Since the pandemic began, I watched my coworkers’ locations change throughout the year. Some moved permanently out of state to places like Montana, Michigan, New York and Texas. Others have moved within the state but out of the Bay Area, also for the long term. And most seem to have done some extended traveling. It was nice this past summer to have some routine going to work in the labs and having a normal workday again, but after talking to another engineer on the project who doesn’t do lab work and who spent three months working from Hawaii it’s hard not to get a bit jealous. He told me because of the time zone he was off work by 3:30 PM every day and spent the afternoons surfing.
My current job will never be fully remote, although I can do much of it from anywhere, and Megan’s clinic days mean that for now at least, we can’t easily move to Hawaii. But I’ve been feeling all along during this pandemic that I don’t want the opportunities it presents to pass by unnoticed since it is (hopefully) a very unique situation and time. So with this as context, when Megan asked for some input on a weekend beach rental for my birthday this year, I asked why not go for a month instead.
We quickly settled on Capitola for our temporary relocation destination because we wanted to spend time at the beach with Jane and have the chance to do some surfing which has taken the sideline in large part since Jane was born. Capitola is also close enough to make clinic days manageable for Megan and would still allow us to take Jane to Nona’s for daycare.
In the first week of February, after some hard driving negotiation by Megan over the phone with the owner we settled on 3 weeks for a fixed $3,800 starting on February 20th and running through March 13th. The house we rented was right on Soquel Creek a block from the beach and downtown and it ended up being a great place for us.
Since the trip was planned in a hurry and on short notice, before we knew it we were headed down to the beach Saturday afternoon with stuff quickly tossed into the i3. I was a bit nervous on the ride down since we hadn’t really scoped out the place very throughly ahead of booking it but once we arrived any worries about space or location were put to rest. It was small, and a duplex with a shared wall, but the neighbor was quiet and the location was excellent. We had 2 rooms, a nice small yard and a deck right on the river from which you could just see under the old railroad trestle to the start of the beach. Saturday and Sunday were great and we knew we had a fun time ahead of us, but Sunday evening I left Jane and Megan and headed back up to San Jose.
Mom had planned to visit to CA as well following her covid vaccine and associated travel liberty and her planned date ended up aligning well with our Capitola stay. While we were finalizing our rental she also found a house right on the creek that was only four doors down from us on the Riverview Dr path. I picked Mom up from the Oakland airport Sunday night and after a short night in San Jose and a quick tour of the local area we headed back down to Capitola.
Our first week was great. I was still working full-time but met up with Megan, Jane and Mom for breaks during the days and we had dinners out on the deck near the river each night. The river was full of ducks and seagulls which Jane got a big kick out of watching and feeding with scraps of bread. One duck in particular came to be known to us as King Duck due to his tendency to stand on a rock above the other ducks and make a serious racket.
On Tuesday night Megan went to San Jose ahead of her normal day in the clinic on Wednesday, while Jane, Mom and I stayed down in Capitola. This was the start of our work based logistics including shuffling Jane around between Capitola and San Jose for daycare while we were still staying as much in Capitola. In the end the logistics worked out well and afforded us each at least one night alone and off Jane duty, something we haven’t had in some time.
It was around this time in our trip that I came down with sweats and a fever and became convinced I had contracted covid. This has happened a few times since the start and usually coincides with expanding our circle of contacts a bit. Thankfully it ended up being nothing and opening a few more windows during the day brought the ‘fever’ back down to normal levels.
The rest of our first week was filled with two birthdays (Jane == 2, Jon == 35), a hike in the redwoods of UC Santa Cruz, lots of good eating, some surfing, and of course time hanging out at the beach. We had great beach weather, sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s most days and no rain. And the surf cooperated too, with some fun easy surf which was just what I was capable of after a long hiatus from any regular surfing.
Jane’s second birthday party was a lot of fun. She had a cake, tons of balloons and as much attention as she could handle. Her invited friend ended up canceling due to a covid scare after their whole family got sick but we still were able to share it with some family via video chat where we also shared Megan’s pregnancy and the fact that we’re having a boy. My birthday had less balloons and fanfare but we still got to grill some nice steaks on the deck and had a great dinner. After the first week Mom headed back to Kansas and Megan and I settled in for two more weeks.
