The 2009 Fall road show
This fall’s transition was a little more involved than in the past. We flew from the Island to Los Angeles and spent the night as we always do at our friends Ed and Marilyn. Twice a year like clockwork, they graciously open their home to us as we breeze in and out of town.The following day we flew to Seattle Washington and caught up with daughter Amy and husband Vance to visit the grand kids. Then, a few days later we drove to Sandpoint Idaho to stay with son Wesley.
Grandson Alex
I couldn't see him eitherMoving on, we drove to Rainier Oregon to visit daughter Cassie and celebrate granddaughter Kayla’s first birthday with Janice finally succumbing to a bad case of the flu. Fearing the H1N1 hysteria, a doctor diagnosed her as having Bronchitis and sequestered her to a local motel for a week to prevent infecting the kids.
Cassie with Kayla heading out for HalloweenReturning our rental car in Seattle, we flew back to Los Angeles, rented yet another car and drove up the coast to our home in Arroyo Grande where we spent a week visiting Janice’s mom and husband Vern, catching up with friends and doing maintenance on our house. I finally finished sealing our driveway. With 600 feet (200 meters) of it to do, plus over 3200 sq ft (300 sq meters) of parking area I did a third of it last November, a third last May and finished the rest this week. Whew!
Having been on our big adventure for the past 5 years, I have been going through serious California withdrawals and was in need of a little face time in our home state. So, we drove the Coast highway (highway 1) from our home to Santa Cruz. It is considerably slower than the freeway (highway 101) but is arguably one of the most picturesque roads in America.
Starting in San Luis Obispo, we waived to the boys in blue as we drove past the prison where I once worked. Driving north through Morro Bay and Cambria (gorgeous little town on the coast that is very similar to Monterey) we meandered up to Ragged point stopping here and there to see the sea lions sunbathing on the beaches. The drive along the rugged coastline on incredibly winding roads perched high above the sea reminded us of a cross between San Francisco’s Lombard Street (renowned as the most crooked street in the world) and the Amalfi coast in Italy.
Sea Lions along the coast
Starting in San Luis Obispo, we waived to the boys in blue as we drove past the prison where I once worked. Driving north through Morro Bay and Cambria (gorgeous little town on the coast that is very similar to Monterey) we meandered up to Ragged point stopping here and there to see the sea lions sunbathing on the beaches. The drive along the rugged coastline on incredibly winding roads perched high above the sea reminded us of a cross between San Francisco’s Lombard Street (renowned as the most crooked street in the world) and the Amalfi coast in Italy.
Sea Lions along the coastArriving in Felton which is in the heart of the redwood forest just outside ‘the city’ (how San Francisco is referred to locally) we made our way to the 4 bedroom hilltop home where we had arranged our week long home exchange. A real score, the place was perfect to have our friends Ed and Marilyn join us from Los Angeles. Having just arrived, we have managed to sit in the outdoor Jacuzzi under the stars in the evening and had a picnic in the redwoods during the day. Following this, we will spend another week in Southern California before flying back to Europe.
While it seems that anything to do with the island is way behind us for many months to come its not quite. For the past two summers we have made the island available for rent for a maximum of two weeks while we go traipsing off somewhere on the East coast. In spite of a substantial price increase, we booked one of those weeks for next year the day before we left. If either of two other prospects commit, there will be a 2 year waiting list for any further availability.
Taking a stroll down ...
The retirement:
We celebrated our 5th retirement anniversary a few days ago. Wow, time flies when you are having fun and we are having a ball.
The retirement:We had known for some time the precise date of the event and we knew exactly what we wanted to do. Under the circumstances, most reasonable people take some time – anywhere from a few weeks to several months- to settle in slowly, get used to the changes and then run off on some trip or whatever.
When I retired, we knew that we wanted to store all our worldly possessions, rent the house out for awhile and spend the winter at our home in France. Then upon our return, we would be spending our first whole summer at the Island in Canada so we decided to drive our car across the country to have it available when we got back. It was also a great excuse to drive up the west coast and visit the kids and grand kids before the big road trip.
About a year before D-day, we began to ponder just when we would leave. We were really excited and couldn’t figure out a reason to wait any longer than we had to. So, in the last 3 months we began to wrap furniture up room by room, paint, shampoo carpets and store things in my workshop in preparation for renting it during our extended departure.
By the final week, the house was empty and we were sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor without a stick of furniture in the entire house. It reminded me of being in college. We were eating out as all our dishes, pots and pans –everything was stored away.
On November 8th 2004, Janice drove to the prison with me and waited in the parking lot as I went in for the last time to officially “sign out”. Our bags were packed in the car and we drove off on our big adventure never having looked back. Talk about being anxious!
We whooped and hollered for a hundred miles “YAHOOOOOOOO!!!! We are done!!!!! We never have to work again. Yippee! Ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!” We kept asking each other “What do you want to do?” and answering “anything we want!” Five years down the road you would think we would have grown up a little, settled down and gotten a grip. You would be wrong.
We still do it on a whim.
The archives
I started writing our little newsletter to our friends and family a month after I retired. Much like sending postcards it was simply a way to keep in touch. That went on monthly for a while until one day I decided to add a picture and all hell broke loose. I got playful and started getting fancy with a pseudo ‘magazine look’, adding pictures, graphics and the like.
Soon my efforts were clogging peoples email boxes and taking them forever to open the darn thing. I tried doing PDF’s with little more success until in January 2007, when I finally figured out how to do this blog. It has solved a lot of problems, especially for folks who are technologically challenged. One click on the link and you’re in.
Recently though, I had a new reader who not only perused our most recent post but read clear back to what he thought was the beginning in the archives. (The archives are on the top of this page on the right side and are listed by year and month. Simply click to open). It occurred to me that this is turning out to be the memoirs of the last days of our lives, and will provide the only record available when Alzheimer’s kicks in.
I decided I should add the first two years (2005-2006) of letters of our travels and experiences to the archives. With no plane to build, this month I did. I am hardly suggesting that anyone would be interested in going back to them but for the record, they are now there.
Soon my efforts were clogging peoples email boxes and taking them forever to open the darn thing. I tried doing PDF’s with little more success until in January 2007, when I finally figured out how to do this blog. It has solved a lot of problems, especially for folks who are technologically challenged. One click on the link and you’re in.
Recently though, I had a new reader who not only perused our most recent post but read clear back to what he thought was the beginning in the archives. (The archives are on the top of this page on the right side and are listed by year and month. Simply click to open). It occurred to me that this is turning out to be the memoirs of the last days of our lives, and will provide the only record available when Alzheimer’s kicks in.
I decided I should add the first two years (2005-2006) of letters of our travels and experiences to the archives. With no plane to build, this month I did. I am hardly suggesting that anyone would be interested in going back to them but for the record, they are now there.
