We got the chance to get away for Thanksgiving this year and visit my best friend and his family out in the bay area. It was perfect; no stress, easygoing, and a gorgeous Thanksgiving afternoon hike where Harper saw the ocean for the first time at Tennessee Valley Beach.
Getting there was tricky because it’s a few miles in from where you park. At first it’s a paved path so it’s no problem. Here’s Kevin with 2 of his three adorable kids in the Bob (a jogging stroller that would’ve come in really handy for us), and Mike pushing little Harper.
Then the paved road quickly turns into wet gravel which is what it was for the majority of time time. We would’ve brought the Bjorn had we known, but we made it just fine. As you can imagine, Harper found it hard to nap with the extreme stroller turbulence so she was wide awake the whole time. We all chatted, threw the football around to Parker, and I caught up with Kevin’s parents who and I miss terribly since their move from Colorado years ago- that’s me walking with them and Kevin.
After a while on our windy path, our view became untangled and you could see the water. The day was beautiful and the area was packed. It seemed the everyone wanted to go for a pre-dinner hike to the beach.
Picture time! As usual we took turns kissing sweet Harper’s round cheeks. We certainly don’t need a camera for this, we pretty much do it all day long.
Dad’s turn! I love this face she’s making- it’s like a ‘WTF’ meets ‘I’m cold.’
She was getting a little chilly but was still up for a few more shots. When we got back and saw this picture I laughed because it’s like she was posing and smiling right along with us. She’s just so fun.
When we lived in the bay area (Walnut Creek) 9 years ago, we weren’t there long enough to explore little places like this so we were happy to see it. We had such a great time, we might have a new Thanksgiving tradition!