End of the Road

I have been stalling, delaying the inevitable, but the time has pretty much come. With Jake having very nearly fully recovered, there seems little point in continuing to blog on about his rehabilitation. I think I may have a post or two left in the story though.

When last we left our intrepid little family, we were snug in our room at the Holiday Inn Express in Ukiah. Ukiah is in some very pretty country, but we weren't really there for the sight seeing. Just a quick stay for the night and then we were off again on the road to Humboldt State. The last few hours drive goes through some beautiful country, but a lot of two lane, combined with several construction zones made the drive a bit of a pain.

We did take one touristy little side trip to the drive-through "Chandelier Tree." There are apparently three different drive through trees up in the neighborhood of the Avenue of the Giants and we were informed that this particular one was the best. I actually chickened out on the first pass, shown below, and drove around the tree.


Later, I decided we had paid FIVE bucks to get in to this stupid little park and I wasn't going to get my money's worth by driving around a drive-through tree. I seized the bull by the horns, or rather the Pilot by the wheel, pulled in the mirrors and went on through. Made it with an inch or two to spare. Jake's shot below is not much of a photo, but you can just make out the wood outside the window.
It didn't occur to me until I was through the tree that I had no idea about my overhead clearance. Could have ripped the roof racks right off.

We arrived in Arcata a little after noon and headed to the school. The line for registration was well out the door of the Jolly Giant Commons. It was apparent that we were going nowhere fast. Should have stopped for lunch on the way into town because we were pretty hungry, but now we didn't want to lose our place in the queue and dining options were few and far between.

Fortunately, Jake's roommate Pendar had already registered and checked into their dorm room. Jake and I left Denise holding our place in the registration line, jumped in the car and drove it up to his dormitory, Redwood Hall. A couple trips with our collapsible hand truck and Pendar's room key we had all his junk moved in.

Jake elected to hang out in his room for a while and I rejoined my spousal unit in the registration line. When we finally got within what we figured to be 15 minutes from the door we phoned Jake and had him come down and join us. Once inside, the process went a little quicker. Another 20 minutes or so and we had the registration process behind us.

Unfortunately, that didn't present much of an opportunity to catch up on the lunch we had missed, because the cafeteria in the Commons had already closed. We settled for getting something at the Giant's Cupboard, a little store catering to the college student with just about everything you could image in microwaveable fare.

While we had been waiting for Jake to complete the registration process, we met up with Jake's buddy Ryan Valesi and family. Ryan's dad Rick suggested a trip to the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka. Being only a couple blocks from our hotel and being a brewery, it seemed like a good idea to me. We agreed to meet up there later.

We headed up to Jake's room so that Denise could get a look, Jake continued unboxing and setting up his stuff and then proceeded to blow us off, preferring to hang out with his friends. I guess that after 4 days and 3 nights sharing a vehicle, motel rooms and about every waking hour with his parents he was justified in wanting a little separation.

We took off, drove back down to Eureka and checked into our hotel.

A bit later, after coordinating with Ryan's family, we decided that we would drive back to the school to get Jake, head to the Target to dump a bunch more money into supplies for the little ingrate and then hook up for a few brews at Lost Coast. Since the Valesi's were staying in Arcata, the plan was that they would take Jake with them when they returned Ryan to his dorm, which would save us a trip.

Unfortunately, I screwed all that up. It's a long story, but I was tired and in a kind of foul mood when we got to the brewery, a situation that was not helped by finding standing room only around the bar. I was informed that my first choice, 8-Ball Stout, was out. Strike two. I went with my second choice, their Pale Ale, and followed that up with an IPA and my mood was starting to improve. Eventually they had a table ready for us. The Valesi's had already eaten, so we were planning to order food for just the three of us. We asked the hostess for an extra chair for Jake and were told "No!" Not, "I'm sorry, there's no other chairs available" or "Sorry, we can't add a chair because it would block traffic," just "No!"

