Friday, April 28, 2006

Vacation Day 6: The East Bay

Thursday: My plan for Anne and Jordan's final morning here in the Bay Area was to drive around the East Bay hills near where I live and then walk along a lake before having lunch and heading to the airport. I should've stuck with the plan.

Instead, while looking the map over the evening before, I decided to go somewhere new. I'd done the drive/walk with my mom when my folks were here a couple years ago but I'd never driven up Mount Diablo though I'd been to its foot when a friend was in a bike race there many years ago. It didn't look too far away so we set off in that direction.

Jordan turned 16 in December so we thought we'd give him a opportunity to drive my Prius before he went home. Perhaps this wasn't the best place. The roads were narrow and twisty and Anne and I began to feel nervous about the state of the edges of the road the further we got up the mountain. At the ranger's station, we decided we'd had enough of it. Jordan said he didn't have a problem with the roads but I was also concerned about how much time it was taking us to get anywhere.

Anne said she'd choose a body of water over a mountain any day so I decided to take them down to the marina and walk in the park along the bay. We let the navigation system dictate our route from mountain to bay and went through an area with lots of warehouses and industrial-type places, including the national headquarters of Otis Spunkmeyer. Of course, we had to stop for cookies, fresh out of the oven. So we got two each and a day-old bag for their trip home. I had the red, white and blue cookie (cranberry, white chocolate chunk, blueberry) and a cranberry oatmeal cookie. Both were excellent. We ate them as we took a quick walk by the water watching the planes lining up to land at the airports.

A new Chili's recently opened near my BART station and I was glad to have an excuse to try it out for lunch. I had the grilled margarita chicken and garlic & lime shrimp (which inspired my own Orange & Green Shrimp) with steamed broccoli and a side of black beans. It was yummy.

And then we were off to the airport, and hugs and goodbyes.

I have to say that this visit was entirely sucessful. My guests were accomodating, helpful and cheerful. They could sleep on any surface at the drop of a hat. And our activities (for the most part) were varied and interesting and a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks, Anne & Jordan!

Books I've Read This Week, Vol. I, Issue 7

Hi and welcome back to Books I've Read This Week. Last week I reported on books by Philippa Gregory, James Patterson and Laura Wittig. This week's reading was mostly dedicated to perusing guidebooks on Britain with one exception, Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology.

I was introduced to Simon Winchester through an hour-long special on my local PBS station. Seeking 1906 followed Simon during research for his new book, A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. The 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco quake was this month. I found him delightful and intelligent and I wanted to see what his books might be like.

I reserved a few and The Map That Changed the World was the first one that came in. It is the story of William Smith, the son of an Oxfordshire blacksmith, who was fascinated with what lay below the surface of the land. He worked as a surveyor, canal builder and drainage engineer all the while collecting fossils and other data which he used to create a huge map of the hidden layers of the earth in Britain. He was the first to realize that various strata could be identified by the fossils contained within. Society was not good to him though. Being low-born he was not invited into the Geological Society in London, people he thought were friends stole his work and published a rival map based on his own work and he even found himself in debtor's prison. Eventually he was given his due honor and he died a well-respected "Father of Geology" with his map currently displayed in London at the home of the Geological Society.

I do love sciency kinds of books and I found this one very interesting not only for the story of the underdog William Smith, but for the descriptions of the very early thoughts on the age of the earth and how it was influenced by the religious beliefs of the times.

I've just started Simon's The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. I enjoy reading about the history of the English language and this book includes that, along with the personalities who created the OED.

The Britain guidebooks I read this past week are: Rick Steves' London 2003, AAA Britain Travelbook (2001), Lonely Planet's England (2003) and England for Dummies (2006). I have seen several of Rick's TV shows but never read any of his books. He's rather nerdy on TV but the London guidebook is great. I'm definitely going to be purchasing his current Great Britain guidebook. I'm working on making lists of things I want to see and do in each of the stops in our circle tour. And I'm gathering ideas of where we might want to stay. I'm less interested in food recommendations. That I'll save for closer to the day.

