All Good Things Come to an End

Lori kindly gave me the opportunity to post the last blog for this trip. . . .

Well first we must thank our wonderful friend, Kathryn, for sharing her family cabin with us. Yes, Kathryn, we did take a look at your family photo albums and we do think you were quite the catch in your 70's auburn pant suit. The chance to cook comfort foods, warm ourselves by a nightly fire, hear the bubbling brook, wake up to the birds chatting busily, and feel the filtered sun through the giant redwoods truly restored our spirits. Not to mention we were 2 1/2 minutes from the ocean and endless breathtaking vistas.

After a breakfast of mac & cheese (after all, who am I to let cheese go to waste?) and some time spent cleaning etc, we finally said a sad goodbye to "our" home.




We then drove to San Jose with Cynthia (the GPS unit) as our trusty guide. It only took us about an hour and 15 minutes. We had wanted to do the scenic drive to San Jose thru the mountains, but Kathryn had kindly warned us the beauty would come at the cost of twisty, winding roads and our stomachs just weren't up to that challenge. Just another excuse of why we need to come back. . . . In San Jose, we were going to explore the city, but with the knowledge that we would soon be back to reality, we suddenly felt quite tired. As soon as Amy saw the pool, though, she perked right up. It must be noted the temp in San Jose was 20 degrees warmer than the average temp in Carmel, so Amy was quite eager to soak up some warmth.


While Amy was basking in the sun, Lori opted to return our rental car, so that we wouldn't have to worry about this later. This took a bit longer than expected, so Lori was quite happy to climb into bed and relax a bit before supper.



We then walked to a local restaurant, the Sonoma Chicken Coop, or as Lori likes to call it, the Sonoma Chicken Co-op. Amy tried another local beer - Anchor Mist, I think, out of San Fran. With our bellys' full and a 6 am flight tomorrow, we will be heading to bed shortly.

So if you see us this winter, our eyes glazed over as we stare into space, we will be "California Dreaming on Such a Winter's Day" Until next time California.

Signing off, Lewis & Clark

Finally Learning How to Relax

We decided that Friday was to be our “relaxing” day. We slept in, lounged about the cabin and didn’t leave until after 12:30. Talk about rebels. We then went to the Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmel which is located in Carmel-By-The-Sea.

It is a beautiful Spanish mission with lovely architecture and gorgeous gardens. We wandered about, absorbing the serenity - missions can be so peaceful. We also learned a bit of history. The intrepid explorers almost fall asleep in the courtyard, lulled by the sound of the fountain and the warm California sun.

Is it siesta time yet?

After the Mission, we needed to run a few errands and we decided to explore a bit of the area. We ended up at the Barnyard shopping complex. We wandered around surrounded by a busload of French tourists. We soon realized that we were hungry and we found a Mexican restaurant. We thought it tied in nicely after visiting the Mission. Amy ordered a new beer which we can’t pronounce but we love. Lori (designated driver) ordered pineapple juice. We feasted on semi-authentic Mexican food and by the end Lori was stuffed but very very happy. Amy was happy due to the beer she had.

We (Lori) waddled back to our car and headed to Safeway to blog. The usual Wi-Fi guys were there and we spent an enjoyable 90 minutes posting our blog. Apparently, uploading video takes forever using their Internet connection. Blog post finally completed, we head back to the cabin to begin cleaning and preparing for our departure on Saturday :( As we drive home, we notice that the visibility over the ocean seems endless and it should be a beautiful sunset. We arrive at the cabin and frantically begin cleaning, laundry and packing. Soon it is almost time for the sun to set, so we head down the canyon road on foot. We set up camp next to the cow pasture and begin documenting the sunset. Amy’s camera again stops working so it is up to Lori’s little Nikon to document the event.

