I remember thinking California was wonderful, but then I moved to Texas and realised it's full of loony-lefty Democrats who want to take everything great about America and replace it with vegan communism. Still, it has some nice coffee shops and various friends live here (move to Houston!) so I wasn't too unhappy to tag along with Hannah when she traveled.
She's here keeping the oil flowing, which means Pete and I are her valet and driver; perhaps we get some crumbs from the table, like staying in hotels with nice pools. We also have our days free to reminisce, which began with a walk around the paradise of Walnut Creek (now with even more ice cream shops) and catching up with our old apartment complex manager, Eileen. She says she'll kick someone out if we ever move back, which is always nice to hear.
After a weekend hanging out with Lauren, Nate, Evie and (their) Pete, we chauffeured Hannah over to Half Moon Bay, where a pipeline conference was happening in a VERY posh hotel, the kind where they give you complimentary slippers! While Hannah schmoozed, we wandered the Pacific Coast, had breakfast with the Schwimmers (my baby Logan is about to enter middle school!) and dinner with the Singers.
Yesterday we arrived at our final stop: the not-quite-west-coast Bakersfield, deep down in the agricultural central valley where we're enjoying shadeless sun and arctic air-con, not a hill in sight, and a healthy love of the fossil fuel industry. Perhaps California's not that different from Texas after all.
Flying luxurious Spirit Airlines. Hannah unsurprisingly went on a somewhat better, work-funded flight.
Grabbing a local coffee straight off the plane.
First pool.
Meeting up with Virginia again, now joined by fellow Chevron baby Evie.
Ah, Bay Area traffic! Worse than Houston? It's a tough call.
Another local favourite.
Down memory lane to Albany Beach.
San Fran!
Some sassy customers at Lottie's ice cream.
A hike through a redwood grove on the way to Half Moon Bay.
Paddling in the Pacific.
Patio with our own firepit! I told you this hotel was fancy.
Dinner with the Singers, where young Hannah passed her audition to be Pete's au pair next summer. Well done!
While I played Elise's piano. Her parents bought her a Steinway when she was a child. Mine didn't.
But where should we eat on the way to Bakersfield?
At the Buena Vista Museum in Bakersfield, where their digital sandbox projects mountains, rivers and volcanoes onto the sand as you pile it up! I need one of these.
Pete considers how much he could eat if he had teeth like these.
But he does OK with what he has.