I finally made it to the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster in The Intelligent Traveller's Guide to Historic Britain. I've been reading this book so sporadically that last night I decided I had to make a list of the rulers of England and their relationship to the previous monarch so I could figure out what was going on when I picked up the book again. Luckily the author has provided a geneological chart for the Yorkists and Lancastrians so I don't have to do that myself. It's pretty confusing.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Here Be Dragons, Sharon Kay Penman
The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age, Christopher Hibbert
Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherford
Memory in Death, JD Robb

Books on hold at the library:
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, Linda Berdoll
The Virgin's Lover, Philippa Gregory
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton
Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too, Nancy Martin
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
Promise Me, Harlan Coben
Their Noble Lordships, Simon Winchester
Bleeding Hearts, Susan Wittig Albert

I'll let you which of these books I've read next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

This week's report on my favorite reality show favorites:

Amazing Race: The crazy hippies, BJ & Tyler, came back strong after being nearly eliminated last week. I don't understand the animosity displayed between them and MoJo though. When did that start?

American Idol: I was so happy that America's voting followed my exact preference this week: Kelly gone (finally), Paris in the bottom two (hope she's gone next week), Taylor & Elliott in the middle, and Katherine & Chris at the top. Let's all keep voting that way! It makes me a little nervous thinking about who Kelly's fans will vote for. Taylor? I can't imagine my Chris will get many of those votes.

Survivor: With Sally being voted out a couple weeks ago, I really need to choose another favorite. I don't particularly care about any of the ones who are left. I guess I could be for Aras if he would close his mouth. I could've watched an hour of him doing yoga on Exile Island.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Sharks & Devils, Oh My!

My two favorite teams, the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference and the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern, are both off to great starts in this year's race for the Stanley Cup.

The Sharks lost the first game to the Nashville Predators who scored four power play goals. But the Sharks have come back to win two in a row and will take a 2 games to 1 lead into Game 4 tomorrow night. Go Sharks!

The Devils have won their first two games in a dominant fashion over their local rivals, the New York Rangers. They play Game 3 tonight in Madison Square Garden. Go Devils!

B&Bs

My precious break and lunch web time as been taken up recently with research into various bed & breakfast hotels and guest houses in Britain. I read a couple guidebooks over the weekend and have been checking out some of their recommendations online. Take a look at some of these and let me know what you think.

London
The George Hotel
The Jenkins Hotel
St. Margaret's Hotel
The Luna & Simone Hotel
The James House & The Cartref House

Bath
The Kennard Hotel
Holly Lodge

A Bloody Sweater

When I saw Kiefer Sutherland on the Jay Leno show the other night promoting his new movie The Sentinel, he was talking about how the actors on 24 might not know their future from the script but when they see the wardrobe people, they know something's up. I wonder how the actress who plays Audrey felt when she found a bloody sweater in her trailer. Gross!

I told you before that I was having hopes about Karen, the Homeland Security bitch. Well, not so bitchy anymore now that she's having doubts about the president. Going so far as calling Bill and warning him and Chloe that a team was heading their way? She may get some fallout from that but in my book, she's a hero!

Dreams with a Z

E & K and I went to see American Dreamz last night after work. I found myself laughing at the previews—a good sign for me as I'm not a huge fan of comedies. I did want to see this one because I'd heard that not only does it parody American Idol but also our current president. I'm also a fan of Hugh Grant in general.

I'm glad I saw this in the theater, or more accurately, with other people. I laughed a lot more than I would've had I been alone. At times I thought I was watching a bad skit from SNL that was just going on too long, but there were a few moments and characters that were just damned funny. And I really liked how the competition ended.

My recommendation would be to wait for the DVD unless, like me, you need help psyching yourself up to find something funny.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Orange & Green Shrimp

1 bag frozen uncooked medium shrimp
2 medium oranges
2 limes
4 garlic cloves, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste

Thaw the shrimp under cool, running water for several minutes. Remove the tails if you prefer. Drain well.