We then walk back to the cabin where we continue to clean and pack. It is amazing how much of a mess you can make in just 6 days. We start our usual fire and Amy prepares dinner for herself. She is attempting to finish the food we purchased. Lori is still stuffed from lunch and can only manage a beer - we had 2 left and Amy can’t drink both of them. Soon it is bed time and our California adventure is quickly coming to an end.

Garrapata

As we have driven back and forth to the cabin, we have been passing Garrapata State Park. We finally were able to fit it into our busy schedule on Thursday. We awoke, packed up and headed out. As we reached Highway 1 at the end of our road, we first noticed the clouds. The Charlie Brown cloud that follows us in Wisconsin had finally made it to California. He was upset we hadn’t told him of our travel plans. We parked our car and headed out into the mist. The first sign we see warns us of loose rocks and steep cliffs.

Maybe a loose rock will knock some sense into us!

Undaunted (or just plain crazy) the intrepid explorers walk toward the sound of the ocean. The path is a bit obscured but we will be careful.

Where did the ocean go?

We finally see a bit of sun and we run toward it.

I see sun - follow me Lori!

The scenery is of course spectacular. The wind is a bit rough and the temperature has dropped but Amy puts on her winter, sorry spring/fall coat, and we enjoy the wonderful views.

We found the ocean again!

We continue to explore the cliff edge, following each and every turn to make sure we see everything. Suddenly, we come upon a path that appears to lead down to a sandy cove. The intrepid explorers carefully make their way down. Lori uses the “slide on your butt” technique. Amy has a more dignified walk upright approach. Our persistence pays off and we find ourselves once again in a beautiful sheltered cove with a lovely sandy beach. Lori is as happy as a clam.

I'm as happy as a clam - halfway to Hawaii!

Amy is more adventurous and wants to enjoy the sand between her toes. After all, she is on a beach. Shoes off, she heads into the water.

It's beautiful - I just can't feel my feet!

Please notice the combination of bare feet and fleece. We spend time exploring the cove before reluctantly leaving -but not before having a kelp ball fight!! A first for the blog – VIDEO!. Please enjoy the excellent cinematography.

We finally climbed out of the cove taking a different path that looked much easier. Well, actually no. It was much more difficult. However, the scrambling on our knees (just Lori) was worth it. In the cove just south of the one we had been playing in, we finally found a wild sea otter. He was a very industrious sea otter, continuously diving, eating and grooming. We quickly whip out our cameras, both still and video and spend another 30 minutes documenting the every move of this lovely ocean creature. Now Amy is as happy as a clam. We actually see a second sea otter but he stays farther out.

At last - the elusive wild sea otter!

We finally continue on our hike and suddenly Lori’s cell phone rings. We are on the backside of a mountain, a few feet away from the ocean, and apparently we now have service. It is a text message from Kathryn giving us advice on how to build a fire. Lori of course replies - it is the polite thing to do and we continue on our hike. Several more scenic outlooks, followed by a hike up the side of a mountain, we return to our car. It was at that point that Lori found the box with maps for the park. It might have helped us a few hours before but a box with “Maps” on it was too obvious for us. We need someone in a Yogi Bear hat and green vest to give us a map. Reviewing the map, we head off in search of Garrapata beach to eat our picnic lunch. We quickly find it and head down to the beach. The view was spectacular and we quickly finished our PBJ, grape, chip and cookie lunch. It was then we realized it was only 2 pm. We usually hike until much later. We decide to return to Monterey in hopes of seeing a sea lion. We have heard them, taken pictures of them from very far away, but we hope to get closer at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey.

We easily find our way to the Wharf. We park and we can once again hear the sea lions. We make our way over to the end of the wharf and we find two floating in the bay and a few on a deck under a building.

Much bigger than dots in the distance.

We quickly whip out cameras and begin snapping and filming. Once again Amy’s camera doesn’t work. It only happens at Monterey Bay. What’s up with that? We continue to walk around the wharf finding a few seals and sea otters but we can still hear a cacophony of sea lions in the distance. And then we see it. At the end of a rock formation in the bay are sea lion dots – we are now experts at finding sea lion dots in the distance. However, this time, we think we can get closer. We begin walking towards it finding lots of seals basking in the sun.

