Highlights of our Vacation

We're back! A great vacation. Really got away, not just physically, but mentally, from the daily stuff and had lots of relaxation.

The first week wasn't all that relaxing, as we had lots of driving and lots to do, but it was fun. We started off with driving to Sacramento and spent the night with our dear friends there, Bob and Kathy, and their six children. We left the next morning, early enough, we thought, to drive to San Francisco, check into our motel, rest a bit, eat lunch, take a shower, and get to the wedding we were there to attend in plenty of time. Instead, directly after leaving Bob and Kathy's house we got a flat tire! And the lug nuts were on way too tight--we couldn't get them off. Fortunately, this occured right in front of Johnny's Lube and Smog (I think that's the name of it) where the owner, Johnny, was kind enough to help us out without us even asking. He used his air gun to remove the tight lug nuts and did just about everything himself, and then almost refused the money we offered him. :-) I just wanted to give him some good press, because it's hard to find good guys in this business, and we found this one by accident.

So, we got to San Francisco in time to change our clothes in the Walgreens bathroom next door to the church, and rush in at the exact moment the wedding was to start. Thank goodness Orthodox weddings never start on time! It was a beautiful wedding. The bride and groom met at St. Nicholas Ranch, our first year there, during camp. They were both camp counselors. He's Greek and she's Lebanese. I'd never been to a Lebanese wedding, and the reception was so full of joy. Usually the dancing doesn't start until after the dinner is over, but at this reception they introduced the wedding party during the salad, and then it all converged into a big dance to an Arabic song that went on for much longer than American popular songs go. It was so celebretory and fun. Ah, and we saw lots of the counselors from camp, as well as two of the adults who were integral in camp life. We sat with the latter, as well as a guy who'd been Zac's counselor along with the delighful woman he married earlier in the summer. It was great to see everyone.

On Sunday we went to Annunciation church and enjoyed catching up with lots of people there. Then we went to Chow for lunch with my brother and sister-in-law and a friend from church. Yum, Garden Noodles with Ginger cake for dessert! After that we went to the Wave Organ, which I'd never known about while living there, and probably would never have known about if it hadn't been for LaDonna's latest cinepoem. Bruce and LaDonna came with us and showed us where it was. It was pretty neat!

On Monday we went to park day with our old homeschool buddies in San Francisco. I still don't have my camera back but I have some pictures Dan sent. However, it seems that the picture loading malfunction of blogger that I've been reading about lo these many weeks since I had my camera working is still going on, and I can't seem to upload them. Maybe later.

After park day we had dinner at the home of our friends, Lisa and Mark. Their son Isaiah is Zac's best friend in the world, and I think it's reciprocal. They had an intern staying with them, and he came up for dinner. He had lived in Waco, and when we said we're Greek Orthodox, he said, hey, I know a Greek Orthodox clergyman who works in the Barnes and Noble I always went into in Waco. It took me about two seconds to say, are you talking about Daniel Payne? We met him and his wife in seminary! Small world. Anyway, Lisa made the most delicious vegetarian posole, with assorted toppings like cheese and avocado and sour cream. It really hit the spot--nice and homey. I really need to learn how to make posole. Mark and Lisa live in the mission district of San Francisco, so they have lots of inspiration for Mexican cooking.

Tuesday we hit the road and went to central California to visit my parents and 101 year old grandmother. We met her "friend"--the one she was all set to marry several months ago. They are still companions and I think the friendship is really good for her. She seemed very unstable on her feet, though, and kept trying to fall backwards. I'm really glad we got to see her--as she pointed out it may be the last time. But then we never know when will be the last time, do we?

We stayed at St. Nicholas Ranch that night, and planned to leave in the morning. But on Monday evening I'd gotten the start of a very sore throat, which morphed into a full-fledged head cold. Wednesday I was miserable and just wanted to stay in bed. So we stayed at the ranch that day and didn't leave until about 6 pm. We'd planned to stay with Bob and Kathy again that night, but we would have gotten there so late and I didn't want to spread my cold, either. So we stayed in a motel and got on the road for Ashland on Thursday.

In Ashland, we camped and saw the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was excellent, but I was wishing we'd seen a more upbeat one. It was really quite dark, and I was especially worried about Zac seeing it, but he liked it fine. I still wish we'd seen The Importance of Being Earnest, but I don't regret seeing the one we did. I just wish we could have seen them both! We ate dinner at Pilaf, which was so good. It used to be completely vegetarian, but has some meat on the menu now. It's all different ethnic kinds of food, but mixed so it's kind of fusion cooking. We had grilled halloumi, french fries with both sweet and regular potatoes, falafel, and harissa. I'd definitely go back.

From Ashland we headed to Patrick's Point, where we had a great campout. I'm going to break this off and make this a two-parter, as I've really got a lot of unpacking and cleaning up to do from vacation. Plus Zac wants to get on the computer. :-)