“California Road Trip” #1
(San Fran to Lake Tahoe and to Sonoma)
At the beginning of the fall 2016 I packed my bags and decided to take off to California. I had just put an end to a lengthy divorce negotiation which had begun over two years earlier. Even though I knew that everything happens exactly when and as it is supposed to, these negotiations had taken every ounce of patience and understanding in my soul; the process had racked up lots of attorneys’ fees, made me $150,000 poorer, and in a way stolen 2 years and 6 months of my life. Yes! I was finally free to begin living my new life.
This trip was for me a sort of sabbatical to recharge my energies. I felt I needed the time alone to “make the switch” from being a separated woman to being a divorced woman. Even though I had been living separately and we had been leading separate lives, I still felt that I could not act single freely; mostly because I was in negotiations, and felt that it would be better not to offend the opposition in any way, namely my ex.
I bought a one way ticket to San Francisco, made reservations for the first night at an Airbnb in the Mission district, and took off. I had no plans beyond that. This journey ends up taking me seven weeks!
My 24 year old son happened to be living in San Fran at the time, and it was great to see him and to spend time together on that first day. However, he really had no time for dear old mom, so the next morning I hopped on a train to Sacramento where I would then switch to a bus that would take me to Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe was beautiful. In the fall you can still see remnants of summer but also feel the crispy cold air of the approaching winter. There were only two Uber drivers in town and I befriended them both. One was Tim, a guy from Russian descent, and the other Joanne, a super fun divorcee.
One day I went hiking in the great national park in Tahoe. It was such a gorgeous day that I hiked all day long and sort of lost track of time. When the sun appeared to be setting I tried to call the Uber… but there was zero reception up there! Zero. I am sitting there pondering and praying for a solution when I heard a car. It was Joanne. She said she knew that there was no reception up there, and that somehow she knew that I needed her. Yes, she was sent by my angel.
I also met four very nice guys that were there to cycle around the 72 mile lake, and a group of three women that had been friends all their lives and were having some kind of reunion.
The girls and I ended up dancing the night away at the Reno casino hotels across the way in Nevada. It was all crazy and healthy fun.
On the morning of my fifth day there, I woke up to snow! I had been hearing that it may happen so I was waiting for it. The ground was covered in snow and flurries were falling down all day long. Tim, the Russian Uber driver took me all around the lake so that I could see it from all angles. The lake took on a completely different aspect in winter… it was like seeing it for the first time. I thought it a gift to be able to experience both summer and winter in the span of six days.
Back in San Fran I rented a car and headed to Sonoma wine country. I stayed in a little cottage that was inside a farm.
It was cold at night so I would leave the window cracked open and listened to the horses’ mews. I had never before woken up to a rooster crowing and been lulled to sleep by cows chewing on grass. It was fun in Sonoma, everyday a different winery, beautiful landscapes, great art collections, history, good food, great wine, amazing fresh markets, and a tipsy bike ride. I even ended up on a dinner date one night. It was all good for my soul.
Seven days later I found myself back in San Fran, in the same AirBnb in the Mission district I had stayed in before. This AirBnb was the basement of an old Victorian house, it had its own entrance and it was a nice studio apartment. This apartment connected with the upstairs main house through a stairway. My hosts were a young professional couple. He was Anglo-Saxon and a techie in Silicon Valley, and she was of Vietnamese descent and worked also in the tech world but on the business side. They were a lovely couple and were so open and welcoming to me; by that I mean, they would send me a text saying “Come on up and share breakfast with us… we have friends coming over to join us.” They were great people and it made my stay so much more special.
After about a week, I said goodbye to my son, switched the rental car for a black Mustang convertible, got on the exhilarating and beautiful Pacific Highway, and headed south. Where to next?
