Have No Car, Will Travel

A few personal notes before I move onto this week’s blog: Congratulations to the Van Everys and a big welcome to Georgia Poppy Van Every, who finally decided to come out of hiding on Thursday, February 26. Can’t wait to meet her! And also a world’s full of good wishes to my friend Marcie, who recently found out she’s heading back into chemo. Anyone reading this, send some good thoughts to Columbus that Marcie kicks cancer’s ass.

I love living in an urban area—I can walk to work, grab a cab when I need one, hop on a bus or a train within five blocks of my house in any direction, and never have to care whether the neighbors might be talking about me. (I grew up in a rural area, and let me tell you, they talk!) We don’t have a car, just a scooter, and I dare you to have difficulty finding parking with a scooter! At this point, the only downside is the occasional bout of City-Induced Claustrophobia: the feeling that if I don’t get a change of scenery, and quick, I might be compelled to move back to Greene County.

Our last road trip was a long one, indeed. (Mt. Roy, Wanaka, NZ)

The current bout of CIC had been growing for nigh on six months now. Last spring we took a three-week mega-vacation across New Zealand (a preemptive version of what folks call a babymoon these days, only with a lot less pampering and a lot more hiking), and that pretty well spent my vacation days; when we returned, I had Devil-Ettes gigs every weekend. So while RocketMan was taking off to a wedding in Newport and his mom’s house in Cape May, I was still knocking around our 680-SF apartment. Sure, since then I’ve gone to Chicago (over Thanksgiving, to visit family) and Greene County and DC (over Christmas, to visit family) but I haven’t left the city for any kind of pleasure trip—not even a day trip—since New Zealand. That’s almost a year spent in the same 49 square miles. And now that I have a RocketBaby who’s beginning to make itself known, I’m realizing my time is limited: get out in the next three months, or don’t get out for another nine.

BTW, I don’t mean to sound whiny. Taking weekend vacations is a luxury, I know. That said, folks with cars can decide to go hiking for a day over in Marin without worrying about train or bus schedules, or drive down to Pacifica for a nice day at the beach. In Pennsylvania, my parents routinely drive 40 miles to go to the mall. Compare that to spending most of my time in the same few square miles, and you might get why I’m longing for the open road.

Step One: Which Door, Monty?

Fortunately, we had three options out of the gate: our friend’s new Tahoe house; a weekend at a house in Grizzly Flats, that I won through a silent auction; and a discount from any number of B&Bs that we got for a wedding gift back in 2007. I insisted on using the B&B, as our alone-time is fast running short, and no way am I planning a romantic getaway when I’m carrying a watermelon.

Step Two: Which Direction?

On our list of no-gos: Tahoe, where we’d be going, anyway, and any wine country, as visiting wine country while pregnant just seems potentially unsatisfying. Surprisingly, the no-wine-country rule drastically reduced our choices, and I couldn’t figure out why, until I realized California has more wine country than Pennsylvania has barns, and almost all of our previous weekend trips have been wine-focused. We’re boozers.

My first vote was for Palm Springs. It had several things going for it:

The Kaufmann House

1. Warm. Hot, even. I haven’t genuinely basked in warmth since summer of 2007. (BTW, California is NOT universally warm. Some parts of it are downright chilly all year. Never cold, but chilly, all the time!)
2. Neither of us have ever been there.
3. It’s a modern design mecca. We’re members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and in the last year they’ve featured the Palm Springs Neutra house in at least six issues. Palm Springs expanded right at the height of the modern architecture movement, and from what I read, you can’t go a block without seeing some brilliant example of glass walls, Swedish furniture and flat roofs. I imagine that it’s like living in The Incredibles’ house, only without the superpowers to distract from the smoothly curved lines of a beautiful coffee table.

Unfortunately, once we tallied up the cost of a flight to Palm Springs, a rental car in which to visit all the fab homes, and the B&B itself, the price came to about $700. Throw in food and other bits, and we could go to Hawaii for a weekend. So no-go on my mecca.

Step Three: Make a Project Out of It

Now we knew we wouldn’t be flying anywhere, so we had to travel by car or train, and within a reasonable distance so a three-day trip would make sense. I took the internet tack—go to www.bedandbreakfast.com, poke around where our discount would be honored, bookmark some sites. My first inclination was Sacramento, since it’s a two-hour train ride away, a lovely city for walking (really, San Franciscans, it is!), and we’d taken an overnight trip there a few years back.

RocketMan, drawing orbits around San Francisco RocketMan, predictably, approached the problem more methodically, and then managed to distract himself into a major project involving strings, compasses, markers, pencils, rulers, and a drawing mat. (See photo.) After several failed experiments, a great deal of transparent tape, and not a small amount of swearing, he had achieved a goal he’s been considering for some time: a map of approximate driving times, drawn in concentric circles radiating out from San Francisco.

“Santa Cruz, you say? Why, that’s approximately an hour away by car! Merced? Two hours! A lovely weekend in Fresno? ‘Twould take but three hours’ driving time to arrive!” I laugh at him, but, of course, it’s a pretty handy map. After eyeballing the green circles for a bit, combined with my internet research, we opted for a weekend in Carmel—Clint Eastwood’s favorite little town and a hop over from Monterey (I’ve never been to the aquarium). We even managed to find a B&B with a kitchenette, so we’re staying three nights instead of only two. And according to our map, it will take a mere 90 – 120 minutes to travel there by car.