Even before Nana and Papa concluded their delightful March, 2023, Fiji visit, Stacy started hearing about an upcoming meeting she would likely need to attend in the Monterey, California area in late June. The timing appeared to coincide with Cooper’s school break, but Jason would probably be busy working so hardly available for travel or Cooper care.
“Maybe I could bring Cooper with me,” Stacy pondered aloud, “and you could join us in California to watch Cooper while I’m at the meeting?”
“Of course, we’d love to know that we’ll be seeing both of you in a few months, and I love the Monterey area,” Nana replied, “but dad and I have long-standing plans to be in Greece in mid-June for dad’s colleague’s retirement trip. So just keep me posted on the exact dates and location, and hopefully we’ll be able to coordinate with you.”
In April the details started filling in. Stacy’s work meeting, for the marine section of her employer Wildlife Conservation Society, was scheduled for June 26 to 29 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove.
Nana really wanted to make this work, but the timing was going to be tight with our Greece trip dates. We were scheduled to depart Florida on June 15 and return on Friday morning, June 23, after all-day travel on June 22, concluding with an overnight at Newark airport.
“I think we can do this,” I told Stacy, “but my preference is to have the weekend at home to catch up on jet lag, unpack and re-pack, etc. I checked on possible flights, finding we could depart early Monday morning, connect in Dallas, arrive in Monterey around noon, due to gaining three hours heading west.” Stacy agreed to my plan, so I booked the American Airlines itinerary, even using our precious mileage points for first class, figuring we will still be recuperating from our prior flights and will also need to be ready to hit the ground running for California Cooper care to entertain our almost seven year-old, active grandson.
Fortunately, we were able to book accommodations at Asilomar Conference Center as well. Although Jesse and I had been to the Monterey area previously, we had never heard of Asilomar. But of course there’s a website, where I learned: “Celebrated as Monterey Peninsula’s ‘Refuge by the Sea’ - Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds is a breathtakingly gorgeous, ecologically diverse beachfront land.” That sounded great to me.
I chose a room with two double beds in case Cooper might want or need to stay in our room.
Before departing for Greece, I pre-packed a duffel bag with all the accumulated purchases that Stacy and I had bought and ordered for the Fiji family since we had seen them in March.
Cooper’s school break actually began a week before Stacy’s meeting so the two of them went to California in advance to visit Stacy’s friends in San Francisco and Santa Cruz where Stacy had gone to graduate school.
The short turnaround between our return from Greece and departing for California got more complicated in actuality. We made all our connections but our luggage did not arrive back to Florida with us on Friday morning, due to a very delayed arrival to London from Athens. Fortunately, the luggage arrived at the West Palm Beach airport by Friday night, so we returned to the airport Saturday morning to retrieve our luggage. I was particularly happy to have my preferred suitcase, underwear and toiletries, as I was re-packing for California. I conscientiously worked to regroup all weekend, breathing a sigh of relief by Sunday dinner that I was ready to depart our house at 5 am Monday morning.
But my relaxed state was fleeting, as I received upsetting messages from American Airlines that our initial flight from West Palm to Dallas was cancelled, preventing our connecting to the Monterey flight. Apparently, there had been some very intense summer storms in the northeast to which I was not paying any attention. But those storms were preventing the aircraft to depart Sunday night for West Palm to be available for our early Monday morning departure. American’s proposed rescheduled itinerary would not get us to Monterey until Tuesday. Not good! I spent hours looking into alternative options for airlines and airports, and eventually found a non-stop JetBlue flight departing from Fort Lauderdale Monday morning, arriving early afternoon in San Francisco. Confirming that we could rent a car to drive to Monterey, I booked pricey Mosaic class seats (that’s JetBlue speak for first class) because last-minute economy was so expensive anyway, and now I would need to further recuperate from my re-booking stress.
Having kept Stacy apprised of the unfortunate travel developments, I eventually informed her that we would likely arrive around 4 pm Monday, concluding with the two-hour drive from San Francisco airport to Asilomar in Pacific Grove.
