We're going home...........

Monday/Tuesday 2nd/3rd December

We had spent an hour or so last night sorting out all our stuff - some of which we were leaving behind in San Jose in preparation for our next visit - and packing so that we could have a leisurely start to the day. Sherry reluctantly left for work at 10am, Rich was working at home and busy on conference calls but he managed to fit our farewells into a break in proceedings.  It was with heavy hearts that we waved goodbye and drove off down Erica Court for the final time.

Time had been allowed for a visit to Wells Fargo at Los Gatos so that we could open a US bank account before our departure.  This took slightly longer than expected but by the time we left we were the proud owners of a shiny new joint checking and saving account complete with temporary debit cards and a horse......yes a horse,  albeit  a small furry one which we accepted thinking it would make an excellent gift for Sherry and Rich's grandkids.  Unfortunately as we didn't have time either to drop it back to Erica Court or mail it, the poor thing found itself being unceremoniously squashed into my already bulging suitcase.

One last stop at Trader Joe's in Cupertino on the way to the airport - I am so going to miss Trader Joe - to pick up some treats to take back for our running friends and more frantic squashing of treats into my seemingly bottomless suitcase.  We couldn't resist one final episode of thrill seeking before reaching the safety of the airport.  The deal with our hire car was that we paid in advance for a tank of fuel and returned it empty....in our case with 3 miles of gas remaining! I was seriously thinking I may end up pushing it the last few hundred yards, luckily the Thrifty return garge was on the 3rd floor of the parking lot. If it had been on the top floor I don't think we would have made it!

We were at the airport in plenty of time to check in, go through security, buy coffee and relax before boarding our flight which, thankfully, was on time at 4.20pm.  Once on board we soon realised that we had three children from hell across the aisle from us - they were absolutely the worst behaved children I have ever encountered and their mother who looked about 12 years old herself just sat looking blankly at the air crew as they repeatedly told her that she must make them behave.  It got worse - a couple of hours into the flight I realised that I had mislaid my purse. Frantic searching of all pockets, rucksacks etc ensued only confirming that the purse definitely was not with us.  I knew I had it after we passed through security because I bought coffee so it must have been mislaid in the departure lounge.  I spent the rest of the trip trying not to think about the huge credit card bill that someone could be running up.......or that I would have to confess to Wells Fargo that I had only managed to keep my new card for 3 houors before losing it!

It really wasn't my day.....the in flight vegetarian option meal was inedible - a sort of mushy overcooked medley of unidentifiable vegetables, accompanied by an uninteresting salad and a small fruit salad.  One individual rice cake was the only carbohydrate included and no protein.  As usual I was starving! The non vegetarian choice was either chicken or a tasty cheese pasta - did they not realise that was actually a vegetarian option? Fortunately the air crew took pity on me and gave me a spare portion of the pasta.

I spent most of the trip trying to blank out the revolting children - at one point the youngest was standing up on it's seat, bashing the TV monitor with a can of diet coke whilst the mother watched it - and staring at my own monitor as it told me how many miles and hours of flight was still left. I hate flying!!  It was really strange watching the sky lightening as we came towards the end of the flight - our body clocks were still on midnight but by the time we landed it was 10.15am.

On landing first stop was to find wi fi, get a number for my credit card and ring to cancel it.  My brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool as I tried to remember when I had last used it and then convert Californian time to UK time!  We were lucky enough to find a courtesy bus for the parking already waiting and half full and once reunited with the car our fears that the battery may be flat proved groundless and it started with no problems.  One last slight hindrance as Martin took a wrong turn and we made an interesting detour north via Uxbridge before we could get the M40 back to the M25 and head for home!  Jet lag has a lot to answer for.

We arrived in Dorchester at around 3.30pm UK time which for us was 8.30am having been up "all night". It was so good to be home although the flat felt strangely unfamiliar at first..... So that was it, our adventure over and we settled down to catch up on some sleep.........now we just need to start planning the next trip................

