MP: it's so hard to say goodbye

After some great food, sun, scenery,  family,  trees, and ocean, we have left Hotel California. Cara, Mark, Kyle and Joey sent us off with a yummy meal at their beautiful home, and now we're On the Road Again.

We made it to Elko, NV last night, but not before stopping to eat at Chihuahua ' s in Winnemucca -  a town that gets us one step closer to I've Been Everywhere.  Great meal!!

Now we've hit Utah and plan to Get Out the Map, since we've got some choices to make today,  and Every Day is a Winding Road.

CA ag report

We've heard that Monterey area is called the "Salad Bowl" because of the wide variety of produce grown in large quantities around here. We believe it - even at the end of our avenue into our little community the street is lined with fields. On our drive down to Monterey we saw acres and acres of produce for miles. There were several fields that we couldn't guess the contents by sight - wish I could've gotten pictures of those!

At the entrance to our community: 

We cannot figure this one out - purple stalks with purple tops

 Strawberries and more strawberries just a few miles from our house

These were on the way across CA heading west. Lots and lots of vineyards, even some corn (that was tasseling), and many orchards (we think mostly nut trees?).

Flip Flop: Monterey and SHOPPING

                    It was so fun in Monterey! I finally found the perfect swimsuit cover-up.:):)

MP: twilight zone

I have lost all sense of time. Where are we? What day is it? Will we ever quit wanting lunch at 9 a.m.?

We have fully sunk into rental-beach-house mode and are wondering if we can pull ourselves back into gear for more driving or not. We love the pool (nice and warm!) and they used the boards in the garage today to do what could only be called surfing by other people from Ohio. But they had a blast. They couldn't feel their legs anymore, but they had a blast. When we come back into the house, they are ravenous - the local Safeway loves us.

We did visit two local treasures this afternoon and evening - the Henry Cowell State park to see the Redwoods and then the famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk (Monday nights - $1 hot dogs/rides/drinks!). Both made for an absolutely great day - one we won't forget. After being in the ocean most of the morning, then hiking in the redwoods, then 4 hours at the boardwalk, though - we are TIRED!

Quote of the day: 

LeMoN, after I took a picture of him by the first tree: "Ok, you have 7 more for the day. That's your limit." 

MP: On the streets of San Francisco

Headed north to the city Saturday morning (first time for all of us to SF) and look who we ran into at the Golden Gate bridge?!?

 My cousin Cara and her family  - Mark and Joey (missing Kyle!) - live in nearby Roseville and graciously spent the day showing us around SF. The bridge is amazing and the view is something to be seen. 

From there the boys jumped in the Montoya car and we all headed to Union Square. On the way, we traveled Lombard St. I'm pretty glad I didn't know ahead of time what I was getting into. In the Suburban. Glad we had lightened our load a little. 

See all those people at the bottom? They're standing in the street filming us (and others) coming down the crooked street. I felt like they were hoping for a disaster to YouTube. But, amazingly, we made it. 

Then on to wait in line for the trolley, enjoying the sights and people watching. SF is just slightly more diverse than Preble County, Ohio. 

We headed to fisherman's wharf and walked and ate and took it all in. Eric tried the famous clam chowder in sourdough while the kids compared SF sourdough pizza to mine. Being the creatures of habit that they are, I think mine won. Everyone was a trooper on the crowds and line waiting - city life! Thank you so much to the Montoyas for an amazing day we won't forget. 

Captain's Log: Day 8: The Price of Beauty

Captain's Log: Trip Day 8. Beautiful drive today. Mojave Desert to central valley area around Bakersfield where the irrigation starts. Still looks like a desert everywhere else.

Then the grape country

Then another coastal mountain range

Then the ocean 

 

 

Then highway one ...

Then a bad decision:

C: Hey kids we are going to go on a beautiful drive up famous highway 1!
Kids: Will take long?
C and MP: A while but worth it
C: Look kids look over the cliffs!
MP: Beautiful!
Kids: Wow
C: Look how far down!
Kids: wow
C: Another turn
Kids:
C: Look at the waves crashing in down there!
Kids:
MP:
C: Hey look at ...
MP: (distributes Dramamine tabs)
Kids: Sleeping except Flip Flop
MP: Soundly sleeping
C: Increases speed to test heavily loaded Suburban
C: White knuckling the steering wheel trying to stay ahead of Camaro behind
C: Is anyone awake?
Flip Flop: Awake but says nothing
C: Many turns. Wishes there was a way out.
Flip Flop: I'm hungry
C: I'm a little busy. Eat some almonds
Flip Flop: I don't want almonds
.....
hour later
.....
Later
Still twisting turning
Kids: begin to wake up
C: Tired of this road
SJ: (waking and stretching) How much longer til we get to the house?
FF: An hour and a half
SJ: That must be wrong. It was close to that when I went to sleep.
FF: Here you go, puddin' pop. Yep. Hour and a half, isn't it?!?
SJ: sad silence
MP: wakes up and realizes we are still twisting around cliff edges
FF: We're hungry
MP: (rethinking cook at the house plan) We'll find something quick to grab as soon as we see some kind of civilization.
.....
GPS: Hey, there's a cow!
FF: Let's cut him up and eat him.
.....
arrival time still near an hour away
.....
FF: (noticing houses up on the mountain) These people are obviously alive and have to find sustenance somewhere. Let's find out where they get their food.

We finally got to Monterey Peninsula and grabbed some gas-station food, which helped everyone tolerate a quick grocery stop at Walmart by MP. Finally arrived at the house about 8:30 p.m. Pacific time. This is our view this morning:

MP: scenes from CA

Just into CA. About 100 degrees

Largest wind farm in the world; tehachapi

Took a longer route to get to the ocean sooner; hit it near Cambria

Drove up hwy 1 past beautiful ocean on one side and cliffs on the other; had more twists and turns than we had bargained for! Saw the Hearst Castle on a hill and passed through the Big Sur forest

Their first time seeing the Pacific Ocean;  68 degrees