Experiments in Bicoastal Living

This has been a busy summer so far!

This summer started out with the end of the school year. To which Nye says "yeah!!" and a week of furlough for me. We went to Big Sur (last posting). As luck would have it Arch was offered more work in NYC which just happened to sync with our niece Julie's graduation party. Again yeah!! So it was off on a quick trip to NYC and CT for me and to two week trip to CT and NYC for Arch and Nye. Logistically challenging, but deeply rewarding. I can't speak to the adventures my guys are having, so this will be a bit one sided posting!

First of all, it was a blast being back in NYC. I had a great time seeing Inna (missed Tamazi since he had to go to work, but we did get to catch up later!) and then I promptly fell in for a long nap. Arch got me up in time for to shake off my stupor in time for the performance of Love & Daring by the LAVA performance troupe. That was fantastic and it was great to see some of our teachers again. Wandering around the lower east side was like slipping on an old worn (stinky) glove. The city is at once familiar and ever changing.

We headed out of the city on Saturday morning to Mom's house (aka Nana's). I was so happy to be there just catching up. Phone calls are a pale substitute for a real sense of how things are in the world of your loved ones! Nye has his favorite things about visiting with Nana, hunting for toads, doing puzzles and games, breakfast sausage, the list goes on. I seem to recall a similar list when visiting Memorial Drive.

Sunday we were off to Julie's celebration. What a great party!!

It was fun to catch up with many people but somehow time didn't quite allow us to catch up with everyone. Ever in motion, I missed spending more than cursory time with folks. This is especially poignant to since I feel like I get to see all of nearly often enough to have a good sense of how life is treating you!

Arch had to head into NYC but Nye and I got a chance to stay with Nana for a bit and to catch up with Becks, Henry, and Jillian. It was wonderful! The cousins miss each other a lot and they really seem to click when they get to be together. Henry and Jillian have grown so much! And, of course I'm glad Becks, that we got a bit of time to hang out while watching them play. Thanks Mom for taking us to such cool spots to hang out in! We even got a chance to go to the ice cream barn where Julie works, yum! Nye stayed on for the rest of the week while I sprinted back to the city.

The trip to NYC/CT was so short that there are many, many friends that I didn't even get a chance to consider seeing. I'm hoping that luck will favor me and I'll get a chance to catch up in person soon.

Back in San Jose, I'm getting my first chance to spend some real time alone in the house and yes, at first this is a little strange. The neighborhood is actually very quiet except when there is any reason to celebrate, and then it can get a noisy! Mostly, I've been trying to take care of small projects around the house. Strangely, I am delighting in doing laundry. But to put that crazy statement in context this is my first ever washer and dryer. (Hmmm, I wonder how long the honeymoon will last?) I'm also trying desperately to keep the plants alive 'till I can get a few yards of soil delivered and an drip irrigation system in place. Still there is bounty . . . first tomatoes of the season, mint - lovely, and the apples are starting to ripen up. The mystery fruit is still teasing me by not ripening yet. I have dreams of fruit - but my luck it will all ripen the same week!

Left Coast Live

I'm not usually the first to jump up and down and say "lets go to the music festival" but here in San Jose many events have the comfortable scale of street fairs or block parties. So I was delighted when a number of lady friends were game for going to Left Coast Live, San Jose's big annual Music Fest. Headliners this year included OK Go and Yo La Tengo. OK Go put on a great performance as did many other local bands. And since it was a small venue they came right out into the crowd for a tune or so. Very democratic!

Loads of local and regional bands were playing and the "life sized mouse trap" game was installed off First Street. (For those who are wondering what I'm talking about - think the game "Mouse Trap" from our childhood, but produced in full scale. Yep, that is right, all the parts there including a big metal bath tub suspended in air, a full size safe, and instead of marbles . . . you guessed, it a bowling ball. Can't get the movie I made to work on the blog, sorry!)

There were various ingenious venues on the street and in clubs. One of my favorite featured both bands and the local roller derby. (Haven't seen roller derby since I was a kid.) All and all the festival was a blast in large part because it was of a scale that meant you could really take it in and really enjoy. Having friends to share it with was also quite wonderful!