That better be your flipper I feel!

We only stop momentarily; our quest is the sea lion dots. Then finally we find them, hundreds of sea lions sleeping, sneezing, drooling, barking, fighting and whatever else they do at the end of a pier. Amy is the happiest a clam has ever been.

We will never settle for dots in the distance again!

Amy spends several minutes attempting to talk one into returning home with her. He ignores her.

So Lori, how much extra room do you have in your suitcase?

They have a fence at the end of the wharf to keep Amy away from the sea lions. Several hours later, Lori drags Amy away from the sea lions. (Hint for Christmas – Amy wants a sea lion). This obsession explains her choice of dogs – really big, brown, furry and drooly. Amy believes she connected with a large sea lion she named Louie. Louie might disagree. We stop at the wharf shops looking for tacky souvenirs. Once again, Lori is foiled and Amy needs to buy another suitcase for all the fleeces & sweatshirts she's purchasing.

We head home, first stopping at Safeway to pick up a few things, say hi to the Wi-Fi crew and post our blog. Unfortunately, it takes forever to upload an image. We miss the sunset and don’t get back to our cabin until late. Amy quickly starts dinner (spaghetti) while Lori gathers tinder and starts yet another fire. We use lots of paper (Kathryn) and we get the fire started but we can’t seem to keep it burning for more than a few hours. Lori learned at Girl Scouts how to start a fire, they never taught her how to maintain the fire. We then finish our second course (sour cream mashed potatoes) and it’s time for bed. Tomorrow we plan on relaxing and visiting the Mission in Carmel.

Lewis & Clark signing off.

Smelly Dirty People

Today was to be Wash Wednesday but we encountered a few issues which we will detail later in our blog. The plan for Wednesday was to visit Point Lobos State Preserve followed by visiting Garrapata State Park. We arrived at Point Lobos just after 10 am and headed for the Sea Lion Rocks. As we exited our car, we could hear the bark of sea lions. We quickly bundled up and headed out. The wind off the ocean was exhilarating and the scenery of course was beautiful. We climbed down stairs, hiked over strange rock formations until we were at Sea Lion Cove. And there they were, hundreds of sea lions barking and basking in the sun on the appropriately named Sea Lion Rocks which were way far away. We took lots of pictures and hopefully the blobs we saw will actually show up on the picture.

Look - sea lion dots!


We then started to hike toward the tide pools when we noticed a cute little harbor seal in a small cove very close to us. Well, we started snapping pictures at a frenzied rate. Imagine our delight when we notice another seal. Cameras, both still and video, continued to frantically document the cute little seals (now 2). Suddenly, we realized a third seal is already on a rock sunning itself. It was quickly followed by two more. Then, the drama begins. Little seal number 4, wanted to get up on the rock with the other harbor seals. But try and try as he might, he just couldn’t make it. Video cameras in hand, we shouted encouragement each time a wave came in. “Now” we yelled, “you can do it number 4” as we continued to snap pictures and record video. Flash forward 45 minutes – Number 4 as we call him, finally pulled himself out of the ocean onto the rock. “Whoo Hoo” we yelled, and continued to take pictures and video.

Seal #4 is the fourth seal from the right.

It was then that we noticed several other seals in the small cove, playing in the surf and jumping on the rock. Number 4 should take lessons from Number 5. He got up on the rock in one try. We said goodbye to the cute little seals and headed to the tide pools.
On our way to the tide pools we passed several rocks that had more seals on them but being blind, we didn’t notice them until someone else points them out or we notice them taking pictures. Apparently, there are a lot of harbor seals at Point Lobos. Finally we make it to the tide pools. We climbed down bizarre rock formations looking for small pools of water hoping they hold trapped sea life waiting desperately for the tide to return. We didn’t find any starfish or sea urchin but we both found lots of crabs. Bigger red crabs and little bitty hermit crabs.

