We last saw Linda's cousin, Emily Grimes, when she came to San Antonio for her father's funeral, many years ago. We exchanged annual greetings, and knew that they had retired to Brookings, Oregon, which we located (just barely!) on the map. It looked like an interesting place.
Displaying our total ignorance of California travel, we decided to check them out while we had some time between Kai's birthday and the Baker Weekend, a reunion of old Rice alums. Borrowing Claire's Mini Cooper, which she didn't need as she was off somewhere, we set out from El Cerrito for a casual drive through the wine country, the northern counties, and on to Brookings.
We were basically in the middle of nowhere when the "tire low" light came on. A quick visual showed nothing obvious, but we decided to check it out anyway. We managed to stop another Mini on the highway to learn that it wasn't life-threatening, which was good because we were close enough to El Cerrito that turning around was an option. We took the exit for Cloverdale and started looking around. We stopped at an auto parts store and invested in a tire gauge. Then we went to a tire place and had the owner pump up the tires and check them out. Everything was OK. Except the light was still on. A quick check of the owner's manual told us how to reset the warning, but failed to mention where the reset button was located. After a fruitless 30 minutes, we called the emergency number on the owner's manual, which wasn't much help. Then we lucked out and found a business card with a mechanic's cell phone number. Five minutes later, we were back on the road again after pushing the button, which was in plain sight.
This delayed us somewhat, so it was nearly dark by the time we pulled into Brookings and the Grimes house. Emily greeted with some homemade hors-d'oeuvres from her cookbook. We sat on the deck, sipping a nice white wine, and watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. We didn't capture that moment, but we did get a shot of the view from the deck.
We spent some time exploring the delights of the area, getting the Grimes into birding. Brookings is a small town, with much of the ambiance you'd expect. However, it also has some nice restaurants, and other amenities you wouldn't expect.
A large rock in the ocean, visible from the patio of their house, serves as a rookery for numerous sea birds. We managed to put the scope on puffins for the Grimes, which helped get them into the mood for some birding in the area. Alas, we found the surrounding area a bit quiet, but we did find a nest of American Dippers, always fun to see. We wound up concentrating on flowers and such instead.
All too soon it was time to head back to civilization and the Baker Weekend in Sausalito.
Here are all the photos from the trip.