Trip Report: Santa Cruz
What started as a
phone call to Iolanda last month ended
with a bang. Actually a four-hour long
barrage
of bangs over the boardwalk of beautiful Santa Cruz, California. The fireworks started at sunset on the Fourth
of July and ended just before dawn on the fifth. I've
never seen so many fireworks in all my
life. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Unless you're Stella,
you already knew about our planned
scheme to all show up in Santa Cruz to meet Stella.
(Stella knows this now, so it is OK to tell
her.) I picked Vinny up at his house
last Wednesday and almost got Cathy to believe we were heading over to
Las
Vegas. She gave permission for him to go
over - but over to - Las Vegas, which of course we did. We
also went over Colorado, where I swear I
could see Lisa sweeping the front porch of the cabin her and Henry were
staying
in.
We arrived a day early
and visited some museums in San Jose,
had dinner in Cupertino and stayed in Sunnyvale. Then
on Thursday we met Jimmy and Steph at
San Jose airport. They arrived about an
hour before Chuck and Io. Jimmy was
excited to see us, but only until he learned there was an In-and-Out
across the
street from the airport. For those of
you who don't know much about fast food, In-and-Out is a hamburger
chain. For those of you who don't know
Jimmy, it is
his favorite food in the world. (In
reality everything is Jimmy's favorite food!)
Legend has it that he's driven all day from Oregon to California
just to
have an In-and-Out burger. No sooner
than we were "In-and-Out" we were back at the airport to meet Chuck and
Io's
plane. Then we waited for Stella.
Stella and her very
pretty dog Woody pulled up to the
arrival curb. We were all standing
there, but she didn't notice us at first.
She noticed Io because, after all, she was expecting to see her. Stella walked right past Vinny, probably
thinking he was a suspicious character. Stella
is most perceptive. She noticed me next. She didn't say as much, but I'm guessing it was my
distinctive command presence that caught her attention.
Then she noticed Vinny's nose, and a moment
or two later she noticed Vinny.
Then she noticed (I don't know in what order) Chuck, Jimmy,
and Steph. We all hugged and embraced and
explained to Woody that he wouldn't have to sit in anyone's lap because
we had
an extra car.
Then we drove, as the
locals say, "over the hill" from San
Jose to Santa Cruz on mountainous, narrow, twisty Highway 17. The Pacific Ocean lies at the bottom of a
giant hill. We went straight to our
residence, a bed and breakfast called "The Darling House."
Mr. and Mrs. Darling were gracious hosts - more on that later. The house was built
in 1910 and designed by a Mr. Weeks, who also designed every other
now-historic
landmark in Santa Cruz. It is a
beautiful place, right on the bay and within sight of the beach,
boardwalk, and
all the other attractions.
Within a short time Steph's parents, Doug and Yvonne, arrived. They
drove all the way from Arizona to meet
Stella's Uncle Tony. And since they'd come all that way, they decided to stick around and celebrate their
daughter's
birthday. We celebrated two
birthdays: Stella's on the fourth and
Steph's on the fifth. More on that
later.
While we were there we
visited the beautiful, dog-friendly downtown
area as well as the boardwalk, the beach, and the pier.
While in Santa Cruz we had fabulous pizza,
great seafood, and Greek food that our resident Greek Chuck declared to
be
authentic. It was perfect.
We visited Stella's office and saw bones and
artifacts that date back to prehistoric times and reminded me how much
I was
missing Lisa. We ate at a restaurant where
many of Stella's bandmates played, and we met all of them.
Musicians are fascinating people.
Up to now, the
highlight of the trip was watching Stella and
Vinny pretend that the chocolate-covered bacon and fried peanut butter
and
jelly they ate on the fourth wasn't causing hallucinations. But things got much more interesting on the
fifth. It was Steph's birthday, and we
schemed and plotted to surprise her with cake and champagne at the
Darling
House. Stella, who had noticed an old
piano in the parlor, asked the Darlings if she could bring over some
friends
and make some music.
Stella and Vinny enjoy chocolate-covered bacon and deep-fried peanut butter and jelly
Well,
it just so
happens that Darrell Darling is a huge fan of jazz and it just so
happens that
he knew Stella's friends. He was so
excited that he relaxed his "no alcohol" rule and graciously allowed
Doug and
Yvonne to bring in champagne along with a beautiful birthday cake. So on the fifth, pianist Elliot and bassist
Chris played and Stella sang in the Darling's parlor. Wow!
Stella is beautiful, talented, and made this intimate
impromptu performance memorable. Elliot and Chris are also top-shelf
professionals. I've never heard a piano
sound like magic,
and Chris made the four strings of his upright bass talk. It was absolutely stunning to hear the music
bring that old house alive. Nearly every
song had a piano solo and bass solo, and they were all incredible. They played a set from the set list (that's musician talk, continue reading please) and then we popped the corks,
and enjoyed
cake and while Stella sang and the guys played some more.
She sang a song in perfect Italian, and she
made English sound like a romantic language. One
of her songs was from the Prohibition Era,
ironic given that we were listening to it while sipping champagne. Stella and the band joked between songs and
it seemed that everyone in the room had known each other all their
lives. Music does that kind of thing.
While we were there we decided that we all want an actual, real reunion. So this is a call to start floating dates, venues, and other details. We hope that Doug and Yvonne will join us - unless they offer to host it in Arizona, in which case we'll all sure to join them.
Stella, thank you so much for so graciously and suddenly changing all the plans you had to show us such a great time. It may have been your birthday, but you made it our special time and the thoughts will be with us forever. You are gifted in arts and letters, and you exemplify all the goodness in our family. I promise you it won't be long until I see you again!
