plans for our day hike on Thursday. After that I rejoined William at his home in Aptos and made William, me and William’s roommate, Shawn, a nice pot of my spaghetti.

William and I watched a couple movies and then I hit the road for the long trek home to Danville.

Thursday I was up again early to head back to Santa Cruz, this time to meet up with Tim in a parking lot at the foot of the Pogonip Trail. The name Pogonip comes from the name of the former golf course that was abandoned and allowed to revert to its natural state.

Me at the top of a long hill climb

There are a number of trails in the Pogonip area which covers about 640 acres. Tim convinced me that this was a simple hike with just a “little up.” 

When the trail started heading down, Tim said he knew we took a wrong turn and double backed until we found a hill that seemed to go straight up. “That’s the trail!,” Tim said. My old heart got a pretty good workout hiking those steep hills, but once on top the views were beautiful and the trail wandered through some new growth Redwood trees that are common to the area.

One of the more interesting – and unusual – aspects of the trail is a small pool of fresh water where locals drop their goldfish into. Over time the tiny goldfish have grown into fairly decent sized koi and apparently they get enough nourishment from algae or passing hikers to stay alive.

Goldfish at the top of the trail. A reward of sorts?

Tim pointed out some unusual tree growths along the trail along with a former Limestone Kiln that was built into the side of a hill.

The trail starts near downtown Santa Cruz and climbs into the Santa Cruz Mountains just on the south side of the beautiful University of California at Santa Cruz campus.

On the way down the trail we met an acquaintance of Tim’s and we finished the hike in a little park where we ate our hiking snacks and finished our water.

Tim had arranged for his girlfriend, Toni, to meet us at Java Junction – a local coffee house – near where we had parked our cars. This is the first time I have met Toni and she is a very, very nice woman.

A Limestone quarry along the trail (that's Tim)

After our brief meeting, Tim and I said our goodbyes (until our Sunday good bye dinner) and I headed over to the bike shop to retrieve William’s bike. Unfortunately, the bike repairs were not complete so I picked up one of those deli cooked chickens at the grocery store, some microwave mashed potatoes and some corn and took it over to William’s house for dinner.

Again, I left and headed back to Danville. By this time the car could practically find its own way home.

During the week, Joan who is still recovering from a pretty bad medical situation, stayed at my cousin Cynthia’s house resting. She told me Thursday, that she was pretty well rested and ready to get back on the road.

Friday was a very special day. We headed to the Napa region to visit our friend Jan. Last year, Jan and Norm met us in San Antonio, Texas for a very special time. Sadly, Norm died suddenly in June and we have really been looking forward to seeing Jan on this trip.

Me, Joan, Jan, Lisa and Gina (a great visit)

We decided to meet at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, California on Friday. We got there a little early and found Jan waiting for us inside.

To my surprise Jan told me she had a couple friends who needed a “gambling lesson” and from around the corner came two beautiful women that it took me a couple seconds to realize were Jan’s grown daughters, Lisa and Gina. The last time I saw them they were in elementary school so it was a very special moment for me.

We spent a couple hours sitting around a lunch table catching up on so many years and remembering Norm, a truly unique and wonderful man.

Jan and Norm last year in San Antonio

Norm was one of those very rare people who has countless friends, but made each one of his friends feel like they were his best friend. Norm has left a great legacy of friendship and family that will be around long after he has been gone.

Jan was kind enough to give me a few books that had belonged to Norm and I will cherish them.

We headed back to Danville through heavy Friday evening traffic and my cousin Cynthia fixed us a fine meal. Her friend Ed joined us and we had a quiet, but enjoyable evening.

On Saturday we (Joan, me, Cynthia and Ed) headed up to Auburn for our lunch with my late brother’s wife, Barbara and her friends Bill and Ronnie at a Bootlegger’s, a local bar and restaurant. For the first time since I have been going to Auburn we arrived early enough to walk around the old town and enjoy some of the scenery.

Old Town Auburn

The lunch conversation was great and too soon the time for departing had come. We said our long good-byes and headed back to Danville. When I say all roads lead to Danville, I truly mean that all my roads lead to Danville in one way or another.

It was good to see my sister-in-law doing well after her long hospital stay.

We were up early on Sunday to finish packing and getting ready to head back to Tucson after a 10-day trip away.

But before that we headed one more time over to Santa Cruz so we could attend church with William and then we purchased a birthday cake for Brittany, who we planned to surprise at dinner Sunday.

Lunch at Bootleggers with Barbara (front next to Joan)

After getting the cake Joan, William and I headed over to West Cliff to watch dozens of surfers riding the high waves at low tide at Steamer’s Cove.

Then we headed downtown Santa Cruz to walk the downtown and try and find a hat for William, which we did.

While we were walking in front of the Forever 21 Store we ran into my other son Tim and his girlfriend Toni who were shopping for Brittany.

Then we headed over to Hindquarter’s for dinner. At dinner was Joan, me, William, Tim, Toni, Brittany, Wade (Brittany’s boyfriend), Chris (Tim and William’s mother and my first wife) and Bill, Chris’s husband.

William and Joan at William's church

Dinner was great and Brittany was showered with gifts and love. When dinner was done, Joan and I took William back to his home in Aptos and then we drove for about four hours south, stopping at a Best Western just at the foot of the Grapevine grade about 11:30 p.m.

We slept well and then headed out about 9:15 a.m. to complete our trip to Tucson. Probably due to the President’s Day holiday traffic was pretty light through Los Angeles. Thanks to the downhills off the Grapevine for a time we were getting more than 30 miles per gallon on the Tahoe.

One surprise for the last leg was that we found a California rest stop that was actually open. Most of them we passed on the road were closed, presumably due to budget problems in the state. The one that was open was pretty basic by rest stop standards, although better than Oklahoma, which are basically one step above an outhouse.

Happy Birthday dinner with Brittany in Santa Cruz

And if I have learned anything about Joan from traveling with her is that when she gets to heaven, which she definitely will get to, her first inquiry to St. Peter will be her frantic need to know where the bathrooms are.

There are very few rest areas that we have missed on our travels.

We made decent time, but lost an hour when we headed back into Arizona so we stopped for dinner before we got home.

That brings you up-to-date from our travels to California. If you want to see more photos scroll down to the next post and there are plenty.