Fine whatever. So 30 minutes later (OK, maybe it was only 20, but my beer was empty so it seemed like hours) no one has been by to offer so much as a glass of water. Rick got up and spoke to the hostess about getting some service. As he was returning to the table the hostess flagged a server down and gestured to our table with what I interpretted as a sort of "These jackasses are complaining about the service" sort of attitude. SO, I got up and said "That's it, I'm out of here!" The hostess immediately tried to apologize, but I wasn't having any of that and stormed on out.

In retrospect I may have slightly overreacted. Normally I will suffer the most incompetent of service in silence, but for some reason the combination of exhaustion from the trip, frustration with Jake and the whole check-in process and my perception of rude service conspired to force a short little melt down. The only good news was that the brewery gave Rick a 10% discount on his purchase of a T-shirt and case of Alleycat Amber, as a means to make amends.

In fairness to Lost Coast, the beers I was able to try were pretty good (especially considering that my taste for anyone else's IPA has been pretty much ruined by Stone Ruination IPA) and the menu looked like it might actually have been a decent place to dine. Maybe I should give them a second chance whenever next I find myself in Eureka.

We ended up taking Jake with us in search of food and parted company with the Valesi family, much to their relief I can only assume. Ended up in Arcata at Rita's Margaritas, which turned out to be excellent. Some of the best fish tacos I've had anywhere and an extensive selection of tequilas which would have been entertaining had I been in a more festive mood.

That concluded a fairly long and hectic Tuesday. The remainder of the week was pretty uneventful. Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to the HOP (Humboldt Orientation Program) with separate sessions for the parents and students, so we saw very little of our son during those days. In my humble opinion, the parent orientation program was pretty much a waste of time, better suited to first-time parents of college students. Since we already had experience with Nick a lot of what was presented was old news. Denise on the other hand thought the few little pearls of information we were able to gleen from the proceedings made the whole event worthwhile. We were able to get some information about the Geology program which could turn out to be very useful, if Jake sticks with that as his major.

The school hosted a staff/parent mixer at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center on Wednesday evening. Never one to miss out on free food and drink, I decided we should attend. Technically, it was not free; we paid for it through our registration fees for the HOP. It was a nice event and we had the opportunity to speak with the Dean of the College of Natural Resource Sciences, the campus Chief of Police, a representative from the HSU Foundation and several other members of the school staff. It turned out the we had parked next to the President of HSU, Rollin Richmond, and ended up walking out with him. When he found out we were from Temecula he told us that he had spent quite a bit of time around Lake Elsinore several years back. It's a small world.

Thursday had very little of interest to us on the HOP agenda, so we cut out early and drove off north along the coast sight seeing. Took a short hike through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwoods National Park and stopped in at the park visitor center near Orick for very short walk along the beach.

Headed back later in the afternoon to HSU and the HOP BBQ. There we met Jake for a quick bite to eat. It was pretty apparent that Jake was ready to be rid of us. Maybe a couple of months sleeping in the dorms and dining on cafeteria food will make him actually miss us. Maybe not. At any rate, we drove him back to his dorm, said goodbye and headed back to our Best Western in Eureka.

Decided that we should put a positive spin on things, so stopped and picked up a bottle of bubbly, Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noirs, some hors d'oeuvres and a romantic DVD (Quantum of Solace, what's more romantic than James Bond) and spent our last night in Eureka in our room. Actually, Denise spent the night reading and I watching another DVD, U571, which was not very good.

Friday morning we got up, originally intending to drive until we got tired or found someplace interesting to stay. Reaching wine country by mid-morning we decided we were making good time and couldn't contemplate another night in a motel, so we committed to the full trip to Temecula in one shot. We did take a couple breaks for wine tasting in the Alexander Valley and at Sutter Home, but beyond that it was pedal to the metal all the way home. We did not even stop for lunch or dinner. We dined in transit on a ciabata loaf from Boudin's in San Francisco, an assortment of cheeses, a little olive tapenade, assorted fresh fruit. Quite a picnic considering it was in the front seat of the Pilot.

