Pt. Reyes

It was a wonderful day.

Driving up there took a lot longer than expected. Though I do love the twisty roads, my brother didn't. Naomi, Ben and I were in my car while Conrad, Kelley, Gwenn and Colin were in the 'Rex (Kelley and Conrad's WRX).

We arrived at the beach ~12:30ish and it was initially a bit windy and just cold enough where I had to put on PANTS!

Bob and Sally were already there with their friends from San Francisco, Drew and Marta.

We checked out the visitor center/ranger station for a bit, which has a nice indoor area to sit and look out some big windows at the beach and cliffs. They even had a really powerful spotter's scope setup. The tide was starting to go out and there were some nice waves hitting the shore. Plenty of seagulls and other birds.

A few other friends started to show up, so we decided to eat our picnic lunch. Luckily, there was the perfect spot with many picnic tables right out front where it was not as windy.

More and more people started showing up - each bringing more and more food! We ended up completely taking over this small picnic area.

During the feast, there was a wonderful whale sighting. I heard a gasp from the crowd and was lucky enough to see the end of a particularly large breach.


As most of the expected people had arrived, we started to pack up the food and make our way to the opposite end of the parking lot where a path leads up to a small overlook. A few small coffee cups were handed out with one of Susie's favorite beers "Blue Moon" and we walked up the path.

Luckily, it was a bit warmer now and didn't seem to be very windy either.

Colin handed out flowers as each of us passed and Gwenn handed out the laminated cards that we made.

The view from the overlook revealed a wonderful view of the beaches and cliffs in both directions as well as the land covered in scrub brush behind us.

Once we had all made it up to the top, we gathered at the railing

Starting to cry, I thanked everyone for coming and said a few words.
Surrounded by family, friends and friends of friends.
Susie would have said "You've had beer this whole time and haven't given any to me yet?"
Thanks for all the help and support that everyone has given us throughout all of this.
We had many years together, but not nearly enough.

Bob said a few words and then read the poem, Let the Red Fox Run.


Having not planned this moment at all, I was unsure of what to do. I decided to have a short moment of Silence and then, at the count of 3, cheer and throw the flowers into the air. Then some hikers were coming back along the trail and I thought it might scare them if we all were silent, then screamed when they walked by - heh. So we waited a few more moments and then cheered as the sky filled with flying flowers.

The path turned more rugged up ahead and I suggested that we walk further along the path
Several points were extremely close to the cliff and you could see where sections of the cliff had slipped down several feet.

We stopped at the next high point on the trail, where I told the story of our engagement.


Earlier in the day, I had put the ring in my back pocket (not in a box - that would have been too obvious). She had hugged me at one point and had felt my pocket - "what's that?" she asked - but I side-stepped the answer and narrowly escaped being discovered! We had driven up through San Francisco, up RT1 through the twisty roads and then down to Drake's Beach.

We walked along the cliff, and stopped in several places to enjoy the view, but every time I got enough courage up, she just would start walking again! Arrgh! Then, at one particular moment, we saw a huge raven - probably about 20 feet from us, surfing the wave of wind rushing over crest of the cliff. It was an incredible moment and I knew it was time.

I stopped her and said,
"Susie, I love you very much and I want to spend the rest of my live with you.
Will you marry me?"

In retrospect, I figured the cliff could have served a dual-purpose just in case - her or me ;) But luckily enough, she said YES!

...

I removed the ashes from my backpack and borrowed a cup from Liz. I told everyone that this was one of the places that Susie wanted to be scattered and I put a bit of her ashes into the cup and approached the edge of the cliff.

Tossing the ashes low over the edge didn't stop them from flying back in all of our faces. Heh - I should have known that was going to happen. I offered everyone the cup if they wanted it, or everyone was welcome to use their hands. We all took a few turns sending her back to nature. I found a particularly good spot where each pinch was shot back into the air like a firework exploding. The heavier pieces like the bright lights were followed by the lingering lighter ashes of smoke.

When we were down to just a little bit left, I said I was going to go ahead a bit by myself.

I walked and cried till I was out of sight until I came to a huge field
A hawk was sitting on a fence a ways away and some critter's den appeared beneath my feet. I offered a bit of her to the den in hopes that it was a fox.

I walked a little more where the cliff started to descend slowly into a ravine. It looked almost like a "the hills are alive" scene.

I again told her how much I was going to miss her - every bit of her and I cried and returned the rest of her to the land, sea and air. I took out a small flask of whiskey and toasted Susie.

Then, I started back up the path and rejoined the group that was all still sitting and talking at that highest point on the hike. I passed the whiskey around and we all shared stories and memories of my wonderful Susie.

Then we all slowly started filtering back down the hill.

Returning to the overlook, it was quite a scene to see the gorgeous scattered flowers everywhere - even some were taken quite some distance by the wind. I stood there a moment soaking up the scene, then started back down the hill to the beach.


I would like to say how thankful I was that so many people came to this weekend's celebration.

Sally and Bob
My Brother, Ben
Drew and Marta
Neil and Steph with Owen (+1)
Bobby and Stephanie
Mark Hashimoto (complete with tie, no less!)
Liz and Ashley
Lorel and Adrian
Ian and Marjorie with Bronwyn (Susie's Boss/Friend and family)
Bill (Susie's friend from North Carolina - now living near Santa Barbara (URS))
Dan (URS)
Jean (URS)
Peggy
Eileen and Angela (from Santa Cruz!)
Ken, Tamela, Joe, Evan, and Morgan (Stockton!)
Brian and Sally (+1)
Jimmy and Elise with Niko and Olivia
Gloria and Kat
Karen and Joel with Riley
Jana and Jon with Tristan
Shann and Guy with Brady and Conner
Jen with Kate
Arik
Colleen and Gavin
Cara
Naomi
Kelley and Conrad
Colin and Gwenn