Zest and juice the oranges and limes into a bowl large enough to hold the shrimp. Add the garlic and shrimp and toss with a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (leave them too long and they'll start to cook in the juice).

Cook on a hot outside grill or with a grill pan on high for a couple minutes on each side. Don't overcook or they will get rubbery.

Options:
Use chicken breast or tenderloins (increase the cooking time).
Serve with rice.
Serve in a taco or burrito.
Wrap in romaine leaves (my personal favorite).

Vacation Day 5: San Francisco, Take Two

Wednesday: I came out to the living room and Jordan was still in bed. I didn't want to wake him so starting watching last night's baseball game on mute. I just needed my sports fix after so many days without any. I grabbed a bowl of grape-nuts and before I knew it, Anne was coming through the door, back already from her early morning meeting in San Jose. Jordan still wasn't up and I wasn't dressed so we both took care of those things, grabbed our map and were out the door on our way to the City.

With our onboard navigator set to Treasure Island, we were soon on our fourth bridge of the week (Richmond/San Rafael and Golden Gate on Saturday, San Mateo on Sunday). The view of San Francisco from Treasure Island in the middle of the Bay Bridge is a favorite of many, especially at night. Ours was a cloudy, slightly wet view, but still lovely and dramatic.

Next stop was the parking structure near the office. I gave Anne a quick tour of my home away from home and, after lunch at the now near-famous Thai hole-in-the-wall, we were off through Chinatown and North Beach to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower. It was still pretty cloudy so the views weren't that great but we decided to see what we could see from the top of the tower. We paid our small fee and took the manually-operated (not by us!) elevator to the open air viewing area. You can walk 360° around with something interesting to see from every window. It was especially fun to look down on the rooftops of the buildings in the area.

Back in the car we navigated our way to the top of Lombard Street's crooked block and Anne drove slowly and carefully down. I tried to take pictures on the way but I'm sure I got nothing but some very blurry flowerbeds. Next on the itinerary was the Palace of Fine Arts. I failed completely as a navigator on this stop because we accidentally took the highway toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Luckily, you can get off at the visitors' center and we did. Anne and Jordan got out to take more pictures of the bridge and even walked out far enough to get some shots of the City.

While were we out there, I thought we'd go down to Fort Point and stand right under the bridge. Unfortunately, construction stopped us from driving that far but we did see a surfer braving the rocks. We took a shortcut back toward the Palace of Fine Arts through the Presidio (some very interesting buildings there) but as we were approaching the Palace I again failed and we again were headed back towards the bridge! At least we knew where to get off. We decided to take a slightly different route to the Palace with our third try and ended up driving through George Lucas' new campus in the Presidio. And when we got to the right place, the Palace was completely surrounded by fences and we couldn't stop and go in. Bummer.

We were headed to the ocean when Anne and I saw banners advertising an Arts & Crafts special exhibit at the City's DeYoung Museum. I'd seen a program on the new DeYoung building recently and was interested in seeing it. So we thought we'd check it out and were off to the Golden Gate Park. We discovered that the museum was closing in an hour and we didn't want to spend that much money with only an hour to see everything so we took advantage of the facilities, browsed the over-priced gift shop and headed for the beach.

Just as we parked, the sun came out. It was beautiful. Anne and Jordan got out to take some pictures and, possibly, wade in the ocean while I checked our AAA Tourbook for any recommendations for restaurants in the area. I found one, the Beach Chalet. It sounds like a touristy burger joint, doesn't it?

We decided to make one more stop before supper. I wanted to revisit the site of a wedding I attended in August, Fort Riley. The parking lot has great views of the bridge to the northeast (weren't we tired of that yet?) and the ocean to the west. The trail up the hill to the grassy field goes through the coolest (and I don't mean cold) forest I've ever seen. The sparsely-branched black trees are covered in green moss. Jordan thought it looked like it could be from the Lord of the Rings.

The downstairs of the Beach Chalet is a visitors' center and museum. We were hungry so didn't stop to check it out. Upstairs we scored a window seat but ironically the sun was so bright we had to pull down the shade. It was a rather fancy kind of joint but our jeans weren't too out of place. We ordered the root chips with sun-dried tomato, artichoke dip (very good) and then we all had steak (delicious).

