Archive for November 4th, 2024

The Rest of the Trip

November 4, 2024

We’ve been back for almost exactly a week as I write this. We arrived home last Sunday at about 8:30 PM. This was 14 hours and 1 minute after we left Mendocino.

Mendocino was great. Just a few days, but we really enjoyed the area.

View from our room at the Trillium Inn
Required shot of Carl on a beach with a “bat”
The cove where the Big River meets the ocean. Complete with paddle board/surfer if you look closely.
More waves

We walked, mostly along the coastline, watching waves.

A tree I took a shine to

The last vacation day we spent walking, see prior pictures, and attending the memorial gathering for Kirk and Pat. It was lovely learning more about these two special people. One description I particularly liked was, “They were the most married unmarried couple I knew.”

Following the service, we retired to Mendocino and Pattersons Pub once again. Game 2 was on, and we were with our baseball buddies. We appreciated the situation.

Sunday, we bolted by 6:30, in the rain to head home. The first part of the drive included windy roads in the dark and rain. But they were not as intimidating as the road we drove on our way to Mendocino. We finally intercepted I-5 at Grant’s Pass, Oregon. The speeds were faster, but there was also more traffic. The biggest slowdown we hit was due to an accident somewhere along the road, I don’t remember the milepost. We were really happy passing known places; Eugene- only 5 hours to go, Portland- 3 hours (side note – it takes forever to get through Portland itself), Olympia – yeah, Tacoma- so close you can feel it. Finally, Seattle and home.

We got the car unloaded, and some unpacking ensued. I knew I had to get to bed but was still vibrating a bit when I climbed into bed. These work alarm beckoned in the morning for me.

It was not just me needing to get to work, Carl had to recover the Prius from its vacation at the Toyota dealership. And get some groceries.

Game 3 happened Monday night, but we were all in travel recovery mode and watched separately.

Game 4 and 5 were watched with our baseball buddies.  Indian food and Gorditos burritos, respectively, for food.

For those that don’t follow baseball, the Dodgers won the World Series, besting the New York Yankees 4 games to 1. And the Yankees had an inning from hell in the middle of the last game.

Dodgers Win

With baseball and travel in our rear-view mirror, we were able to tackle more mundane tasks. Like voting.

Dropped our ballots off

Next up is figuring out even more about Medicare. We met with a SHIBA volunteer on Friday, and he answered many questions and pointed us in directions for more study.

Neighborhood color

It is very likely that many of these orange leaves are now on the ground. It was really windy  overnight and today.

Onward.