The Old Stuff Shuffle

Granny Fran recently moved out of her townhouse and into an assisted living home which meant all of her stuff was moved into my parents’ house. And it just so happened that my dad decided to end the lease on his office around the corner from their house which meant that all his mom’s stuff that he was previously storing there was also moved into their house. All of which to say, my childhood stuff that has been safely stored in my old bedroom in Lafayette has been slowly migrating to San Francisco with each visit from my parents. I like to call this the Old Stuff Shuffle, and I am sure everyone has experienced some version of it. 

I have received bags full of old photos and scrapbooks, old candles and random bottles filled with sand from who knows which beach and water for who knows what reason. On Easter, I received a stack of folders with homework, drawings and odds and ends from my schooling days ranging from kindergarten through high school. And let me tell you, there were some nuggets of pure joy in there. 

Below are a few of my favorites. 

Me in First Grade

Me in 6th Grade

Except from My Senior Year Essay

What I especially love about this essay is that it was written without the help of a writing coach, an online forum for topic ideas or ChatGPT. It truly is a reflection of me and the small piece of the world I lived in. Its simplicity is a treasure that we will never have again.

From 92 to 42: Spring Break 2025

A few years ago we did an epic spring break road trip that went from Yosemite to Joshua Tree followed by LegoLand and SLO. We had such an amazing trip that I wanted to recreate a portion of it for the first week of this year’s break. We were going to check out Death Valley and then Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. 

It was one week and a lot of driving; but still just as memorable as years past.  Below are the highlights.

Part 4: Kings Canyon

After the big day of hiking in Sequoia, we opted for an easier 2 mile loop on the North Grove Trail in Kings Canyon for our last full day of our spring break adventure. Normally 2 miles would mean about an hour of hiking, 90 minutes max. We managed to make it last over two hours thanks to the two lengthy stops we made to build shelters for our new homes in the woods. After the previous day's discussion, Oskar and Alva wanted to put their plan into action by building us a place to live. They loved it!  The only thing that had kept the kids this entertained and occupied was their junior ranger activity book which kept them engaged for a few hours the night before and during the drive to the trailhead. 

We rounded out the day trip with a late lunch and another foggy drive back to the hotel with limited visibility. 

In true schadenfreude fashion, the day we left the fog lifted to reveal the snow capped mountains, vast valleys below and clear blue sky. I suppose this means we are coming back to all three parks, just at different times: Death Valley in winter and Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the summer. 

Part 3: Sequoia

So apparently it is too hot in Death Valley in April and there is still snow in Sequoia. 

We left Death Valley, with its 90 degree, direct sun, no shade, blue sky weather and started the trek towards Sequoia Wednesday morning, excited for a break in the heat. We arrived later that afternoon to 40 degree weather and fog so thick you could barely see 20 feet in front of you.  We definitely got the break from the heat, but not exactly how we wanted it. But being Breuers we made the most of it. 

Martin was convinced that we should do a 10km hike for Thursday which I thought was too long for the kids, especially Alva. I was able to convince him that 10km was too much, so Martin found an easier hike to Moro Rock.  Normally accessible directly from the Moro Rock parking lot, we found ourselves starting the hike about 2 miles further away (at the Big Trees Museum) since the road was closed. Between the road closure and white-out fog, we had the entire trail completely to ourselves. It was so remote and void of humans that we started coming up with a survival plan in case we needed to spend a few nights in the wilderness. Oskar and Alva had it all worked out on who would hunt and fish, who would make shelter and what supplies we would need to survive. 

We hiked through the forest and over streams to eventually rejoin the road at the Moro Rock parking lot.  From there, we hiked up the 350 steps to the top of Moro Rock to see… complete white. We were surrounded by fog. Oh well, maybe next time we will be able to see the sweeping views of endless mountain ranges and valleys below. We also did see a few other people on this portion of the hike (they must have opted to take the empty road rather than the forest trail). 

At 5.5 miles round trip back to the car and with the addition of seeing General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, our day of hiking clocked in at 7.5 miles or just shy of 10km. 