So Stacy had to bring Cooper to more of her Monday meetings than she had expected. “I distracted him,” Stacy said, “with his tablet, headphones and drawing. He sat in the meeting all day - watching Octonauts and drawing pictures of fish and whales. He was really well behaved.”
Meanwhile, Jesse and I arrived travel weary to an expansive, foggy, rustic property, checking in at their main lodge which had a very campy feeling. When I observed to the receptionist about the chilly damp weather along this stretch of Pacific coast that was quite a contrast to our recent hot sunny inland drive, she remarked, “It’s always like this here.” And indeed the shroud of fog and clouds rarely dissipated at Asilomar for our several day stay. But the localized weather definitely contributed to the intriguing ambiance of sandy trails, windblown shrubbery and craggy coastline.
Individual accommodations were found in various outer buildings strewn around the property. Someone had thoughtfully assigned our guest room to the same building as Stacy and Cooper, which was certainly convenient. The rooms were somewhat rustic but adequate and fitting with the overall ambiance.
Regardless of the complications of getting to California, we were excited for our wonderful family reunion, displaying the duffel of surprises for Cooper. Of course there were new Jurassic Lego sets.
Since Cooper was playing soccer in Fiji, Stacy figured longtime soccer player and enthusiast Papa and Cooper would like to play some soccer together. Stacy had ordered new soccer shoes for us to bring and suggested we buy/bring a soccer ball, while Stacy brought along Cooper’s soccer uniform to complete the outfit.
For dinner we located a nearby seafood restaurant called Fishwife. As we drove there and back, we were delighted to notice occasional deer along the Pacific Grove streets, although not sure if locals are so happy with deer munching their shrubs and flowers.
So what would you expect grandparents would do with Cooper, the son of a marine biologist, on our first full day in the Monterey area? Of course, we went to the the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. We could forget proceeding through the varied and fascinating exhibits in any orderly manner with our energetic grandson. It definitely took both Nana and Papa to keep track of Cooper’s whereabouts, from sea otter antics to kelp forest to the stingray touch pools to the deep ocean to coral reefs and to interactive kid exhibits.
We eventually managed to get Cooper to sit still for an aquatic film. And occasionally, Nana caught Cooper in a few special photos:
After our whirlwind tour of the aquarium, we walked down Cannery Row in search of a restaurant for lunch, and found a funny photo op with a pirate.
We decided on the kid-friendly Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. with local seafood appealing to Nana and Papa. And Cooper’s lunch came with a paper boat which he managed to preserve.
Back at Asilomar later in the day, we had time for a leisurely happy hour, appreciating the property and coastal view from our balcony.
Stacy had a work dinner, so Nana and Papa took Cooper out to dinner at a local pizza parlor, comfort food for kids and grandparents.
Stacy had informed us that her group had a whale watching trip in Monterey Bay on Wednesday, and she eventually found out that they could accommodate her family. This could be a very special activity, so we prepared for an early departure with lots of warming layers. But never a dull moment when traveling with a youngster. We heard from Stacy early that Cooper had been sick overnight with a fever, was up for quite a while, and was currently back to sleep. So no whale watching for Cooper or caretaking grandparents. A disappointment, but that’s the job we signed up for. Jesse and I took turns hanging out in Cooper’s room as we let him catch up on sleep. When Cooper roused up around late morning, he fortunately seemed better with no fever. So we took Cooper out for an exploratory fresh air walk around the attractive Asilomar grounds and the coastline, which we all appreciated.
Next activity: lunch. I checked online a found a cute Pacific Grove neighborhood restaurant called the Red House Cafe, whose menu looked like it would have something for everyone. After lunch we drove to nearby Lovers Point, a scenic coastal park where Cooper could run around on the rocky outcroppings (as Nana admonished, “Carefully!”) and chase after many ground squirrels.
So that was a pleasant low-keyed day in a scenic area as Cooper recuperated from his fortunately short-lived illness.
