Summer.

A time of day dreaming punctuated at irregular intervals of reaching for those dreams. Tends to keep me away from the keyboard.

The weather here in Northern California has alternated between the glorious “summer pattern” and hellish heat. Mix in a gloomy shroud of wildfire smoke and you’ve got some downright ugly stay-in-the-house days. That and better-than $4/gallon gasoline.

Sandwiched in between my solitary fly fishing quests and the mandatory job, sleep and nourishment the Wife and I headed to the coast for an abbreviated weekend after the Fourth of July. Surprisingly, thought one might blame arm-and-a-leg gas prices, we were able to secure a room in Capitola, one of those coastal California towns whose name is often preceded by “quaint.”

The location of our destination virtually ensured cooler weather and fog-cleansed skies. It was a leisurely and short-than-expected drive to the sea. Lunch at Café Limelight — where the dog was able to join us at the outdoor seating — was great, particularly Farouk’s homemade Hummus, served with fresh organic veggies, olives and warm pita bread. A walk on the Santa Cruz mall completed the pleasant afternoon. A quick check in at the hotel and a short walk into Capitola and it was time for mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church, which is part of Misión la Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz, the 12th mission built in California. It’s a pretty incredible “old world” church with striking stained glass windows.

Back in Capitola we sat down for dinner at Michaels on Main, enjoying the outdoor patio in back of the restaurant. Entertainment was a local high school’s 10th anniversary reunion. As one approaching a 30th anniversary since high school graduation, it was quite amusing interesting. I also enjoyed my mushroom encrusted halibut.

Sunday morning found us slowing making our way toward Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant, again putting us in Santa Cruz. Good solid food with the harbor entrance as a backdrop. A beautiful drive through the redwoods and along the UC Santa Cruz campus brought us to the Bonny Doon Vineyard winery tasting room. Bonny Doon was a pleasant surprise — it offers some of the more unique wines among those I’ve tasted, particularly the 2007 Vin Gris de Cigare (a rosé) and the 2007 Angel Paille (a dessert wine).

We lingered just long enough, then it was north on Highway 1. I don’t think I get out to this stretch of the coast often enough as I’m always struck with how close it actually is to home. After passing the one-of-a-kind Taco Bell on the Linda Mar Beach — yes, right on the beach with a walk-up window for surfers — we headed inland to Pescadero for a visit at Harley Farms Goat Dairy. I packed some of Harley’s excellent goat cheese in the trunk and pointed the car back to the coast, where the fog and overcast keep the temperatures cool and colors muted.

We procured lunch at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. restaurant in, yes, Half Moon Bay. Thankfully, time had not distorted my memory of their excellent fish and chips, which Karen and I shared with a flight of various beers. A good lunch stop not to be missed if you drive this stretch of the Golden State coastline.

A few more hours found us home, where the searing temperatures made me all the more happy to have hidden in California’s coastal hills for the last couple of days.

Took a quick weekend trip to visit Christopher. It was cold and drizzly on the way up, but not too bad. Picked Christopher up about 10:45 a.m. Heading north to the lagoons, where we had hoped to fish, it became apparent that he was suffering from the onset of the flu or a severe cold. So, trying to be wise, we shelved the idea of fishing in the cold rain and instead poked along, stopped at a visitor center, got some gas and checked into the hotel in the early afternoon.

I let Christopher nap while checking up on e-mail and such. Since he wasn’t too much in an eating mood, I opted out of plans to head to the
Samoa Cookhouse and took myself to Rita’s Café & Taqueria. It was good, but that’s for a separate post. On the way back I picked up some cough drops, DayQuil and 7Up. Christopher stirred once and a while, mostly due to fits of coughing, before I put head to pillow.

While it wasn’t the most opportune of time thanks to some little viral bug, it was good to see Christopher for a bit. I also got to see some of the areas in which he’s been working. The photo to the right is of a beach where he and his CCC crew are charged with pulling European Beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria), an invasive weed that infests beaches in the Redwood National and State Parks. Christopher even amazed me with his newfound knowledge of invasive plants on California’s north coast.

