Road Trip
Scott Mclean
Nerves acting up so here we go again.
My sister Sandy was out of the house and married before I was 11.
Her husband was in the Air Force and they lived in the Mountain View suburb of San Francisco.
We drove down to visit them with triple digit temperatures until we dipped over the coastal range in Northern California. All the windows went up then.
That area in 1969 was full of things an 11 year old from Cowiche had never imagined. We saw all of the tourist sights like the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf.
Steve and I quietly bought some firecrackers in back alleys of Chinatown that later got us in trouble.
We went as far south as Santa Cruz where I rode the coaster and we bodysurfed. Steve was not old enough for the coaster.
We did all of the redwoods and required tourist stuff. The trip was an eye opener for a kid from up here. I turned 11 down there and my sister bought me an album by the Grass Roots. Remember them?
I think the trip was less fun for our parents than us but that often happens. Oddly enough, when the kids become teens, the parents are more amused by the trips.
We seemed to take vacations that coincided with my birthday.
Steve did set some firecrackers off in the restroom of the blue roof pancake house in Eureka that caused a minor fuss. They never pinned it on him though.
More later.