Arrived home at 9:00 PM, just a little over 13 hours for the entire trip, which was not bad considering the few stops along the way. Leo and Nick both appeared happy enough to see us, so it was good to be home. I think Nick was especially happy, because our being home meant that he would again have his bed to himself. Apparently Leo was a little traumatized by our being gone. He would wedge himself into Nick's bed, eventually taking over all but a small corner for Nick to try to sleep in. I think that Friday night was the first full night of sleep that Nick had had in a week.

Miscellaneous pictures of the drive to and around Arcata can be found here for anyone interested.

There is quite a bit more I want to say and there are a few loose ends with Jake's recovery that need to be tied off, so I will be making a few more posts. For now I have been sitting at this laptop for entirely too long and need to give my lap a break. More later. Bye.

More San Francisco

Spent most of Monday being typical clueless touristas on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

I got up early and walked down to Pier 39. It was too early for most of the shops, but fortunately a coffee stand was open allowing me to pick up a large latte. I also had a chance to walk around the pier and view their world famous pinnipeds.

Eventually went back to the hotel, met Denise in the lobby and we went to Johnny Rockets for breakfast. I had to excuse myself to dial into a conference call for work and Denise stayed behind and struck up a conversation with a vacationing family from Denmark.

Jacob eventually woke up and joined us downstairs.

After a fair amount of arguing about what to do, we finally settled on walking tours of the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine, and the Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship. (Alcatraz tour tickets were all sold out and I did not particularly want to try to score tickets from the scalpers on the street.) I thought the tours were very interesting, but I don't know that Denise or Jake totally agree. It's hard to imagine a submarine crew of 70 or so sailors crammed into the tiny spaces aboard ship. It would drive me nuts. After the confines of the Pampanito, the Jeremiah O'Brien seemed particularly huge. The engine room was really amazing, over 4 stories tall, with stairs and ladders running everywhere.

These ships are on some pretty prime waterfront property, if you ask me. I mean check out the view from the bow of the Jeremiah O'Brien.

Running around ships for a couple hours, climbing through hatches and up and down ladders works up a pretty good appetite. We wandered off to one of the wharf-side seafood shacks for lunch. We ordered a wide assortment, trying to sample a little of everything; Denise had the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl with a crab cocktail side, Jake the fried shrimp and I had a crab salad sandwich and calamari salad.

We fooled about a bit more, stopped in at Boudin's to buy a few loaves of sourdough and then checked out, heading north across the Golden Gate. You can see pictures ad nauseum of the whole sordid morning by clicking here.

I took the coast road for a twisty ride up to the Point Reyes National Seashore where we did nothing much beyond strolling through the visitor's center. We have been there a couple times previously and it is beautiful. I was hoping to do some exploring through the park and maybe work in a side trip to the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, but Jake and Denise both seemed pretty beat. So we cut over to Petaluma, then up to our motel, the Holiday Inn Express in Ukiah.

Next stop, Humboldt State University.

Monterey and then San Francisco

It has been a long week. There's a lot to fill in. I had intended to post updates from the road, but frankly the whole week was pretty tiring. So, I'll post a couple updates, better late than never.

Saturday evening we arrived in the palatial Super 8 motel in Salinas. As Betty Davis would almost certainly have said, "What a dump!" $200 per night! The motel is surrounded by several other motels and nothing much else. For dinner we dined at the only convenient restaurant, a somewhat sketchy Mexican place.

On the plus side, the Super 8 had the included continental breakfast; your choice of cereal, as long as you choose Cheerios, your choice of toast, as long as you like white bread, choice of fruit juice, orange, and choice of breakfast fruit, banana.

We could not get out of there fast enough to suit me. Anyway, we made the short drive to Monterey on Sunday morning, where I was surprised to find almost no problem getting into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I had expected that a Sunday in August in Monterey would be absolutely crazy at the Aquarium, but we waltzed straight in the door and $90 later were happily peering at all the little aquatic creatures.

I think one of my favorite things at the aquarium was feeding time at the "Outer Bay" exhibit, with all the big tuna, dolphin fish (or Mahi-mahi or Dorado, depending on whether you are Hawaiian or Mexican), hammerhead sharks, etc. It was very cool and as it turned out, followed shortly by a feeding frenzy of our own. The restaurant at the aquarium is probably one of my favorites anywhere, the view of the bay is fantastic and the food incredible. Here we see a prime example of the Pacific Albacore.