We spent Sunday morning sleeping in, and later drove around a bit. I showed Christopher the Samoa Cookhouse and parts of Eureka, recalling the good times I had in college with few worries and despite even fewer dollars. We grabbed lunch at the

Fresh Freeze Drive-In, decent and authentic 1950’s burger joint. With the clouds seemingly threatening to release a deluge, I dropped Christopher off at the center (with instructions to get rest and recover), and plugged home into the GPS.

The drive home was interesting. On one stretch of the South Fork of the Eel River I saw an inflatable raft with six people in colorful PDFs struggling to move upstream…yes, upstream…in the swollen and muddy river. Insane, I thought, until I noticed a truck on the side of the road indicating that they were a swift water rescue team. On and off the rain came down hard enough to limit visibility as I played leapfrog with various cars with out of state license plates. It also became apparent to me, while passing through Willits, that only the things that matter less don’t change in a small town. With the exception of the Safeway, the only places that have kept their names are the carwash, the Laundromat, and the small convenience store/arcade (TnT), which I believe was frequented by my brother.

Two hundred and fifty-five miles later I was home.

Leaving family always leaves a bit of a hole in my stomach even if my mom does stuff me with pancakes and Lil’ Smokies. But it was time to head south, and by 9:30 a.m. Sean and I were on the road. It’s been a typical Washington day…gray with drizzle and rain here and there. Traffic has been minimal, so we’ve made good time. Just about noon and we’re about 14 miles from the Washington/Oregon border. In 24 hours we’ll be back in California.

After a night in Rogue River, we woke to sunshine and a clear road home. It was a good trip. Something that should happen more often.

[Pictures from this trip can be found by clicking here.]

The sunny dispositions that Sean and I brought to the Pacific Northwest once again showed its power, as during 8:00 mass we could watch, through the large windows behind the altar at Holy Innocents Church, as the clouds parted and allowed the sun to shine through. A quick tour of town was included in the drive home after mass, though thankfully there as no quiz! The morning passed by with the reading of the newspaper, the watching of a football game and my meeting a neighbor who also happens to enjoy fishing (and makes a mean beef jerky).

Then Mark spirited us off to a department range for another manner of manly activity. After an abbreviated but still through session on safety and strategy, we were given the opportunity to shoot a 9mm pistol. I would dare say that Sean and did very well consider our limited training and experience. With a break to let some officers qualify, we took the nickel tour of the precinct house, after which we watched a few more officers run through their “quals.” Soon we had our own lane again and practiced some paired groupings (sight, shoot and as soon as you sight again take a second shot) and double taps (sight and shot two shots as quickly as possible). All of our shots hit the target and most were center mass. Not too shabby for amateurs.

After spending more time than expected at the range, we met everyone (parents and Mark’s family) at Ixtapa for a hearty Mexican dinner. That was followed up my much wrestling among an uncle, father and cousin, as well as dessert. It was a nice way to spend our last night in Washington.

[Pictures from this trip can be found by clicking here.]

Call it the seasoning of age or attribute it to the wisdom that comes with the passing years, but I find myself increasing grateful of family making time for our visits. My brother “donated” his time (and my thanks to his wife for allowing it) to make himself and his family available to Sean and I during our time here, so Saturday we headed to his house for a morning visit with his family while we mulled over any man-bonding activities we might undertake.

We opted to head to the now traditional man movie and ended up taking over a single theater. Afterward, back at the house, we kept testosterone levels high by shooting various targets with an airsoft gun. We later met a next door neighbor and, after I got my video game fix (and seeming to amaze the neighbor’s kids that this old guy can play XBox pretty well), it was time for a great family dinner with mom and dad. And dinner was followed by three desserts.

(While it might sound like we didn’t do too much, isn’t that sometimes what a vacation is about: doing less? But even while we did less we had the opportunity to simple hang out, which I think often is underrated.)

[Pictures from this trip can be found by clicking here.]