Cal-Tex

Our West Coast odyssey continued with a trip down south.  Was the traffic around here always this bad?  Was petrol always $1.50 more expensive than Texas?  When exactly did I change from a long-haired hippy into a Republican?

I explored these and other questions with Elise and Elliot, now living in Palo Alto with their daughters Maya, Hannah and Sofia.  The last time I saw those three I was babysitting them, but that day has long gone - they are now all impressive, independent young women.  Elise and Elliot haven't improved as much but it was still nice to see them.

Being California, they were looking after a chihuahua for the weekend, an animal so skinny and small that I thought they had a very obvious rodent problem when I first entered the house.  We took it to the beach and enjoyed the pounding Pacific surf.  There's certainly a beauty in the Californian landscape that you don't find elsewhere in the USA, and I'll be happy if/when Hannah is called back to HQ.  Given house prices (rent on our old flat has gone up by $1000-a-month since we left!) my wallet may not be.

Hannah had a couple more days of meetings so we returned to Walnut Creek and a final trip into SF to visit the Exploratorium; a museum I last visited when it was in an entirely different place, and before Pete was born.  Now he's here he had a great time doing experiments, although can science really explain all the crazy black magic on display?  Seems like more Californian weirdness to me.

Hannah returned home by private jet (probably) while me and Pete went cattle class from San Jose.  It was wonderful to catch up with everyone, and eat a lot of ice cream.  I did my best to fulfill my contract with the Houston tourist board and tell everyone about how great East Texas is!  We'll see how successful I am by how quickly the Davies Tours domestic bookings up-tick.

Maya is a teenager now.  Could you guess?

Down at the beach: Half Moon Bay.

A bit colder than I remember.

Holding back the tide.

Elliot and Elise, who like all of us have not aged a day since turning 30.

Sofia and Pete.  No, I will not encourage this marriage.

Who knew rats could bark?

The creation of this strawberry cake by Maya was filled with drama (which I will not relate here) but was totally worth it.

Hannah, who offered to carry our cases in from the car!  Last time I saw her I was changing her diapers.

Wait, when kids get old enough they read to themselves!  When does this begin?!

Oooh, Zachary's Pizza.  An East Bay classic (and priced accordingly).

Evie sandwiched between two Petes.

Had to include this, because cute!

One Pete is enough, Hannah.

At the Exploratorium, making raindrops fall upwards.  Unnatural.

California baby.

 Not sure what this experiment was, but it made him sit still and quiet for five minutes, so I like it.

OK, the tiny domino knocks the slightly larger one, and so on, until the massive one at the end falls.  That's not science, that's witchcraft.

Throwing shade.

Infinite Davids and Petes! Just like in heaven.

Some more wizardry, involving dry ice.

But the third chair was just right.

Science is fun!  Theology is more fun, but whatever - I have years left to convince him of that.

Back to NorCal

Hannah can't survive without us, so when she had to come over to Chevron HQ in California for some meetings about whatever it is she does at work, Pete and I graciously agreed that we would accompany her, despite her protests.

So here we are!  All the old stomping grounds are still here, and by stomping grounds I mean ice cream and coffee shops; I've actually managed to gain weight moving from Texas to California.

We're also catching up with all our friends who haven't moved to Houston yet, mainly at the aforementioned ice cream and coffee shops, and driving around the Bay Area.  The reminder of how crazy traffic is here was not welcome, neither was the endless rain that greeted us.  But what can I say?  These small sacrifices are worth it for Hannah's peace of mind.

 Welcome to sunny California!

First stop: Lottie's ice cream shop!  Which is shut on Tuesdays :(

 Luckily the San Francisco Creamery around the corner was open.

Since we lived here, people have had babies!  This is little Pete, meeting big Pete.

Enough of that - time for some more food.

A trip into SF.

Doing an impression of Daddy at Blue Bottle.

And now my trip is complete.

Where Pete will end up when he's older.

Sea lions still here.

We basically did the tourist trail we've done with visitors so many times before.  Ah, the memories.

And here (free chocolate).

Then back on the trolley bus.

Lottie's was open by now, thank goodness.

Then up Mt Diablo.  It wasn't the clearest at the top.

Beautiful views out towards the Central Valley.

Catching up with Virginia, who moved out here from DC shortly after we went to Texas.

New friend Bianca!  She speaks Russian and Romanian, and the universal language of love.

Evie, suitably haughty, on a(nother) trip to the SF Creamery.

Her dad Nate, enjoying coffee and cookie flavour, perhaps a new favourite.

A quick stop at the National Pinball Museum.

Fun with Caleb...while long-suffering older brother Logan looks on.

Rodeo return

My own solo trip to the rodeo was really just reconnaissance; today was the big family outing.  To get ready I'd strip-mined the local thrift stores of all their western goodies.  We looked the part, we felt the part, still didn't sound the part, but we were ready to go.

We caught the metro train down and I was surprised how quiet it was.  I guess everyone arrives by horse.  Once inside, however, it was obvious that weekends are a whole different cattle drive from weekdays.  The fair was open, the place was heaving, and we fitted right in.

We started at the Great American Petting Zoo.  The approach was pleasingly regulation-free, which is the way we like it in Texas.  Fifty varied animals and one-hundred-plus people were left in a penned area.  Animal feed was $3 a pop.  It was chaos.  We moved onto the tractors, then outside to a fabulous kids' farm where you grew stuff, milked stuff, then sold it all to market at the end for two (fake) dollars, one to get you a treat and the other to pay into an agricultural bank.  Grandpa would approve of that.

We stopped by the rabbits but they were mostly packing up.  An enthusiastic farmer introduced us to a Flemish Giant (and it was a giant) and then we caught the end of some horse bucking in the arena.  Today we had tickets to the rodeo proper, in the big stadium, so made our way over via a deep-fried Twinkie, a funnel cake, and spending a fortune on a fairground log flume.

As it was now five hours after we'd got there, we were fairly shattered by the time the rodeo started, but watched the parade of rodeo organisers (on horseback and in carriages, naturally), then the national anthem (the finale of which involved a lady on horseback carrying a flagpole with fireworks shooting out of the top!) and then some calf roping and a bit more bucking.

Pete was virtually asleep on Hannah's shoulder by then.  We trotted home, tired, contented, and 200% more Texan than we had been that morning.  Why can't it be rodeo all year round?  I think I'm off to live on a ranch (as long as, you know, no actual work is involved).

You've got to know your way around a steer.

Which Texas animal are you?  Definitely a skunk.



What could go wrong?

Close encounter.

Goat selfie.

Today's trip is sponsored by...

Top tractor.

Small lunch.

And...another tractor.

Fake cow, fake cowboys.

Real cowboys.

A proud rabbit farmer.  He's digging an actual warren on his farm, which he hopes will make his rabbits larger!

Carnival fun, only $$$s.

How have you got to 5-yrs-old without trying a deep fried Twinkie?  Because you have responsible parents, that's how.

Or one responsible parent, anyway.

Some of the organising committee.  I may volunteer next year, unless I need to supply my own horse.

Rodeo finals!  $50k for the winner.  How hard can it be?

Friendly livestock.

See y'all next year!  (Why is Ned Kelly wanted in Texas...?)