Tag: Beach

Carpe Diem, Spring in CA

Adventures in the Past Few Months

Our calendar has been packed the past few months with short adventures and weekend trips, all flavored with a strong dose of short notice spontaneity and disorganization. With the project shutdown and layoff I felt the need to take advantage of every single day between the announcement of the project shutdown and the end of my notice period when I would be officially unemployed. It was such a whirlwind of last minute plans we even packed for trips that never happened!

Tahoe Northstar

Our adventures began with a last-minute trip to Tahoe Northstar. We booked our stay at 10 PM the night before leaving  yet still managed to travel in style. I rented a Tesla Model Y to try out self-driving during the long (for us) trip up to the mountains. The car added some fun for me, though I’m not sure the kids noticed much difference. Continue reading “Carpe Diem, Spring in CA”

3 weeks at the beach, Capitola, CA

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.

 

Continue reading “3 weeks at the beach, Capitola, CA”

S is for San Francisco, Bay Area, CA

8/24/2019 – 9/1/2019

For summer vacation this year we planned a local trip to San Francisco and Bodega Bay. Leading up to the trip we considered a few other options including Hawaii, Yosemite,  and a more involved Northern California roadtrip but decided on the simplest itinerary:

  • 4 nights at home with a day trip to Santa Cruz
  • 2 nights at Presidio Lodge in San Francisco
  • 2 nights at an ocean side rental North of Bodega bay
  • 1 night back at home to recuperate

     

By the time we made up our mind the trip was only about a month away and we nearly missed getting our desired locations due to their occupancy getting booked. Luckily it worked out though. Continue reading “S is for San Francisco, Bay Area, CA”

The Lost Coast, King Range, CA

Three weeks into starting my new job and I was ready for some time off. Megan had just arrived the previous week, and after a few days of unpacking she too was long overdue for some RnR. Luckily, the company gave me the full week off for Thanksgiving, so we headed North five hours to the Lost Coast for a backpacking trip.

 

Continue reading “The Lost Coast, King Range, CA”