Traveling

A week ago my wife and I went to Half Moon Bay and to visit an older sick friend in the hospital in the Bay area. This week we headed south to Santa Barbara on business and to meet with friends there.

We shared the sunset at the beach again but found the route down very kind of hazy and wondered whether this is from China blowing across the ocean or from a fire or what. I looked online but couldn't find a fire nearby. But, it is possible it is blowing over from slash burning inland in the Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valleys where most of the farms in the state are.

After watching the sunset at the beach in Santa Barbara we went to the cottage we rented which is sort of a treat because they afford a great deal of privacy which is a commodity this far south towards Los Angeles in Santa Barbara.

Coming down on 101 we stopped at an In N Out Burger in Atascadero. If you haven't been to California and you like old fashioned burgers and fries (I'm more of a vegetarian) (my wife loves the burgers) they make one a lot like you would get in the 1950s with sort of Home made fries where they turn potatoes directly through machines into fries right before they cook them just like in the old days. They also make Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate Shakes like the old days too.

However, since I'm now gluten free for 2 years now I get what is called a Protein style Grilled cheese sandwich there now and sometimes a Vanilla or strawberry or chocolate shake with french fries. I was really surprised they made something like this but then again the first In n Out burger was in Pomona where my wife went to college in the 1970s.

So, likely the progressive thinking of the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas and so many people being gluten free who don't eat any wheat products anymore, so they make a grilled cheese and then put it inside lettuce (which is like a wrap like a sandwich) and I usually have them leave out the onions. So, I wind up with a grilled cheese with lettuce, a tomato and thousand island dressing inside a lettuce wrap which is a lot like having a burger only without the burger bun, or the meat (or in my case without onions too.

When we arrived at the cottage we had stopped at a supermarket to buy some frozen foods for dinner. Since this is a business trip it has taken a lot of preparation (especially by my wife) so instead of a restaurant tonight we are pretty tired so I'm going to hop into the tub and read or blog on my computer or read on my Ipad. Sometimes I read stuff on my Iphone through wifi too.

We found Amy's new Gluten Free Thai Pad Thai which is one of my favorite Amy's frozen foods here in California. Also, my wife bought gluten free Macaroni and cheese because here stomach wasn't right after the long drive.

I'm just happy to have a lot of work done getting ready and then driving down here for business. We haven't been down here for about 8 months I think because of my wife's full knee replacement surgery and my youngest daughter going off to college.

I told my wife after always raising somebody younger than 18 since 1974 that I feel like a lost puppy sometimes which might be another definition of "Empty Nest Syndrome". However, We have made it now since August  and also since June since the Knee replacement surgery.

So, basically on a lot of levels the last 11/2 have been an emotional and psychological ordeal to say the least. I'm really grateful our finances have been okay during this time because that might have been too much to deal with on top of everything else.

A friend of ours is driving down on Friday to meet us here so we can show Santa Barbara to her. Her life has mostly been in the Bay area and Texas. So, Santa Barbara is basically an unknown for her.

Whereas my wife grew up a lot here and I grew up mostly in Glendale even though I also spent time before I was 19 in Seattle where I was born, San Diego where I started kindergarten and Santa Fe where I spend a year in a religious private school there from 1965 to1966 when I was about 17.

So, it's sort of a relief to visit Santa Barbara again after so much has happened in the last Year especially. But, several people close to my wife and I have also died in Santa Barbara and the Greater Los Angeles Area Starting around 1995. So, remembering them all is a bit much too for us. IN 2008 I think I lost 2 and one in 2006 and one in 1995, one in Seattle and one in the Bay area in 2008 also.

So, this was very hard at the time when my mother and my wife's Dad passed away within months of each other and then I also lost an Aunt I was close to and a cousin I had been close to as well (all in the same year!)

So, going into the great recession we were financially okay but sort of shellshocked from all the deaths that year!

However, just in the last year literally everything has changed here in Santa Barbara for us on multiple levels. In the end for all of us it is: "Adapt or die"

In the end this is the only choice we have in life. Not only for us but for everyone.

I thought of going north to ski with my friend between Half Moon Bay and this trip but he said the snow wasn't good enough for that and I'm still trying to heal my knee so it is strong enough for skiing without problems. His girlfriend also has the same problem with her right ankle being strong enough for skiing this year too. So, hopefully my knee and her ankle won't prevent the three of us from skiing together in March sometime up north on  Mt. Shasta.