A day in the life

Danielle had been able to clear out most of her work schedule, so we were able to hang out with her and the kids all day.  Breakfast was pancakes a'la Aimee, and we spent the morning chatting and watching children's television programs.  Aimee and I were shocked by the amount (and effectiveness) of advertising to children on TV these days.  But Danielle just gave us a look that projected an exasperated "Tell me about it."

We set out that afternoon to run a few errands (during which I had an inexplicable urge to buy Legos and Hot Wheels).  For lunch, Danielle wanted a place that her kids could run around at.  Any parent reading this already knows where we went.

And after just two days with three kids, we completely understood. We would be no different.

We were slated to have dinner with Fernando's family, but we still had some time before we needed to be there.  So Danielle showed us a bit more of Turlock, and I was finally able to snap a picture of the ubiquitous tomato trucks that line the town's streets.

We started the evening with a surprisingly refreshing Bud Light with Fernando's dad.  He had been at work during all of the previous times that we had been over to his house, so it was my first time meeting him.  He grew up in Mexico, and had made a nice life for himself as a farmer in southern and central California.  He fit the leathery image of a lifetime ranchero, and it was really nice to hear his story.  He talked about how most agricultural workers are paid an hourly salary, so there wasn't much incentive to pick as much produce as possible. But he was a very hard worker, and some of the other workers used to get mad at him for making them look bad.  Of course, the landowner thought differently, and now he's overseeing the entire operation.

Dinner was the best carne asada that either Aimee and I had ever eaten, and we both ate way more than we should have.  Of course, Fernando's dad walking around the table offering more tacos every five minutes didn't help.  But how can you say no to that?

Fernando, long accustomed to the quantity and quality of food at his parents' house, suggested that we all go for a walk after dinner.  If it wasn't for that, we probably wouldn't be here today.

Of course, when you live on a peach and walnut orchard, it's not hard to find a nice place to walk.

Fernando gave us a tour of the property, and it was the perfect way to spend our last night in Turlock.

Squeakers

"I'm sorry about the siren last night."

Danielle and Fernando live directly across the street from a fire station. And although their homeowner's insurance must be the lowest of any home in California, there is the occasional acoustic hazard.  Danielle apologized for her neighbors, since an overzealous rookie apparently camped out in front of the station with the lights and sirens at full blast.

I looked at Aimee to see if I was the only one that was completely oblivious to the overnight interruption, but she shrugged her shoulders right back at me.  Apparently, we needed this vacation more than we thought.

It didn't take long for two dogs and three kids to join us in the living room, so we clearly weren't going to be sleeping in.

Our first stop that day was Fernando's parents' house.  His dad is a lifelong farmer that worked his way up to foreman of a sizable orchard.  The owner of the farm recently rewarded his decades of hard work with a brand new modular home on the property.

The house has a giant living room that didn't take long to become the family's daycare center.  Fernando's mom cares for several of her grandkids while their parents are at work.  She clearly loves it, and the kids to do.

With the kids dropped off at their grandma's house, we grabbed some breakfast on the way to Danielle's work.  We picked a small country-style restaurant, and as Aimee and I commented on how interesting it was to see calorie counts on the menu, the server said, "Yeah, isn't it too bad that they have to do that?"  Actually, um...

And I've got to say, it definitely affected our choices.  I've never chosen tomato slices over hash browns as the side dish with my omelette.  But that was a momentary lapse of judgement.  We'll get back to donuts soon enough.

We went next to Danielle's work.  She's an aesthetician at a nice salon in Turlock.  Conveniently, I was badly in need of a haircut, so I got a trim from one of Danielle's coworkers while she waxed Aimee's eyebrows visited with Aimee.

Danielle had a few clients coming in that afternoon, so Aimee and I took her car to the Hilmar Cheese Factory.  Seriously.  And we had a surprisingly great time!

The Hilmar factory is the largest cheese plant in the world, and they make most of the cheese that we see on store shelves.  They produce cheese for various other brands, so even though no one outside of Turlock knows their name, we've all eaten Hilmar cheese.

I'm surprised that I didn't take any photos of the visitor's center, but it was actually a pretty nice facility.  We learned all about the cheese making process, and they had lots of samples to try.  It was the first time that I had tried cheese curds (which they call Squeakers), and they were pretty tasty!

After the cheese factory, Aimee and I swung by the grocery store to pick up some food for dinner.  We wanted to thank our hosts, so we offered to cook everyone dinner.  We chose bbq chicken sliders, since that has universal appeal, especially with the under-five set.

But in a moment that my mom will surely appreciate, the kids barely even looked at the meal I spent all day preparing.  That was 18 years of overdue karma.

Canada or bust

We've all been to the point where you didn't know how you could have maintained sanity if you didn't have a vacation coming up soon.  Well, that was me about nine months ago.  Opening a brewery during medical school seemed like a fantastic idea until I actually had to run a brewery during medical school.  All I can say is, thank god for good business partners.

And speaking of good business partners, Mike pulled up in our driveway around 8am.  I had already been up for three hours sending out the last flurry of emails, but it was time to shut things down and grab our bags.  It was vacation time.  We were headed to British Columbia, but we were taking the long route so we could visit some friends and family that we don't get to see enough.

Our first stop was the San Diego airport.  We were connecting there for a delayed flight up to San Francisco.  But as Aimee put it, this was a glass half-empty/half-full situation.

Those beers cost us half our vacation budget, but they were totally worth it.

We arrived in San Francisco around dinner time, and Danielle, one of Aimee's longtime friends, picked us up at the airport.  Danielle's middle child also happens to be Aimee's goddaughter, so there was lots of catching up to do on the car ride to dinner.  Like, where has Dora the Explorer been lately, and what happened to the drivers of the purple truck?

Dinner was at a great little seafood restaurant in Pier 39, a long abandoned fishing port that was renovated in the late 1970s into a waterfront entertainment district.

And thus began our donut tour of the Pacific Northwest, but more on that later.

After dinner, we made the two hour drive out to Turlock, the inland agricultural town where Danielle and her family live.  Danielle's husband, Fernando, had already put their youngest to bed, and the other two had passed out three minutes into the drive home.  So we all sat around their kitchen table and had some (more) dessert, as well as the first conversation of the evening that didn't involve animated characters.  It was great to visit with them, and it wasn't long before even the grown-ups got heavy eye lids.

We made a surprisingly comfortable bed out of couch cushions and blankets.  But by that point, we could have fallen asleep right at the table.

Not a bad first day of vacation.