July 2018, California, Day 10

Alrighty, what to do with another free day in California? How about a surf lesson in Half Moon Bay? I scoured the the internet and made about half a dozen phone calls. Finally, I was able to connect with Dave. Surfer Dave agreed to take us on as students. Well,  take on some of us...I decided to opt out of the surfing lesson and serve as the historian for the day. I'd had a surf lesson before and when my previous surf instructor had to break out "Big Bertha the Barn Door" (I liken it to a barge) and I STILL couldn't stand up on the dern thing I concluded that while I am good at some things, surfing might not be one of them. But, Mr Bullington and the kids were totally stoked! Tubular Dude!
Thanks to Mr. Bullington, I learned that we just happened to be renting our wetsuits from one of Outside Magazine's Most Iconic Places! Maverick's Surf Shop! The shop is named for a surfing area called Mavericks that supposedly has some of the gnarliest waves. So gnarly that they tend to kill people. We will only be shopping at Mavericks, not surfing. 

We drove a few minutes toward Half Moon Bay and met up with our sweet instructor, Surfer Dave. Thankfully, Dave brought along a friend to help out with the lesson. I assumed Dave decided after speaking with me that he would need a wing man as well as a wing and a prayer. Dave's instruction was excellent because everyone got up on their board and everyone lived to tell about it!

Charlotte

Thomas

Little Georgia ice cubes

Hang Ten! Or Hang Loose? 

The ever-patient Dave and Holden

After the lesson, the children were STARVING (like we didn't feed them a few short hours ago). We bellied up to a little local dive called Barbara's Fishtrap. Barbara's provided the backdrop for today's daily beverage spill. This time the cascade of ice water landed squarely in my lap and was courtesy of Thomas who was acting like a gnat again. Thank you Patagonia for fashioning my drawers out of quick-dry fabric. And thank you, Thomas. Not. 
He redeemed himself by labeling the huge pile of slaw that came as a side item as "Kenneslaw Mountain". He's witty, that one and I think he's starting to miss home!  

Mr. Bullington pointed us toward our next stop, the oldest tree in America! Her name is Methuselah and she is hellah big. Now, after some research I read that the exact location of Methuselah is a secret. This Methuselah we found on Google Maps and it had a permanent sign so it may or may not be legit. 

Old Lady Tree

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to stop at the Oracle Headquarters. Mr. Bullington is gainfully employed by Oracle which affords us the opportunity to see the nation by graduation! Thanks, Oracle and Mr. Bullington!

The Yacht that Oracle built. It won the America's Cup two years in a row!

Y'all get off of Uncle Larry's sign before he sees you!

Over lunch the children decided to wage a prank war against each other and subsequently us.   They chose the highly original name, Vacation Prank War. It started innocently enough, pretending to leave the restaurant while Thomas was in the bathroom, and ended with something far more sinister. Did you know that if you wet, wad, and roll up the cardboard center of a roll of toilet paper, you can sculpt it into something that resembles something of the bathroom nature that shall not be named. If you leave it on the seat it will surprise the next patron of the bathroom stall and hilarity will ensue. I was the target of this particular prank and I will say that the object was incredibly life like! Joy of all joys, I may have an artist on my hands! I hope she will choose a different genre....

Shhh. He won't see us!

We finished up the evening in the cute little downtown area of San Mateo that I will call Exile in Guyville (name that album!). Very close to Silicon Valley, lots of dudes. Where my techie ladies at?