We rolled out of Yreka around 9am under a smoke filled sky. I took a screenshot for the fires burning around us in northern CA and southern OR.
Our route today was using roads we were familiar with to travel to Santa Cruz. I think both of us were happy with the thought of going to Santa Cruz and visiting with Gretchen’s sister Bear (or Lynn) and Bridget her daughter.
We made our way through the Bay Area maze and up and over the Hwy 17 pass without incident. We did have an encounter with a jackass that tried to pass a long line of cars in the right lane and squeeze in between a semi-truck’s bumper and the car in the front of the line (us). It was an impossible space to fit into (trust me I’m an engineer), but to my surprise this guy actually tried to pull it off. Self driving cars ca’t get here soon enough if it stops idiocy like that.
Arriving to relatively clement weather in Santa Cruz (it was only in the 80’s), we soon were settled on the couch at the Langholz residence around 3pm.
Thinking that it would be nicer down by the water, we climbed into a car and went down for a walk at the beach with Kiko the dog. It was a beautiful, blue sky day, with building surf, lots of people walking , and dodging Santa Cruz’s version of rental electric bikes, called Jump, zooming down the shared walkway/bikepath. For some reason the riders all looked a little wobbly. I’m not sure if that was the bike geometry, or the riders, they just appeared a little unstable.
We got back and I made Gin and Tonics for all, and then Bear cooked us a delicious dinner of salmon, salad, broccoli, and mushrooms.
Bridget is a artist and works a lot with ceramics. Here she is with some of her recent pieces.
She invited us out to her studio for after dinner fun with clay. I sat down and started making a face with big ears, and Bridget threw a piece on the wheel. Later, Bear got a lesson in centering and throwing from Bridget. Gretchen got into the game on a failed Bear piece. She just want to get her hands into the wet clay. Bear headed upstairs to bed with clay, and a smile on her face.
We all had a lot of fun. And since my friend Michelle thinks I should always have a picture of a dog in the blog, I will close this out with a picture of Kiko.
.
Walkabout Today 