Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
Tara and I took the family on the road to San Jose for an open source software conference where I was speaking and my employer was exhibiting.
We took highway 5 North to my hometown Morgan Hill. From San Diego it took 6 hours and 45 minutes. Not bad. We spent most of the week at my sister’s place. Ashby was ecstatic to see her cousins Skyler and Owen. Who also were pleased to have Ashby there to paint with make up and play with.
Because my employer was making a product announcement I was very much heads-down on work items through the week and then busy during the conference. Friday morning we headed South again, but we took Pacific Coast Highway 1 this time.
We stopped in Monterey and visited the aquarium. I have many fond childhood memories of Monterey Bay and the aquarium. We had a wonderful time. We only managed to take in about a third of the aquarium in the nearly two hours we spent there. The place is huge and it has gown significantly since I was last there over fifteen years ago.
In Monterey there is also one of the most amazing children’s playgrounds that I have ever visited. This is on the North side of the city and is well worth stopping by if you have little ones.
After Monterey we stopped at Carmel by the Sea. Tara had never been and we took lunch there. Yelp led us to Hog’s Breath Inn, which was once owned by Clint Eastwood. Over lunch Tara used the retro Bluetooth handset I won by answering a trivia question correctly at the Sourceforge.net Community Choice Awards party the previous evening. Needless to say Tara got some curious looks. The trivia question: what are the most commonly used colors in flags? I’ll provide the answer at the bottom of this post.
The above photo of Tara talking on the aforementioned Bluetooth handset was taken from my iPhone while she speaking on my iPhone using the handset. Isn’t technology wonderful?
After Carmel we spent a night in Big Sur. Big Sur has it all: giant redwoods, mountains, the pacific ocean, beach, waterfalls and a fantastic trail system. Alas, with two little ones we did little more than hole up in a modest cabin. It was a bit too cold to camp with Roesevelt as we had intended.
The next day we headed further south to Morro Bay. Yet another town that indelibly charmed my psyche during my adolescence.
Unfortunately, we returned home the following day. Tara and I both ached for another week of vacation road trip. In a couple of weeks from now we fly to Florida to visit my family. This will have to do. I’m most excited about being able to get back on my father’s 1700 cc Victory (that’s a big ass motorcycle). Some day perhaps I’ll own my own motorcycle and sidecar for the kids. 🙂
The complete photo set of our road trip can be found at Flickr. So too can the OSCON (open source conference) photos set.
The trivia question: what are the most commonly used colors in flags? Red, white and blue.
Aaron Fulkerson 
I bet half of your readers have never seen that old AT&T style phone handle before. Oh the memories of having a single phone choice, funny thing is that it was only a few decades ago.