So this year we decided to change it up and go up to Northern California, and visit Santa Cruz, San Fransisco, Monterrey, and San Luis Obispo. We knew instead of swimming in the pool we'd be bundled up all day, but hey the scenery would make up for it, right?
Yeah it totally did. Did you know that there are places in California where there is open space? I didn't. I had never known that towns has spaces in between them, and not all cities had over 100,000 residents in them. I had no idea that there were trees near the beach besides Palm and Eucalyptus trees. And that they can be really green! AND OVERLY ABUNDANT! And the the clear blue parts of the ocean, and the rivers, and lakes we passed along the way took my breathe away. Where we stayed in Santa Cruz was right by the beach, but unlike my home town of HB right next to the beach didn't mean 5 million people on the streets and sidewalks and beaches. It was calm, and slow and quiet. Did I mention slow? I didn't feel rushed to move from one thing to the next to the next. It was fantastic. It was so different from the OC/LA culture I have grown up in.
I am a girl with deep hearty roots here in my home, not because of my home necessarily but because of the family (extended and church) that I have here. I have often quipped before that I would gladly move anywhere if my family would just up and move with me. But I couldn't shake the feeling of, I would gladly move here, in a heartbeat. I mean I would miss my family something awful, but I would be happy to be where I was too. Not to say that I am not happy here in the OC, but the quiet peaceful beauty of the coast was just inviting. Like a nap under warm blankets on a cold rainy day.
But a sharp contrast to the beauty of where we stayed was part of our trip on the 101. I am not a big Steinbeck fan, all his work always made me feel sad and cold and alone. I like a good sad story in a book, but his stories affected me weird. (I guess they did their job, right?) Well, driving through the farm lands on central California reminded me of the Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, and left me feeling oppressed and sad. I really was so happy to reach Monterrey, where it felt peaceful, not dank and heavy. I mean the fields were beautiful, and the vineyards gorgeous, but the feeling of them being filled with over-worked underpaid people made me sad.
And after realizing there was a Mission in Santa Cruz we decided to make it educational for Serena, being that next year as a 4th grader she will be learning all about the Missions...and what more could help her want to learn that having been to a few of them right? So we went to the Mission site, which was beautiful, just as the city of Santa Cruz is beautiful. But then Serena asked me what the Missions were about and I had to tell her the good things and the bad things. The Salvation that was brought by some amazing men who actually cared about the souls of the Natives, and the awful people who mistreated, enslaved and annihilated most of them. The Mission was a site to see, really. There is nothing like looking at living history, but to know that so many bad things were done in God's name was heartbreaking. We actually stopped on the way home to see the Mission in San Luis Obispo as well, so that by time she starts learning about them, she will have already been to three of them (we plan to go to San Juan Capistrano this summer). It even gave us a reason to head to the library and check out books other than Ramona and Junie B Jones (not that those are bad, but educational books tickle my fancy quite a bit, I love to absorb knew knowledge and I hope to pass that on to my kids) and we checked out 3 books on Missions. One on San Luis Obispo, one on Santa Cruz and one on the Southern California Missions so we can prep for our future visit to Capistrano. But then again the books show the very sad oppressive way the Natives were treated by some Friars and most of the Soldiers at the Presidios.
So I guess Northern California isn't a prefect Utopia; it has it's dark under belly as well. But man do I crave that slow pace like I craved Wendy's Frosty's as a pregnant woman. If only I could find a way to being that Serenity here...
oooooo looks and sounds divine!
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