The final day - at Big Basin

Sunday 1st December

Our last full day in California dawned bright and sunny - another perfect Fall day.  We took the scenic drive out to the Big Basin Redwoods State Park.  Not only was it scenic but also reminiscent of being in England as we drove along Highway 35 - an almost single lane road winding along the wooded ridge before dropping down to the aptly named Bear Creek Road.  Arriving at the Park we were, for the first time this trip, thwarted as far as finding free parking was concerned!  However, we have enjoyed a lot of visits to beautiful state and county parks during this holiday so finally handing over a $10 day use parking fee seemd entirely appropriate.

Map in hand we set off to run a 10.5 mile loop, heading towards the sea on the lovely Skyline to the Sea trail which runs for approximately 32 miles from the Castle Rock State Park to the coast at Waddell beach.  We were already formulating plans to the run the whole trail next visit and have Sherry and Rich meet us in Santa Cruz to taxi us home!


We set off through the redwoods crossing the Opal Creek and beginning to climb up through the forest occasionally overtaking a few hikers but for the most part enjoying complete solitude.  We were both surprised by the beauty of this area which is easily as striking as Muir Woods or the redwoods of Humboldt county and equally surprised that in all our visits to San Jose we have never found our way here beforehand.  This was my perfect location - my favourite running is through the forest with the sun filtering through the trees and an enticing trail snaking ahead begging to be followed.  I was so pleased that we had found such a great place to conclude our holiday.

The trail zig zagged up through the trees crossing the Middle Ridge fire road and then picking up and following Kelly Creek, a tributary to the West Waddell Creek which runs down to the coast.  For today however, the point where the creeks intercept was also the point at which we turned to the north to follow the watercourse along the Berry Falls trail stopping en route to admire the waterfalls and even having to negotiate mud in a few places - not something we have encountered much of in the past 2 months!


The falls and creek are named for a lumberman, Tilford George Berry who lived the life of a hermit on the banks of the trail and who disappeared in 1870 never to be seen again.  Some 25 years later, whilst strolling through a chaparral near Boulder Creek, a doctor came across a perfectly preserved skeleton with Berry's gun leaning against it and a single bullet through the head.

After the strenuous climb to the top of the falls we turned onto the Sunset Trail which would eventually lead us back down to Big Basin and, emerging briefly from the trees into bright sunshine, ran through a landscape that could have been Meditterranean with white slabs of rock and low lying scrub alongside the path.


Shortly afterwards we re entered the woods and the more familiar terrain and this is where our perfect day took a downturn.  A momentary lack of concentration and I turned my ankle on a tree root bringing me to an immediate stop in excrutiating pain.  Martin very helpfully told me that I'd definitely broken my ankle and was told quite impolitely to keep his opinions to himself!  Past experience has proved that if you can possibly keep moving on a sprained ankle it seems to help in the long run (hobble!) and as we were still 4 miles away from our starting point this is what I did.  Once the inital pain subsided it didn't feel too bad and I was hopeful that I may have got away without any serious damage but I was so cross with myself for spoiling a lovely run and especially on our last day.

It took us about an hour to finish the loop and even in my state of mind it was hard not to enjoy the beauty of the forest.  Due to a slightly late start and the slow rate of progress after my accident it was 2.30pm by the time we got back to the car and any plans we had for the afternoon's entertainment (slack lining!) were abandoned.  Instead we took an even more scenic drive back following Highway 9 up to Skyline Boulevard at the Saratoga Gap, stopping numerous times to enjoy vista points and note the trail heads for the Skyline to the Sea trail which we are definitely going to do next time - if I can manage to avoid tree roots and other such dangers!

Back at Erica Court we belatedly iced, compressed and elevated my ankle - which although puffy was not too badly swollen and showed no signs of bruising - until it was time to go out for our final farewell dinner with Sherry and Rich.  This found us back in downtown Campbell at the Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant, another excellent choice of venue, where we all enjoyed salmon fish and chips with apple coleslaw and some of us aso tried the sampler selection of hand crafted beers. Despite the great food, beer and company the evening was tinged with sadness at the thought of our imminent departure which we tried to offset by discussing plans for our next visit ................