Jake was kind enough to share a half dozen oysters on the half-shell with me (should have gone for the full dozen) and I had the cumin-dusted, seared albacore tuna served with a couscous salad and, of course, a pint of Anchor Steam. Nothing finer!

Pictures of all can be viewed here.

When we had had our fill of fish (both visually and culinarily) we headed out to San Francisco. Checked in at the Radisson, about $170 per night, right on Fisherman's Wharf. What is up with that, $200 for a Super 8 in Salinas, convenient to nothing, and then Fisherman's wharf for $30 less? Of course, the Radisson did not have the complimentary Cheerio's, so I guess that accounts for the difference.

Strolled about the wharf for quite a while and finally settled on Scoma's for dinner. A lot of seafood later, we strolled back to our room. We captured a few more photos to share.

Lot's more to tell, but I think I'll publish this now and provide some more updates later. Talk to you all in a while.

We Are Off!

I have once again been shirking my responsibilities and have failed to update the blog in a good long time. I can only say that I have been pretty damned busy lately between work and trying to get this child ready to leave for school.

A fair bit has transpired since last we spoke. Jake, Denise and I are at present riding the 210 freeway, the Pilot loaded to the gills with Jake's stuff, en route to a stop in Salinas for the night and eventually to Arcata and Humboldt State University. More on the trip later.

First, the graduation/recovery/going away/birthday party went off, more or less as planned, on Saturday, the 8th. Started cooking meatballs on Friday evening, then up early on Saturday to make pasta salad, then miscellaneous chores throughout the day getting the place presentable. We rolled out 121 meatballs in all (that's balls enough for 40 sandwiches, plus one for taste testing) and cooked them up in a huge vat-o'-sauce. Denise was expecting about 35 people, but guestimated that several extras could show up, so, rounding up, I figured I needed sandwiches for 50 to be safe. Consequently I cooked up another 40 Italian sausages and added them to the sauce for a total 80 sandwich capacity.

This by the way is typical of my culinary math; number of anticipated guests times 1.1 = total with surprise guests times 1.5 servings per guest times 1.1 for those few really hungry guests who'll want thirds times 1.1 for periodic taste testing throughout the day times 1.1 for leftovers. So, 35 * 1.1 * 1.5 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 = 76.86525 , and of course I round up to 80.

As is also typical, we had the expected 35 guests who ate about 1 sandwich a piece, so I had enough food left over for two more parties.

I also overestimated the beer consuming capacity of the crowd. This being Nick's 21st birthday we decided to get a small (5.0 gallon) keg. Unfortunately BevMo needed a week advanced notice for the Mirror Pond, so Nick made the executive decision to switch to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which was just fine by me. So, one would think that 5 gallons of beer would be a pretty decent amount for 35 guests, some of whom were either not of legal drinking age or, God forbid, just not fond of beer. But, some people might not like pale ale, so I added a couple cases of Pacifico, just in case. Next morning we had a full case of Pacifico remaining and what felt like a lot of beer left in the keg.

Guilt tears at the soul and none quite like the guilt of wasted beer. Hence, I was on a mission. The bottled Pacifico would keep, but the keg was another matter. I started pouring pints for everyone left in the house and dropped a couple tri-tips in beer to marinate. By the time I finished I figured I had had a gallon and a half of beer left from the previous evening, was able to find homes for all of it.

At some point in the evening some of the boys broke out cigars. I had bought Jake a couple for is eighteenth birthday and he decided to fire them up. I am not a cigar afficionado; I generally think they are best applied as mosquito repellent on backpacking trips. But, I will smoke them after the odd special occasion; birth of a son, wedding of a sister, suppression of a zombie uprising, high school graduation. So, I lit up with Jake to celebrate his eighteen years and suffered through the next 24 hours of cigar mouth. I have yet to find anything besides time that will remove that taste. I tried Jack Daniel's without success.

