Creatures Of Habit In California

The annual Hosenfeld California migration has taken place once again. Twenty-one of us made the annual visit to the garden of Eden to visit grandpa. Just like clockwork all 21 of us arrived at the Salt Lake City airport within five minutes of each other. Like a row of ducklings we boarded the plane and sat in roughly the same seats as last year. And as usual our five rental cars ended up parked at a fantastic, wide-windowed beach house right on Capistrano Beach.
It didn't take us long to resort to our usual California habits; staking out fridge space, scoring a beach chair and finding an outlet for our hundred electronic devices. And even though there are countless restaurants in the area we always, without fail, go to Pedro's for a bean/cheese/potato burrito or push all the tables together at Harbor House for the best hot crab sandwiches in the world. We see the same waiter every year at El Torito, and he recognizes us as well. And the grief we put the "crepe place" through when we arrange all their sidewalk tables into a long row to fit all of us! Serving 21 chatting, squirming, screaming Hosenfelds at the same time is epic!
A trip to California also entails everyone wearing their new Rip Curl T-shirts purchased the day before as well as going to Trader Joe's repeatedly. To cap off the trip Dad always wants to catch the sunset at Dana Point Harbor (although it usually takes a couple of tries since the sun sets faster than our planning allows). As the tsunami of Hosenfelds plow their way through restaurants and outlet stores we are all the more grateful for a large family because when we visit grandpa (in gentle waves) we are reminded of how important and precious family is despite the chaos.

 great views from the Capistrano Beach House

always a pleasure to visit this great man