Looking forward to the 4th in San Francisco and to Arch and Nye returning soon!!

xo,

Sara
the "S" in SNAPress

Big Sur

We've been talking about going to Big Sur since we came to Callie. It is just far enough away to not really be a great day trip and so many other adventures have taken precedence. Finally we've put it to the top of the list and scheduled three whole days! We just got back and it is spectacular, (but not for the faint of heart or those with serious acrophobia.)

It is a bit hard to describe the area and much like Yosemite exceeds all expectations. Geologically speaking Big Sur is a spot where the highlands of California are being eroded into the sea. For those in my family who remember the trip to Monaco it is a bit like that, twisting mountainous roads that are scant feet from a 500-800' plunge into the beautiful blue waters of the ocean (but no burned out cars this time.) I'd like to say that I was willing to stop at any of the vistas, but alas my white knuckles prevented me.


Great Tradition!

Honestly, one tradition I'm hoping to encourage is that Archil likes planning a three day trip to celebrate my birthday. This years was a bit delayed, but I'm trilled with the tradition. Last year was Yosemite and this year Big Sur. Couldn't be happier! (I'm starting to vie for either Hawaii next year or Death Valley! Yes, they are extreme opposites of the spectrum, I know.)

We camped out in these cute little tent cabins. A small fire pit made for perfect Sam'ores! We were nestled under Redwoods that were, on average, 2,000 years old! On Thursday morning we went on an hour and a half horseback ride through valleys up to the edge of the Redwood forest and then over to the beach. Awesome! Nye is really great riding on his own, but it didn't hurt that we had a couple of really great guides.

Another tradition is we spent some time building beach structures. Much of the best large driftwood on the beach had already been incorporated into large scale structures, but never to be deterred we adapted the dried forms of the kelp stalks to make a snake inspired art gallery. The "Reptilian Art Gallery" (as it was named) featured many fine beach discoveries. A couple of people even donated a plastic Stegasaurus to the collection. The fine lacy structure managed so survive several days. Who knows, it may still be there.

One of our days we lunched at Nepenthe, a place filled with folklore. It lives up to it's reputation. We trekked down to Hearst Castle but were too late for the tours. We're still kinda wondering if the zebra's we saw, were they a mirage? It appears not. Maybe we'll go on the tour someday. Loads of other exciting things to see! Like a beach full of elephant seals. Boy are they huge! Picture your very healthy sea lion male. Got an image from Pier 39? Now picture that x2 for a female or x3 for an adult male elephant seal. Wow!

Explorations

We stopped at one of the many "jade" beaches on our way north from San Simeon. The coastline on the south of Big Sur is dotted by rock formations that include deposits of jade. This washes up on the beach in cobblestones that can be collected. We found a jade pebble - does that count? Still the search was fun and the ocean and rocks are a site to behold.

On our trip back north we stopped at Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park a beautiful park whose forests were unfortunately ravaged by the forest fires a few years back so that many of it's trails are not accessible. One of the singular features of this spot is the view of the beach and it's waterfall. The water is pure turquoise and the view through the surrounding wildflowers quite spectacular but it's hard to get a photo that doesn't look like the postcards!

Wonderfully well spent and tired we headed north. From the relative safety (aka one lane's distance) we could look for whales and enjoy the Turkey Vultures cruising on the thermals. Ah, just blissfully enjoying the blue skies and blue ocean. It was rather hard not the crash when I spotted a California Condor soaring at road level in front of me! (Thank god for that little dusty turn off.) We followed the Condor around a bend or two in the road until we drove right under their soaring wings. Damn, but they are really big! By the time we found a good vantage point we realized we had two adults and probably a juvenile. They were enjoying the thermals and in the end landed in the pine trees of some lucky home owner. Whaahoo!

I was so happy that Arch and Nye got to spend some real time seeing these great birds. They were hanging around so long that we actually lent our binoculars to some bicyclists who stopped near us and were curious about what we were looking at. For us, a once in a life time experience to be sure.

To say that Big Sur is beautiful is rather an understatement. What struck me though is that it seems to be a place that unfolds. The more time you spend there and explore the more treasures you discover. It isn't an easy place. It is just what it seems, an charged intersection full of anticipation. It is a sublime place where the mountains meet the sea!

All our love,

Sara, Nye, and Archil