Visiting the Dawsons

After a few days with my parents we took the train down to Cornwall to stay at Gray and Julie's. Gray was away at a conference in Chicago until the Monday night but despite his jet lag managed to stay up as late as the rest of us.

Given that it was impossible to practically get to Heathrow from Cornwall the day our plane was leaving, I had suggested that we all make a trip up there and visit Legoland the day before (Gray getting a sizable military discount). We decided to visit Bath on the way and set out for Bath somewhat late on Tuesday but Dena, Ellie and I actually did manage to arrive 10 minutes before the Roman Baths closed their doors and I enjoyed wandering round the place in the early evening sunshine with hardly anyone around.

Legoland was simply great for all concerend, although the only ride I wanted to go on (the Viking river rafting) broke just as Julie and I were waiting to board it. Such is life. At least we weren't on it when it broke unlike the poor family who's craft stopped under the water feature for 20 minutes and finally alighted soaked to the skin.



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Visiting the Grand Old Parents

After school was over we headed over to the UK for 10 days. First to visit with my parents and then to stay with Gray and Julie. We had spent considerable time planning the first leg of the trip to Kettering. Andrew and Gill had very kindly offered us the chance to stay with them in Cambridge which would have been lovely but I was concerned that every minute spent fighting the traffic A14 was not time spent with my folks. I recalled that Kristie had put her sister up in a tent in her back garden and that sounded like a great idea (the tent, not Kristie's back garden). Alexander and I would sleep in the tent and Fiona and Dena would sleep in the house.

This year I was adamant that I wasn't going to be turned into a donkey and made to haul half of what we possessed all over the UK. Besides which I wasn't sure how much strain my heart would take in its drugged up, beta blocked state. Dropping dead wasn't on my vacation itinerary, so I insisted that we should get our luggage down to 2 large wheeled bags + tent. 36 hours before we left we found that taking a tent and the two giant inflatable mattresses Dena had bought to ensure Alexander and and I slept in the lap of luxury, meant we had no room for anything else so we scrapped the tent idea altogether and I found a room at the "Royal" Hotel in downtown Kettering for Alexander and myself.

After a bit of initial angst at the limited luggage space, Dena ralied and with a planned out list of attire for each member of the trip and a timetable of laundry at each stop we did indeed get out luggage down to 2 large bags and 4 carry on bags between the 4 of us. I was proud of her!

If you look at these pictures of my parents, you'll think my mother looks old. Well, she is old! But she looks a darn sight better than she did last time I saw her which was in a hospital ward back in March. The most amazing thing for me was that when we arrived she was reading a book; something she had been unable to do before nearly a year, but since she got the cataract in one of her eyes removed her quality of life has improved significantly. Sadly her short term memory isn't what it used to be and she repeated herself a bit and lost track of what day it was, but so what. I think at that age not having worry about what day it is should be a right!

The room at the "Royal" worked out well allowing Alexander and I to rest up in the evenings- him watching the European cup and me noodling with my 'puter. I never thought I would end up staying in downtown Kettering in my life and the hotel itself has many memories for me as teenager "out with the lads" on a Friday night. However the weirdest memory for me is hiding in hotel the night my cousin from Scotland started a disagreement with the local youth getting them barred from their only drinking hole. We escaped from the angry mob in a Taxi that we got from round the back I don't think I went drinking in Kettering again for many years.



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He who must not be named

I'm quite into the whole flow of the seasons and the community lifestyle now in Los Gatos. It's been a bit weird feeling that I belong somewhere after so long not. (I think the last time was 1989 in Whiteparish in Wiltshire). Each season brings another event for the children and therefore their parents. June heralds the end of the school term and the end of the baseball season. Each year there has been an end of season party where the kids get trophies and coaches get thanked. This year was no exception, except it was a bit different.
One of the coaches had organized this years party at his father-in-laws house. It was to be a pool party and as luck would have it Fiona got sick that evening so I ended up taking Alexander myself.

The house was big and so was the pool. Having deposited Alexander in said pool I looked around to find that there were no Dads to be found.
"They're in the garage looking at the cars." one of the wives told me. "You should go down there."
So not wanting to be the only guy by the pool, I decided to do just that.

The garage like the house was big and wasn't so much a garage as a museum for half a dozen old sports cars each lovingly cossetted with its own electric blanket to keep it at just the right temperature.
For those of you who know me, you'll know I don't do old cars. IMHO The infernal combustion engine is a dirty, noisy, inefficient kludge that is long overdue for replacement with something better and each time something better in the shape of automobile technology comes along we should celebrate by taking the previous lot of technology and putting it a crusher!

I guess those interminably long childhood trips up and down the UK in the family Ford Cortina wondering if it would breakdown have left their mark. It didn't break down often but when it did we were left stranded at the side of the road which isn't something you forget as a kid. My father took to tying heather onto the radiator grill before we set off, a practice that is now followed by certain Turkish airlines who sacrifice camels in front of their new planes for good luck.

So I don't really get a lift (pun intended) when I look at an old car, even if it is lovingly polished and gleaming. I've owned old cars, their crap!

