Eric and I had talked about taking a quick drive up to Monterey, CA to see his old stomping grounds as a third grader even before Sara died. I wanted to cheer him up since he had been so depressed this summer without a job to preoccupy his mind. After Sara's death it seemed appropriate to take off for a week rather than finding myself staring at the ceiling in disbelief that Sara is no more. I packed the van Thursday night and we took off at 7:10am Friday morning, taking Sadie and Minnie with us. This was Sadie's first road trip since her epilepsy, and Minnie's first road trip ever. But with a second adult in the van, how would a road trip with all these bodies work out?
Better than expected, actually. I drove most of the way as the route to Monterey is known to me. I took I-10 from Tucson to Los Angeles, struggling through the heat of the Mohave desert with Eric and the dogs. Even the van's AC couldn't keep up with the near triple-digit heat.
"We even stopped at an In N' Out Burger joint in Baldwin Park when traffic got too congested. It was Eric's first taste of that California fast food chain. Lucky for us traffic had cleared once we got back on the road and we were able to get on Highway 101 before sunset.
What a beautiful drive Highway 101 is. The golden hills of southern California never fade away, they just transform into different canyons along the way. Eric took the wheel and made it to Camp Roberts before we stopped for the night, only for me to resume the drive before sunrise to see the sun rise above the coastal fog that calls the central coast home.
We made it to Pacific Grove, CA by 7:30am Sunday, stopping first at Lover's Point where I took the kids many times to play on the rocks. There weren't too many people here and the dogs were able to frolic off leash for a few minutes. The town was still waking up and we had a full itinerary. We stopped at the Juice and Java coffee shop in Pacific Grove, where in the late 1990s I'd sit for hours reading newspapers. The coffee is still good. We both got online to check out email and I even gave the dogs a walk along the recreational trail. (They weren't too fond of the leashes).
From there is was a walk to Eric's old school, another walk with the dogs, a stopover at our old apartment on 2740 Ransford where we met our old neighbor Liese who didn't recognize me. She thought I was an intruder walking upstairs. "You have changed!" she told me. Yes, I have. It's called "getting old." We chatted a bit outside her door but then departed.
The fog lifted for a few hours in the afternoon, so we walked down to the wharf, walked around downtown Monterey, peeked into old stores, drove up to the Presidio of Monterey's small PX to discover Anthony's Pizza has been replaced with a Subway and Papa John's. We didn't stay at one place for very long all day; it's as if Eric wanted to just "see" the old places but not take anything in. I prefer to linger at each place. After all, we had three days planned for Monterey.
The two disappointments we learned about was the closing of the old Rocky Coast Ice cream shop in Pacific Grove. The small building next door to Toastie's is now owned by a curmudgeon who does not give out free samples of his ice cream and seems to cater more to aging Beatles fans. The entire interior is decorated with his personal Beatles paraphernalia and it smells of dust and old stuff. It's not the place that welcomes in elementary school children like the previous owner.
The other thing I noticed was the increase in homeless in and around Monterey. The homeless don't linger in Pacific Grove due to the town's strict loitering policies, but the homeless now flock to Fisherman's wharf and the conference center.
The second day in the Monterey Bay area was less hectic. Eric had seen all that he wanted to see in the first day, so there was no need to rush out in the morning. I again walked the dogs in the woods behind the camp site while Eric slept, taking a different combination of trails but still making it an hour long. The Monterey pines in this preserve are slowly coming back. When I was stationed here in the late 1990s many were dying and breaking off like pencils. Again, we met no one on the trail until we made it to the end.
We were ready to leave at 8am when I had to turn around and pick up the white dog bowl at the site, and as I drove up to the site I came across John, our old neighbor and dear friend from 1997. He was so good to Eric and Erin and Eric had even spoken nicely of him last night. What a surprise! He now works as camp host and landscaper for the park and camp site, and always takes time out to talk to visitors. He joined us at our old site for a good 30 minutes, we took photos, and again we departed. We may see each other again in a few years when I'm back in the area. He should be at this job until he retires; he loves what he does and he is good at it.
'll write about those when I'm back in Arizona.
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