California Report

Back from another adventure. The jet-lag has now fully kicked in. I had such a terrible time getting up this morning (and it doesn't help that my bed is very soft and comfy... lol). Anyway, just got back on Sunday night from California - family reunion in Monterey and then a few days in San Francisco. It was awesome! Such beautiful scenery, and I love spending time with my family, they rock.

Anyway, here are a few pictures and a quick run-down of my week. To the left, me with my adorable little nephew in the dining room at Asilomar. This was our first day.

This is one view of the Asilomar State Beach across the street from where we were staying. Just beautiful! I went out every morning around 6am for a little exercise and fresh air... it was great.

We had a lot of fun little family activities every day. This is me and my 2nd cousin, Ava, having a little race during grandma's birthday party. Ava is a total cherub.

Here's our group photo... there were several people that were at the reunion who were missing from the picture, and I think there were about 15 or so who didn't make it to the reunion, but still, a pretty good group! I have about 23 first cousins + spouses, and going on 20 second cousins... 10 aunts and uncles (who were all there), my grandma and my family of course! We have a great time when we get together. Love it!

After pictures we had the family olympics. No 50-yard dash for us, however. We only participate in hard-nosed, serious athletic events. We broke into teams based on which aquatic animal was on the hat you chose. I was an orca and I got to go with the predators... lol. Sharks and turtles. Apparently turtles are predators. The other team was the prey - lots of guppies. My mom always finds the funniest things to bring to reunion - these hats (as modeled by my cousin Austin) were totally cool (but they left a little dent on your forehead. The price you pay to be a guppy, I guess). Our games included a volleyball match, and then a penny drop contest (you walk with a penny between your knees and then have to drop it in a cup), a bubble blowing contest (with bubble gum), a blind-folded cotton ball contest where you had to carry a cotton ball in a spoon, while blind-folded, negotiate an obstacle course and dump the cotton ball into a cup while being guided by a teammate in a chair with the cup. Did that make sense? Anyway, it was funny. Especially when Alex started moving the chairs while people were walking. The best was the balloon popping contest. You ran to a chair, blew up a balloon, and then sat on it to pop it. The funny part was that you never knew what kind of balloon you were going to get and watching some of the smaller cousins bouncing as they tried to pop the balloons. Anyway, it was a trip.

After olympics and lunch, we went across the street to the beach. We were really lucky and had pretty great weather - July is one of the coldest months of the year in Monterey, and last time we were there, it was so cold we couldn't stand to sit on the beach even wrapped in blankets! This time was great... we flew kites, buried children in the sand, took naps (okay, that was just me), just hung out... Here's my cousin Sam with one of our kites.

After the beach, a few of us went over to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve. The monarchs migrate to this area every year and apparently it's pretty amazing. We missed the migration, but we went anyway hoping to catch a few strays. Let me just come out and say it. The reserve, sans butterflies, is ugly. Really. There was a deer family there, though, and we found one butterfly. Nicole says there were two, but I only saw one. Exhibit A, to the left. It wasn't even a monarch! This is a painted lady. Sigh. But I saw a butterfly at the butterfly reserve, and that's all that matters!

That evening, we had our traditional White Elephant Gift Exchange. Our family isn't typically that mean with gifts. I mean, I decided to leave the pair of rubber gloves I was going to give at home and go with something useful. I ended up walking away with a Play-Dough bucket that came with 6 jars of Play-Dough, cookie cutters and tools and everything. Serious fun ahead, people. I think the highlight of the night was the lingerie nightlight that Aunt Pam picked that Tiffany contributed to the gift pile. It wasn't that she picked it, although that was amusing, it was when her husband, Uncle Merrill, came over and STOLE it from her on his turn! Loud laughter and much joking ensued. Pam later said that she thought he was just being nice, giving her another chance to pick, but it turned out that he took it from her because he thought it was cool! My family is funny.

After the gift exchange, Kris and I got in the car with her boys and some of the other kids and drove up the coast towards Monterey - it's a few miles. We found a good spot on the side of the road and then sat down to watch. I went down to keep an eye on the kids who had gone to the base of the cliffs to watch by the water. Aside from the smell, it was gorgeous. You could really see the reflection of the fireworks on the water and it was incredibly peaceful to just sit there in those surroundings and watch. Of course, from looking at this photo (I call it, fireworks à la Monet) you can't tell if we're watching fireworks or an arial attack on the city. Either way, a giant fireball is a giant fireball, right?

