Marin County, California

To be honest, this was a stop we’ve looked forward to for the last 6 months. There’s just something about going to places where we know people that make this trip so worthy. And on the stop to Marin, it wasn’t just any peeps, It was the birthplace of the Jibin Ho’s…just Ho’s for short, established in 1998. I guess you could say we started as a sailing club of sorts but that doesn’t really describe this unique group of women. 

The best part of the group is that we have seen so many chapters of our lives happen during these years. Various marriages and divorces in tandem with huge accomplishments, achievements, disappointments and defeats. Through it all, we remain the Ho’s and for the first time in 24 years, we found ourselves in the same place our lives came together, on a sailboat in San Francisco Bay. Jo, the Ho, first hosted us for houseboat dance party and then for amazing sail on her absolutely gorgeous sailboat, Josie.

We were perfectly situated, between Ho’s, at Marin RV Park; a mere 10 minute walk to the Larkspur Ferry building, miles and miles of walking and bike trails, an easy walk to Trader Joe’s and BevMo and, unlimited things to do. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it all in just 2 weeks. I got the springtime sinus crud that added a special ray of sunshine to our last week and truthfully, we literally took one day of downtime in the entire 2 weeks.  Kimberly wasn’t working and Mollie was welcome everywhere so we had sleepovers with various Ho’s while doing laundry, shopping, and hiking in between. 

Even our friend Lisa, in San Francisco for an appointment, met up with us for a day of twirling at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Kimberly and I had ferried over for a day the week before and decided it would be a fine place to meet up with Lisa. We had a blast!

Helen, the safety Ho, and her trusted companion Honey, had us over one night after a whirlwind shopping day on 4/20; Mollies “gotcha” day. We also had a magical day hiking at the Marin Headlands and eating at Fish in Sausalito with both puppers and all 3 of their humans. When I visited last, Helen and I found this amazing labyrinth and we couldn’t wait to find it again with Kimberly. 

Jennifer, who is a resident of Sonoma and Maui; SonoHo and HIHO respectively, had us up to Sonoma twice. Once to see Jay, her hubs and our Beau of the Ho’s, and once for a wine and food pairing at St. Francis Winery. We spent the night and did laundry, of course.

On the Ho’s original voyage, we were on a chartered sailboat, taking our bareboat sailing course and test. We sailed 468 nautical miles from Athens Greece to Rhodes Greece in 2 weeks. Not only was that a trip of a lifetime, it was where the original Ho’s were conceived. Our Capt’n and constant pain in our behinds was Kimberly Parsons who also made it to both Hodowns during our visit.

All of us laughing and sailing together again was truly the best part of our 2 weeks in Marin.

I was the Flo-Ho for years but now we are known as Ho’s on the Go…for obvious reasons. We definitely learned that 2 weeks was not enough as we were not able to see and do a lot of things we had on our list. And for that reason we are planning on spending the holidays in the same spot. YOLO!