We detoured around Twin Peaks and through the Mission on our way to the highway and home. It was a lovely day. One of the best of the vacation.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Movies I've Watched Recently

Last weekend, after my guests left, I finally felt like sitting down to a movie. So I watched two.

Birth, starring Nicole Kidman. I thought this movie sounded way cooler than it turned out to be. A woman whose husband died 10 years ago is about to finally remarry. She then meets a boy who claims to be her dead husband. It's about grief, loss, deception, manipulation, and odd behavior. It's kinda slow with lots of pauses with no dialog, just close-ups on people. It was almost like a foreign film. Sometimes I just didn't get it. If you liked Closer, you may like Birth.

I also watched the first disc of The History of Britain. It was great. I think I'm going to try to read my Intelligent Traveller's Guide to Historic Britain in conjunction with watching the other discs. I have a bit of reading to do before the next disc comes next week.

I have Brokeback Mountain in my bag. I'm going to try to watch that this weekend.

Books I've Read This Week, Vol. I, Issue 6

In my last column (two weeks ago!) I was working on Philippa Gregory's second book in the saga of the Laceys, The Favored Child. I liked it okay, but not as much as the third book, Meridon, definitely the best of the three. I like it when books end with people getting what they deserve.

Next was James Patterson's Women's Murder Club, Books 1–4: 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, 3rd Degree, and 4th of July. These are classic cop mysteries with girl power. They all take place in and around San Francisco and I was surprised how many reseach mistakes were made about the City. Describing a traffic jam at Market and Powell, when everyone knows there's no such intersection because Powell becomes cable cars only after Ellis. And referring to the San Francisco airport as SFI when you'd never hear anyone say anything but SFO. However, I was able to perservere through those small distractions and really enjoyed all four of them. I'm on hold for his latest one, The 5th Horseman.

The Secret of the Pink Carnation is the first book by Laura Wittig about aristocratic spying during the English wars with the French at the turn of the nineteeth century. I read the sequel, The Masque of the Black Tulip (see BIRTW, I:2) before this one and regretted it. Especially as it appears to come right after the first (in the modern story anyway). I think I preferred the first one, not only because I like reading things in order, but because there's more modern story in the second one which made the book more confusing in general. I'd really like to read more of this kind of book since it combined some of my favorite things to read about: spying, history, mystery and romance.

As I forgot to put a book in my bag this morning, I'm not in the middle of any fiction. I am still lurching my way through the travel books though. Hopefully I will have finished at least one the next time you check in with Books I've Read This Week.

Vacation Day 4: San Francisco

Tuesday: Anne was scheduled to work in the Valley so I had planned my typical tourist's day in the City for me and Jordan: visit to the office, cable car to Fisherman's Wharf, the sea lions at Pier 39, a Blue & Gold Bay Cruise and the Maritime Museum and Ghiradelli Square if we had enough time or happened to catch the right cable car.

Anne had borrowed my car for the day so Jordan and I walked down to the BART station with a stop at Starbuck's. Ah, how I have missed their hot chocolate. I decided to go with a tall, non-fat, sugar-free vanilla hot chocolate, no whip. It sure was good. Jordan got a caramel macchiato.

We were lucky it didn't rain on us on our walk because it did for the rest of the day. We got soaked and I wasn't very happy about it. I was super glad to have the poncho I bought on Saturday but even a nice poncho didn't stop my jeans and shoes and socks and bag from being drenched. I should've taken my umbrella as well but I thought it was going to be windy. I won't go on about it, I promise. It just wasn't a good day to be walking around outside.

So, anyway, we got to the office and I introduced him around, we both checked email and I did a spot of work. Katherine and Elizabeth accompanied us to lunch at the Thai hole-in-the-wall. Jordan was excited to try it out. I eat there at least once a week. He had the Penang curry with beef. I had Tom Ka Pak (coconut milk soup with vegetables).

