When last I blogged, the family was cautiously considering the nutritional value of ginger ale (flat), saltines, jello, and chicken soup (risky). However a general, if slow, trend of recovery was evident, and on Monday I went with Kate, Mark and Tommy down to Monterey harbour. It was windy, chilly, and intermittently rainy, but we put a brave face on it. After lunch, we drove up to Carmel Valley Village to visit my brother-in-law (also Geoff) at the garage he runs, and then explored the area above the village which we used to visit frequently. (Still as beautiful as ever.) [Click Tommy for some pictures.]
On Tuesday we drove up to Berkeley to visit Chris and his wife, see their exquisite Hearst-era apartment, and explore the campus of CDSP. After dinner at a kosher vegan Italian restaurant (only in Berkeley!), we drove across the Bay Bridge and down to SFO. I dropped everyone off at the Hyatt Regency, turned in the rental van (verdict: functional, but uncomfortable), and returned to the hotel via the airport shuttle.
And today we flew home. When we left for California last week, we were aware that we were heading into a Pacific coastal storm and leaving behind beautiful spring-like weather in New England. It was something of a shock, therefore, to see the “weather at destination” displayed as “snow showers, high 36”. Ah, well. Unlike the outbound flight, the return trip was mostly uneventful, even though Tommy didn’t really relax until we were landing at Boston. (In geek-speak, he fell asleep as we crossed MILT at 170 knots and 3,000 feet, fully established on the ILS approach for runway 4 right.)
And when we got home, I found that I’d received the first piece of (snail-)mail addressed to my new business! But that’s a different subject.