Big Crabs

Little Crabs - hiding in the sea shells.

The two intrepid explorers (Lori & Amy – it is our blog after all so we can be intrepid explorers), never ones to take the easy way, decided to climb down to an area that was difficult to reach and free of pesky tourists. In this desolate and dangerous crevice, we encountered the magnificent Kelp Ball Sea.

The Magnificent Kelp Ball Sea

Since we are the first explorers to find it, we get to name it. Lori foolishly goes first and touches the icky kelp balls. A thought occurs to her, “how about I toss one at Amy?” So begins the first ever kelp ball fight. We invented it – we get to name it. Amy is stranded on a ledge across from Lori, separated by the Kelp Ball Sea. Lori attempts to help Amy cross the sea by tossing her a very long piece of kelp rope. Unfortunately, the lasso didn’t make it to Amy and she had to scramble down the jagged rocks unaided.

Try to catch it when I throw it Amy!

We explored the area, name the largest rock Lewis & Clark Mountain – again we can name anything we discover. We continue to explore the coast, climbing up and down rocks, scrambling through crevices, hoping to find trapped sea life.

Suddenly, we discover we are hungry – it is almost 2 pm. We walk back to the parking area. It takes us about 20 minutes. Hiking is a lot faster when you stick to the path and don’t take a picture every 3 minutes. We forgot to mention that Lori lost the map. It must have happened during the harbor seal rock climbing drama. You remember, number 4 couldn’t get up. Lori purchased another map and we were able to find a picnic area. We selected Whaler’s Cove where we enjoyed our usual scrumptious lunch of PBJ sandwiches, grapes, chips and a cookie. While eating lunch, Lori notices that Amy’s ears are red. Amy says “not as red as your nose”. Lori’s nose isn’t that red, it is just reflecting Amy’s ears. Lunch finished, the intrepid explorers press on. We now have a map and we know where we are going. Yeah, right.

Where did we park the car?

We start on a simple trail around a few coves. We end up back where we originally started in the morning. Not too bad but our car is parked at Whaler’s Cover. We take another trail to double back. We don’t. We find ourselves even farther from the car. We take another path and by some miracle end up close to the car. By now Lori is hobbling (sore toes) and Amy’s ears and nose are about to erupt into flames. Needless to say, we are done for the day and we will not be visiting Garrapata State Park.


We head back to the cabin where we plan on enjoying hot showers followed by a lovely dinner of potatoes, sweet corn and spaghetti and then the evening’s entertainment – laundry. Upon entering the cabin, we realize we don’t have any power. We can’t call anyone because the phones are cordless and they need power. We can’t use our cell phones because we don’t have any service. Like any intrepid explorer would do, we head back to town and electricity.

Upon entering Safeway, our safe haven, we notice that the quick wash up job we did in the dark with cold water – well we missed a few spots. We say hi to Wi-Fi friends we have made and quickly post our Monterey trip on the blog. It’s only 5:30 – what to do now? We decide to have Chinese food in town. We read the menu and decide on frozen yogurt at the Yogurt Heaven instead. It is now 6 pm. What to do? We head to CVS to pick up batteries for the flashlights and candles. Once there, we realize we don’t know what size batteries we need and they only candles they have are small scented votive candles. We head back to the cabin to prepare for a rustic evening. Upon arriving, we decide to visit our neighbor Laura who is also the caretaker. She graciously gives us her flashlight and tells us that they say the power will be restored by 2 am.

Back to the cabin, we light candles and start our daily fire. We had picked up tinder for the fire and while building it we realized we had gathered up a hanger. Only Amy could blindly, randomly collect a wire hanger with the rest of her sticks and never realize it. (Amy thinks Lori planted it.) (Lori knows Amy picked it up, she also attempted to pick up the water line.) Fire started, we eat anything that doesn’t need to be cooked. After a refreshing dinner of bananas and one cookie, we attempt to entertain ourselves by telling stores and pretending to be living in the Little House on the Prairie. Amy is kicked out of the Little House when she can’t bring in more firewood because she has just lotioned her hands. Lori is kicked out because she can’t keep a fire going.

