Carmel by the Sea, Cannery Row, Central Valley, and other such adventures.
Tonight we wrap up our wonderful vacation. Tomorrow we will sleep in our own bed for the first time since last Thursday morning (Wednesday night). Here's a summary of our trip. (I started this Monday night, by the way.)
Thursday:
Woke up at 5, drove like crazy, stopped in Reno to see the Sierra Trading Post Outlet.
Visited San Francisco for about three hours, two of which were spent walking in new shoes from Sierra Trading Post Outlet, which gave me some horrible blisters, five to be exact.
Parked in a bad part of town, surrounded by adult stores and entertainment. It was also very far away from the pier. Ate dinner overlooking the sea lions at pier 39, which provided the best dinner entertainment ever.
After some confusing driving to find the freeway again, and a few more hours of driving, we finally made to Monterey. The hotel we stayed in the first night was minutes away from Cannery Row, and very nice.
Friday:
Woke up early, drove around Monterey/Pacific Grove, drove up to Big Sur, hiked to Pfeiffer falls. Ate lunch here, I had the open faced grilled ham and gruyere sandwich. A had split pea soup. It was delish. Then walked along the pedestrian walkway in Monterey, all the way down to Lovers Point. Dinner was KFC (I know, I know, I didn't choose this,) grilled chicken with some of A's family, who also came.
Saturday:
Got up at the crack of dawn, headed to Fresno to see my sister's family be sealed in the Fresno Temple, since the adoptions for her youngest two children were recently wrapped up (yay!). We were an hour early, but because we had left before hour continental hotel breakfast, we used that time to grab some breakfast at the local Safeway. It was such a happy morning, the kids were little angels, and I am very happy that the day finally came.
After the temple, we went to my sister's house for a little luncheon, time with all the family that was there, and finally a barbecue. We had to leave pretty quick after dinner so we'd have some light for the drive home. Most of the drive from Merced to Monterey was through beautiful, beautiful farmland. Part of it was on a rural road that was just swarming with pretty little yellow butterflies. I love that drive.
Sunday:
We had a leisurely Sunday. We had a nice nap, and spent the afternoon walking around the beach houses in Carmel, taking pictures for inspiration for the house we hope to build someday. We picnicked for dinner.
Monday:
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, my favorite! I loved the jellies, as usual, but this year they had a whole section of seahorses, which were so cool. In the afternoon, we walked downtown Carmel. Dinner at Fishwife was a nice finish to our stay, where I had Cajun-spiced local snapper with pasta. It was good.
Tuesday:
We woke up at 4:00 California time to hit the road early. It worked, we made it home between six and seven, I think. We had some good snacks for the drive from Trader Joe's. Some of the best were the toffee and chocolate covered pistachios, tomato basil hummus and sea salt pita chips, and fat free caramel corn. We also finished listening to the last Harry Potter on CD in our driveway, the last chapter was in progress as we pulled up, and I insisted we stay in the car till it was over. We are now going to start watching all the movies, which I'm excited for.
So that was our trip, I'll post pictures, I promise. A has the camera right now. Overall, it was wonderful. I am still recovering today, are you supposed to have to recover from vacation? I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing!
Thursday:
Woke up at 5, drove like crazy, stopped in Reno to see the Sierra Trading Post Outlet.
Visited San Francisco for about three hours, two of which were spent walking in new shoes from Sierra Trading Post Outlet, which gave me some horrible blisters, five to be exact.
Parked in a bad part of town, surrounded by adult stores and entertainment. It was also very far away from the pier. Ate dinner overlooking the sea lions at pier 39, which provided the best dinner entertainment ever.
After some confusing driving to find the freeway again, and a few more hours of driving, we finally made to Monterey. The hotel we stayed in the first night was minutes away from Cannery Row, and very nice.
Friday:
Woke up early, drove around Monterey/Pacific Grove, drove up to Big Sur, hiked to Pfeiffer falls. Ate lunch here, I had the open faced grilled ham and gruyere sandwich. A had split pea soup. It was delish. Then walked along the pedestrian walkway in Monterey, all the way down to Lovers Point. Dinner was KFC (I know, I know, I didn't choose this,) grilled chicken with some of A's family, who also came.
Saturday:
Got up at the crack of dawn, headed to Fresno to see my sister's family be sealed in the Fresno Temple, since the adoptions for her youngest two children were recently wrapped up (yay!). We were an hour early, but because we had left before hour continental hotel breakfast, we used that time to grab some breakfast at the local Safeway. It was such a happy morning, the kids were little angels, and I am very happy that the day finally came.
After the temple, we went to my sister's house for a little luncheon, time with all the family that was there, and finally a barbecue. We had to leave pretty quick after dinner so we'd have some light for the drive home. Most of the drive from Merced to Monterey was through beautiful, beautiful farmland. Part of it was on a rural road that was just swarming with pretty little yellow butterflies. I love that drive.
Sunday:
We had a leisurely Sunday. We had a nice nap, and spent the afternoon walking around the beach houses in Carmel, taking pictures for inspiration for the house we hope to build someday. We picnicked for dinner.
Monday:
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, my favorite! I loved the jellies, as usual, but this year they had a whole section of seahorses, which were so cool. In the afternoon, we walked downtown Carmel. Dinner at Fishwife was a nice finish to our stay, where I had Cajun-spiced local snapper with pasta. It was good.
Tuesday:
We woke up at 4:00 California time to hit the road early. It worked, we made it home between six and seven, I think. We had some good snacks for the drive from Trader Joe's. Some of the best were the toffee and chocolate covered pistachios, tomato basil hummus and sea salt pita chips, and fat free caramel corn. We also finished listening to the last Harry Potter on CD in our driveway, the last chapter was in progress as we pulled up, and I insisted we stay in the car till it was over. We are now going to start watching all the movies, which I'm excited for.
So that was our trip, I'll post pictures, I promise. A has the camera right now. Overall, it was wonderful. I am still recovering today, are you supposed to have to recover from vacation? I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing!
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PS - You ARE still planning on building a house in the near future, right?
PPS - This was jimmy, not Amy.