Taking Kathy Home

The weather had predicted possible rain, but it could not have been a more beautiful day.  The plan was to drive out to Drake's Bay and sprinkle the ashes where we, with Kathy and her sister, had sprinkled her mother's ashes in 2004.

My mother has said time and time again how much she loves driving out to West Marin and the day was perfect, but the road is winding and got a bit long for her.   She was already concerned about taking "the fast way" back home after we had scattered the ashes.  I also wasn't sure how to get to the beach where we had been before (Kathy's sister had directed me then).

We got to Point Reyes (which, I had to laugh, Nigel, our British GPS voice, pronunced "REE-eyes") and started following the signs for "beaches."  The road took us through Inverness, where my grandparents had lived for many years, and Peach and her family had lived for awhile.  A very special place for us.

As we were approaching the actual town of Inverness, we were driving along Tomales Bay and we suddenly all had the same thought...maybe we could scatter Kathy's ashes here.  It had more significance for the family and somehow seemed more personal than trying to find a beach we had no personal connections with.  Not only that, but it was the spot where our grandfather's boat had sat fordecades until it finally disintegrated.  And it was a nice quiet beach.

Plus, it sat within view of "finger mountain."  Or that was what I called it.  My sister called it "fist hill" and Peach called it "the hand."  A hill with ripples in it that look like fingers.   I liked Kathy being near finger mountain.

Before we got to the road to Inverness, though, I had to stop to take a picture of this...uh... structure, I guess you'd call it!

At first I thought the signs on the bottom left and right were to advertise a winery, but it just says "Save the Ocean" and "drink wine."  Don't know who put it up, but I loved it (needless to say!)

We pulled over by the little Inverness store where I remember shopping when I was little and we walked down along the edge of the bay.

One last picture, in the shadow of Finger Mountain.

Then Peach did the honors and we all told Kathy we loved her.

Then it was time for lunch.  We went to a cafe in Point Reyes, where I took this cute picture.

We drove my mother back to her house, I refused to take a nap before we left to go home and Peach and I got on the road again.  She had talked with Bob earlier in the day and learned that his knee was hurting too much so he would not be able to drive down and pick her up, so could I drive her home.  By the time I got her home, and returned to Davis, I figured I had driven nearly 200 miles since 11 a.m. -- 50 miles round trip to West Marin, 80 miles home, 70 miles round trip to Peach's and back again.  All this in a weekend where gas is $4.67 a gallon--and $5.00 in Marin County (where I had to buy gas!)

But we agreed it had been a perfect day, and best of all, my mother was having one of her "good" days!