Time With Kaefer

 

It's more than a week ago that Kaefer flew back to Germany, but the memories still linger. We had a really good almost two weeks together and of course it was wonderful to see her again. She was exhausted though - the two weeks right before her trip to the US she was on a work trip in Malawi followed by a very exciting and extremely packed weekend in Nairobi (she is now the proud "parent" of an orphaned elephant) and she had just landed in Frankfurt when she was back on a plane not even 48 hours later, this time to Chicago. She spent two days there, met up with a high school friend and both drove down to the South of Indiana to attend the wedding of yet another high school friend. Finally she flew from Indianapolis to Oakland from where we picked her up. I get tired just thinking about all of this.

The two weeks we spent together were relatively quiet. She really just wanted to hang out - and go out to the coast. 

One day we drove to Gerstle Cove of Salt Point State Park (her idea, and I was thrilled since I love this place so much) where we just walked and climbed (Kaefer) along the tafoni. There is a bench on the path where we always stop and take a photo.

Since she wanted "real" fish and chips we went further up to Gualala - there's a seafood shack that serves delicious fish and chips and other seafood. This driver, though, waiting in front of the shack, was a bit strange and I doubt his or her driving abilities...

Kaefer had wanted to do a "photo shoot" since she doesn't have any good pictures of herself that she can use on professional websites like LinkedIn or on her university's department's site. Selfies just don't cut it. So one day we went to the lake and took pictures - it reminded me a lot of the time when I took the senior pictures of her and some of her friends. Just like back then, we had a lot of fun together. The pictures turned out pretty nice as well.

The following picture made me pause and my heart skipped a beat. I hadn't realized it when I took the photo, but when I looked at it on the computer I thought seeing a young version of my mom - everything, the nose, the expression, the way she holds her hand is like my mom. I have often seen certain similarities between Kaefer and my mom (even though she also looks a lot like her dad), but never as clearly as in this image.

It has become a favorite photo.

A family photo had to be taken as well. Of course.

A new ice cream shop had opened in town and of course we had to try it out. It was sinfully good and easily replaced lunch on that day.

On another day we went to our favorite beach. "Going to the beach" in our corner of the world usually does not involve packing bathing suits, but taking winter jackets, hats, sometimes even gloves and scarves with you. But this day was reasonable, not even too windy. As you can see in the top photo, that is our usual attire when we "go to the beach".

Kaefer also checked an item on her "things I want to do in my life" list - but that will be "fodder" for another post.

The day of her departure came way too soon. We had left quite early since we're never sure about traffic, but eveything went fine. So we decided to go up the Marine Headlands before crossing Golden Gate Bridge and going to the airport. A couple years ago the road from where you have a great view of the bridge and San Francisco was turned into a one-way road. In order to get there you have to drive through a one-lane tunnel that almost always involves a five minute wait at a red light. The tunnel is VERY narrow.

But when you're up at Conzelman Road, you are rewarded with great views - if there is no fog. The marine layer was already rolling in and the very fast moving fog hid and revealed the Golden Gate Bridge in rapid sequences. We actually like the bridge with fog a lot. It was also VERY windy - just look at my hair, and even the Geek's!

With so many faces - even though they're always the same ones - I'm linking up to Nicole's Friday Face Off.