Jordan wanted to stand on the outside of the cable car so we rode up to Fisherman's Wharf and saw the sights on the way. At the top of Lombard Street an SUV was waiting for the cable car to pass so they could go down the crookedest (supposedly) street in the world, the passenger put up her camera to take a photo of us and our so-picturesque cable car so I waved at her. She started laughing and waved back.

We ended up on the western end of the Wharf so stopped into the Maritime Museum for a rest stop and to get out of the rain for a bit. I thought we should head down and get our tickets for the cruise and then stop back at the museum afterwards. So we didn't really look at any of the exhibits (which I regretted later).

After getting our tickets we had about ten minutes before the boat left. So we went down to the end of Pier 39 where the hordes of sea lions hang out. There weren't so many as I've seen before. They must be somewhere else having babies or something.

When I got the tickets, the agent warned us that though they hadn't cancelled a trip yet that day, they wouldn't go without a minimum of 10 passengers. I thought that number would be just perfect. Kinda like the day before on the whale-watching trip. We could hang out in the comfort of the cabin and watch the sights go by protected from the rain.

Well, we started out in the cabin but when 500 (I swear!) Japanese tourists pressed themselves inside with us, I just couldn't stand it. I wish I would've asked to get off and take the next boat. It was miserable. I told Jordan I would rather sit outside in the rain than be stuck inside a steaming cabin with that many people. So we did. And we got really really wet. And it was my choice. At least we could see the City and the Golden Gate Bridge when we went under it.

Another advantage was that we were further away from the speakers. When I've gone on the Blue & Gold cruise before the audio was informative and entertaining, now they have changed it into some horrible theme park ride hosted by Captain Nemo. I may have to try out the Red & White cruise next time. Or just rent one of the little boats along the Wharf.

About halfway through the cruise we'd had enough of the pouring rain so we headed downstairs to be as close as we could to the door. We wanted out of there. The other people must've hated the trip as much as me cuz I had to squeeze my way out and then got stuck going up the gangway behind the slowest child with the slowest old lady.

Jordan was interested to see what kind of shops might be at Pier 39 and we'd seen a sign at the Marine Mammal Center displays by the sea lions that they had a shop somewhere as well. We looked around, made another rest stop and found the MMC shop. It wasn't much.

I had pretty much had enough of being soaked so Jordan agreed to head back home (though I was sad that we didn't get everything done we had wanted to do). We caught the street car down to the Embarcadero and BARTed home. I'm really glad that Jordan was so accommodating to his poor waterlogged aunt.

Anne got home soon after we did and we cooked more tacos and some garlic orange marinated shrimp. I made them watch American Idol and they made me watch House. It was a good trade.

Anne discovered that she had an early morning meeting the next day then would have the rest of the day off. Jordan and I had just planned on hanging out at the house but that plan was trashed in favor of another day in the City. One that just had to turn out better than ours.

Close Call #2

Those hippies from San Fran sure had me worried. I thought for sure they were goners but Phil saved the day with those much desired words, "I'm happy to say this is a non-elimination leg of the race." Thanks, Phil!!

Close Call #1

How did Chris (you rock!) get in the bottom three and Kelly (I'm a dumb blond) stays safe every week? I just can't stand it. Come on, people! Vote for Chris!!!

Postscript to Day 3: Monterey Bay

Open Letter to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Director of Volunteers:

You may want to reconsider the placement of one of your volunteers in the bird exhibit. You may know the one. She's loud, obnoxious and rude to both the birds and the visitors. I did not appreciate the unsolicited sharing of her "expertise" or her unwarranted screaming "Shut up!" at the birds.

I have to say I was astonished when I saw the volunteer badge pinned on her chest. I would hope her appointment was a favor to a large donor as I cannot imagine she earned her position on merit.

Other than that uncomfortable encounter in the marshland, I completely enjoyed the Aquarium today. The presenter in the auditorium was especially entertaining and informative.

Thanks for all your hard work in preserving our world,
A Concerned Yet Enlightened Aquarium Visitor

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Vacation Day 3: Monterey Bay

Monday: The phone rang with Anne's wake-up call and I opened my eyes. What was I doing up before six in the morning? Oh yeah, whales!

