We bought a new-to-us RV about five minutes before the pandemic started, so we have used it very little. We took it to Monterey and Carmel Weds.-Sat. The City of Monterey actually owns and operates an RV Park at the top of a hill in the middle of town. I last camped there over thirty years ago when I was riding my bike from SF to LA. Nothing's really changed, which was pretty delightful. We decided to park the rig once and walk everywhere. The weather was spectacular, and we greedily soaked up the sunshine, spring flowers and spectacular vistas.
As part of Friday's walking tour, we visited one of my old accounts. The owner is semi-retired and there's a new manager. When I introduced myself, she said, "Oh, you must be Dicey! I've heard so much about you!" I last called on them nearly a decade ago, so that was quite lovely and unexpected.
We left there and noticed a new-to-me restaurant supply store a couple of doors down. Turns out they buy out restaurants and had a treasure trove of cool used stuff in the back. I found a large wooden pizza peel that had some wear on it, but was in solid shape. We bought it for $5! We had been wracking our brains for Bonus Kid's Easter Birthday gift. I'm the pizza dough maker and he's the pizza baker, so we were thrilled with this find. We paid for it, and left it there for a later pick-up TBD. After we finished strolling through town and eating our picnic lunch, we swung back by the store and DH carried that huge pizza peel all the way up the long hill home.
On Saturday, we spent time in Carmel. There's a famous beach parking lot at the end of Ocean Avenue. DH despaired of us ever finding parking big enough for the RV, but I was optimistic. As we circled the lot, I noticed two parallel parking spaces that apparently everyone else had missed, because there was sand covering most of the markings. We parked our 25' rig with ease, for FREE! I had also spied a smaller parking space that was a bit obscure, and pointed it out to another driver, who was thrilled.
Later, we visited the former office manager of the place we dropped in on the day before. I knew he had dementia, and probably wouldn't remember me, but I wanted to visit him anyway. He lives in Carmel with his sister in a house they inherited from their parents. I had dinner with them in their home several times when I was working, so I figured she had assumed the caretaking role. I know from personal experience that nobody visits people with ALZ, and I knew I coukd offer her some been-there-done-that support. He didn't remember me, but we had a fantastic visit anyway. I'm so glad I followed my gut and made the visit. We spent a lovely two hours with them.
After that, we headed for home home. DH sanded the pizza peel and shortened the too-long-for-home-use handle. It turned out great! Then we flattened a large cardboard box, slipped the peel inside and wrapped it in wrapping paper that was at least ten years old. Bonus kid loved it.
So much happy!
