Why Not?

 Why Clear Lake? 

To this, I feel the only correct response would be: Why not Clear Lake?

When I was thinking about places to go on an overnight adventure to celebrate our wedding anniversary, I considered several options. For several years, we had been making a late summer pilgrimage to the south, taking in the sights that could be seen in anticipation of seeing our son in San Luis Obispo. It was a way for us to all gather together. 

A hundred years or so ago, we headed north, with our newly minted baby in tow. We visited Willets, California and rode the Skunk Train to Fort Bragg. Please don't tell me I don't know how to show a girl a good time. We put a pin in our metaphorical map and only spoke lovingly of the experience, though careful reminiscence would bring back memories of the sleepless night we spent with that newly minted baby. 

We have found ourselves in Napa, and Santa Rosa and some of the other cities and towns just a day's ride north of here over the years, but not a lot because we consider ourselves to be residents of Northern California, so the need to show off any further in that regard seemed a little unnecessary. Oh, there was a trip to Calistoga that included a mud bath for her and introduced my son to what would become his favorite Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor: Phish Food. 

Somewhere along the line, our son stopped being a vital component of our anniversary celebrations. He certainly always wished us well and many happy returns of the day, but his presence as his parents recalled how we happened to take this long strange trip called marriage began. He was there when we renewed our vows in a little chapel off the Las Vegas strip with Elvis officiating. There are other places for him to be. His life stretches out in front of him like another hundred years of possible anniversaries of his own.

But his trips to Clear Lake with his buddies in high school got me thinking: We've never gone to Clear Lake. Our son has, but we haven't. So we packed a bag and headed out to discover what all the fuss was about. It wasn't about the four star dining. It wasn't about the deluxe accommodations. We had a solid three star experience at our motel, and our anniversary dinner will be memorable primarily for the speed with which it was delivered to our table. We had reservations for seven o'clock, and we were walking out the door by seven forty. There was no lingering. Which was fine, because it gave us time to absorb the real feature of the evening, which was our sunset tour of the winding route around the lake. 

Here's the thing: We have been married long enough that we don't need surprises, but it's really nice to have one, now and again. Like Tatonka Mini Golf, which we enjoyed/endured through hundred degree heat, and the adjacent thrift store. These memories will last longer than those of the blue green algae stench that we caught with the breeze every so often. 

Why Clear Lake? Because now we can answer that question.