Breakfast in the lobby opened at 6:00 and Jordan and I were down there by 5:45. We had to be over at Fisherman's Wharf by 6:30 to check in at the Monterey Bay Whale Watch for our 7:00 trip. I had some delicious scrambled eggs, a few little sausages, a few strips of bacon (yum, bacon) and a glass of milk. I had my scarf, gloves, jacket and dramamine. I stuck a banana in my bag and I was ready to go.

On a 70-passenger boat, our group was only 17. Just the way I like it. No crowds. Other than the three of us was a couple from Majorca and a 12-member family group from Denmark (an older couple, their two sons, their wives and 6 various kids, I discovered as I chatted with one of the daughters-in-law).

Up top in the bridge was the captain, our guide and her two dogs and I think one other dude. Both the captain and the guide would talk to us over the PA system letting us know any wildlife they may spy as we headed out to where they thought the whales might be. Most of us congregated in the bow where the waves would shoot us up in the air and drop us down fast. Really, who needs a theme park ride?

We saw various sea birds and a sea otter and a bunch of sea lions who were lounging in the marina. And then the call came out, a spout had be sighted and we were headed that way. We slowed and waited and waited while the whales were doing their thing underwater. Soon we saw a spout and then another. There were two humpbacks a little ways out. We hung out while they dove (we saw tails!) and surfaced and dove again, about 4 or 5 times.

Then we set off in search of other whales. We were headed out into the ocean when we started speeding up. The guide said they had spotted a pod of dolphins and we were in hot pursuit. Well, the pursuit was hot but not hot enough. The dolphins were headed away from us as fast as they could go and we weren't going to be catching up in our little boat. I saw some splashes way up ahead but no dolphins. We had gone quite far quite fast so had quite a way to go to get back in our three hours so we headed back to the bay.

We spied our two humpbacks again on the way back but nothing else. We were well-satisfied though. In fact, before we found the whales, Anne and I had agreed that even if we saw nothing, we'd be happy just being out on the open water. It was like nothing else. I really must go again. And when I do, it'll be the early morning trip because when we got back to the dock there was quite a crowd waiting to take the 10:00 trip. I'd rather get up before 6:00 than share a small boat with a huge crowd.

We had waited to check out of the hotel until after getting back from our three-hour tour in case we wanted to shower off the sea spray so we went back to the room and showered and packed up and headed back to Cannery Row for lunch and exploring at the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Monterey Bay is an unusual area because of the deep sea canyon that lies beneath. The canyon is bigger than the Grand Canyon. It is one of the reasons that whale-watching trips are so successful as the whales can come relatively close to shore. The canyon is also why there is such a variety of sea life in the bay and why the aquarium was founded.

My favorite areas in the aquarium are: the kelp forest, the habitats of Monterey Bay, the anchovies and the outer bay. I could watch those tuna swim around for hours. Now another of my favorite areas is the fancy sit-down restaurant. Anne talked the hostess into squeezing us in right at lunchtime. I again ordered the halibut and loved it. And again we shared the crème brûlée. It was a trio of ginger, mocha and vanilla. Delicious!

We drove back through the rolling hills south of San Jose with a quick stop at the mission in San Juan Bautista. I had forgotten how beautiful that area is. Maybe I've never been through there when it was so green. But really when has it ever been so green out here?

We got home in time to throw together some tacos for dinner with the great handmade whole-wheat tortillas from Trader Joe's. A delicious end to an entirely delicious day.

Vacation Day 2: Santa Cruz Mountains

Sunday: In an effort to ameliorate the pain in missing Muir Woods, Saturday evening I looked through the AAA Tourbook for a substitute redwoods experience. We were headed to Monterey for the night and, as if the gods themselves had placed it in our path, we discovered Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

As we headed up through what I had previously thought of as hills, I soon realized that the "mountains" part of Santa Cruz Mountains was entirely apt. We twisted our way up and down and around, skirting weekend warriors on their two wheels and relay racers on their two legs. We soon found ourselves in a quiet, redwood forest that I would've thought more at home in the Rockies or Sierras.

