There are almost no words to describe the beauty and grace of today. It’s San Francisco. It’s sunny and 59 degrees. And we have nothing to do but enjoy.

Returning to my cousin’s bakery we started the day again with delicious treats we almost never would have at home. Quiche; a chicken empenada; cinnamon roll and a hot cross bun. Some of us also had coffee . . . but I’m not a coffee drinker.

Leaving the bakery we headed for the Presidio for a full day of exploration and fun. And, that’s just what we did. We explored and we had fun. I also spent much of the time walking to find the perfect spot for photographs.  Beginning at the bridge entrance we admired the beauty and genius of such an engineering feat. Then we drove down to Fort Point where we were amazed by the solid brick fort built before the Civil War, yet it was in remarkably good condition. I wanted to get to the top where I saw others walking, because of course, I could photograph from there! Three stories of stairs and the view was fantastic!

We also saw the informative films about the construction and history of the fort and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Filled with information, we realized we needed to be filled with food. So, we went to the main part of the Presidio and enjoyed a light lunch at one of the local restaurants.  Being on an old Army Post always brings back a flood of childhood memories for me and I feel right at home. I never really had a home town, but an Army Post fits the bill perfectly. They are almost always the same – or very similar – and they are entirely familiar as well as comforting for me. And, I loved the Presidio.

We got our day’s exercise by walking the lovely “boardwalk” along San Francisco Bay, stopping for pictures along the way. We found a small museum dedicated to California gold rush history and found it fascinating.

By late afternoon my cousin, Joe, texted to say dinner would be ready by about 6:30, so we made one last round past the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was low on the horizon and drove back to the Mission District and dinner.

Through talk and laughter, reminiscences and good food, we shared a wonderful evening in the company of extended family. Who could ask for anything more?

Well, spatzle, maybe. My cousin made chicken and spatzle for dinner! Along with asparagus and roasted butternut squash. And, it was absolutely delicious. I guess that’s what you get when your heritage is German.  Good family and good food. The perfect end to a perfect day.

YESTERDAY (Feb 18) we woke up to snow in the mountains and some even on the ground . . . but it was melting quickly under the rising sun. We packed out of Yreka and continued south listening to “Hamilton” and enjoying the California beauty. We passed Mt. Shasta shrouded in clouds, but I still had to try for a picture. The sun was struggling to peek through, but the clouds were winning.

From the mountains we descended into broad valleys lined for miles and miles with flowering fruit trees. I only wish I knew what kind of fruit trees they were. They looked like cherries – but could have been plums. And then I thought perhaps they might have been almonds as we have a friend who grew up on an almond farm in this area.

Just about the time we realized we were hungry, we saw a large billboard sign advertising “Black Bear Diner.” Since we had enjoyed our meal the evening before, we opted for another meal with the black bear family. And, we were not disappointed.

We arrived in the Bay Area just prior to rush hour and we found the most stunning rest stop at the rise of a hill. From that vantage we could see much of the bay and the very tips of the Golden Gate Bridge. It only made us eager for more. So, we got back in the car to find our way into San Francisco.

When we arrived where our Gypsie (that’s our name for our GPS) told us to be, we didn’t recognize the spot. We were in San Francisco, but not at my cousin’s house. Blame it on bad navigation – and a mis-typed house number! We finally found the right address and were greeted by our hosts.

We unpacked the car and took a short walk to Mission Dolores – which had just closed as we approached. We must go back before we leave. Then we all went out to dinner at a lovely local spot, serving up fine food with a Louisiana flair. It was delicious.

Walking back from the restaurant, we took a detour to walk along Castro Street amid the bustle of evening business and shopping, people returning to their homes, and theater goers. San Francisco is so vibrant and alive!

TODAY (Feb 19) we packed out early and went to my cousin’s bakery – Destination Bakery – for a little breakfast. It was even more delicious than the dinner the evening before. Our grandmother was a fine baker and I have many memories of her baking marvelous treats — but I think my cousin is even better! If you are ever in San Francisco, you must stop at The Destination Bakery. You won’t be sorry. Promise.

Our next stop was Land’s End, where the coast meets the Pacific ocean. It was remarkably beautiful and I stood for long periods just taking in the scene – and taking some photographs. Inside the visitor center, I purchased my National Parks Senior Visitor Pass, one perk of getting older. It’s the best spent $10 around. And, it’s good for the rest of my life. All the natural beauty of our country for $10. Who can beat a deal like that?