As we sit in extremely low light of the glowing, not burning logs, we realize we have one thing going for us. The scented candles are masking our smelly dirty kelpie body odor. And with Wednesday our scheduled laundry day, we both are a little short on clean clothes. Did we forget to mention that the hot water heater uses electricity? That means no hot showers for you! When we are at the depths of our despair (9 pm) suddenly the power comes on. Yippee!!! Amy quickly makes herself some spaghetti and we both enjoy a beer. All is well in our world. Tomorrow, clean clothes!!!!

Monterey

Look - we got canned at Cannery Row!

Tuesday we went to Monterey on a mission to visit the Aquarium and find the adorable sea otter. Thanks to Cynthia (GPS) unit we easily found the public parking ramp. On our way to the aquarium, we were quickly distracted by all the tourist shops selling fudge, magnets, sea otter apparel and everything they could print, paint or embroider Monterey Bay on. $100 later we finally made it to the Aquarium. The Aquarium is fabulous!

Awwwww!!!!

First stop is the sea otter exhibit. Those guys are the cutest wet furballs in the entire Pacific Ocean. Amy has always been fascinated by the sea otter. In fact, she found out she sleeps just like one – one her back with her hands and flippers tucked up. An hour later, we decided to check out the rest of the Aquarium.

Look Mom - Harry Otter!!!

We viewed giant squid, a kelp forest, murre birds diving for food among giant fish and assorted other aquatic life that we could actually see because they provided magnifying glasses. We enjoyed the interactive displays where we touched sea urchin, star fish and whatever else was in the exhibit. The current “special” exhibition is the secret life of sea horses. Well, their life is not so secret after viewing the exhibition. They are adorable and the male actually carries the babies and gives birth. After the excitement of the sea horses, we head to view the jellyfish. They were spectacular. We tried to identify the species that stung Amy in the Cayman Islands. We selected the coolest one.

Purple Stripe Jellyfish

It is called purple stripe of something with purple in it. What, we never said we were marine biologists.

Happy as a clam - again, why are clams happy?

After the Aquarium, we had lunch at the Monterey Crepe Shoppe. It was lovely, all warm cheese, avocado and tomato. Fortified, we head off to the wharf to find more sea life. We find a parking spot and head to the beach. It was a lovely walk but we decided on the way back to take the recreational trail that runs parallel to the beach. Lori’s ankles decide to stop working and we spend some time on a park bench. After the rest, we continue on our quest to find more sea life but at a much slower pace. (Note to Lori – pick up a pair of orthopedic walking shoes). We finally make it to the wharf where to our delight we see sea otters. They are diving and eating and then diving and eating, right in front of us. Well, in the ocean about 30 yards away. We quickly pull out cameras and start clicking away. Well Lori starts clicking with her small digital camera – Amy’s fabulous camera with the zoom lens suddenly decides not to work. Lori shot her pictures blind – in the bright sun you can see what is being displayed on the LCD screen. Amy was able to record them on video but they are much more active in the wild than in a display at the Aquarium. We continued to walk the wharf (Lori hobbles instead of walking) to find more sea life. We find a sea lion floating near a boat but he/she won’t cooperate and pose for pictures. We also are amazed to see a ton of jelly fish visibly swimming in the ocean right next to the pier. On the other side of the wharf we hear barking and are just in time to see a sea lion dive into the ocean and swim toward a boat that was tossing fish scraps into the water. A plethora of pelicans also joined in the buffet. We continued on hoping to find a sea lion sunbathing and we did determine where they were. Unfortunately, Lori’s feet were unable to make the journey in the time span allowed – we only had 20 minutes left on our parking ticket. We vow to return another day with a working camera and working feet.

