Family Week is the Best

What a terrific week this has been!! My son Jacob and his lovely wife, Hannah, flew out to spend Thanksgiving with me. I drove down to Oakland late Monday evening to pick them up at the airport and we did some really fun things over the course of 4 days.

We drove over to the Coast one day and thankfully the weather cooperated when we needed it to. It was cold and rainy, but occasionally the sun would peek out to warm us up. The temps were hovering around 40-45 degrees over in the Fort Bragg area.

After a tasty fish 'n' chips lunch with clam chowder, it was starting to sprinkle again. So we thought it best to drive for a bit to get out of the rain and therefore headed up north to Newport (a few miles north of Fort Bragg). Newport is merely an "area" now, nothing is there except The Inn at Newport - a luxury inn right on the coastal cliffs. But across the road is the Newport Cemetery, which they also happen to be the caretakers of. And that is where my 2nd great grandparents are buried. We only just found them 2 summers ago, and I was able to go with my Dad and sister, Charmaine, in 2017 to visit their grave sites at that time. But I was really wanting to go again. It just feels like a special place. And it's certainly in a scenic location overlooking the sea.

If you look closely, you can see the white picket fence off in the distance up on a hill. That's where we hiked up to from the car, maybe a half mile or so. It's on private cattle-grazing land, but we got permission from The Inn at Newport to go up unaccompanied. 

Jacob was so thoughtful and found us some bright and cheery yellow wildflowers to place on the graves.

This is the most beautiful view. If I could choose my final resting place, this is where I would choose.

My 2nd great grandparents are John Snider and Mary Ann Hockman. I don't know a lot about John, but Mary was a mid-wife and an herbalist. She helped a lot of people back in her day and was very well respected. I am grateful for my ancestors and all the good things they did.

What a charming view even the cows have in Newport!

We also went traipsing in the Redwoods, carving out our own paths in the wet forest. :)

Our last stop of the day was at Jughandle State Park and Beach. We made it just in time for the sunset. Jacob, true to form, took off his socks and shoes as soon as we got down the steps and ran full speed toward the ocean! Even though it was about 38 degrees outside, he didn't care, ha ha. He got soaked up to his thighs.

We did a lot of driving that day, but we saw and did a lot of fun things. And again, it was so thoughtful that Mother Nature granted us moments of beautiful weather so we could enjoy the sights and sounds.

To end the day, we drove through fog, rain and endlessly curvy roads to meet up with my Dad for dinner at his place. It's a couple miles from the main road north of Willits, heading out on a dirt road to get there. When we got to the gate and tried to enter the code for opening the gate, it wouldn't work. We tried numerous times in numerous ways and nothing worked. There is NO cell reception whatsoever out there until you get to his house. Jacob suggested hopping out and just walking the rest of the way on foot. But I said No Way. Not only was it still quite a ways to get there, but it was dark and muddy, and my dad had just sent us an email earlier that day with a photo of a black bear spotted just outside their kitchen the day before! So, NO, I told him. We will just wait for my Dad to come investigate why we haven't shown up. 

After a few minutes, we found another solution. There was another code box on the other side of the gate for coming out, so Jacob hopped out and walked over to try that one. Voila! It worked! Onward we drove and enjoyed a lovely dinner with Dad/Grandpa John.

For Thanksgiving the next day, we were supposed to have 18 people here at Mom's house, but it ended up just being 12 because my brother, Ryan, and his family of 6 had some sickness and therefore did not come. We sure missed them! But the next morning, I dropped off some leftovers to them (in Napa) on our way to San Francisco. They were doing better by then so we had an enjoyable visit. Followed by hand sanitizer in the car, ha ha.

Here is our 20 pound turkey that was absolutely delicious. This is right before I cut into it.

Here are all 12 of us seated below and ready to eat: (clockwise starting on the left) 

Doug (Scott's father), Scott (Charmaine's partner), Charmaine, Hannah, Jacob, Grandma Doris, Mom Linda, Devyn (Scott's daughter), Trevor (Scott's son), Mari and Ana (Charmaine's daughters). I sat on the end.

Mari sharing a blanket with Great Grandma Doris that evening as they looked through old photos together. :)

Mom explaining to Grandma Doris what we each did to express our thanks. Mom had a placemat with a turkey and 12 feathers. So she asked us each to write something we were thankful for on a feather.

Here are a few photos of our visit the following morning to Ryan and Karen's house down in Napa. This is Blake (2) and Lily (4) doing couch vaulting:

Hannah having fun in the playhouse with Blake and Lily:

Ruby the dog whisperer (with Cooper the dog):

Ryan and Karen with Blake:

And Jacob acting as the human jungle gym for Emily and Lily:

After a short visit we headed off to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco for the afternoon. It turned out to be so fun! We made some impromptu decisions on the fly and visited some places I've never been before.

View from Chrissy Field (SE side of the Golden Gate):

Then we drove to the nearby Palace of Fine Arts. What a beautiful place!! We didn't go inside because it was closed, but we sure enjoyed the grounds.

We tried to park in Chinatown soon after, but traffic was so gnarly and backed up due to a small fire on the street we were trying to turn onto, so we had to make our way elsewhere for a while until things settled back down. So we drove up to Coit Tower to enjoy the sun setting and to see the view of the bay.

Then back to Chinatown to walk around and find something yummy to eat. As it turned out, we got a good recommendation from a shop owner for this place, called The New Lun Ting Cafe (Pork Chop House). I got sweet and sour shrimp, Hannah got sweet and sour pork, and Jacob ordered twice cooked pork.

Our last stop before heading to the airport in Oakland was to get some gelato in Little Italy, a neighborhood that is adjacent to Chinatown. I was so sad to see them go. They are just so cute!! They are happy and cheerful, playful with a fun sense of humor, and just great company to hang out with. They really brightened up my week. Now they're headed back to work, back to school, and back to the grind. I am already looking forward to seeing them at Christmas!!

As for Scott over in the Middle East, whoever was working behind the scenes did a fantastic job of decorating the chow hall for Thanksgiving!!

And this is what he loaded up his plate with:

He has been working on and designing a computer program using "R" (a type of math that is way over my head and is a special language that only Scott and Jacob can speak). He keeps in touch in various ways with his children, but this is one way that he stays connected. He creates something that he's put a lot of heart and soul into and then shares it with his family to have them try it out and explore and give some feedback. He shared one such creation with us this past week, and Jacob ended up explaining it to Grandma Doris in a simple way that even she could understand it. She really enjoyed hearing what they were up to.

Final thought: I love and miss this guy so much. We still talk at least once a day, sometimes twice. Morning and night. One or the other of us is usually tired, but the other one seems to carry the conversation, or else we just keep it brief. But to hear his voice and see his face is so helpful to me. He is my bestest friend in the whole world. My BFF. Once in a while I get teary-eyed because I just love him so much and want to be near to him. But talking every day helps, . . . and staying busy. Always gotta be doing stuff to fill the time and to fill the void. My strategy works pretty well, as it has in the past. Just keep on keeping on. For 8 more months. I think I can, I think I can . . . :)