Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday

Tuesday we started the day by heading for the beach in Santa Cruz so Chuck could surf for a couple of hours and I could read. After surfing we headed back to our cabin where I slept for awhile and then we went and hiked around Boulder Creek a bit before enjoying a dinner at the local pub there in town.

View Larger MapMy relaxing morning!Ready for our hike!

Wednesday

Wednesday we spent the day in Monterey, visiting the aquarium, having lunch and spending some time with my Aunt Vernita, and then finishing the day with the 17 mile drive around Monterey/Carmel before eating a scrumptious dinner at the Chart House!

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First we had breakfast at the coffee shop in Boulder Creek that had 2 redwood trees literally growing out of it!

I have always loved Monterey, since I was young, and it was so fun to show Chuck around. We wandered Cannery Row a little, where the sardines used to be canned--the place that inspired John Steinbeck to write his famous novel.Seals and birds on the rocks near the coastThe new seahorse exhibit in the aquariumMe inside the penguin eggWednesday morning we got the news that my Grandmother had passed away the night before. She loved beaches, more than anywhere else, and so I was thinking about her a lot as we explored some of the beaches around Monterey.Sea Lions on the beachMe with the Lone Cypress on the 17 Mile DriveThat's the lone cypress in the background, surrounded by walls and rocks. This is Chuck's indignation that the cypress growing literally out of the side of the hill gets no recognition from tourists!YUM! Dinner at the Chart House, one of my favorite restaurants!The best part of the chart house is their desserts. Many of you know I am kind of addicted to their mud pie, and the plan was to order it, but I got talked into this new dessert by the waitress-some type of molten chocolate cake with heath bar bits on top of the ice cream. It was good, but didn't top the mud pie :)

Thursday & Friday

Thursday
The first thing to share about Thursday is that we received some VERY fun news! Megan is having a baby girl! We are going to have a new little niece to love in late October! Of course one stop on Thursday was to buy something pink for her :)

Thursday was our last day in Boulder Creek--we were moving from the cabin of our friends to their house, while they came to the cabin to spend the weekend. We were so thankful they were willing to share their home with us while they were out of town! After another breakfast in our Boulder Creek coffee shop we headed to Fall Creek, not too far from Boulder Creek and did a delightful several mile hike through the woods and creek bed for a couple hours. It was gorgeous, and the perfect hiking temperature!After our hike we grabbed lunch & headed off on about another hours drive to our new destination. As we drove we had some incredible views of the San Francisco valley area!

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The beautiful redwood home we stayed in Thursday and Friday nightsThursday evening for dinner we went into Half Moon bay and stumbled upon this little hole in the wall wine shop. We met the owner and he told us about how he makes wine and a bit of his story. We bought a bottle of his Merlot and have been enjoying it all week--it is good stuff! We enjoyed a lot of delicious wine this week, it was definitely a highlight!Friday--San Francisco!
Friday was our big day in the city. We had planned on doing both Fri and Sat in San Fran, but Friday was so overwhelming after being in the secluded mountains for a week that we decided we couldn't take another day of traffic, crowds, and public transportation. It's a great city, Chuck loved exploring pieces of it, and there was lots we didn't see, but we wanted Saturday to be a bit more relaxing than Friday was!

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We started the day by riding the metro into the city and jumping on a cable car to take us down to Fisherman's Wharf where we were going to catch our boat to Alcatraz.

Chuck's first ride on a cable car!The Bay Bridge from the Alcatraz boatThe first building you come to when you land on AlcatrazAlcatraz Island is a giant rock, and there was once absolutely nothing on it, it was just a rock in the middle of the bay. So all the vegetation, flowers, plants, buildings, and fresh water had to be transported from the mainland. It is actually fairly beautiful now--and really steep! You have to do some climbing to get to the main cell block up on top of the island. This is the view from close to the top.They do a remarkable tour, with an audio portion that walks you through the entire cell block.The cell block is massive--several rows of three stories of cells. I think it holds 300+ men at a time, although it was never completely full.The pamphlet on the bed is the prison rules and regulations given to every man upon arrival.Chuck checking out the isolation cells--they used to pull doors shut and the prisoner would be left in pitch blackness for days on end.In front of the Golden Gate BridgeThe Cell BlockAlcatraz from the other side--heading out to Angel IslandViews of the Golden Gate from Angel IslandFirst stop back on the mainland was to Fisherman's Wharf for some of the world famous San Francisco sourdough bread bowls full of clam chowder. Delicious!Then we wandered the famous pier 39, where we found hundreds of sea lions camped outthese two were singing a duetFrom there we walked all the way down to Ghiradelli Square (where they make the Ghiradelli chocolate)Yes that is chocolate!You cannot visit Ghiradelli Square without a stop at the chocolate shop! We shared this amazing ice cream, melted peanut butter, Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae--YUM!Our day continued (and ended) at the San Francisco Giants game Friday night, watching them take on the Texas Rangers. AT&T park is just stunning, set right on the bay.Inside the giant coke bottle are several slides for people to play on. Yes we went down them :)We had fun watching the sail boats from our seatsLou Seal, the Giants mascotThe Bay Bridge lit up at night