Moro Rock

General Sherman.... check out the person at the bottom left to appreciate the scale

Part 2: Death Valley

From the entrance of the park, we still had a 45 minute drive to our hotel. And I was struck by a few thoughts during this time: this place is massive (it is the largest park in the lower 48 states and with no trees or any sort of obstruction, you can really see how far the land goes); while beautiful in its own weird, stark, Mars-like way, I really do I prefer trees and water in my landscape; being only mid April and already 92 degrees, I couldn’t imagine coming here in the summer; and finally, I really hoped the next two days weren’t going to be a complete bust. 

We stopped along the way to check out the sand dunes (and attempted to sled down one of them) and called it quits after 15 minutes of being in the sweltering heat, preferring to get back in the car and continue to our hotel. 

And thankfully that is where things started to look up. We had booked two nights at The Ranch Oasis, and it really was an oasis in the otherwise dry inhospitable landscape. It was lush with green grass and tall trees providing shade. It had three restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and a full market for food options. It had a swimming pool, tennis courts, mini putting green and horse stables. The only thing it didn’t have was electricity on our second day… but that is a story for a little later. 

Or maybe right now. 

Leading up to our visit I received an email noting that the electrical grid in Death Valley needed work so the hotel would be without power on Tuesday (our full day) from 10am-2pm. As we got closer to our trip the emails continued and the time period expanded.  The weekend before our trip, the emails stated we were to be without power from 7am to 4pm and, if for some reason power wasn’t restored by 6pm we would have to evacuate. I wasn’t overly worried. The weather was forecasted to be in the mid 80s and we were planning on spending most of the day out exploring.

So Tuesday morning we woke up at 7, when the power was cut off, and started off our adventure without any lights on in the windowless bathroom. The resort thankfully ensured at least one restaurant was open for meals (with backup generators) so we grabbed a quick breakfast and we were off for the day. 

Our first stop was to check out Badwater Basin before it got too hot in the day.  Apparently 10am was already too late in the day for the kids, they complained every step we took in the 15 minute walk. From there we drove to Natural Bridge for a 2 mile hike through a canyon to see a cool rock formation. At 11am the temperature had already climbed to 90 degrees and there appeared to be little to no shade (again). Undeterred by the constant complaints and feet dragging by both kids, we managed to hike the 10 minutes needed to get into the canyon where we found the path shaded the rest of the way. And with the shade, the good moods returned and quickly the kids were looking for rocks and talking about coming back again but in the winter when it wasn’t so hot. 

We lost our shade on the last ten minutes of the walk back to the car as well as our patience and Oskar’s special rock he had found during the hike. I was ready to leave without said rock, but Martin gave him two minutes to get out of the car to try to find it (he remembered having it in his hand as we looked at the sign post at the trailhead). So out he got. He spent 2 minutes walking around in the midday sun looking for his rock in a literal rock pile while we baked in the car waiting for the AC to cool us down. He finally gave up and rejoined us in the car, only to exclaim a moment later that there was something sharp in his pocket and low and behold he found his missing rock. 

Knowing we wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon, we wrapped up our exploring of the park by taking the scenic route back to the hotel via Artist Drive. 

Back at the hotel, the power was still off so we made the most of an afternoon in the heat without AC. Oskar and Martin went on a bike ride while I read on our patio and Alva played on the shaded playground. We went swimming and practiced our putting skills on the greens. Oskar played soccer on the manicured lawns. 

By 5:15pm the power still wasn’t back on and things were not looking promising. So I sent Martin back to the pool with the kids while I got our things organized in the room in case we actually needed to evacuate. At 5:55, convinced we were going to have to leave, I heard a kid somewhere on the property yell “the lights are on!.”  And just like that we were saved! 

We enjoyed our last night in Death Valley laying on a blanket on the lush grass just outside the back door of our hotel room looking up at the stars and enjoying the warm spring air. We were heading to cooler climates the next day… Apparently these city kids (myself included) can’t handle the heat. 

