While the majority of the populated country is sweltering in summer heat and humidity, the central coast of California gets socked in with an inversion layer keeping the cool marine air against the coastal mountains maintaining a perfect 72. This, along with a slower beach town pace of life, expansive sandy beaches and turquoise waters make this area the perfect escape during the summer. Best of all is that my family has leved there for decades. Mom and dad retired there in the mid 90s escaping the San Joaquin Valley heat and poor air quality while the extended Wienolds have lived there as long as I can remember.
We took Ryder there when he was only 6 months old, so now at two he had exploded in growth and development. My cousins and aunt and uncle hadn’t seen him since then and their eyes popped out of their head upon seeing him. We had a great time catching up and celebrating our ever expanding family (since both Jackie and Nikki are expecting late this year).
In amongst the hugs and snuggles, the nearby beaches called to us so we got out of the house as often as we could to walk along the shore and let Ryder explore. To say that he loved it is an understatement. His giddy from playing in the shallow surf was immeasurable.
Having a rental car, we had originally planned to make the trek over to my hometown Exeter. When we saw what the weather forecast was we rescinded those plans however… 107 degrees would not have made for a pleasant trip by any stroke of imagination. So Kris’ first trip there will have to wait for another time.
The only dark side to the trip was that Ryder was just recovering from a summer cold when we arrived, Kris caught it next and fought through the worst of it while we were there, I got it for the return, and ultimately Niki carried the tourch after we left. We made the best of it while we were there and tried not to overdue anything by keeping the schedule simple.