[Sorry, stepped away for a bit; took over driving for Jake after our stop at Tommy's in Valencia, so we are now comfortably ensconced in our fabulous Super 8 motel in Salinas.]

Ultimately, I think a good time was had by most. A few pictures are available here.

By the time things wound down and we finished some of the cleanup it was about 1:00AM and I was beat.

We had such a good time that Monday, August 10th, came and went before I ever realized that it was the 2 month anniversary of Jake's accident. When I stopped to think about that it was truly amazing. On that first night in the ER I would not have thought it possible that he could be doing so well. Well enough in fact that he is pretty much done with his surgical followups for the immediate future.

This week Jake had visits with his orthodontist to install braces to create some space to replace his missing front tooth and a followup with his dentist to install the permanent crown on another damaged tooth. The orthodontist wants to see him again sometime between now and Thanksgiving, so we will probably be flying him down. After that the next big event will probably be sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas to get his implant installed.

Anyway, with a relatively clean bill of health he is off to college. Had a couple visitors yesterday to see him off; Giovana, her Mom and brother and Gio's boyfriend Mike delivered a chocolate cream pie as a little going away present. Here are Jake, Gio and Mike...
By the time we were packed and ready to leave this morning it was afternoon. We tried to get a family picture before the big departure, a photo for which Jacob refused to smile. Maybe he was just sad to be leaving home.
After that, Leo and Jacob said goodbye and we hit the road.
That is about all I can handle for today. Tomorrow we're off to Monterey and then San Francisco. More as the trip progresses. Good Night.

Several Updates

I have been shirking my blogitorial responsibilities and failed to post updates on any of the recent activities. Since my previous post, Jake has had two dental appointments and another follow-up with the surgeon.


Monday was Jake's first post-accident meeting with the dentist. Aside from the basic cleaning, the dentist decided that Jake would need a crown on one damaged tooth, repairs on four other chipped teeth, some orthodontia to create space for a future implant to replace his missing front tooth and, at some point, his wisdom teeth removed. I can see a new Mercedes in our dentist's future.

Jake had a follow-up with the dentist this morning for a temporary crown. The permanent one will be installed next week. He'll also have a visit with his orthodontist next week, a professional that we thought we had seen the last of a couple years ago when his braces were removed.

After the dentist, Jake and Denise headed to Loma Linda for the appointment with the surgeon. I unfortunately could not attend due to pressing demands at the office.


Good news all around from the surgeon; he's very pleased with the results of the surgery. No further follow-ups until sometime later this year, whenever Jake is home from HSU on break, maybe around Thanksgiving.

Other good news, the surgeons at Loma Linda can install the post for the dental implant, and they can remove his wisdom teeth, so we may be able to schedule both at one time and eliminate one surgical trip.


And the best news; Dr. Herford performed another panoramic x-ray and provided Jake with a copy. This is sooo cooool!


You can see all the hardware that's left in Jake's face, the bolts, microplates and the mesh under his left eye socket from the most recent surgery.



Denise and Jake also requested all the images from the hospital, so I'll post some of those wherever we get our grimy little hands on them.


In other news, we have been busily preparing for Jake's Graduation/Surgical Recovery/Going Away to College/Nick's Birthday party. The last weekend was spent doing a variety of chores, trying to get our miserable hovel into some sort of presentable shape. In the course of our gardening we came across this...







The spider appears to be about to make off with our birdbath. The next picture has Nick's cell phone in the background for a little perspective. Biggest fricking spider I've ever seen, short of a tarantula, which is a whole other thing.

The hardest chore? We have been considering purchasing a tapper for the party, especially considering that this is Nick's 21st B-day. So I went to BevMo yesterday and purchased an extensive assortment of beers so that we could sample several varieties before deciding which keg to order. We enlisted the aid of our next door neighbor, Larry. I hated to take advantage of him like that, but he was a trooper and helped us work our way through several. Nick is pretty heavily leaning toward Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale and I'm willing to allow that, since it's his birthday (and since I can't get Ruination IPA in a keg).

Much more to tell about the party prep, but I think I'll save that for another day. I have more chores to do this evening before I lose the little light that's left.