Last week was my birthday. Which, before people start saying things, is not a big deal. That's why I didn't mention it. Birthdays were never given much attention when I was growing up. I had two whole birthday parties when I was a kid unless you count that my mom brought a cake to my classroom when I was in kindergarten. Presents usually consisted of my mom saying, "What do you want?" or giving me some money and saying, "Get yourself something." So I have never made a big deal out of my birthday as an adult.
But don't worry: My kids get the full birthday treatment.
This year, my wife decided to change all of that. She had warned me earlier in the week to not have any plans for Friday, but I had no idea what that meant. Then, she got the day off of work due to the rain and followed that by responding to my invitation to take her to breakfast with, "Yeah, we're not doing that."
Instead, I got this:
Yes, it was raining more than a little.
Next, there was this:
Which was actually this:
They have an earthquake trail there based around the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Point Reyes lies directly on the San Andreas fault. Here are some pictures:
The blue stakes mark the fault line.
This is the picture of a fence. It was once one continuous fence. The post at the bottom right (in close-up) used to be joined to the other section you see in the distance. The 1906 separated the pieces of fencing by about 16'. Yes, I said feet.
Yes, it was raining the whole time we were there, and the wind was something fierce. But, of course, she had planned all of this before we knew about the incoming storm. She did offer me the option of just staying home and sleeping (because my birthday present from my cat had been a three-hour war in the middle of the night because he thought I should be awake and having a party with him), but I turned it down. It was fun! And I earned my intrepid explorer badge! I was glad, though, that this was the only outside portion of the jaunt she had planned, because we were pretty soaked, despite jackets and umbrellas that kept blowing inside out, by the time we were finished there.
Next time, you can find out the rest of the day. Here, I'll leave you with my next clue:
Leave your guesses at the door.
