A family trip that will be remembered for life

BY Spencer Massicot

The Massicots took this steep path to the cove below their Pismo Beach hotel. Photo by Spencer Massicot

I think one of the most memorable things of summer when we get older is summer vacations. No matter how long, where, or what you are doing, the trips we take with our family, or even day trips with friends, will be memorable for possibly the rest of our lives.

My parents always tell me about their trips as a kids, driving from San Diego to Alabama or taking the ferry to Catalina. Our trips are never long, but we always try to take a trip with the three of us for a few days to make memories and for my parents to take breaks from their jobs.

My mom’s best friend of 43 years lives in a town, similar to Lake Elsinore in Northern California, called Petaluma. I had never even heard of Petaluma before they told us they were moving there, but my mom decided that we should make our vacation up north to see her friend PJ, PJ’s partner Mark, their son Raleigh, and their new dog Winifred.

We hit the road around 11, after my mom came home from a short day at work. We drove to Santa Barbara to stop and stretch our legs, and stopped at the Shoreline Beach park, where my parents got married 17 years ago. We took some pictures with the incredible view of the bluffs and ocean in the background, and then we were back on our way.

After four and a half hours of driving, we finally arrived at our stop for the first part of the journey, Pismo Beach. We ordered a pizza and rested that night in our hotel room.

The next morning I woke up early to go run and my parents went to work out on the beach. The hotel was at a cove that was basically just for hotel guests and people who knew you could access the beach from stairs leading down the back of the hotel. After we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and spent a little time at the pool, we went on an amazing hike so high we went above the clouds. Then we went down to the beach for a picnic. The day was spent relaxing at the hotel and was finished off at a popular diner near the pier of Pismo Beach.

In the early morning of the next day I ran, and then we hit the road for the second time. We began another four-hour drive up to our final destination, Petaluma. My mom’s friend was telling us to take our time because she was still getting things together to make our stay at her house incredible, which it was.

We decided to stop in San Francisco and go to the Fisherman’s Wharf and the Ghirardelli Square chocolate factory. We walked along the pier and stopped for lunch where everything was sourdough bread. I even had a sourdough bread pizza.

We stopped in some of the stores on the boardwalk, like the left-handed store where I got a mug that, if a right-handed person uses it, spills all over them because it has a hole. After lunch we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and the rest of the way to Petaluma.

We got to their beautiful house finally and had a barbecue dinner. We just kind of settled in that night and went to bed early.

The next morning we went on a tour of Petaluma with them in the car. We stayed at their house for a few more hours and had some awesome sandwiches for lunch, and then we went out to tour again in some nearby cities.

We went back to the main square of Petaluma and saw a wallet near a fountain. We took it because we wanted to mail it back to the woman. After some research, my mom found out the woman who owned the wallet is the wife of the creator of Yahoo and is a billionaire.

Using receipts found in the wallet, PJ got the woman’s phone number and told her we found her wallet. She said she would reimburse us for FedEx, and we mailed it to the address on the driver’s license.

We all thought it was pretty weird that we found that woman’s wallet, and we talked about it over a dinner at a really good Italian place. Then we went back to the house and relaxed by the fire.

In the morning we woke up early and packed up to leave the beautiful home, because we had a long drive ahead of us back to Canyon Lake.

I really want to thank PJ and Mark for having us and I will remember this amazing trip for the rest of my life.