Our Oasis at The Ranch

Badwater Basin

Natural Bridge

This photo is misleading... after 2 minutes Alva decided she actually didn't want to ride her bike

Just outside our hotel room

There is one additional story from this portion of the trip that has nothing to do with Death Valley but perfectly sums up Martin and my marriage. It will forever be known as the great pillow swapping incident. On our first night at the hotel, while I was reading Harry Potter to the kids, I noticed Martin beating the crap out of one of the pillows on the bed. It was a bulky misshapen pillow and he was trying to make it less so. After kissing the kids good night I crawled into bed only to find my pillow was also bulky and significantly lumpy and misshapen. I spent most of the night trying to get comfortable and wondering how the hotel could have such terrible pillows. The next morning I woke up and complained to Martin about the pillow (hoping to commiserate in our terrible luck). Three things happened at the same time, Martin got an interesting look on his face part laughing, part smirking, part guilt, I saw that the pillow he slept on was actually normal and, I realized that instead of fixing the bad pillow, he instead had shifted it over to my side of the bed and taken a normal one. So while I suffered the entire night thinking all of the pillows were the same (lumpy as hell), in reality they were all normal except for the one Martin knew was bad and had intentionally given to me. To be clear. The room came with 8 pillows, Alva, Oskar and Martin each had one and the rest were on the ground or wedged between the kid’s bed and the nightstand. There were plenty of choices. And yet Martin set me up with the bad one and without warning. Jerk. 

Okay one more side story: we are pretty sure that Alva left her stuffed animal Crookshanks at the hotel on Death Valley. I remember seeing it right before we left and it was nowhere to be found once we got to Sequoia. I have logged a lost item request with the hotel but to date they haven’t found it. But here is the deal, Alva hasn’t yet mentioned Crookshanks being gone. That isn’t entirely unusual (Alva tends to rotate her favorite animal to cuddle with each night and it goes in waves of one night to a few weeks) but I also wouldn’t be entirely surprised to learn that she knows she lost him but doesn’t want to tell us. We are at a parenting stalemate. I am afraid to bring up the missing Crookshanks and unnecessarily make her sad but part of me wants to just ask her if she knows where Crookshanks is to see if she already knows. Only time will tell what the outcome will be and we may never know what happened to that orange stuffed cat. 

Part 1: The Adventure Begins

In the lead up to spring break, we had been referring to the trip as an adventure.  After the crazy start before we even left (including a black eye for Alva) and the shenanigans on the drive to the first destination, that seemed to be an appropriate description.  

Our first leg of the journey was from San Francisco to Death Valley with an overnight in Fresno to break up the trip and allow for a late start on Sunday after Oskar’s soccer game. The first half was uneventful with limited traffic, a Thai dinner in Modesto and a familiar, nondescript Hyatt Place in Fresno. The next morning was a bit more remote and wild. 

After just an hour’s drive from Fresno, we found ourselves in what felt like the middle of nowhere California. There were stretches of rolling roads with no one on them and no cars to be seen in either direction. So of course Martin took the opportunity to explain physics, objects in motion or who knows what else by shifting the car into neutral and seeing how far we could coast until we stopped moving. We made it almost up the next big hill before we sighted another car in the rearview mirror and figured we should actually start driving again. 

A little further on, at an intersection of two roads leading to nowhere, we were greeted by a lone black cat who strolled to the middle of the road and refused to move. Still no cars or people, just that one black cat. Thankfully Martin was able to slow down enough before we got too close, but it cast an ominous cloud over the next few miles. 

When we finally passed the Death Valley sign, and declared we were in the park, Alva responded casually: “How is this a park?!”

And I can’t lie, part of me started to wonder, after two trips to a desert already in the books this year alone, and my general lack of enthusiasm for deserts, why I was so adamant that we check out Death Valley, another very hot desert. We had two nights to make the most of it.

Hookie on a Tuesday

The kids had Tuesday off for parent teacher conferences and so Martin and I reverted back to our Covid days of scheduling. I was on point for the morning and he would take over at 1:30. 

