"Dad, when I go to Stanford I am going to get you a boat!"
- 13 year old Stephen Dobbs
"Today was the best day of this entire trip"
- Colleen Dobbs
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."
- Melody Beattie
(Warning: Shameless Parental Pride To Follow)
Two days ago we landed in SanFrancisco. We wanted to finish Episode VIII with a visit to Stephen. He is working on his PhD in Geology at Stanford University. We are planning an unorthodox Thanksgiving holiday with him before returning to home next week.
It has been a very full two days. We have much to celebrate this holiday. We have been blessed with two accomplished sons who seem to have launched into life with the grace and open hearts of their mother. They have become good men. The world needs good men.
Chris has married well, purchased a home and is putting down roots in Cincinatti, Ohio. He and Emily are constantly doing creative projects that never cease to amaze me. His natural ability, charm, intelligence, have taken him far. His heart is in not for profit causes and I am certain he and Emily will save the world one day. That is not a joke. Lord knows it needs saving. I could not be more proud.
This leg of the trip is focused on Stephen's world. And what a world it is!
The first step of the journey was a religious pilgrimage
Once this primal need was sated we moved on to visit Stephen's office at Stanford. This is Stephen's third year here. Gone is the nervousness about if he belongs in this rarefied atmosphere. He is confident, able, and settled into the academic life. His job, and it is a job, takes him around the world on research trips.
Here are some images of the campus and his office on this holiday week.
Stephen recently published an important paper here. I do not pretend to know the science involved but, using my frame of reference, the article was published in the Geology equivalent of The New England Journal Of Medicine. Although there are many notable scientists and papers here at Stanford, it was none the less a significant achievement and it has caused Stephen to enjoy '15 minutes of fame' here in his department.
If you would like to enjoy some light reading here it is -
The next day Stephen offered to show us one of the research projects he is involved in. This involved a road trip. We traveled to Moss landing at the center of Monterey Bay.
MBARI - Monterey Bay Research Institute is a non profit research center founded by the computer tycoon David Packard.
Stephen has had research projects that involve going to sea with MBARI for weeks at a time mapping the ocean floor with deep water ROV's (remote operating vehicles). We drove down to take a tour of the facility. We were met by Charlie Paull, Stephen's lead scientist and the principle Geologist of the center. A legend in the science community, Charlie very graciously gave us a hour long tour of the facility. His brilliance and enthusiasm for the field was readily apparent and infectious.
We were more than a little overwhelmed. The technology involved was so detailed that it felt like we were visiting NASA. The ROV's are so sophisticated and the sonar technology was so advanced that they are able to measure deviations in the ocean floor to the centimeter level. Then, from thousands of feet below the surface, they are able to transmit this data in real time to the scientists. Then Stephen, works with the other team members to analyze the data.
During our tour we were introduced to another scientist from Malta. When Stephen told him his name, he asked if he was the author of the recent article. He had read it!
The ship Stephen sails on was in port. It is a bi hull, very stable platform with a moon bay in the middle, like a James Cameron movie, to lower and fly the robot.
So we finished our tour and went for lunch and inexplicably in this little harbor town found this oddity.
Suffice to say the story was long and complicated -- It is about Shakespeare after all. The short version is a group of actors and luminaries, including the late Ray Bradbury, tried to set up a Shakespeare Village in the late 1960's in Hollywood. Surprise, it went broke! So the group was loaded with some wonderful heirloom art, literature, props, costumes etc. They tried to move it to San Francisco but had to move it again. Eventually it ended up here in this small harbor town. Although you can purchase a few gifts here, it is mostly a crammed museum of Shakespeare memorabilia.
Here is the website -
So after lunch we decided to go for the afternoon to Monterey and visit the aquarium. Colleen had to think about it but the last time we were here was over 20 years ago. It remains a stunning, but expensive , place to visit. Here are some images.
It was a two hour drive back home. It gave me some time to reflect. I first visited this area over a quarter century ago. It was new then. So was I.
Coming from Moriarty, New Mexico I thought Monterey Bay was a wonder and the most beautiful place I had ever seen. I would get depressed when we turned to home. I longed to live in such a place. It seemed magical to me.
Life of course went on and would take us to many places that I had not imagined we would travel. We moved to the midwest and raised two fine sons. Monterey receded from my memory. I grew up.
As the boys matured and we began to think about college for them, neither of us thought about them attending schools out of state. We did not think we could afford it.
I told the boys, "If you want to go to an Ivy league School, you will need to earn it with a scholarship. But if you get accepted, I would work to help you".
Both of them were ambitious which is what prompted Stephen's quote above about the boat. He did not know at that time what Stanford was or what he wanted to do. He just knew it was a prestigious school located in California. To a boy growing up in in the midwest it must have sounded exotic. I am not sure why he thought I wanted a boat, but his enthusiasm was fun.
In the course of time, both boys excelled in college and went on to post graduate work out of state. I didn't need to help all that much. They both worked hard and earned everything they accomplished. We are proud and very thankful for them both.
And as fate would have it, Stephen was accepted at Stanford for PhD study in Geology. It is that irony that I reflected on as we drove back to the hotel. Thirty years ago, I thought Monterey was my Nirvana. It wasn't meant to be. But, here is my son not only living here but working on the Bay as well. I am amazed by the turn of events.
Colleen was right. It was a thrilling day to see what our son was doing.
And he had a boat!
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