Cynthia helps us find our way back to Carmel but she likes to recalculate and suddenly she wants me to turn left instead of right and it made for an interesting drive home. We did determine we are about 20 minutes from a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant – good to know. We are now experienced drivers on Highway 1 and we are able to negotiate the rush hour traffic easily and find our way back to our second home in Carmel – Safeway. Lori visits the CVS pharmacy to pick up an ace bandage and more memory cards – we seem to be taking more pictures than usual. We find a spot at Safeway where they have free WiFi in their Starbucks. After we post our blog we head home for grilled cheese and tater tots. Amy is the cook and Lori is the firestarter. We return to the traditional methods of paper, tinder and wood and no more of those fancy firestarters from Duraflame. Fire going, Lori takes a little white pill to take away the pain in her ankles. Magically the food appears and during dinner we view our pictures and video. We again realize we need to take a photography class. But that is the beauty of digital photography, you can take thousands of pictures and only keep the ones you like and delete the others. We take care of our night chore of recharging all of our equipment in preparation of the next day’s adventure. Fire out, we go to sleep dreaming of sea otters.

Holy Guacamole!!!

Home Sweet Home

Go get yourself a drink and go to the bathroom – this is going to be a long one. It is Monday night and we are sore, tired, cold (just Amy) but very very happy. Sunday we drove from San Jose to our lovely cabin. Kathryn gave us directions but we relied on Cynthia, Lori’s new GPS unit. She quickly took control of the car and we stayed right as directed for 80 plus miles. As a result, we didn’t follow the scenic route over the mountains, instead we went through the valley. On the bright side, we went through the artichoke capital of the world. We found home for the week but Cynthia had us turn into the cabin just before our cabin. She was so close. We unpacked, made our beds up quickly and explored the area. We designated the upper cabin as the time out cabin and if you are naughty that is where you are spending the night. We then went back to Carmel to purchase food and provisions (aka beer) for the week. We easily found Safeway and filled our cart with wholesome food (wink wink). The highlights of Safeway are that they have Alaskan Amber beer, guava jelly, and these extremely delicious chocolate chewies which are like brownie batter suspended. It’s like magic. Lori also found her favorite Maui onion chips. We did pick up bread, butter, pasta, cheese and more cheese, fruit, diet coke and sierra mist, and a few other items to make our tummies happy. Lori signed up for a super saver card and we saved $23.28. We loaded up the car and headed back to the cabin. Dinner was delicious. Amy prepared her world famous asparagus and three cheese ravioli with a lovely marina sauce. At least that is what I thought we ate under the three pounds of grated parmesan cheese. Note to Mr. & Mrs. Martin – we need to plan a cheese intervention for Amy when we get back. We ate al fresco (outside) enjoying the beauty and the lack of mosquitoes. Can you believe it Mrs. Martin? No mosquitoes!!!! Nightfall soon arrived and we went inside the cabin. What to do? Raised on TV and addicted to the Internet we stood dumbfounded in the middle of the cabin trying to find something to do. Here is a list of our activities; we perused all the books in the library and picked a few to read, we started a fire and actually kept it going, we cursed ourselves for forgetting marshmallows at Safeway and we ate more cookies. Did I mention that they are delicious?
Look Mom - fire!!

