5-1-04: Eric decided to entertain his then-five-year-old niece by shaving off half of his beard and mustache. He had such fun with it, though, that he decided to keep it that way... for two weeks! He finally shaved the rest of it off when he went to the MySQL conference. Before then, though, we decided to take some pictures... I particularly like this one. He looks so serious.

5-4-04: In the spring of '04 we finally returned to California, this time for something more like a vacation than a quick road trip. Our official reason for going was to see Laurie Anderson perform her then-untitled work which later became Happiness, but mostly it was to drive the 101 down the coast. We took a right at Eugene and headed down 101 the rest of the way to Santa Cruz.

5-2-04: Eric decided to get a better look at the incoming waves... and got fairly well drenched in the process!

5-4-04: The pebbles in this deep gully in the rock make a fabulous sound as the water rushes out of the channel...

5-2-04: ... and the water rushes in with considerable force!

5-2-04: Eric seemed determined to get wet that day.

5-2-04: We did eventually end up on a sandier beach, although it was far too cold to spend long there. We found this little guy tossed up by the sea. We eventually figured out that it was a beached jellyfish.

5-4-04: We did eventually make it to Santa Cruz... the only college whose mascot is the banana slug! This one is, in fact, a California native.