Day 4--Muir Woods and Musicale

Last night was our last at Deborah's. We invited her to come join us at tonight's family musicale, on the condition that she perform something (as all of us were doing). She seemed a bit taken aback at first, but proved to be game. After a lovely breakfast of oatmeal and cinnamon toast, we spent a little time going over maps for the day's trips and set off in Mom's car for Muir Woods National Monument. (They went home with Phyllis last night, so we had the day to ourselves with the car.)

We wanted to do something seriously active, like hiking or biking. Paul had seen Muir Woods when he was out in S.F. for a martial arts convention 20 years ago, but I had never been. What could be more quintessentially California than The Redwood Forest from This Land is Your Land?

It was blessedly cool so near the coast after yesterday. I was the only one I saw there in a sleeveless shirt, but we walked so much, I was never cold. I had brought my pedometer with me (gadgets are fun!) so I had proof of the 7 total miles we walked. Well, 2 of them were just getting back and forth from the car, but still.

It was extremely crowded--the crowd was so thick around the monument boardwalk area that we could only shuffle helplessly along at about 1.5 mph. We took the first turn-off for a hiking trail we saw, a 3.5-mile loop up a steep hillside. It felt so good to walk our normal speed (we finished it in an hour) and work up a bit of a sweat. It was almost entirely in a deep woods, which was beautiful and smelled good.

By the time we returned to the boardwalk, we were in the mood to slow down and the crowds were smaller. Here is a redwood so tall you can't see the top from below:

An interesting growth pattern on one of the trunks:

We were really hungry by the time we got back to the car at about 2:30. We had lunch at the Pelican Inn at Muir Beach just a few miles down the road, as Phyllis and Alec raved about it. It had the atmosphere of an old English pub (Tudor architecture, etc.) and they served hearty fare that actually reminded us of Cleveland food (shepherd's pie and other "mitten season" favorites).

Afterwards, we took a short 10-minute walk to the beach itself. A bracing sea breeze whipped all around us--I was glad I had thought to bring a light jacket. All around the street there were signs warning people that they would get in deep doo-doo if they parked--here's one that's not exactly world peace.

We managed to get to Phyllis' house in Richmond in one piece in spite of rush hour and a wrong turn that led us on a maze around the back end of San Quentin. Eric had left work early in San Jose to come and join us. Phyllis' neighbors across the street, who were in the Netherlands for a month, had offered to let Paul & me stay there, as there isn't enough room at Phyllis'. They also have a well-tuned piano, which gave us the idea of having a musicale.

Alec, who is 14, has been playing the violin since he was maybe 5. Usually when I've been out for family get-togethers, he's played something with me accompanying. But this time, all of us played, sang, or did a reading. As soon as we arrived at about 5:30, a buffet of salads was set up at Phyllis', and people grazed and came over to rehearse as needed. I felt a little like I was on the job, as I was accompanying 2 pieces with Alec, 2 with Paul, one song with Eric (sightreading, but at least my part was easy) and the Java Jive by ear with Mom and Phyllis. Not to mention my solo, a live rendition of my latest composition Galion, which I had to practice for at least 20 minutes because at first I forgot a huge chunk of it. I ended up only having 10 minutes to eat.

I was originally planning on recording it with my new digital recorder and microphone, which I had brought on the trip especially for the occasion. But, unfortunately, I had overestimated my ability to remember how it worked after not using it for 2 months. Of course, I hadn't thought to bring the manual or even read it before the trip. I couldn't even figure out how to listen to what I had already recorded last time! Slightly frustrated, I said to hell with it. Instead, Phyllis used a mini cassette recorder.

The evening got to be fun as the performances started. The tedium of rehearsal always pays off--everybody played, sang, and/or did their readings well, and I thought, we have such a cool family! Deborah really surprised us with 2 solliliquies (in character!) and a song from My Fair Lady. She says she's never done anything like that before in front of other people. You'd sure never guess it as far as I could tell.

Afterwards we were all pretty wired. We enjoyed a dessert of homemade lemon cake with homemade whipped cream and organic strawberries while Eric entertained us with funny stories about cats, snakes, and snake phobia (all true).

Here's a pic of us with Deborah:

We want to be sure to stay in touch!