Well, now that I’m officially a year behind on the blog, I’ve been feeling more and more daunted by the thought of trying to catch up. So I’ve decided, after much procrastination, to lessen the burden and pressure on myself and just write a few quick posts, maybe even just one, to get us pretty well caught up to where we are and I’ll continue on with more in-depth posts from our recent adventures and projects.
We may end up going back and writing up individual, more detailed blogs on specific things we want to touch base on, but for now I want to just get caught up and start working on current events.
So, that brings us back to our family road trip to San Diego to prepare the boat for a long drive North on a semi trailer. We intended this trip to be a combination of vacation and also working to get the boat ready to hit the road. It was, but there was a lot more work involved than we initially thought (welcome to boat ownership!).
The trip started on a Friday evening, exactly one year ago, September 2nd, 2016. We had everything packed and ready to go and we left directly after getting off work on Friday night. The kids were excited to finally get a chance to see the boat which would become our home- they hadn’t seen it yet except for in pictures and video. Brenden and I were looking forward to a few days road-tripping down highway 101 along the Oregon and California coastline and taking in the beautiful sights along the way.
That first night, we made it from Vancouver WA to Coos Bay OR. We stayed in a hotel casino and the kids were SO excited to sleep in a hotel. Ha- the exuberance of childhood is infectious. Even though it was quite late by the time we made it to the hotel and checked in, the kids were pretty amped up and it took them a good 45 minutes to calm down and fall asleep in their shared bed.
The next day, Saturday, we moved inland a little in California to visit the Redwood forests of Northern California. We stayed that night, I believe, in Willits CA. On Sunday morning, we headed back to the coast, to Glass Beach and Fort Bragg for some more sight-seeing. Then on South to Salinas for the night.
Monday, September 5th, we were awwed, and a little freaked out (in my case), by the ‘vista viewpoints’ along the cliffs of Big Sur. That drive was one of the most stunningly gorgeous drives I’ve ever witnessed. I was sure glad Brenden was driving – there were a few times that I had to fight off a full blown panic attack at the sheer drop off cliffs just inches from our tires.
On the evening of Monday the 5th, Labor Day, we made our way into San Diego. We had another night in a nice hotel in Coronado. The following day we took possession of our beautiful sailboat. The broker snapped this photo as we motored away from the marina where she’d been living to the boat yard where she would be decommissioned for transport.
Tuesday and Wednesday were taken up with many hours spent on the boat stowing items, removing the sails, bimini and dodger, boom, and eventually the crane to take the mast down. Brenden spent pretty much his entire day at the boat yard both days. I tried to help as much as I could but quickly came to the realization that I could help best by taking the kids elsewhere. By this time, we were all pretty beat from the long drive to get there and everything going on, so the kids and I mostly just relaxed in our AirBNB condo with its meager air conditioning.
Finally on Wednesday, the boat was hauled out of the water and I took the kids to the boat yard to see her up in the air.
On Thursday morning, the truck arrived which would take her to Portland. Her trip didn’t go exactly to plan, but she made it. Read more about the boat’s trip north, and our return drive as well, on the next blog.
Thanks for reading! Follow along on our Facebook Page for current events! ~Rachel