Still I managed to say "Ooh" and "Aah" at the right moments and fake my enthusiasm in the herd of dads the were being led round by the son-in-law of the owner. But where was the owner I enquired?
"He will not be joining us. He had another engagement." I was told, and for sure one of the electric blankets lay alone on the floor with no car for it to keep warm.

However, He was with us in spirit at least adorning the walls on posters and the front covers of magazines. Here He was in a fast car on a salt lake and here He was on the front cover of a car magazine with a car He had built himself. He had driven the son-in-law all the way from Oakland to Los Gatos in this car which apparently was a long way. He owned objed'art such a childs tricycle made out of a giant wooden revolver. I was sure He also must have a fridge full of chocolate watches, but we didn't get so to see these. Throughout the evening we were treated to many annecdotes about He by He's son-in-law who simply could not bring himself to speak his name lest it be sullied by the company which he kept: ordinary folk whose kids played baseball together and whose in-laws didn't have big houses, old cars or tricycles that looked liked hand guns.

My father-in-law is called Bob and I'm proud to call him that!

Arnold Addendum

One good thing Dena found the day before we left the Big Trees was that Arnold has a proper coffee shop with cappuccino, latte's, bagels and free wifi. Ali and I snuck out early on Sunday for our fix, supping our double caps while browsing our mail and skype calling her brother in Switzerland. Yeah, that's the right way to do Sunday morning!

Big Trees

Richards cousin Cal lives in San Jose and had offered us the loan of his cabin in the low Sierras for the weekend. We headed out Friday morning, leaving Alexander to be picked up by Bob and Marty, and made it to Copperopolis for lunch. We dined at the Saloon and Richard so enjoyed his meal he asked the lady if the meat was from a local butcher (a long similar lines to the local beef we ate on the Isle of Bute a couple of years back). "No, he just gets it from CostCutter." was the reply that somewhat abruptly changed the flavor of our ribs. Still it was a fine meal in great surroundings.


Our lunch the next day in Arnold was anything but fine. Now Arnold is strange town. It's claim to fame is that it's next to another town whose claim to fame is the annual frog jumping tournament. The local paper had an 8 page pullout showing the winning frogs with their owners crouched down beside them trying scare the bejesus out the poor creatures and make the leap.
Cal had given us a hand drawn map of how to get to get to the cabin from Arnold which showed the turnoff to be exactly 5 miles from a place called the Giant Burger. I'd only met Cal once but it occurred to me that Cal was a precise kind of guy who would have measured 5 miles on his odometer from the turnoff and found the very nearest landmark and put it on his map i.e. he was not repeat not recommending Giant Burger as a place to eat in Arnold. However that logic seemed to fall on deaf ears and we decided to eat at Giant Burger.

A lot of restaurants in that part of the world have statues of bears carved out of redwood logs. Giant Burger had this one, which to my mind should have been another red (or perhaps black) flag. Italy is famous for it's food, Mussolini however was not. Lastly the religious texts lovingly composed using the stick on plastic letters normally relegated to describing the "Blue Plate Special" should have been our final clue. But we ate there anyway: a meal which I am sure the owner would be proud to say took us that much closer to our maker.

The trees in Big Trees State Park are indeed big! In fact they are really big as you can see above and claim to be the biggest trees in the world. I was rather confused by this as the trees Paul and I visited in Oregon on our road trip in the 90's also made this claim to fame. I have a photograph of me standing on what was supposed to be the worlds biggest tree, only it wasn't anymore 'cause it had fallen down. The explanation was simple the coastal redwood trees of Oregon and California are the worlds tallest Redwood trees. The trees in the Big Trees State Park although red weren't actually redwood trees and were the biggest trees by sheer volume not by height. I guess calling it "Thick Trees State Park" would reduce the number of visitors. Still quibbling aside they were big!

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Beaching in Aptos

Taking a leaf from our trip to Capitola we did much the same thing. The coffee shop in Aptos now has better coffee and Ali and I raced there in the Merc to get our fix caffeine before the others showed up. However, I guess we were talking to much and driving too slow and we were discovered. Lots more sea, sand and surf was enjoyed. Poor Alexander missed it all, being still in school, but overall, apart from me having to pick him up at 14:40 every day, I think it worked out well with the two us getting some special time together for a slice of pizza downtown before joining the others at the pool.

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Hidden Villa

Ali needed to shop but surprising not at Fry's! In fact neither Ali nor Richard showed any interest in the Valleys greatest symbol of techie consumerism. I was initially shocked by this, but eventually came to terms with the fact that medical people, even if they do own a MacBook probably aren't going to get off on the fact that a 250 USB hard drive is now $89.99. (I snuck off an bought one on my own after they had left).

So Ali and Dena went to Stanford Mall and Richard and I took Phoebe and Fiona to Hidden Villa were they checked out the barnyard and dined in the vegetable garden.
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Beaching in Capitola

Ali Richard and Phoebe came to California for a couple of weeks and stayed with us. We showed them around Northern California beginning with a trip to Capitola which offered Ali all she needed the perfect day- sun, sea, sand and specialty coffee. We rounded the day off with a trip to the pool at the gym.

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