Big Sur 2009

Everything changes

Fresh off the camping trip at Big Sur and as I look back at 4 days of fun , sun, food, family, friends, and campfires, I thank God for a great time and lots of laughs. First I want to say thanks to Maddi for coming. She really made the trip for us in a lot of ways, at least I know thats what Tanner and Grayson would say. As I have watched her grow it registers how grown up she has become somewhere in the back of my mind, spending the last 5 days with her has made me fully aware that she is a very special girl, and an absolute joy to have around. We were blessed. I hope she had as much fun with us as we had with her. At one point in the weekend we knew that Auntie MiMi and Aunt Barb (the other parts of the three headed hydra) where coming to see us. As the car pulled in I got the shock of the weekend, Uncle Elmer. After blogs and e-mails and here say, and stories there he was. It was hard to contain the tears. Three years is a long time when you really love someone and I hugged him as tight as I could. What a great surprise. Maryn and Thresher had to leave Sunday Night and although we continued to have fun, I found myself wishing they could have stayed. She made some fabulous desserts and Thresher played Bike mechanic for the weekend. I hope they had fun as I know we had fun with them there. Uncle Randy, Aunt Noel, Ethan, and Dominica came down for the day. It was awesome because they brought bread and we got to meet Ethan for the first time. I tried to be the nasty older cousin but he was a very cool guy (Dominica told me) and it was great to see them. They had plans for dinner, and left to early for me. I love hanging out with them. But they where kind enough to leave us Maddi so it was OK. My mom was a trooper, I could tell she was hurting but she never complained and spent gobs of time with Sierra which allowed us to do things with the kids like hike and go bicycling. Grayson kept us laughing the whole time with his Houdini hands, and it turns out Tanner is a heck of a fisherman/camper/bicyclist/climber/...you get the picture. Sierra loved the river and the Nani attention, and Wendy and I, though tired, are already talking about the next one. Gluttens for punishment I guess.
Now for those of you that have grown up going to Big Sur I have some teriible news. The Gorge is gone. Yes Gone. After almost 35 years of memories and 30 of them at the Gorge, we trecked up the river valley over bolders only to crest the last one and discover that the gorge had been filled with dirt. A gentle river flows through the chasm that used to be 12 or 15 feet deep. There is no swimming hole. At first i thought it was because of low water levels, but there where no rocks. Mudslides after the terrible fires last year filled in the river valley and the Gorge is no more. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but I guess everything changes.