Labor day is for everything but labor. But it’s not just for relaxing either. A special day off work is for stepping outside of your regular routine, seeing the bigger picture and catching up on the good things in life.So that’s what we set out to do on our three days. The first day we drove to Pleasanton for the annual Highland Games. Despite frustratingly hot weather and a fruitless search for some of hubby’s piping gear, I took a happy trip down memory lane after sipping some Irn Bru. Irn Bru is a staple soda of the Scottish world (probably elsewhere in Europe too). This orange colored and flavored soda was one of our common libations absorbed with “Nice ‘n Tasty” eggsalad boxed sandwiches during our Scotland travels in June of 1998. Okay, I realize that might sound kind of gross, but we would pick up our nourishment on the food trolley that strolled down the aisle of the trains where we would eat over game after game of cribbage. We now realize how truly formative this trip was in our relationship and later our marriage. We discovered we traveled together very well and never got sick of each others company, even after four solid weeks. Pretty cool huh?On Saturday we headed to Santa Barbara to visit my best friend Rianna who was in California for a brief three days, far from her home in Boston.
Seeing her was a sort of coming home. As one of my oldest friends (in years, not age of course) she is like a sister to whom I need to explain nothing. We kicked back on the Santa Barbara coast, drinking pints at Dargan’s pub and enjoying the sunshine. After sending her off at the airport, we slowly made our way home visiting the funny Danish town Solvang and lunching in San Louis Obisbo. Our stop in SLO opened my eyes to another place we could consider building our Puffin Ranch. With realty prices a few hundred thousand dollars less than their SCruz peers. Perhaps my Puffin Ranch dreams are not too ambitious. Friends, relaxation, and the potential of making a dream reality? That’s a labor day to enjoy.