At noon we drove across the Bay Bridge to visit a dear friend whom I had worked with for over 20 years. He took us to a lovely Persian restaurant and we talked and shared old times. It was so very good to see him again.

Interestingly, he lives just blocks from Christ Our Light Cathedral, so after lunch we walked over to the cathedral and spend about an hour just marveling at the beauty of the place. Truly a place of grace in many ways.

Coming back into the city we explored a little more and found a little pizza place for dinner before going upstairs to see the latest Star Wars movie.  That was preferable to walking through the city in the rain.

All told, two lovely, grace-filled days amid the sights and sounds and tastes  of San Francisco and the surrounding area.

Life is nothing short of an adventure all on its own . . . but somehow a car trip ignites thoughts of steamer ships and covered wagons, and explorations into unknown lands with unknown promises.

Life is like that, too, and finding a life partner to make that journey of discovery together can be one of the greatest blessings we ever receive.

So it was that we left the comfort of home this morning to discover each other all over again on the road to San Francisco. The day was Northwest gray, but the beauty unparalled. We talked and laughed and passed the hours listening to “Hamilton.” I had to look up the lyrics and read them  out loud so we could actually understand what they were singing – but it’s really quite a remarkable retelling of history.

By the time we reached the California boarder it was dark and cold and snowing and just a tiny bit scary driving the mountain roads. But a Comfort Inn awaited us and we found sustanance at The Black Bear Diner. To be continued . . .

In the morning we are setting out for a journey to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.  We will drive to San Francisco and I hope to share some of our discoveries along the way. We have been blessed to share 40 years of love and grace and I’m sure there will be many more moments of grace to relate as we travel.

Just for the memory album . . . this is us in front of our first home. It was an old Quonset Hut material type building left over from World War II and converted into married student housing.  Yes, it really was 40 years ago.

Check back for notes from our travels. Grace is everywhere!

In case you are wondering . . . we did make it home.  And after 9,000 miles on the road, we find we love the beautiful Pacific Northwest most of all.  While it was hot when we returned on July 31, it was nothing like what we had experienced through the rest of the South and up the Central Valley of California.

Jacob is healing and trying to take things slowly.  He has rediscovered his hobby of covering bottles with Nautical line – an old seafarer’s hobby.  And he does quite beautiful work of it!

We’ve been resting and reacquainting ourselves with the beach just a mile from our house.  Last night while walking there we saw a family of beaver for the first time.  We have seen evidence of their presence, but we had never seen them before.

I love beaver.  Mostly because people think that beaver live in lakes.  But, I learned that they don’t live in lakes.  They live in streams and create the lake around them.  When I first learned that I thought “That is the story of my life!”  And, I have loved beaver ever since.  They are creative, hard-working, industrious and family oriented.

Tonight I might have to go back with my trusty camera to try and get a picture of the little critters.  All I had last night was my phone – and that simply wasn’t adequate.  He is in the picture here, though: he’s the two black dots in front of the log – head to the left, tail to the right.

Quite a grace to see them.  And to see how they have created a new landscape in our little corner of the world.

Due to nonexistant wifi last night, this is going up today – but Day 45 was July 30, 2015.

We are working our way up central California, but it seems slow going.  We didn’t launch out of Modesto until 10:00 and when we stopped for a bite to eat in Red Bluff, we just stopped.  We found a Comfort Inn and escaped into the shade of a cool air conditioned room.

The temperature today in Red Bluff reached an all time high – 113 degrees.  Every time we opened the car door it felt like crawling into the oven with the turkey on Thanksgiving.

We passed many produce trucks again today – another double wagon filled to the brim with tomatoes and a flat bed filled with crates of pomegranates.  They had “Pom Wonderful” printed on each crate.

In the hottest part of the day we were driving through olive groves.  I don’t ever remember seeing olives ripening on trees before.  The trunks of some of the older trees were beautiful.

There was also a rest stop along I-5 that was populated with beautiful trees.  I asked someone what kind of trees they were and she said “We call them Paper Trees.” I’m not sure if that is correct or not, but in searching a little I thought they may be eucalyptus.  Beautiful, whatever they are.

Just rested and read through the evening.  It was good to have a short day in this heat.

