We have returned from our journey up the coastline in California. Since it was mainly a computer free trip I am backed-up completely on email. Email doesn't seem to be working right on one of my machines at home anyways. Whenever I send a message it gives some error that the person isn't on my recipients list. But I shouldn't be trying to go through email at 4 AM. I did finally manage to put-up some pictures from the first couple of weeks of January. (20060109, 20060106, 20060103, 20060102). We have plenty of pictures from the trip but I've been too lazy to pull them off the memory cards to turn them into web stuff.

Quick take on travelling the Pacific Coast Highway with an infant: Triple any estimate of time you might make for an activity. Unfortunately this includes driving times such as - It ought to take 3 hours to get from San Simeon to Monterey means it will take you 9 hours. There are also clear inexorable realities to travelling with an infant like the sleeping baby problem. Basically from 5PM - 6:30 PM Madeline was an absolute terror in a reliable way. We managed to be driving in the car whenever this happened which made life complicated since breast feeding a baby while driving on windy roads (luckily I was driving since it would have been superhuman to do it while operating a stick shift) presents major logistical problems. One solution is stopping the car and this can add to the commute to the relaxing hotel where you can enjoy a comfortable bed and alcoholic beverages. Did I mention that Sarah gets stressed out in the car to begin with? Now add the crying inconsolable but darling Madeline. But then upon arriving at the hotel we can be so lucky as to get Madeline to sleep at 7PM. This is where the sleeping baby comes in. Now that she is sleeping in a hotel room what do we do?

Option 1 - Take her out with us? This worked one time when we went out to dinner with Eddie and Bonnie and for whatever reason Madeline went to sleep and stayed asleep. But when we took her out with Liz, Ami, and Ilana we were passing her back and forth during dinner and rocking while at a beach restaurant in San Diego.

Option 2 - Stay inside and eat room service food. This is actually the more relaxing option although it does make you wonder what you are doing on vacation hiding inside of a hotel room that has a mini-bar instead of your own nicely stocked fridge and bills for $41 for a chicken sandwich, fries, and drinks (including 2 beers).

Anyways we had lots of fun and the best thing was that we got to spend some time with Liz, Ami and Ilana, Yuval and Molly, Eddie and Bonnie. Liz asked me today what the highlight of the trip was for me and I think it was a hike that we took at Torre Pines with a big crew of people and Ami stashed in the back of our urban assault rental vehicle (the Pontiac Torrent). The hike was picturesque. I do have pictures of it just not transferred off those memory cards yet.