Our Day Off

We had a very nice, restful day playing hooky yesterday. It took far too long to trailer a car from the coast over to the shop, so lunch was not at some exotic place. Michael's blood sugar was in need of food so I suggested the fantastic grilled hot dogs at the Stanford Shopping Center. We worked our way down to the cute little storefront, enjoyed the hot dogs while sitting outside in the sunshine. Restful. Relaxing.

We drove through the Stanford University campus and it always amazes me that all the land of the original "Stanford Farm" can never be sold. So, the shopping center, university, hospital, houses, businesses are all on land leases. Imagine the income that generates! We drove past the Hoover Institute, above the nuclear accelerator, past the big radar perched on a hill on a walking trail and saw Stanford property as far as the eye could see. Quick history lesson: Leland Stanford was one of the Big Four of the Central Pacific Railroad conglomerate of early California. He, along with Collis Potter Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, created the first monopoly. The Stanford's only child, Leland Stanford, Jr. got typhoid before his 16th birthday while on the Grand Tour with his parents. He died weeks later. Returning to California, Stanford told his wife, "the children of California shall be our children." Thus, the university opened in 1891.

Down south we headed to the long pass through the mountain. On a weekend, this would take maybe hours due to everyone from the Silicon Valley heading to the ocean in Santa Cruz. But, on a Friday afternoon, it was free of traffic. A joy. A difficult, windy, road but so beautiful through the trees. We headed to the rebuilt downtown area. It was pretty much destroyed during the 1989 earthquake. It is now a charming one-way street lined with interesting stores and restaurants. And ice cream. We had our first ever experience with Stone Cold Creamery, though we had one in the smallest cup while sitting in the sunshine. It was divine!

We dragged ourselves back to the car and headed north along the ocean. The fog was just hanging off the coast and as we continued north, the fog came onto the shore. By the time we got to the county line, we were shrouded in fog. We drove by our favorite Ano Nuevo and waved at the huge elephant seals, drove by a very famous surf area for the professionals, there were white caps on the water so there were lots of people enjoying their sports and we paused by our favorite lighthouse before heading home. There was just a bit of sunshine and it was right over our house. It felt great to get out, spend the day together, wander around, miss a lot of weekend traffic and feel relaxed at the end of the day. Playing hooky.