California Dreamin'
Your fourteenth winter in the Midwest can do funny things to your train of thought.
Over the past couple of months or so, there has been some discussion from our youngest daughter about wanting to go to California, to visit her aunt and see the California she was born and briefly raised in, until we moved to Illinois nearly 14 years ago. Miss E had just turned six, and this was the biggest adventure she had had yet in her young life.
However, almost twenty years later, she has little memory of what her life in California was like, just snippets of memory, old photos, and some family stories, and for the last couple of years, this has sparked her longing to travel. She has had California on her mind for some time now.
Not my image, certainly, but a sign I saw many a time in my life coming home from trips out of town.
My sister lives in my old hometown of Bakersfield, and though she has come out to visit us here in the Midwest several times, she has always emphasized that her home is open to us anytime we want to come out that way. However, over the years we have lived here in Illinois, what with kids’ sports and activities, and always with the bills, or something needing repaired or replaced, Life somehow prevented us from ever being able to take a “big” vacation or trip with the kids, let alone just for me and my husband.
The Three Musketeers at Easter in 2004, Tehachapi, CA.
I recall one big trip we did take with the kids, the Spring before we left California for greener pastures, to fabulous Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. . Last week, while working a recovery on an older CD that I nearly deleted and was frantically restoring the images from (if you ever get into this fix, try Disk Digger, it is an awesome undelete app! ) I found myself reliving the past through images from our last year in sunny California. It seems that a good time was had by all on that trip, even for those who were just a tad too short to ride all the rides.
Another "mom snap" from Knott's Berry Farm....that's my Three Amigos on the right
When you're too short to ride this ride, you do the next best thing,,,,
We had some good times here and there. It wasn't all amusement parks and vacations, but there were some weekends and trips to the beach and spontaneous joyrides to go along with softball games , 4-H activities, fishing trips, and the stuff of childhood. And lots of roaming around in the countryside. I am glad we were blessed to have been able to raise our kids in the country, in a small town.
Another "mom snap" from our "trip down the hill" to Bakersfield to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, March 25, 2004. The team was on its way back to St. Louis from a gig on the West Coast. The feller on the front right/left lead of the hitch is "Bill". He was a rookie that year.
Our kiddos and the Clydesdales, 2004, Bakersfield, CA. I think the Clydesdales were a sign of things to come.
While I regret missed opportunities to have vacations and trips with the kids since we moved to Illinois, I know in my heart they still had a lot more opportunities and activities and things that a lot of other kids can only dream of. They had both parents at home, and even though both ended up working a lot of their formative years, there were still ball games, and camping, and trips to the zoo, and whatnot.
Pismo Beach CA, March 2003
Following in Daddy's footsteps, Pismo Beach, 2003
When Illinois natives ask why on earth we left California for the Midwest voluntarily, I have always told them we did it for the adventure, and in the hopes of being able to afford a little more for the kids and a little less city around us. I tell them, all I miss about California is my siblings, our son, and the ocean. That’s pretty much it. Well, the mountains, too, somewhat, but once I moved here and experienced true Four Seasons and green, green, green, as far as the eye could see, And trees. More trees than I had ever seen in my life. I have always loved trees. And similarly to the small town we came from, our new hometown is a small, agrarian community. It felt like home right away. I love the Midwest,
On the pier at Pismo Beach, 2003
While I regret only a teensy bit some missed opportunities to take vacations and trips with the kids, I know in my heart they still had a lot more opportunities and activities and things that a lot of other kids can only dream of. They had both parents at home, and even though both ended up working a lot of their formative years, there were still ball games, and camping, and trips to the zoo, and whatnot. We've had plenty of good times over the years! We've been very blessed.
But I digress—back to the talk of going to California....
I love winter, but this is usually how I feel about it by February....
So last week, on a frigid January afternoon stuck in the house (again), the subject of a trip to California came up with all three of us present. Our daughter has spoken to me of doing this many times, wondering if she could stay with her aunt, how much a plane ticket would cost, the best time to go (for her, obviously after the Spring semester during break!), and so forth. She is so fired up to go, that she wants to go whether we tag along or not. Her aunt has given not just her, but all of us, the green light to stay at her home. My husband and I had thrown the idea around a bit, talked of going out to see his dad, my sister, and visit Pismo Beach again, and take a look around Bakersfield and Tehachapi just to see what has changed since 2004. We had just never really committed to it or made a solid plan about it, always something else we needed to take care of around the home front, it seems.
Best clam chowder in the nation, hand down! Splash Cafe, Pismo Beah, CA (image by Wash House Ting on Instagram )
But that afternoon, it seemed more than just a fun thing to dream about, it seemed like a real good idea, to me. The three of us on a plane, and showing Miss E all the places she had been so long ago, that she really wants to see again. Like a family vacation. We've also talked about taking a trip to someplace we've never been, something "exotic", he leans toward a resort in Mexico, my taste runs more toward the Outer Banks, or Jamaica, or maybe the UK, or northern Europe/Scandinavia....yeah, my preference is a tad more adventurous and costly, but hey, you get one life, why not expand your horizons whenever you can, right?
Besides, the resort or Jamaica is sounding pretty darn good right now in the middle of Midwestern January....
So after looking at airline ticket prices (if I had more vacation days available, I'd prefer to make it a road trip, so I could see even more!), and a preliminary look at what our available funds and a tentative itinerary might be, it seems a week in California just might be a reality for us this year.. Added bonus feature: I get to fly in a plane! I love flying, and I love airports. An airport is the people-watching, imagination-firing center of the world! It has been decades since I had the opportunity to do fly; I am really hoping this dream becomes a reality! And, although I have no desire to move back to California (and it wouldn't be economically feasible for us anyway, at this point), one last trip to see family, old homesteads, and the Pacific Ocean again would be wonderful.
My husband made this for me on the beach far below our hotel on one of our trips to Pismo .... I think each letter was about five feet tall!
No, it isn't the exotic getaway my hubby is wanting, but we have many more years ahead of us together. I can do Jamaica next year. My own heart would ever so much love to take a trip with our daughter, who now nearly twenty, can barely recall much of her first six years of life in California. To take her to places we've been, places she grew up in , and revisit and give her the backstory and our perspectives, would be a really good time. Time well spent with the ones I love.
And one more chance to smell the briny salt air and touch the cold Pacific again.
After that, on to the OBX, a Caribbean getaway, or maybe even Ireland. Trusty Canon in hand, of course. :-)
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." ~~ Helen Keller
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