The kids had just gone to the SFMoMa with school and asked to go again. I hadn’t been to visit since their massive renovation in 2016 and was jealous that the kids had gone before me. So on my “shift” we went to check out some art, and being Tuesday, Martin took them to BMX on his. 

It was so fun being there and seeing art through the kids’ eyes. After having just been there, the kids knew the place better than I know our own house.  Oskar wanted to go on the colorful bridge (on the 5th floor) and Alva wanted to see Piet Mondrian’s unfinished painting (in the corner on the first floor). 

In between, we checked out everything else, taking just enough time to stop (sometimes sit) to really appreciate the art, ask which ones were their favorites, and learn a little about each piece via the signs, before moving on.

Eat Pray Love: Italy, India and …Arizona?

So remember that New Year’s resolution I had about keeping things simple… I am not sure how this reconciles to that, but I pretty much did a repeat of the Eat Pray Love book over the past six weeks, or something close to it. Below are my stories from: our family trip to Italy, a work trip to India and a spa weekend in Arizona with Erin.

A Spiritual Journey in Arizona

As mentioned here before, Erin and I have spent more than a few years traveling together including booze filled weekends in Europe, road trips in CA and spa retreats to Mexico. This year we wanted to try something different so we booked a long weekend at Miraval in Tucson, AZ. Known as a high end spa retreat once favored by Oprah, we came in expecting a similar RLP experience.  And true to human nature we couldn’t help but to make comparisons the entire weekend.  The best way to compare (before moving on to the fun stuff): RLP is like a summer camp for adults with activities every hour, and a focus on wellbeing (classes skewed towards physical activity with healthy spa meals, limited alcohol and some spiritual classes such as sound healing). Miraval is definitely more focused on the spiritual journey with a nod towards a spa and resort retreat (activities skewed towards spiritual awakening, therapeutic healing and psychic readings with all you could eat food all day and a full bar).

So while we had made a few reservations in advance for certain classes, we quickly pivoted to a new itinerary based on recommendations from the staff of the hotel (Lynn being our favorite) and other guests. 

Our days and experiences included archery, honey tasting, massages, a psychic reading, a desert hike and a “power of the pendulum” class. But I would say the most memorable, unique and unexpected class was the Equine Experience. This one was Erin’s choice (and since she went along with my choice of Archery) I went along with this one. Horses make me nervous but I was excited to show Cassidy a picture of me riding one through the Sonoran desert. We quickly learned that equine experience at Miraval is not horseback riding but a uniquely different horse experience. 

We should have known something was up when we arrived at the stables and saw Kleenex boxes on the arm rests of the chairs outside the paddock. “Experience,” come to find out, means therapy. Each of the six hotel guests in our group took turns working with Bodie the horse to either lift his foot to clean it or to brush his coat. And with each turn, the horse trainer (aka therapist) would ask us insightful questions about how we were feeling, what fears we brought into the paddock and without fail we all cried. It took Erin less than 2 minutes next to Bodie to break down in tears. I thankfully went at the end so had already done most of my crying… and I went in more confident than most… throughout the entire session Bodie kept coming over specifically to me to say hi. As a result, I thought we had a connection. We obviously didn’t since he immediately backed away from me and tried nipping at my watch.  Erin kindly pointed out after I was done that he kept coming over to me because I was sitting on the bag of treats he later got. Nothing like a horse to put you in your place. 

Two other fun facts: per the clairvoyant, I don’t like people and I need a hobby. 

And so after an emotionally filled weekend with a lot of relaxing, I left with the need to find something to manifest (thanks to the pendulum class), a continued distrust of horses and the need to find a hobby (thanks to the clairvoyant).

Eat: Everything. This was definitely not a restricted diet weekend. 

Pray: More like say thanks to Martin for once again supporting my need for these weekends 

Love: Archery! While Erin decided within seconds of holding the bow that it wasn’t for her, I really enjoyed the activity.