“Hey, is that Daddy?”

Panda and I were looking at some old pictures on Mom’s computer. We only know Daddy from pictures, but I was pretty sure Panda was right. “Yes, that’s him,” I replied. “You can tell by his happy smile and disposition.” Panda nodded. “It looks like they were at Cayucos,” he observed. “Go to the next one.”

“No way!” Panda exclaimed when we clicked to the next photo. “Is that Mom?” I had to laugh. “Yep,” I replied. “She looks a little bit…” Panda interrupted. “Younger?” he suggested. “Well, I was going to say thinner,” I said, looking around to make sure she wasn’t where she could hear us. Panda clicked to the next photo.

“Okay,” Panda said. “Now that looks like Mom. I’m not surprised she’s pointing to the Danger sign.”

• 

• 

“Is that a real pocket?” I asked as we looked at the picture of Daddy by the Danger sign. “It doesn’t really match the shirt.” Panda inspected the photo closely. “I remember once Mom said she sewed a pocket onto one of his shirts so that when he was in the church Easter dramas he could put the little box for his microphone in there under his costume,” he offered. I nodded. “That was a pretty good idea. It looks like Daddy was a regular comedian.” We both laughed as we looked at the photo where he was pretending he didn’t know which road to take. “The road less traveled…” Panda mused.

“Hey!” I exclaimed. “That reminds me! Mom brought home another travel story from one of the kids at church. She left it in the front room.” Immediately we jumped off the computer table and hurried to the front room. Just as I thought, the story was there.

Panda looked at the drawing, his eyes wide. “It looks like we were going to Cayucos,” he said. “How funny, it’s just like the pictures we were looking at!” We looked at each other. “Let’s go!” we exclaimed in unison.

It didn’t take us long to get ready, and as soon as we had looked up Cayucos on the map we were on our way. Before we knew it we were flying over the beautiful Cayucos pier!

It was still early morning when we landed our travel tunnel and started to explore. Soon we came to a sign we had never seen before. “Yep, we’re in Cayucos, all right,” I observed. “I’m hungry! Let’s go look for a snack.”

As we walked through town we came to a really cool ice cream and candy store. We thought it was a little early for chocolate, but Panda wanted to look inside. “Can you see anything?” I asked as he balanced precariously on a potted plant. “Not really,” he answered. It smells good in there, though.”

We continued walking until we found a place that had fish and lobsters. While we stood in line, we chatted with a friendly, albeit familiar-looking, seagull. “Hey,” Panda said after awhile. “Didn’t we eat at a place just like this when we went to Monterey Bay?” I studied the sign. “I think you’re right.” I replied. “I remember something about the lobsters and crabs being dressed.” Our food was done, so we didn’t have time to think any more about it. Energized by our delicious snack, we were soon on our way.

Our seagull friend accompanied us to the pier. I wasn’t too thrilled with Panda climbing up onto the railing, but I figured if he fell off, the seagull could fly down and grab him with his beak. It’s not as if he hasn’t been picked up by a seagull before, I reminded myself, remembering our trip to Monterey. And that’s not to mention the giant condor in Peru!

We said goodbye to the seagull, and decided to walk down the pier. “How’s the fishing?” Panda asked, as he climbed up to talk to a man nearby. “Not bad,” the man responded. “Hey, wait, do you know that cat sitting on my bag of fish?” Panda nodded. “Yes, sir,” he replied respectfully. “That’s my best friend Foster. But you don’t have to worry about him getting your fish. We just ate a delicious snack so he shouldn’t be hungry.” The man laughed. “Okay, buddy, I’m taking your word for it.”

“Come on!” Panda called, after we had said goodbye to our new friend. “I’ll race you to the end of the pier!”

Somehow Panda won the race, and when I reached the end of the pier, he had climbed up to look at a statue of some dolphins.

Once I got him to come down, we admired the statue together. Then we decided to go look for another snack.

At the famous Sea Shanty restaurant, I discovered there was a patio with a basket just for pets. There was a gray cat in the basket, but he was friendly and invited me to join him. “This is pretty nice,” I said, snuggling into the blankets. “Do you live here?” My new friend nodded. “Yes, my family just moved here from Fresno. Where are you from?”

Just then Panda came out from ordering our food. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “We’re from Fresno, too, but we’re just visiting.” The gray cat eyed us carefully. “Wait,” he said slowly. “Are you the ones who were in the paper recently? Something about the Olympics?”

We were just getting ready to answer when we heard a familiar voice from in front of the restaurant. “Hey Boss, I think that’s them!” And then we saw a taxi speeding away down the street!

To be continued..