After a short stop in Tucson to Saguaro National Park, Phoenix to spend some time with friends, and Sedona; we made our way to California where we have spent the last several weeks.
The diversity of California is incredible. Beaches, oceans, canyons, pine forests, clear lakes, desert, and epic national parks. We have meandered our way from Southern California up to San Francisco, moving from the shore to the east. California has experienced quite a bit of rain over the last several weeks; the greens are vibrant, the waterfalls are flowing, and the wildflowers are just starting to bloom. The temperatures are warmer as usual, so much warmer that the bears in Yosemite are not in full hibernation this year.
We checked the box on a national park we didn’t get to go to last year (Channel Islands), and we revested the ones we really liked – Joshua Tree, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and Yosemite with longer stays. We were able to take more time to appreciate all these areas with more hikes, no light pollution over clear starry nights, fresh air, ginormous rock formations, and animals in their natural habitat. At times, it was so quiet we could hear the air swell under the wings of birds as they swooped by, could hear sea lions barking at each other from a vantage point hundreds of feet above, experienced dolphins on the way to Channel Islands that just wanted to play with the ferry, and chased some whales for a closer view.
I am a sucker for a great sunset, so every chance we got we spent time on the coast taking it all in…. San Clemente with Angela and Jake (John’s sister and husband), Laguna, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Santa Monica, Big Sur, San Francisco with our dear friend Deb. All were amazing.
We forgot how much we loved the 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach….it was eerie and stormy went we went down the coast, then the weather cleared up and the sun came out so we decided to drive it one more time.
We spend each day about the same – start our day with few hours of work on Toledo Time, drive someplace beautiful, explore and hike, plan where we are going to sleep for the night, drive to our next location, determine if we have a good signal or if we need to find an open area to set up Starlink, make dinner, and do some more work before we go to bed. Every other day we go lift weights at planet fitness (f we can find one close by). Routine is nice.
Some days are amazing with the most beautiful hike, great weather, or no lines. Other days we are navigating our way around a weather event, a cancellation, or spending more time than we had planned on work stuff. Flexibility is important and we work to keep things in perspective.
We are homesick…a couple months on the road is longer than we are used to. We are planning our trip back home around a visit John is making to Cleveland Clinic for two days of pre-op tests to get ready for his clip surgery – the study is finally open, and we need to verify he remains a strong candidate with the new tests. Fingers crossed for a good outcome and a date for the procedure to occur.
Can’t wait to see my kids! Toledo here we come….there’s no place like home!
