My daughter leaves for college in a couple of weeks. I’ll have gone from not being a dad to parenting a high schooler to living in an empty nest in the span of 26 months. Before Deonnie moves to her dorm at Radford University, we embarked on our first ever dad’n’daughter trip. It was a whirlwind of a long weekend.
We absolutely enjoyed our tour of San Francisco’s neighborhoods and scenic overlooks with The Painted Ladies. Our gregarious guide, Samantha, drove us around in this cute VW bus on a lovely afternoon.
Deonnie scored the shotgun seat in this refurbished VW bus which had been retrofitted with a Subaru motor so it could handle all of San Francisco’s famous hills with a full load of passengers. We climbed and slid down roads with grades up to 17%! Our guide added so much color, especially thanks to her penchant for using Zillow to find out what properties sold for.
Full House was a part of my middle school years. My favorite TGIF show was Perfect Strangers. As we stood in Alamo Square Park taking pictures, it struck me that the last episode of this show predated my daughter’s birth by 8 years. The equivalent for me would’ve been The Lone Ranger.
The number one thing strangers said to either of us was to Deonnie: “I love your hair!” I mean, can you blame them?
You can find Twin Peaks pictures 100 times more artistic than this one, but you won’t find any others with me and D. With the location and height of this part of the city, it hit me: “This is San Francisco’s Candlers Mountain.”
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and back just to say we did. A fog bank had enveloped nothing of the city but the bridge. So, (1) it wasn’t conducive to photography and (2) you’ll have to believe us. (Deonnie bought the hat I’m wearing in this picture
I liked the 17 Mile Drive around Pebble Beach, we drove it in both directions. It’s wild to think that this tree, “The Lone Cypress,” is as old as The United States of America. I had this shirt made especially for this trip. Without Crystal, I figured it’d answer some questions before they were asked. Haha. One of my favorite moments of this trip was when I got a moment to tell D how Jesus brought her into my life to change me for the better and to admit that I’m learning on the fly as someone who never planned on being a dad. This kid is taking a piece of my heart with her to college.
Deonnie straight trolled me with this photo. She laughed with self-satisfaction after I snapped it.
We saw these signs in Big Sur and had to investigate this “Holy Granola” tease. We drove 2 miles up the mountain to find the monastery’s store closed. It’s an interesting place with sweeping views. I’m not sure how holy the trail mix is there, but they got some well-placed benches for scenic contemplation.
While we waited to enter the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, we worked our way through a mirror maze. I loved it. D? Not so much. I was blown away by all the trippy cloning.
We also tried our hand at blacklight mini golf. So fun! My place as the best putter in the family is safe. The aquarium was one of the main reasons we planned this trip, but we were disappointed with the overwhelming mass of humanity there. (It wasn’t like that the last time I visited, but a recent re-opening after COVID shutdown had people line up the block just for our scheduled entry times.)
Admittedly, this is a mundane photo. It cracks me up that we have several of these from the trip but failed to capture so much of the cool things we saw. For instance, before we got to this stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, we had seen a half dozen zebras just chillin’ on the hill next to the road. After it, we took an extended stop to watch elephant seals fight each other on the beach.
I gave Deonnie a half dozen choices of things we could see in Silicon Valley, and she chose Top Golf. No complaints from me. D got getter as the hour progressed, and we both en joyed the donut holes that came with jelly injectors. So good!
We gave California fast food a chance—both Jack in the Box and In-N-Out Burger. We’d put both in the overrated category. D offered my favorite review: “In-N-Out fries taste like fried couch cushions.” You know what? She’s not wrong.
We did eat well in California, though with a good breakfast in Dorn’s Breaker Cafe (Morro Bay) and a fantastic breakfast at The Butter House (Seaside). I devoured the best BLT I’ve tasted in years, and I’ve eaten some good ones. I knew we were in the right place when this quote was on the wall when we walked in.
We practically inhaled the fantastic offerings at Blue Plate Taco in Santa Monica. Deonnie convinced me to try the Mexican citrus vinaigrette slaw; and even as someone who doesn’t care for coleslaw, I was a fan. D bought a Mexican blanket there for her dorm room, too. This picture is not from there but from our walk to the Santa Monica pier a few blocks from our outdoor table.
Our last night of the trip, we had front row seats for a close-up magic show performed by Jay Alexander at The Marrakech Magic Theater. We had attended an incredible illusionist small-theater show at Trickery Chicago last year for D’s birthday and wanted to see more. The San Francisco show proved more of a mentalist presentation, but we both got to go on stage and be part of the act. So fun!
As we walked up to the security line at LYH, Deonnie exclaimed that this was her piano. More specifically, she and her classmates had helped paint this piano in the high school years before she came into our family. I’ve walked past this piano on other trips, but now it will hold a connection for me.
I wondered why our tiny Lynchburg airport would have needle disposal receptacles, and then I saw how many needles were in this box. I’m hoping these are mostly from insulin injections.
To the left of where we’re standing, a professional photographer had staged an incredibly romantic setting for a photoshoot. We discovered it was one of several in this park that had been erected for dog portraits. Yep: you read that correctly. Wild stuff.