Big Basin was the first California State Park and is home to some amazing trees. The half mile path is marked with easily missed numbered posts that correspond to descriptions in the interpretive flyer (only 25¢!) that we took turns reading. They may be only coastal redwoods and not as large as their cousins the giant sequoias but those trees were impressive.

Again the day was beautiful and mostly clear until we were heading around the Monterey Bay past the artichoke fields to our hotel in Seaside. We were glad it rained then and not on us in the forest. Plus Jordan got a nice nap. When discussing where we should eat (lunch was snacks in the car), Anne described her dream restaurant looking over the bay with waves crashing beneath us. When we stopped at the hotel to check in, I checked in with Guest Services and asked if there was such a place in Monterey. There was!

So we headed to Cannery Row and the Fish Hopper and our table on the glass-enclosed pier with the surf hitting the rocks below. The food was excellent; I ordered the halibut (we shared the crème brûlée). And we even saw a sea otter swim from one side of the pier to the other.

To finish our evening, I planned to take A & J on the 17 Mile Drive, a private scenic drive along the coast, fancy seaside mansions, the Lone Cypress and the Pebble Beach golf course. Little did I know that we were in for more than just a scenic drive.

First we stopped at the public park at Lovers Point and climbed on the rocks. My legs started to feel like jelly so I retreated the safety of a bench while I watched the waves splash around Anne said one of her favorite things is climbing on rocks and she and Jordan really enjoyed themselves.

Then we paid our $8.50, got our map and numbered guide brochure and started off on the 17 Mile Drive. I had read about three sections worth before we noticed a truck pulled over on the side of the road with its flashers flashing. As we drove by we could see it was a Marine Mammal Center truck and it had a rescue cage in the back. So we pulled over in the next pullout and walked back along the path to see what was going on.

A small group of people from the MMC were hovering over something at the water's edge. Anne asked another bystander what was going on and she said it was a sea lion in distress. The rescuers brought out some herding boards (they looked like shields) and a really big net on a really long pole. They pushed and pushed with their boards trying to get the sea lion in to the net. It was rather non-responsive but we never found out what was wrong with it.

Several bystanders had gone over to see if they could help including Jordan who was very interested in what was going on. Eventually they got the poor thing in the net and left one woman making sure it would stay in it while the rest ran up to the truck to get the big solid-sided metal cage. It took four on each side to carry the big thing.

There was more herding with the boards and more hefting of the cage until they got the sea lion safe in the back of the truck. Anne and Jordan (and others) helped carry the boards and net back up to the truck. I was safely staying out of the way. I was content to let the experts take care of things. Anne told me later that the people who were doing the rescue were at the Center taking a class on sea otters when the call came in to help the sea lion and they'd never participated in a rescue either! It was quite exciting watching it anyway.

After the sea lion rescue the rest of the scenic drive was a bit of a let-down but we persevered, got a little turned around in the dark and eventually found our way back to the hotel where we settled into our spacious suite and had a snack of tuna salad on triscuits, baby carrots and grapes. Yum, yum. I caught up on some hockey and baseball scores and headed for bed. We had to be up scandalously early the next day for our date with the whales.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Vacation Day 1: The North Bay

Prologue: Anne and Jordan arrived last Friday night from St. Louis via Phoenix. We chatted for a bit and then they crawled into the airbed. Jordan had a bit of a cold so ended up sleeping more upright in the chaise. Those two could sleep through anything and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I wish I could.

Saturday: We completed my normal Saturday routine of the farmers' market, Trader Joe's and the library and grabbed a bite at home before heading north. Our list for the day was Point Reyes National Seashore, Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Bridge.

After weeks and weeks of rain, and more threatened for the day, we had the clearest day I can remember. Everywhere we looked on our drive up the East Bay and over the Richmond bridge we could see forever. And it was green! The hills of the North Bay were like a painting and the sky was so high.

