Back from vacation
I just got back from a vacation in northern California. One of my wife's college friends was getting married, and it seemed like a good time to take a vacation. Things at work have calmed down somewhat for both of us. The weather would be beautiful. We had both money and time. And it was really just time for a break.
So last week, we got on a plane for San Jose (and yes, we know the way). San Jose is in the right vicinity and is a good deal cheaper than SFO or OAK. It wasn't until we went to leave San Jose that we figured out why it was so cheap. The line for security in the morning would have put Space Mountain to shame. It took us a half-hour to get through the line and we ended up missing our plane home.
We had good luck with most of the places we stayed. We stayed at the Executive Inn in San Jose three of the six nights away. It was clean and had double beds. So my wife and Oliver took one bed and I took the other. The nights passed largely uneventfully, but it wasn't any place that I'd make a habit of staying despite the fact we did.
The hotel in Petaluma was beautiful with a nice soft king-size bed. I was originally not enthused about the king-sized bed because I thought that I might roll over on to Oliver, but the extra space and my general paranoia helped avoid that. All of us slept in and slept comfortably. The hotel was also located next to a park so I got to go for a nice run while we were there.
The motel in Napa was about as nice as the Executive Inn. We got a king size bed that was rather firm. I like firm mattresses, but this was one step up from floor. Again, I didn't crush my son. The motel staff could have been more helpful, but they weren't rude or anything so they get full marks.
Each day we all slept in. We took turns napping until it was time to get food. My wife generally drew the earlier shift and then it was my turn. It's amazing how much easier to care for a baby when you don't have to get up at any specific time or accomplish anything.
Oliver is a good traveller in general. On most of our flights he was either asleep, nursing, or playing with us. The few times he cried were generally due to needing a diaper change. During the car rides he spent most of his time sleeping. But during the non-sleeping times he was fussy because he was teething.
One day on our way back from San Francisco, we decided to take CA Rt 1. It was beautiful and Oliver was well behaved for the most part. However at one point where he was fussy and my attention was partly on what was going on in the back seat, a deer trotted onto the road. I spotted the deer and slammed on the brakes, but too late to avoid hitting the deer. No one in the car was hurt and the rental car wasn't damaged, but the impact appeared to have hurt the deer relatively badly in the hindquarters. When I went to see how it was doing it struggled to get up and away from me. I called 911 and relayed my story. They had trouble pinpointing my location, but said that they'd send animal control. I drew an arrow towards where the deer was with my foot, but since there wasn't anything that I could do we ended up taking off. And of course, Oliver screamed most of the way back home.
We visited the San Francisco Museum of Natural History, but of course that was precisely when Oliver decided to take a nap. So my wife and I got to look at some cool looking fish and other aquatic animals. And just as we were going to leave, Oliver woke up. So he did get to see some of it. Since they were doing construction on the museum at the time we were there, they gave us free passes for the next time we were there. We ended up adding the free passes to our wedding present to my wife's friend.
My wife and I are budding oenophiles, so a trip out to the West Coast generally means a trip to Napa and Sonoma counties. We visited a number of places that we had been before. Some we liked and some didn't measure up to where they were at before when our tastes were somewhat less refined. Peju scored high on both taste and fun while Simi was far behind expectations.
Wine tasting with Oliver was a different experience. First, my wife couldn't really drink much as she is still nursing Oliver so it was really more of a tasting for her. Second, we were carrying Oliver around in the Baby Bjorn which meant that his head and hands were near the glass carrying the wine to our mouths. We quickly determined that I was the best one to be carrying him since I'm just that extra bit taller to adequately clear his head. And third, people get a kick out of babies especially when they are well-behaved. Not exactly a major finding, but it was nice to see that people weren't grouchy that we had brought a baby in with us.
It was probably the last time we'll be able to do that for a while, but it was a good trip for us, travel troubles and dying deer aside.
So last week, we got on a plane for San Jose (and yes, we know the way). San Jose is in the right vicinity and is a good deal cheaper than SFO or OAK. It wasn't until we went to leave San Jose that we figured out why it was so cheap. The line for security in the morning would have put Space Mountain to shame. It took us a half-hour to get through the line and we ended up missing our plane home.
We had good luck with most of the places we stayed. We stayed at the Executive Inn in San Jose three of the six nights away. It was clean and had double beds. So my wife and Oliver took one bed and I took the other. The nights passed largely uneventfully, but it wasn't any place that I'd make a habit of staying despite the fact we did.
The hotel in Petaluma was beautiful with a nice soft king-size bed. I was originally not enthused about the king-sized bed because I thought that I might roll over on to Oliver, but the extra space and my general paranoia helped avoid that. All of us slept in and slept comfortably. The hotel was also located next to a park so I got to go for a nice run while we were there.
The motel in Napa was about as nice as the Executive Inn. We got a king size bed that was rather firm. I like firm mattresses, but this was one step up from floor. Again, I didn't crush my son. The motel staff could have been more helpful, but they weren't rude or anything so they get full marks.
Each day we all slept in. We took turns napping until it was time to get food. My wife generally drew the earlier shift and then it was my turn. It's amazing how much easier to care for a baby when you don't have to get up at any specific time or accomplish anything.
Oliver is a good traveller in general. On most of our flights he was either asleep, nursing, or playing with us. The few times he cried were generally due to needing a diaper change. During the car rides he spent most of his time sleeping. But during the non-sleeping times he was fussy because he was teething.
One day on our way back from San Francisco, we decided to take CA Rt 1. It was beautiful and Oliver was well behaved for the most part. However at one point where he was fussy and my attention was partly on what was going on in the back seat, a deer trotted onto the road. I spotted the deer and slammed on the brakes, but too late to avoid hitting the deer. No one in the car was hurt and the rental car wasn't damaged, but the impact appeared to have hurt the deer relatively badly in the hindquarters. When I went to see how it was doing it struggled to get up and away from me. I called 911 and relayed my story. They had trouble pinpointing my location, but said that they'd send animal control. I drew an arrow towards where the deer was with my foot, but since there wasn't anything that I could do we ended up taking off. And of course, Oliver screamed most of the way back home.
We visited the San Francisco Museum of Natural History, but of course that was precisely when Oliver decided to take a nap. So my wife and I got to look at some cool looking fish and other aquatic animals. And just as we were going to leave, Oliver woke up. So he did get to see some of it. Since they were doing construction on the museum at the time we were there, they gave us free passes for the next time we were there. We ended up adding the free passes to our wedding present to my wife's friend.
My wife and I are budding oenophiles, so a trip out to the West Coast generally means a trip to Napa and Sonoma counties. We visited a number of places that we had been before. Some we liked and some didn't measure up to where they were at before when our tastes were somewhat less refined. Peju scored high on both taste and fun while Simi was far behind expectations.
Wine tasting with Oliver was a different experience. First, my wife couldn't really drink much as she is still nursing Oliver so it was really more of a tasting for her. Second, we were carrying Oliver around in the Baby Bjorn which meant that his head and hands were near the glass carrying the wine to our mouths. We quickly determined that I was the best one to be carrying him since I'm just that extra bit taller to adequately clear his head. And third, people get a kick out of babies especially when they are well-behaved. Not exactly a major finding, but it was nice to see that people weren't grouchy that we had brought a baby in with us.
It was probably the last time we'll be able to do that for a while, but it was a good trip for us, travel troubles and dying deer aside.
posted by mypetrock at 8:49 PM
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