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