July 5th... After breakfast I went with my Aunt and Uncle to take pictures on the 17-Mile Drive. I've taken the drive before, but it's just so stunning that I had to go again. My favorite part is all of the seals on one of the beaches as you go by... so adorable! Some of them were playing in the water as we were watching. I think my other favorite part of the drive is the Lone Cypress. Part of me wonders, as I take 25 pictures of it, what's so special about a tree? I guess it's just that it's iconic. And beautiful. Very beautiful. It's been there for over 200 years!

Let's see... after lunch we went into Monterey to go to the aquarium and get some ice cream at Ghiradelli's. Mmm... Ice cream. And cookies - they have wicked good chocolate chip cookies. I digress. Aquarium. Although I still think I like Baltimore better, they do have a very cool aquarium in Monterey. The kelp forest is really cool, and I love their jelly fish exhibits.

And now, for the ice cream. It's not on the menu, but you can get a sundae with a cookie at the bottom. Mmmm... I couldn't eat the whole thing - it's huge!

Okay, on to San Francisco... after camp on Thursday, we drove back up to SF to stay for a few days. Mom got us a great deal at the Argonaut right on Fisherman's Wharf. It was a very nice hotel, we loved it! Nicole and I had a room that we shared - the rooms were awesome. Brick walls, wood beams, cool decor. Very nice. We had chowder in bread bowls for dinner that night. Love the sourdough! Friday, the cable car stop was right next door to the hotel (between us and the Ghiradelli factory, conveniently enough... lol). So we all went out and got on the cable car and rode to China Town. We began shopping immediately. It was so cool - so much to see and look at, so many good deals. I spent way too much money, and my condo is now more like, Chinese Costa Rican tourist. LOL. I got a fabulous brown silk robe that I adore and lots of trinkets... silk placemats with fancy chopsticks, rice bowls, paper lanterns... lots of fun stuff. We had Chinese for lunch at a little restaurant there, very good chow mein. More shopping and siteseeing. I loved the little old men that lined the streets playing traditional music on their little instruments. Ducks in the windows, dried fish on carts in the streets... the apothecaries are the most interesting to me, though. There was one off of the main strip where they had piles of herbs and roots on the counter that were being mixed and pounded into different mixtures for customers. Very fascinating. Mom and Dad got tired and left and Nicole and I kept shopping for quite a while and then ran down to the pier to pick up our Alcatraz tickets - we did the evening tour... last of the night. I've been there once before, when I was about 5, I think. I had vague memories. The tour itself has changed a lot, I guess, and I found it fascinating and disturbing all at once. I don't know if this picture is even visible... this is me in a jail cell. The creepiest part was when you walked into the solitary confinement cells. I didn't close my eyes or even go all the way in, but you can just feel the evil in the air, even after all these years. Totally creeped me out. I listened to a lecture on escapes from Alcatraz with Ranger Dan, and then we got on the ferry back to the city.

Saturday, shopping on the wharf! I love Pier 39... so much fun stuff. Fresh fruit stands, Dept. 56 (one of my favorite stores for adding to my eclectic ornament collection. I have a very odd Christmas tree). So many fun places to wander, I just love it. After the Pier, we went back to Fisherman's Wharf for late lunch / dinner at Boudin's - a huge sourdough place. So delicious.

Anyway, that's my California travel log! I took almost 800 pictures on this trip, and I posted about 250 or so here.

TTFN!

3 Comments

You write a wonderful travelogue and captured many fabulous pictures for scrapping! Thanks for sharing - I need to travel vicariously thru others at this time! Your writing evoked many senses - tastes, sounds, visual, even the creepy feeling from a solitary confinement cell in Alcatraz - I need to beef up my journaling with your tips.

Your family sounds awesome - the Olmpics cracked me up. Mom sounds like a real cracker Jack!

Wendy

Posted by: Wendy | July 12, 2006 at 07:39 AM