No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home
            Years ago, my beloved aunt and uncle came to stay with us in San Francisco, bringing their nine-year-old grandson, my cousin’s son. They were visiting from Tug Hill, a notoriously snowy, rural part of Upstate New York, a place that developed the character of my grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles. Dairy farms and cornfields are the counterpart to the many lakes and forests in this part of the Adirondack foothills.
            It was this boy’s first visit far from rural Upstate New York. Walking along the ocean, driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, and visiting places like Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf were exciting and possibly a bit overwhelming.
            One day when my husband watched our two young sons and my aunt and uncle took a break from the whirlwind with books on the sofa, I took my cousin’s son for a walk to burn some of his extra energy.
            A mile and a half loop walk starting right from our front door included one of several small lakes in Golden Gate Park. It often played host to coots, mallards, geese, egrets, and sometimes a great blue heron. Raccoons were often in view during the day, while fox and coyote usually stayed hidden until night.
            Our young visitor had been acting up a bit, talking back to his grandma, my aunt. He was probably out of sorts from being in a new place with new people far away from home.
            As we walked around the small lake, which often made me think of my Adirondack stomping grounds, I could see his face and body relax. He looked happy and engaged, like he was comfortable in his own skin again.
            Juggling work, my own two kids, and entertaining him and my aunt and uncle for a week, I was lucky to have found the wherewithal for this solo walk with him.
            “Can we come here again?” he asked earnestly as we headed away from the lake and back along city streets to home. 
            “Sure,” I said, moved by the fact that he was so enamored of this spot.
            The days got busier, and their visit zipped by without a chance to take him back to the little lake. Not being able to take him back has always haunted me with guilt.
            I hope he has good memories of that trip so many years ago. That tiny lake near my house still brings flashes of Adirondack memories when I visit with my family for an easy neighborhood walk.
            Do you have a favorite nearby location that reminds you of another time and place in your life? Tap into the nostalgia, and keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, North Lake-Golden Gate Park, leads readers around one of the small lakes along Chain of Lakes Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
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New this week:
Hike Notes 235: North Lake-Golden Gate Park