The boys have spent the summer in a traveling Y camp… traversing the entire county of San Luis Obispo. They’ve walked miles and miles to swimming pools, museums, fire stations, boats, grocery stores, gardens, parks, waterslides and pizza parlors. Everywhere we go, Nate sees city buses he’s ridden around town– Bus 4, Bus 2b, Bus 1! Although still not immune to complaining, the boys’ distance and stamina has grown considerably in just eight weeks.
Taking advantage of this newfound fortitude, two weekends ago we had the most wonderful Sunday. It started with breakfast at The Market, our new go-to barrio bistro. It’s not quite Pasta P, but they do have mint It’s It’s and good wine. Nate rode his bike and Jake rode his scooter all the way to Avila Beach on the Bob Jones Trail. About 2.5 miles into the trip, I realized both Nate’s tires were flat… poor kid. He only crashed once down the hill onto the golf green. A stop to pump-up the tires and a quick refuel, and the boys made it all the way back. Then we enjoyed a delicious lunch in AG and wrapped-up the afternoon with gourmet coffee and a spirited match of Battleship. Of course I lost to the Reining Connect 4 King.
This past weekend we hiked Poly Canyon to check-out the Architecture Graveyard… the covert location of many college parties, and a place I’ve always wanted to see. Over the years, architecture students have constructed projects up this remote canyon on an open, grassy hillside— from artistic sculptural concoctions to a suspended boat prow to an open-air house inspired by the inside of a conch shell. As one would expect, most are in disrepair with varying levels of spray paint, vandalism and poison oak.
We climbed and explored each structure with an appropriate level of precaution and enthusiasm. In the middle of the large geodesic dome were the remains of a frequently used campfire, strewn with broken beer bottles.
Nate surveys the campfire and affirms authoritatively, “Indians. Must’ve been Indians.”