Driving across the Mojave Desert and up the central valley of California today we learned something interesting.  M&M’s – the candy that “melts in your mouth and not in your hand” – actually explodes and breaks that protective “candy coating” at about 109 degrees.

That was the air temperature today! And the hottest temperature I think I’ve ever been in – except for the 115 degree “heat index” in St. Augustine, FL. But on that day the air temperature was only 95.

We drove through the San Bernadino Mountains; through the Mojave Desert; through Edwards Air Force Base where the Space Shuttle landed several times; and turned north on good old highway 99 to make our way home.  We saw orchards and trucks and trucks and trucks – several filled with boxes of grapes and one double truck bed filled with tomatoes.  I could only imagine what the tomatoes at the bottom of all that looked like!

We are resting in Modesto tonight.  Jacob is doing well and told us he took a short walk today with a friend.  Each time I think of what the alternative could have been I say another prayer of gratitude.

Day 42: Monday

Yesterday began at 5:00 a.m. so we could intercept Jacob’s doctors and see if he was able to be released. It was three days since his surgery.  When all assembled, we were there, too, to receive the news.  He could go home.

However, that little action took most of the day.  It took 4 hours just for his meds to get ordered and IV taken out.  Then we had to get his clothes and get down to Medical Records so we had a record of everything to take in hand with us to Seattle.  That was more complicated.  The system they used to copy digital images was broken, and even though we stood in line and paid for the CD they would put it on – they couldn’t do it.  But, they assured us, they would call us as soon as it was done.  The day ended without a call.

But we moved forward anyway and got Jacob packed up and out of the hospital.  We stopped for a pizza for late lunch and while there his father made arrangements for a flight to Seattle for him leaving Santa Anna at 5:50 and arriving in Seattle at 8:00.

Jacob was moving slowly, but I think he wanted to be home.  We certainly wanted him to be home.  And his brother was planning to be waiting for him at the airport in Seattle when he arrived.

We watched as he painfully went through security – it was difficult to take off his shoes and get them back on – and then he was walking slowly out to his gate.  We waved to each other and his father and I heaved a huge sigh of relief.  The past 17 days had been an ordeal the likes of which no parent ever wants to even imagine.  But, it was a miracle to see our youngest son WALK out to the gate unattended after all he had been through.  Nothing short of a miracle.  Nothing but sheer grace.

Knowing his brother would meet him in Seattle, we could relax enough to think of something else for the first time in 17 days.  So, we drove straight West from our hotel and stopped when we came to Redondo Beach.  The sun was sinking on the horizon and a few clouds were forming.  Surfers were riding the waves and bikers were riding the boardwalk.  It was beautiful.  It was even cool. And it felt so good to be outside of a hospital room.  We ate at a little pub on the beach and then went back and fell into bed.  I’m sure it will take us a few days to recover some of the lost sleep!

Day 43: Today, Tuesday

Now for the return trip to Seattle.  We packed out of our hotel where we had been for the past 8 days and resumed some hint of normalcy.  But wait!  We had to return to the hospital one more time to get the digital imaging that went with all Jacob’s medical records.  As we went through the hospital security I prayed this would really be the LAST time we needed to be there!

At Medical Records we took our place in line and waited and waited and while standing there we saw the person we had dealt with yesterday walk by.  Randy said, “Good.  At least it’s the same person. I’m sure she remembers us.”  And then we waited some more.  A few minutes later a man came out and called our name.  He explained that the system for transferring the digital images was broken yesterday and they were still trying to get it fixed. But he was sure it would only take 30 or 40 more minutes.  I asked if we could just have someone put the files on a thumb drive.  “That only takes a second.  I have a thumb drive in my pocket.”  No, that was not possible.  The hospital installed a new system in November (NOVEMBER!!!!) and they were still having difficulties.  But it would only be about 30 minutes more.  I was not going to hold my breath on that one!

To my utter amazement, thirty minutes later the Medical Records clerk came out to the waiting room and had a CD with all Jacob’s images on it.  Minor miracle, that one!  We thanked her profusely and left the hospital – hopefully forever.

Back on the road again.  While we were in the area we had driven by 3 homes where I had lived as a child and Randy wanted to find the place where his great grandparents had a chicken farm in the 1930’s.  We found the area and even the street, but of course, there are no chicken farms there today!

