On June the third my husband William and I will celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it! The time has gone by in a blink. Whoever knew this simple, uncomplicated girl from Edward Street would marry a Jewish man, who became a highly respected lawyer? Definitely not me.
My husband likes to joke and say that I've stuck with him because I never know when another good year is going to show up. "Year three and seven were good," he says with an adorably silly grin on his face. Actually, I always thought year fifteen was one of the better ones.
So, the big question became, "What should we do for our anniversary, honey?"
Me, I'm not into big celebrations for birthdays and anniversaries. I've been known to miss many. However, I did contemplate renewing our vows. After all, the dishtowels and linens are all worn out, the china has chips and cracks and no one plate matches another - we have had three kids, two of them boys who have rambunctious friends. Plates and glasses break on a regular basis, and spoons magically disappear. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided I just wasn't that into the idea of planning another wedding.
William decided we should have a second honeymoon. Something special - California.
"Of all the places in the world," I said, "California is NOT on my top ten list. It's not even on my top 1,000 list! They have earthquakes for crying out loud. I have trouble balancing at the best of times."
William sniffed indignantly at my protestation. "It's beautiful there and you'll love it."
"I'd rather get a new deck for the backyard," I groused.
"Nope, we're leaving on Tuesday. Get packing."
"Tuesday?" I cried. "Six days from now? I just can't up and leave! I have a radio show to prepare for and a million appointments -"
"Sorry, we're booked. Pack."
Well! That was that. On April 29th I found myself sitting in an airplane, heading for sunny California and with way too many outfits and shoes packed. As usual.
We landed in San Francisco and rented a Ford Edge.....nice car! Then we headed down Highway One south to Carmel. The scenery was beautiful but I was still panic-stricken about those gosh darn earthquakes and couldn't really appreciate its true beauty.
However, Carmel would not allow me to miss it. Every little corner of that town clamoured for my attention. Cliched words like charming, quaint, lovely came to mind.
We spent five days in the Carmel region; going down the famous 17 mile road to Pebble Beach, driving to Monterey and Cannery Row and the aquarium; visiting John Steinbeck's house and the Museum they have in his home town, Salinas. That was inspiring.
Then on the only rainy day we had, we drove south to Big Sur and Hearst castle.
Sequoia National Park and the King's canyon took my breath away. No, no, it really took my breath away. We were 8500 feet in the air, in the Sierra Nevadas. Lack of oxygen. Nonetheless, I loved Sequoia National Park and the Forest of the Giants. Being surrounded by trees that are nearly forty feet wide and tower over 600 feet into the sky is a very humbling experience. It was a strange sensation but I felt as if I were amongst very dear old friends. I found it incredibly difficult to leave them behind. And the bear. Did I mention the bear whose path we crossed?
We went to Napa Valley and had a blast on Cinqo de Maio day. Met some lovely birds in Bodega Bay, crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and explored San Francisco. A very hilly San Francisco. My little town of Windsor is flat as a pancake. I'm impressed with myself when I do a 4 degree trek on the treadmill. Carmel's streets were six and eight degree slants and that was hard. But San Francisco had them all beat - 45 degree slants, even bigger than that. And being with William, we walked everywhere. We even walked UP the famous Lombard Street.
All in all it was a fabulous trip...and no earthquakes! I didn't necessarily leave my heart in San Francisco, but I certainly left some of it in Carmel and Monterey. And a lot of my heart is with those giants, the Sequioas. California is a wonderful and beautiful place to go for a second honeymoon!