Retroactive Post: Spring Break on the Coast

Whoa, I realized I never posted about our 10 days in Gualala back at the end of March.

Since we move there in about 3 weeks and I finally have a moment to spare, I'll post about it now.

I decided that it'd be good for Eddie to be up on the coast with Dave again, to give Eddie an idea of what it'll be like once we live there permanently. He hadn't attended the "big day care" there since the previous summer and we'd never slept downstairs at the Coast House before. So I figured out when I'd be done with my winter quarter TA duties and finalized all the spring quarter things (updating the syllabus, posting stuff to the class website, etc.) and found 9 days when we could be there.

Next, of course, I made a long "to do" list for myself and for Dave to accomplish that week.  I quickly realized that we needed my dad up there with us to do some of the work so I begged asked him to come with us. He relented agreed so Eddie and I picked him up in Livermore before heading north. Dave had been driving the van every week so he could take loads of stuff to the new house. That left me with the Saturn--i.e., the tiniest car ever. So we swapped cars with my mom and packed  her station wagon TO THE BRIM.

We had boxes of stuff to move into the house, a Costco run, a Lowe's run (including fragile seedlings), seedlings from my dad's greenhouse, luggage, one dog, two adults, and one child. 

We arrived on Saturday and the guys started working/planning immediately. The week FLEW by, with only a few things on my "to do" list finished. (At least they were some of the bigger things!)  I'd planned on having a day or two to work on my school stuff but that...totally didn't happen.

Saturday afternoon there was a burn practice going on at the airport. Papa John let the volunteer FD burn the fields on the south and north ends of the runway. It was cool to see them using the fuel-drip fire starters.

The guys removed an old intercom box downstairs and Eddie was fascinated that he could see into the office closet.

The view as we left the garden. You'll recall my horror at the view upon returning two months later.

Most of my time was spent with my dad, gardening. So...basically the best combination ever.  We tilled, double-dug, amended with composted horse manure, tilled again, irrigated, and planted to our heart's contents.

My dad, standing in the garden. 

He kept remarking shouting to me about how DIFFERENT it is to garden up on the coastal ridge. Maybe he was talking about the lack of rocks in the soil??????  =)

A typical weeknight while I prepared dinner.

Papa John asked me to get him a microscope at the UCD Bargain Barn before I came up. I've always wanted one so he said we could keep it at the Coast House for me and Eddie to use. Woooooo!  My dads spent a night looking at fibers, water, saliva, etc.

One night we looked outside after it rained and saw a bright rainbow reflecting in the Gualala River. If that wasn't spectacular enough, a double rainbow developed.

If the local paper printed in color I would have sent this to them. It was so lovely.

The best part of the whole week was the Eddie had TWO grandfathers in the house AT THE SAME TIME (at least at night when Papa John was over for dinner).

That is a one content little kid.

The following Friday Edward arrived in town via bike. Yes, person-powered BIKE. He biked from SF to Healdsburg on Thursday, spent the night at a place he found on WarmShowers.org and spent Friday navigating the desolate Fish Rock Road. He was tired and starving when he arrived (duh) so we immediately went to a logging site and roasted sausages, hot dogs, and marshmallows for dinner over a fire Papa John made for us.

We had dinner on the fire twice that week, actually; Monday and again when Uncle Edward arrived.  My dad enjoyed it so much he was the one who requested the second time!

I have to admit, I love cooking over the fire.

My dad had NEVER EVER EVER made s'mores before. He'd roasted marshmallows but never combined them with chocolate and graham crackers. Isn't that CRAZY?

Friday when Edward arrived in town.

Late that night, my mom and Jennifer drove into town and spent the Easter weekend with us. Saturday we made a delicious GF breakfast and then my mom took Edward, Jennifer, Eddie, and me to the Sea Ranch to walk on the trail. It was a lovely, breezy day.  One of the photos I snapped that day will be used for our "we've moved" announcement cards.

Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie and Uncle at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie has learned that my mom is not a "rough play" person so he always finds a comfy spot in the house and asks her to read to him for a long time. The house was quiet after our Sea Ranch trail walk and I found them snuggled up in the upstairs. I crept in without him noticing and took a picture.

It was a pretty fantastic and productive, yet exhausting, week. As is usually the case, we ended up staying one extra night/day so that Dave and my dad could finish up some work on the house that Dave wasn't 100% sure he could do on his own (at least without a zillion phone calls to my dad).