Family get together!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
I love to travel, but in the days leading up to a trip, I always find myself thinking of every reason why I should just stay home. Then, once I actually hit the road, I’m fine — and usually wondering why I hadn’t left sooner.
We were up early, packed the car, and headed to Paris Baguette for coffee. As we were ordering, my cell phone chirped. I looked at the camera alert and saw that, for the second day in a row, someone had put a door hanger on my front door.
Nothing screams “we are not home” quite like packages, flyers, or door hangers sitting on your doorstep.
So we headed back to the house to grab it, and as I suspected, it was from a real estate agent promoting an open house. Seriously, you would think a real estate agent would understand home security.
Eventually, we headed out for Northern California. I hadn’t been to Muir Woods before, and there were a few places around Point Reyes that I wanted to see. The plan was to stay in Larkspur for a few nights, visit Muir Woods and Point Reyes, spend some time in Napa Valley, and then head back home.
On the way, we stopped to have lunch with my spouse’s aunt in Visalia. We always bring her goodies from Thai Town in Hollywood, and she always seems so happy to see us. We had lunch at Pita Kitchen, and she told us about her birthday and how her friend had taken her to Morro Bay.
After lunch, we continued on toward Larkspur, with another four hours or so of driving ahead of us. We were making good time until we hit the San Francisco area, which had bad weather and bad traffic. As I sat there, I wondered, isn’t this the case every time I go through this area?
I have visited San Francisco many times, both for work and for pleasure. I never understood the allure of that city. It can be a fun place to visit, but even in July, you have to have a jacket. More often than not, people would ask where I was from, and when I said “Los Angeles,” they would make some snarky comment like, “I’m sorry.” It always felt like a setup, and not exactly welcoming or endearing.
We arrived at our Larkspur hotel and checked in. As I checked in, I was told there was an additional $15-per-night parking fee, followed by being told that housekeeping would only clean the room every other day. They used to give you points if you chose not to have your room cleaned every day. Then COVID hit, and now they just tell you they’re not going to clean it.
We had dinner at Hog Island, at the marina next door. I thought it was good.
After that, it was back to the hotel, where I focused on figuring out what we would do the next day.
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