We got into a good routine. I setup a small desk in our bedroom to relieve the cramped living room and get some privacy during the day to work. And Megan figured out the commuting for daycare, though those days were long ones for her between work and the extended drive. On Megan’s off days, Megan and Jane would play at the beach and we would all meet for lunch either on the sand or on the deck at our place by the river. Mornings for me involved walks to grab a coffee and check the surf followed by mostly full days working. I was still able to sneak in some afternoon surf sessions on the particularly nice days and extended afternoon breaks to play at the beach with Jane.
One highlight was the fact that the city of Capitola was working on the flume running through the beach to route Soquel Creek to the water. This resulted in giant steep sand piles from the excavation which Jane delighted in, repeatedly climbing up and running down. It was really fun to see her screwing around up and down those piles of sand, falling and rolling, and having a great time.Overall, our second week was great. The weather stayed warm and we had a lot of fun living near the ocean and playing with Jane each day. I was able to check off one of the runs on my trail running project, and do another nice one in nearby Nisene Marks Forest.
By the third week I was starting to feel the confines of the small place that we had and was missing our house a bit. When we first arrived to the rental at the start I remarked how similar the unit felt to our first rental house in California, a duplex with a shared wall, two bed, one bath, even down to the floor plan and size of the rooms. Being there made us really appreciate the house we have in San Jose with the extra rooms, larger overall space and privacy. We also realized just how crowded weekends at the beach are relative to the work week.
Friday nights you could feel the town just filling up and by Saturday afternoon it was a zoo. Compared to a Tuesday morning, where the town felt all but abandoned except for a few locals picking up morning snacks at the bakery and checking the surf. All of our weekends down there ended up being times for relaxing at the house and going for walks in the woods rather than spending the whole time at the beach because it was just too crowded. Near the end of the second week the state and counties also lifted the total lockdown on indoor dining due to Covid which is been in place for an entire year. I think this caused a bit of a surge in visitors eager to have a taste of the old times and it made it feel even more busy.
Nearing the end of our stay, I was feeling like I was ready to go home and I think Megan was feeling the same. We were still having a lot of fun and I resolved to make the most of the remaining days that we had by surfing and go in for some more short runs in the Nisene Marks Forest. We got some much-needed rain the third week as well and while it put a bit of a damper on our outdoor pursuits it was nice to have some rainy days down by the water. One morning in particular after an overnight storm, we found the beach completely transformed overnight which was really amazing to see. The storm drainage cut huge channels across the beach and the surf appeared to have come in almost to the wall separating the beach and the street.
We also had a new moon near the end of our trip and some very very low tides which gave us the chance to take Jane down to The Hook off of 41st St. and explore some of the tide pools. She loved it and it was a really memorable day. She touched her first anemone, saw hermit crabs and snails, and all sorts of other things as we walked around in the shallows.
Tide pools at The Hook / SharksBiking to Pleasure PointFeeding gapgas (ducks)A top the railroad trestleView from the trestleMuch needed rainPleasure Point
Our rental was scheduled for us to check it out on Saturday morning, but by Friday morning we saw some loud neighbors checking into the next door rental and were generally ready to be back to our house. We also didn’t have any specific plan for Saturday so we opted to pack up Friday night and head back for a full weekend at home.
I’m really glad I did the trip and it was actually a nice introduction to the idea of longer-term travel while working. I think there are some kinks we would have to work out if we wanted to do a trip with extended stays in a variety of towns like some of our friends have done. In particular I think establishing a normal routine with eating and exercise is super important. After three weeks of vacation style eating and very little targeted exercise, we are both feeling a bit sluggish.
The trip was also sampling of the idea of having a second home and what that lifestyle would be like for us. We’ve talked about getting a cabin or second home in the past, and while I’m not totally convinced it would be the best option for us, having a nearby place to go to for vacation or even work just to change up the routine of life was really nice. And since the rental was so nearby our house in San Jose, it allowed us to feel like we were on vacation while still maintaining normal day to day responsibilities and work. Though trying to work out of a smaller place than we were used to was a challenge and so a second house would either need to be a bit bigger, or used mostly for fun instead of work. And it would need to have a dishwasher!
We’ll see what the future holds, but I imagine we will do a few more trips like this in the coming year and maybe find a place we regularly return to.