Now it’s 8:00 pm (10:00 pm to you Midwesterners). What else can we do? Amy spent an hour in the game cupboard looking at the games and deciding what we would be playing. Our choices are Yahtzee, Time the Game, checkers, chess, scrabble and Jenga. I know, we are quite the party animals. Amy wisely left Twister in the cupboard. As we have said many times, that is how rumors get started. It’s now 8:30 pm. We now understand why the Amish have such large families. Without a quilt to sew or butter to churn, what else is there to do? We then checked out the video collection. Among the many possible choices we found Lori’s favorite movie that she hasn’t seen in over 25 years – Strange Brew. Take off you hosers. Eh! Can you believe that Amy has never seen it! It is timeless though Amy is probably thinking Lori had a really boring time during the 80’s if this was her favorite movie. Time for bed. Lori sleeps comfortably with a down comforter in the master suite while Amy piles on several comforters in the kids room. Oh, forgot to mention it started to rain and we couldn’t figure out what was knocking on the skylights. Amy thought corn was popping and I thought really big leaves were falling from the trees. Slight problem, no popcorn in microwave and we are surrounded by conifers. They don’t drop leaves. On that note, the two Einsteins turn in. End of Sunday!!!!!

Monday, we awake early but neither of us are sure if the noises we hear are the other person so we creep around very quietly for an hour. We finally run into each other in the kitchen and the day can officially begin. Amy starts breakfast by making pancakes. Lori gets the newspaper dressed in her Spongebob pajama pants and lovely moose socks. Standard uniform when staying at a cabin. The pancakes were delicious with the guava jelly purchased on sale at Safeway. Dishes washed, plans are made. We decided to head south to Big Sur. We then realize we need to shower and dress. 45 minutes later we pack up our car, exit our little private road, and turn left on Highway 1 (we normally turn right). The drive is actually not that many miles, however, we stop at every vista possible.
Holy Guacamole - this place is beautiful!

After several hours of ohhhing and ahhhing and Holy Guacamoling we make it to our first stop Andrew Molera State Park. Now we are not sure how to pronounce it, I prefer to make it rhyme with cholera. It took us several attempts but we finally got on the trail. First Lori forgot her diet coke which necessitated an immediate return to the vehicle. We then tried to unlock the wrong car. Guess how many white rental cars are in California? Answer – lots. We then took the wrong trail. We finally got under way and had a lovely hike. We found big leaf maples, California ground squirrels, lizards, lizards, lizards, and of course the ever present poison oak. Amy likes to point it out and try to touch it. Naughty Amy! We passed through several eucalyptus groves. This prompted a fierce debate. Amy believes they smell like Vick’s vapor rub. Lori says it smells more like eucalyptus and Amy needs to get a new perfume. (hint for Christmas as long as it doesn’t smell like vick’s or icy hot) . We agreed to disagree. Continuing on, we hiked toward the lookout (officially Molera Point). Again, ohhing and ahhing ensued and we meet our first surfer dude.
"I hate when my wetsuit creeps up on me"

He is about 65 and he can no longer stand up when he surfs, he kneels. However, since Lori can’t get up without help from the ground and Amy is constantly in knots, he kicks our butts. We hike down from the Point and we are faced with a decision. Do we walk back 2 miles and take another trail to the beach or do we wade across the Big Sur River to the beach? Amy decides to be the brave one and tries it first. “No problem Lori come on over!” Amy yells. Lori takes off her boots and socks, rolls up her pants and sticks her feet into the freezing water of the Big Sur River. “Yikes!” replies Lori. Amy says “did I mention I can’t feel my toes”. Lori says “ah, NO”. Lori secretly wonders what all the Vick’s vapor rub fumes have done to her friend but now is not the time. Pressing on, the intrepid duo reach the Pacific Ocean. Look Mom - big kelp ball!

We didn’t find any seashells but lots kelp and purple sand which Lori got stuck on her sunglass clipons when she dropped them in the sand. Time for lunch. We head back to the car because we forgot to bring our lunch with us. We had packed a lovely picnic lunch consisting of grapes, chips, cookies and the main course almond butter and guava jelly sandwiches. We prepare to eat and Lori takes off her sunglass clipons to reveal Groucho Marx eye brows . Apparently, the purple sand has magnetic qualities and it stuck to the clipons and also stuck to her face. Hilarity ensues. We finish lunch and head back on the road South. We stop and take a plethora of pictures and also get a bit queasy on the winding, curvy, up and downs, twisting, turning, etc…..road that is Highway 1 through Big Sur. We stop at another state park looking for the gigantic redwoods.
Look Mom - big tree!!

