California Dreamin'
Spending time along the coast of California with my family, was a dream come true. It was a chance to spend time together, creating memories and having fun. Amazingly enough, my siblings plus my Mom and Dad were able to make the trip. One of my brother’s daughter, lives and planned her wedding in northern California.
Organizing the trip was tedious work, and my sister volunteered for the role…..ALLELUIA! She researched, talked to friends, took recommendations, discovered her own, and came up with our itinerary. She planned everything from our flights, lodging, restaurants, and tours, God bless her tenacity.
Part of her plan was renting homes in two different locations. They would serve as our home base as we headed out on daily adventures. Our first home was based in Santa Rosa, and was the perfect size for our small group. It had recently been remodeled, so everything was working and in good condition; it was quaint and charming. We were hoping to get as lucky in our next location.
More family would be joining us on the second leg of the trip, so the house needed to be significantly larger to accommodate our needs. It had the right number of bedrooms, but was shy a bathroom or two. Heading north to Trinidad, the weather was chillier since it was nestled along the beautiful coastline. While we were driving to the house, we got news the dishwasher had just broken, and unfortunately the parts wouldn’t arrive until close to our departure…..ugh.
Upon arrival of our new digs, the hill was extremely bumpy, narrow, and steep (total understatement). Each time our big “rig” rental SUV would spin it’s wheels getting in and out of the driveway. We rolled in a bit earlier than expected, and the property manager hadn’t yet turned on the heat….brrrr.
The location was set amongst redwood trees to one side, and oceanside cliffs to the other. We didn’t have much time to settle in before we had to leave for a pre-wedding event. As we unloaded our luggage and groceries, we were unable to open the freezer. It was jammed shut. Next, my Dad announces we may want to see something. He had glanced at the guest book in the entryway and thought we may want to take a look. Another family had left earlier that day, and wanted the next renters to know, they had a great first couple days then all came down with an illness, that was highly contagious……WHAT?
We all immediately felt uneasy and sick………I quickly called my brother, still on his way, to pick up cleaning products to wipe the place down. Oh, and also, could they have the property manager come and turn the heat on, as we flew out the door. While we were away, the property manager came over to inspect the heat and realized it wasn’t working in part of the house. So she jiggled the thermostat in a move that appeared she knew what she was doing, and quickly left. By the time the rest of us arrived back home, it was still cold and we realized she had no idea what she was doing. A follow-up phone call resulted in her dropping off two space heaters on the porch, and swiftly made her leave.
About half of the downstairs area was run by this particular thermostat and happened to include my bedroom as well. I was the lucky recipient of one of the two space heaters. I plugged that bad boy in, and there was a pop and all the lights/power went out on our side of the house……FOR THE LOVE OF! Reviewing the house rules we read where the fuse box was located……somewhere outside along an unclear portion of the house. In an attempt to locate the box, with the guys already tucked in bed; my sister, sister-in-law, and I were rummaging around outside, in the pitch dark night, in uncharted territory. We quickly high-tailed it out of there, and wore extra layers to bed that night.
The next day, the only new snafu we encountered was a long, yellow, snail-worm type bug, crawling out of the heater vent in the bathroom. It was a banana slug. Ok being outdoors, but completely creepy indoors. Despite all the issues we had with the house, it turned out to be just fine, even though the heat or dishwasher never worked. It brought us several laughs along the way, and I am happy to report, no one got whatever germs were lurking on the day we arrived.
Our trip will not be long forgotten, and I’ll be California Dreamin’ of the imperfectly, perfect family adventure. I can’t wait to see where we end up next.
xoxox…..Sheryl
#colormecrider #cliffsideaffair #criderwedding