The following morning seemed like a good time for Cooper and Papa to play soccer, and we had noticed a school with a soccer field nearby. Cooper got dressed in his uniform and new soccer shoes. Probably due summer vacation, the parking lot and school were fairly deserted. But not the soccer field: the lush grassy lawn was populated with a large herd of deer who had no intention of relinquishing their prime pasture which was also being fertilized by plentiful deer droppings. So game called due to ungulate occupation. But Cooper seemed just as satisfied to enjoy the adjacent playground. Meanwhile Jesse got to dribble & kick the ball at the empty far end of the field, while I got a lot of great deer photos.
“So now we should go to Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf,” I announced. “I’m sure we can find lunch and other stuff to do.” And we did. Interestingly, once we were several miles from the Pacific coast, the fog dissipated and we were treated to bright sunny weather. We found a sailboat ride around Monterey Harbor, with great views of the sea lion population on the long rock jetty.
And there was no shortage of restaurants on the touristy pier, so we chose another seafood place with a kids menu.
As we were walking past the multitude of souvenir shops, Cooper remarked, “I want to get an American flag.” Naturally, Nana wanted to fulfill that request, especially to reinforce his American connection since Cooper lives in Fiji and his father is Australian. Fortunately, I located in a souvenir shop overflowing with merchandise a small American flag, which met Cooper’s approval. I was slightly appalled at the five dollar price tag for an item that is likely made in China for ten cents. But that’s what nanas do, right?
We were all included in Stacy’s meeting’s final dinner, a chilly outside barbecue at Asilomar. That gave Cooper a fun activity of feeding the fire pit, accompanied by Papa who is always ready to stoke a fire.
With the conclusion of Stacy’s meeting, Friday would be our last day all together. We all would be flying out of San Francisco later in the day. Leaving Asilomar in the morning, Stacy had some plans for the ride north. First and foremost, we were visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing for a private tour of the research vessel Rachel Carson by Stacy’s friend Marco, who is the underwater rover pilot. Cooper was enthralled, learning about everything on the ship and especially getting to sit at the control monitor.
Continuing north, we enjoyed a delicious outdoor California lunch at the popular Santa Cruz restaurant Harbor Cafe.
Having become familiar with Santa Cruz while visiting Stacy several times when she was a grad student, I suggested a post-lunch walk on the Santa Cruz pier which is often visited by sea lions. In our brief remaining time, we did sight and smell a few pinnipeds napping on the support beams.
Next stop San Francisco Airport, where we arrived in plenty of time for Stacy and Cooper to check in for their flight to Los Angeles where they would connect with their Fiji departure later that night. Jesse and I were on a red-eye to the east coast several hours later. So Nana and Papa dropped them at their SFO terminal where we gave our goodbye hugs, and proceeded to the rental car return center.
After we returned to the terminal and checked in, I looked up Stacy’s flight. The bad news was that they were at least an hour delayed. The good news was that their gate was right next to the American Express Centurion Lounge where Jesse and I were headed to relax before our flight. So we were able to conveniently host Stacy and Cooper in the lounge with us to be more comfortable and get free food. Yet as their flight became further delayed, Stacy was objectively worried about making their Fiji flight, as they would have to change terminals in LA with all their luggage. They did indeed have to rush between terminals, but they fortunately were in time to check in and catch their Fiji Airways flight that night.
Re-reading and editing my post, I noticed how often I used the words fortunate and unfortunate. I did not, however, attempt to eliminate or change these repetitions as there are indeed a lot of fortunate and unfortunate ups and downs in the planning and execution of any of our long-distance family get-togethers. But happily for Nana, the fortunate situations typically outnumber the unfortunate in her grandmothering experience.
Also I’m just reminding my readers that this trip took place more than a year ago in 2023. Please bear with me as I am still deciding whether to catch up chronologically on my Nana and Cooper 2023 adventures before I tell you about our special summer 2024 family trip. To be continued …
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