Chillin’ With the Chillen’
Thomas and Jenna have been here for three days and have one day to go. From here they go to Colorado where they will do some hiking and getting to know Denver. Both Thomas and Jenna work hard and really wanted to use their time to relax. We offered them a whole array of things to do ranging from the famous San Diego Zoo to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, but it was clear that they preferred to just chill at the house. We’ve made sure to go to the beach for dinner one night and we have literally seen all of the West Coast family (including dinner tonight with Kathy and Bennett).
They have spent their time sleeping in, sitting on the deck looking out over the hillsides to the Ocean (one of my favorite activities), taking motorcycle rides (me and T anyway), drone flying, going to the movies, watching Netflix series, reading and generally chilling. I have also forced them both to walk around the property with me to see all my improvements. Thomas and I even took delivery on another piece of outdoor sculpture art and installed it on the hillside. It is a modern abstract sculpture of a wide ribbon of copper on a black pedestal. It goes nicely on the hill next to one of the new pathways.
When I was a kid, I remember living in New England and going on family rides through the New England countryside to look at the leaves or the craggy mountains. I recall finding it all very boring. Every time we would pass a “Scenic” road sign, I would mumble “scenic, scenic, scenic….” It all struck me as so passive and therefore so uninteresting to look at scenery. By contrast, these days that seems to be one of my favorite activities. I could sit and stare at the scenery, especially if it is from my property and includes parts of my property, for hours on end. In fact, yesterday, Jenna and Thomas were talking to me about their interests in foreign travel. They expressed sadness that we had to cancel our Spain/Portugal trip last month. I found myself saying that I didn’t mind and that, quite frankly, I probably preferred to do what we did, which was visit with the kids in New York and then come back here to finish the back hillside gardening work.
That suddenly struck me. If you asked me what I would like to do more than anything at this stage of my life, I would say that I like staying here and having guests come and stay with us. From there I am game for anything from the Safari Park to a day-trip to Disneyland. I like my home and I more and more like staying at my home. That is not to say I hate travel. In order of preferences, I probably prefer a road trip to a trip where I have to fly somewhere. And I probably prefer a domestic trip to an international trip. I think maybe I’ve traveled enough in my life to satisfy me. I will still enjoy foreign travel, but I just yearn for it less and less. In fact, we had an air credit for travel to Europe by the end of March and it felt more like a burden to plan something than not. We got Gary and Oswaldo to agree to a trip to Italy for a few weeks and that got me over a hurdle (but not before trying unsuccessfully to transfer the air credits to kids or friends, including G&O).
So, now we are booked to fly to Rome with the plan to spend some time there and then head south to the Amalfi Drive for a few days. Rome is probably the easiest place for me to travel to internationally. Having lived there for three years in my youth, speaking Italian rather well, and having visited repeatedly over the years, I feel more at home in Rome than anywhere else. However, even when I lived there during high school, I can recall wanting nothing more than to go back to the United States to live. And strangely enough, when I thought of that I tended to think about living in California. I spent five years in Ithaca and then 45 years in NYC, during which I seemed to have forgotten all about my California yearnings. I will admit that I applied and was denied access to Stanford, so it was off to Cornell and, of course, that led to NYC and a lifetime in finance. God knows how that all happens in life, but it just does.
One of the things I liked about Stanford (naturally, besides the academic standards it represents) was that I could have a motorcycle as a freshman and I read about how great it was to ride up into the hills around Palo Alto. That’s one of the things I like most about this area of San Diego. I am minutes away from country roads that lead up into the hills like up to Palomar Mountain. In fact, Thomas and I will take a ride up into those hills this very morning. He will ride the BMW RNineT I just bought (with him in mind I might add) and I will ride my BMW R1250GS Adventure. They strangely look like an older adult and younger adult set of bikes just to look at them.
My memories of Rome and the southern parts of Italy like the Amalfi Coast revolve around riding my motorcycles during high school around those areas. Strangely enough, given that I am always traveling with others, I don’t get the chance usually to ride those roads, but rather find I am driving those roads in a car. My motorcycle group travels are one of the ways I keep all those memories alive. A few years ago we rode around Sicily and half the group went on up through the Amalfi, but we had to get home, so I missed that opportunity. In any case, so long as I am with Kim and good friends like Gary and Oswaldo, I will enjoy the Amalfi drive just fine.
I suspect that when Thomas and I get back from our motorcycle ride this morning, during which I presume Jenna will sit and read her book, we will get back to looking out over the hillside towards the Ocean. I know it sounds like a dull way to spend time with the kids, but I think just chillin’ with the chillen’ may be what I enjoy most these days…especially when spiced with an exciting motorcycle ride through the nearby hills.