We want to see the Jurassic trees, the ones that have been around for a very long time. Unfortunately, as we are deciding on our hike, we find out that the trail is closed due to fires and mudslides in 2008. Luckily, we were able to find a few near the parking area and photos were taken. Back on the road for more stomach churning driving to the next state park. Our goal is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. We finally make it and it was worth the drive. The scenery is spectacular and it has a waterfall. Another hundred photos and it is time to return to the cabin. With dreams of mac & cheese, we jump into the car and speed up the coast. The trip back flies. Apparently, if you don’t stop every 5 minutes to take pictures, you can quickly get to where you are going. However, we remember that we didn’t pick up firewood at the Safeway on Sunday. We bypass the cabin and head back into Carmel. While at the Safeway we also picked up more guava jelly. Amy heads off in search of firewood. Asking an employee, we find out that firewood is in Aisle 9 next to the school supplies. We pick up a box of wood (seasoned) and a firestarter. We head back to the cabin where Amy whips up mac & cheese (Mrs. Martin’s recipe thank you very much) and Lori is in charge of ambiance. Englebert Humperdink is on the iPod, beers are quickly opened and Lori reads the instructions on the firestarter and tries to start the fire. The firestarter guarantees it will start a fire. Firestarter my a@@. We tried and tried and tried but no fire. Just glowing logs. Duraflame will hear about this! $%#$#@#$#$%%^#@ The logs are still glowing. We then try to download our pictures and view them. We both need to take a photography class. And we are running out of space on every available medium because we are taking so many pictures. Hard drives, jump drives and memory cards are full. Tomorrow’s plan is to find more memory for more pictures!!! Depending on our pain level in the a.m., we may spend the day in Monterey. Lori is excited because they have a used book store! So, dear readers, we are off to bed, where we should have been over an hour ago. Did I mention that damn firestarter didn’t start? Sorry, gotta let it go. Lewis & Clark signing off.

Finally Made It!

(Amy's footnote: Can you tell Lori was a bit inebriated when she wrote this? And I thought she just talked more when she's drunk - as if that was possible. Now I know this also translates to the blog. No more beers for Lori when she is blogging.)

California Here We Come

Well faithful readers, it is day one on Amy & Lori's California adventure. As usual, the day was filled with fun and excitement. It started out with the Highway 47 ramp being closed when I went to pick up Amy. We then took JJ to bypass the traffic on 41 and to get to the airport on time. We made it but our 12:05 flight didn't leave until after 1:00 because President Obama was in Minneapolis and Air Force One commandered the airport. We finally took off and were about to land when the President decided to leave early and we were put in a holding pattern and flew around and around and around and around and around and around the airport. We were about to fly to Eau Claire to refuel when suddenly we were allowed to land. We headed to our favorite Chinese restaurant where we had some lovely noodles and rangoon. We were then off to explore the airport. First stop was visiting Norwegian Land. Amy looks good as a blonde but I could use a shave.We have officially changed our names to Lars and Helga. We want to fit in. Uff Da!

Amy and I then signed up for flight lessons. We did have a few hours to spare. We quickly earned our diplomas and were put to work right away.

Amy was assigned a quick flight to St. Paul and I was to help her taxi. It didn't work so well.

We then ran into a giant moose. Amy was dignified and I got a little too friendly.

Our flight took off on time and we finally made it to San Jose. We got our rental car and tried to find our hotel. It took us a few tries but we found it. Because we are on vacation, we are staying up until midnight and sleeping in. (Midnight Wisconsin time, not midnight California time) Well, dear readers, it is late and we have a lot of adventures awaiting us. Tomorrow we attempt to make it to the cabin. Our plan is to stop at any sign that says pie or whale or fudge or chocolate or beer. We may not make it there for a few days. Wish us luck!