Monthly Archives: December 2023

Eureka

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As we neared the end of the year, we were faced with an interesting quandary: last year, as she worked toward moving her mother out here from Nebraska, Julie accumulated enough flights and miles on United to reach the Premier Silver status level. This wasn’t a huge accomplishment—it’s the lowest level of access you can reach within United’s frequent flyer program—but it did include a few nice benefits, such as earlier boarding and complementary checked bags; these came in handy this year, as we arranged college visits for Joe.

Unfortunately, it looked like she was going to come up a couple flights short this year. Not wanting to lose those benefits, as we have some travel planned for 2024, she hunted around for cheap fares and was able to snag a pair of round-trip tickets to Eureka, California, which is about 80 minutes north of San Francisco by air. Of course, school is in session, so we couldn’t disappear for a week; instead, we took a short, overnight trip, leaving Julia and Joe in charge of making sure that William was fed and the house didn’t burn down. We left Saturday morning and were back by mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, the plane we took was a bit different from the big jets we take on cross-country flights to Chicago. The experience reminded me of the short hop I used to make from Champaign to Chicago on my way to job interviews on the west coast. We boarded via stairs on the tarmac and were on our way.

We arrived in Humboldt County right around lunchtime, and we set out to find a place to eat. The first place we tried was deemed insufficiently scenic, so we set out for another establishment that was, well, marginally more picturesque. We had some perfectly competent bar food and headed to our first destination: the Sequoia Park Zoo.

The zoo itself, which is the oldest in the state of California, wasn’t the main focus of our visit. Instead, we had our eyes on the Redwood Sky Walk, which is a short walking trail on a series of rope bridges suspended from the redwoods within the zoo. The walk itself was brief—it took us around 20 minutes to cover the entire course—but the views were breathtaking. The rest of the zoo was fun, as well: we were able to capture a few pictures of a red panda that we sent to Julia, much to her delight.

After the zoo, we made a quick trip past the Carson Mansion, which is heralded as “the most grand Victorian home in America” according to Wikipedia. The house itself is not open to the public, so a drive-by was about all we could do. From there, we checked in to our room at the delightful Carter House Inns and rested for a few minutes, as we had barely stopped moving all day.

Having recovered a bit, we went for a walk on the waterfront, eventually making our way to the Dick Taylor chocolate factory, where we indulged in a hot chocolate (it was quite chilly out by that point) and tried a number of different chocolate varieties and formulations. We picked out a few gifts for the kids’ stockings—thereby justifying the entire trip—before we headed back.

That evening, being completely unfamiliar with the area, we were left to our own devices to figure out where to eat for dinner. Almost by chance, we settled on the Brick and Fire Bistro, most likely because it came up early in a Yelp search. It was a somewhat surprising choice for us, considering Julie’s general exhaustion with pizza in all forms, but it turned out to be inspired. It was late enough in the evening that our lack of a reservation didn’t cause any issues, and the food was amazing. I had a Margherita pizza, which was good enough to force me to re-evaluate my own success making pizza at home, and Julie had the Fire-Roasted Brick Bird, which was equally delicious. We finished up with creme brulee, which I don’t think I’d had before.

It would be more interesting to say that we spent the rest of the evening exploring the nightlife in Eureka, but in reality, we headed back to our hotel room after dinner and got ready for bed. We read and relaxed for a bit and went to sleep.

We slept in the next morning, completely skipping breakfast at the inn. Once we were packed up and checked out, we drove down to the Avenue of the Giants, which is purported to be the most scenic driving tour among the redwoods in northern California. We didn’t have time to make the full drive—we had a plane to catch, after all—but we saw enough to wish that we had another day to explore further and visit some of the hiking trails and picnic areas in the forest.

And then our trip was over: we hopped on our little plane back to San Francisco and made it home in time for our appointment in San José. Despite the trip’s abbreviated duration, I was very happy we went and grateful to Julie for having and promoting the idea in the first place. Hopefully, we’ll make it back to Eureka someday, possibly with the kids; and it would be good for all of us to find more opportunities like this one to break out of the weekly routine and try new things.

