Yesterday was our last day in the Bay Area and today we are greeted again by typical Pacific Coastline weather, with cold coastal fog layering our campsite. We had been fortunate with the weather, it had been mostly sunny, but this is more the norm, with the temperature inversion between cold sea and warm air creating a sea mists. We decided to spend the morning doing some chores and by the time we finished these it was late morning, the mist had burnt off and it was now a fine, warm day.
At the Girl Scout meeting Emily had attended the prior Friday she had made a friend in Annie, and as children have a wont to do they had planned a play date. So after a bit of a telephone tag we finally arrange to meet at a horse stables in Portola Valley, where Annie’s family has a share in a horse. When we get there we are greeted by Annie and her Aunt, Lynda who was the
leader at the Girl Scout meeting. There is a bit of an administration booboo so the horse is being used by someone else, but the children happily entertain themselves in the hay barn on the stacked up bails of hay which make a great jumping platform. By the time the other lady is finished with the horse, Weasel, time has gone by and the horse is hot and tired with it exertions on this warm day. Annie takes him out for another short workout, after which he is worn out but Emily does get a chance to sit on Weasel. Again the children conspire and before we know they are plotting to go back to Annie’s house in Foster City and go kayaking on the waterways there.Well -in for penny in for pound and off we go to Foster City. Annie’s father John and her brother Sam had carried out the kayaks and a canoe for us to use. Annie and Emily set off on a tandem kayak whilst Mark and Jack get to use the canoe. We paddle around for a few minutes and much to Mark’s relief everyone else wants to come in. Jack and Emily had been warned about not getting wet – well obviously this was a rather
pathetic attempt on the adults part to get some control. Of course we might as well not have wasted our energy. In no time at all they were back out in the water capsizing the kayaks and trying to climb back in, after the novelty of this had worn off they decided to climb on to the back of the inverted kayaks and use these as diving platforms. It was getting cold but as usual the children seemed to be impervious to this.Finally we manage to extract Jack and Emily from the water and it is amazing how quickly they suddenly start to feel the cold. The car provides us all with a welcome relief from the chilly wind and we set off back to the campsite.Today we left Pescadero and headed north up Route 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge. Karen, Jack and Emily take a short detour in San Rafael to visit the campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind. As many of you know while we were living in New York we worked with the Guiding Eyes for the Blind organization, socialising over 45 puppies at our house and caring for 3 brood dogs. It was interesting to see another organisation’s approach to their training and development programmes. The whole operation was very professional and the presentations slick, but there was no real opportunity to handle any puppies which was very disappointing. Soon it was time to continue our journey north up 101 to the old lumber city of Eureka in the north western corner of California. The journey is pretty slow, but takes you through glorious countryside with tree lined hills, distant snow capped mountains and coursing rivers. In between there are areas of more open countryside with green, gently rolling hills with cows in pastures. Made us all feel a bit nostalgic for the English countryside. The end of the journey finally brings us back to rugged Pacific coastline, with sea hewn cliff walls and raw, uncombed beaches strewn with drift wood. This is one of those road trips well worth taking.
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