And while we were west of LA, we drove out to Chino to the Planes of Fame Museum.  This had been a stop on our tour of museums last year, but we missed this one because we arrived too late in the day.  So, today, we visited, but it was almost too hot to enjoy it.  The hangars were filled with beautifully restored planes, but it was 100 degrees out and I think even hotter than that in the hangars.

And then we headed north.  Tonight we are in Hesperia.  And we are planning to take our time.  No more 500 miles a day.  We are back to enjoying the view.

We feel like we lost 5 days!  But really, it feels like one long day that has lasted a year!

The good news first: Jacob finally had surgery to fuse his C-5 vertebra to C-4 and C-6 to stabilize everything.  It was successful and he is slowly recovering.  He was able to get out of bed today and sit up for most of the afternoon as well as take his first walk around the nurse’s station.

It’s impossible to go back and recover all the drama involved in getting Jacob to the OR, but we finally managed to get him there at 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening!  The lack of communication in the whole hospital system is a nightmare and he kept getting moved from “first thing in the morning” to “sometime today, we hope.”  And there was much excusing and blaming and explaining who was at fault . . . until his mother responded with “I understand there are  difficult cases. I understand there are emergencies. But I want to know when my son gets to be the emergency.  He’s been in the hospital for two weeks tomorrow and nothing has happened to move him up the list?”  At the same time, his father was up in the Patient Advocate’s office and lining up the next course of action.

Well, miracles do happen as about thirty minutes later, Jacob got called to surgery. And the surgery that they told us would take about 2 hours, actually took 6.  Nothing was wrong . . . “The surgeons always underestimate their timing.”

So, at 11:30 p.m., the security guard in the waiting room called for “Mr. Andrew’s family.”  (That’s Jacob Andrew Borkowski . . . or, if you can’t read the patient’s records correctly, that’s Borkowski, Jacob Andrew.)  They would only let one of us go back to be with him in recovery. When I asked if it was OK for his dad to come back, too, they said, “No, he can only have one visitor at a time.”  I laughed and said, “Oh, this is way past visiting!”  So, we traded off until Jacob was assigned a room on a post op floor, and we went with him to help him settle in.  We left the hospital 22 hours after we had arrived the morning before!  I do not recommend it to anyone, but I’m so grateful we stayed with him every minute of the day or he may still be awaiting surgery!

There are many stories and they would fill a book.  But, the surgery was successful (we learned the next day when the trauma team showed up to check on Jacob) and he is slowly recovering now.  It may take US even longer to recover!

Thanks for all your concern and prayers.

We began the day with a very, very kind hotel manager helping us to cancel our reservations at his hotel so we might be able to be closer to the hospital.  He could not have been more compassionate, and we are so grateful for his consideration of our predicament.  We packed up all our stuff and moved to another hotel in Gardena, quite a bit closer to Harbor UCLA Medical Center in Torrance.  I guess one really needs to know the distinctive neighborhoods of L.A. to make plans, not to mention the multiple crazy freeways and how to avoid them!

By the time we reached the hospital Jacob was tired and had a head ache, so I stayed with him for about an hour and then, after he fell asleep, I joined his brother and dad at a nearby Starbucks for some cool drinks and lunch.

By early afternoon, Jacob’s girl-friend from Seattle had arrived and was with Jacob, so we went back to the hotel and rested.  I think we are suffering from a little “car-lag.”  That’s when we heard the news that yesterday the I-10 bridge in Desert Center – which we had just driven over three hours earlier – was washed out from flood waters.  The list of things to be grateful for grows steadily.

About 6:00 p.m. we got a call from Jacob informing us that he had been moved into a new room.  This was good news because it was a move from the “trauma” area to a more “normal” area where he did not have to be hooked up to blood pressure and heart monitors around the clock.  But, in the process of the move, he wanted to inform us, they had lost his dinner.  Could we get him something . . . like a pizza?  I can only imagine what life would be like for over a week with only hospital food and no “Vitamin P”  So, “Parental Pizza Pick-up and Packing” to the rescue.  Everyone in the elevator wanted to know where we were going so they could come and share a piece of that delicious smelling pizza!  Yes, it did smell much better than the usual smells around the hospital!

As the sun was setting, we met up with Jared and his friend (who had come with Jacob’s girl-friend) and found a traditional California “Frosty Freeze” for a hamburger and a malt.  We sat in the dark at the picnic tables outside the little burger stand and talked and laughed and relaxed for the first time all week.