Gallery: Eureka

A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses

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This update, A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses, covers the brief-but-busy interlude between Halloween and the start of the Christmas season. The set kicks off with a few photos of William on a field trip to the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City, or MSI, where the Booksin fourth graders were presented with the opportunity to learn about the incredible variety of marine life in the San Francisco Bay. This field trip is a longtime staple for Booksin students—more on that in an update to come—and it’s a treat to see these pictures if only because William has been on relatively few field trips in his time in school, thanks largely to Covid, which put the kibosh on class outings for a couple of years

MSI aside, William had very a busy month. In the space of eight days, he attended a bowling birthday party for his friend Henry; he went bowling again for his friend Caeden’s birthday; he learned to solve his Rubik’s cube for the first time; and he played mini golf at his friend Julian’s birthday party. His social calendar is vastly more full than mine.

Most of the gallery is taken up by pictures from the weekend of Thanksgiving. Julie’s Mom joined us for Thanksgiving dinner, of course, and the holiday meal was a resounding success. We were fortunate to have one of the best turkeys we’ve had in recent years, and we even finished the green bean casserole that day, neatly avoiding the challenge of reheating that dish without making the onions soggy. For dessert, William worked up the nerve to try pumpkin pie for the first time; as a result of his experiment, he decided that he’s a big fan of whipped cream.

That Sunday, we decorated gingerbread houses at the eleventh annual Gingerbread Decorating Party at the San José Woman’s Club. We’ve attended this event since Julia was little, and the comfortable routine is familiar and uncomplicated. The basic outlines have remained unchanged for years: you pick up your gingerbread house; put together a plate of candy and snacks with which to decorate it; and enjoy hot chocolate, apple cider, and cheese and crackers as you festoon your creation. William always looks forward to entering his house in the contest at the end of the party—he’ll win one of these years—but this year we had to duck out early due to another commitment.

The set concludes with a few snapshots from a brief ceremony UPA held to honor students who did well in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Joe was part of the largest group of honorees, the Commended Students. He was a little reluctant to attend, perhaps because he was dissatisfied with his performance on the PSAT, but he was ultimately convinced to go, which gave him an opportunity to goof off with his friend Caitlin, who was also recognized that evening.

Finally, I snuck in a picture of a pizza I made, because I think I might be finally starting to get the hang of our pizza oven.

Gallery: A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses

Joe’s Senior Portraits

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As Julia did before him, Joe sat for a set of senior portraits with a professional photographer, Christy Wright, this fall. He was nervous and self-conscious at first, but the photographer did an amazing job of getting him to loosen up during the session: you can see him relaxing and growing more comfortable as the shoot progresses. Check out the pictures here.

The photographer employed a number of wardrobe changes and picturesque locations to create a dynamic collection of photos. She begins the set with Joe wielding his clarinet in his band uniform at the Los Gatos Civic Center and then moves to Vasona Lake County Park, where she took advantage of the diverse terrain and late-afternoon light to capture Joe in a variety of fun and visually distinctive contexts.

There are some behind-the-scenes pictures and videos that Julie took during the shoot that we’ll share at a later time. In the meantime, we’re happy to have this artifact capturing Joe at this very specific point in time, as he prepares to move on to a new phase in his life.

Gallery: Joe’s Senior Portraits

Camping, Haircuts, and Snacks – November 2015

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This post is another look back, covering a timeframe almost exactly eight years in the past: November 2015. As always, we have pictures.

This brief update highlights just how much we had going on back then. It includes Will at speech therapy and playing in the park; Joe camping out with the Y Guides; and Julia working fall sales booths selling snacks for her Girl Scout troop. The photos show her selling with no fewer than three different girls over the course of a couple weeks.

The set also includes some video of Joe taking part in competitions at a Y Guides campout at Mount Madonna. You can see how seriously he took these inconsequential games by the look of intense concentration on his face. I was also struck by how good his throwing form was in one of the clips, even if the result wasn’t what he was aiming for—watch the video, and all will be made clear.

The album wouldn’t be complete without a selection of photos of William doing William things. We have William playing with his food; William goofing off with his sibling in nothing but his diaper; William after convincing some firefighters to let him sit in their truck; and what we think is his first real haircut outside the home.

There are a few work-related photos thrown in, highlighting that year’s offsite in Napa. If I recall correctly, I dozed off in the front row of a talk in the wine cellar that looks like a bomb shelter. It wasn’t the highest point of my professional career (though, to be fair, it was a really boring talk).

Gallery: Camping, Haircuts, and Snacks