The Road Home – Divide and Conquer

We’re home as we write this. It was a great seven days of visiting friends and family.

We spent two days with our daughter and son-in-law in Monterey. Our daughter was wrapping up her last week at her current job so the three of us spent our time packing up last minute items and preparing for the movers.

While Charlotte was working, the three of us went to Pacific Grove for lunch and then drove along Ocean View Blvd. The “Purple Carpet” was in full bloom. So beautiful!

That evening, we went to dinner in a historic adobe building in downtown Monterey at Cella Restaurant and Bar. The food was amazing and we toasted Charlotte and Phil’s new adventure!

The next day, we loaded their third car up with dog and dog supplies as our granddog, Fenway, will be staying with us until the kids move into their new home in Santa Rosa in a few weeks.

Tom rode the motorcycle while Cathy and Fenway used the four-wheel option. We headed north to Aptos for a too-short visit with our sister-in-law, Anne. It was drizzling and Tom got a bit wet by the time we got there. Fenway was welcomed into Anne’s house and we visited for about two hours. So great to see her!

After that, we went our separate ways – Tom taking a circuitous route home and Cathy deferring to Google Maps for the quickest, most dog-friendly route home. Even with Google’s fastest route, it took Cathy and Fenway over four hours to get home due to the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Tom arrived about an hour later.

Fenway settled in and is enjoying being spoiled.

Now Tom is filling the living room with camping gear to get ready for his annual backpacking/fishing trip with our son and granddaughter. After that, he rides to Pikes Peak with some friends so the living room will fill up with riding gear again. It must be summer in the Barrington home.

It was a trip full of closed roads – at least one each day. In the process we found some great new roads that we will intentionally revisit! We had a few mishaps but it was all worthwhile to reunite with dear friends and family.

Last barn pic of this trip!