We got to the turnoff for Drake's Bay and didn't believe the sign that we couldn't go any further. We only got as far as the road to the South Beach when we were turned back. On the weekends they have shuttles to ferry visitors out to the lighthouse because of limited parking and the vulnerability of roads after so much rain. I'd never been to the visitors' center at Drake's Bay so I was glad we had to go there. Though I wasn't so glad to be in a huge bus going over narrow roads.

The views of the coastline were amazing. I'd been out to the lighthouse a couple times and I'd never been able to see the ocean below. We got to the observation deck and the guide alerted us that a whale had been sighted and would resurface in a few minutes. We waited and watched where she told us to look for the spout and sure enough we saw one. Our first whale of the trip!

We decided to forego the hundreds of steps down to the lighthouse itself (and then back up) and wanted to avoid catching the last shuttle of the day which was sure to be crowded. Plus, we thought we might still be able to hit Muir Woods before it closed. Unfortunately our bus driver informed us that it closed at 5. We would never make it. Especially after driving along Highway 1 down the coast. It was slow going with all the slippage on the road from the rain. Good thing Anne was driving!

We finally made it down to the Golden Gate Bridge and parked on the northwest side where you get to walk directly underneath the bridge to get to the pedestrian walkway on the east side of traffic. Anne wasn't too sure she like that much traffic right over her head.

With it being the first beautiful day in a long time I wasn't surprised to see a lot of people out on the bridge near sunset. We walked out to the center of the bridge where the cable is at its lowest point and then walked back. So you could say we walked the entire distance of the bridge. The day was still super clear and the views of San Fran were excellent. I think I could even see home.

By the time we left the bridge, we were pretty hungry so when I saw an In-N-Out Burger, I yelled for Anne to stop and she made it safely across several lines of traffic so we could eat at the classic California burger joint. I even ate the fries (they're so good!).

Even with the disappointment of not seeing Muir Woods, it was an excellent beginning to what promised to be a great week.

Trust No One

Okay, if Jack and Audrey can't trust her father then who can they trust? No one!

Well, Chloe. And Bill (did I miss the part when Jack calls Bill? Did I forget to hit pause when I went to the can?). Too bad Tony's not still around. Jack could sure use more help.

That scene with the blood running down Audrey's arm was just awful. Good thing next week's previews show us she's made it through (and sure looked mad about something!)

I keep expecting Karen (the Homeland Security bitch) to turn out good and convert to Jack's side. Maybe she just seems good compared to her evil peon, Miles.

Six more weeks (hours) to go!

I'm Back

Hi, all. I'm back from vacation. I had a great visit from my sister and nephew. We went all over the Bay Area. Got rained on, sunned on, winded on and sprayed on.

I'll gradually be posting reports from the various adventures we had and sights we saw. I hope I can remember everything! If my nephew would only email me some photos, I could post them too. I really need a digital camera.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Books I've Read This Week, Vol. I, Issue 5

I ended last week's column with a brief description of An Imperfect Lens by Anne Roiphe, the story of a French scientist in cholera-stricken Alexandria. I enjoyed it but I wasn't overjoyed with it. I didn't get a great sense of the characters. I felt a bit detached. Having said that, I may try more of her work because I do really like reading science-y stories.

With the advent of the baseball season this week, I've been paying more attention to the TV instead of just having it on while I'm reading, so my list this week is rather short (for me).

On Saturday I picked up Insatiable by Marne David Kellogg. This is her stand-alone suspense novel. At least "suspense" is what I read it described as. I would describe it as an author's self-indulgent exploration of boring characters and ridculous storylines that belong more in a TV Movie of the Week than in a book I'd want to read. I was highly disappointed as I've come to really enjoy MDK's writing. I hope she writes more Kick Keswick books and leaves the suspense to those who know what it means.

Luckily next on my shelf was Death on the Lizard by Robin Paige (aka Bill & Susan Wittig Albert). Susan writes my beloved China Bayles mysteries and, together with her husband, has written a Victorian mystery series about an American woman who inherits a house in England and eventually marries an Englishman. Kate is a writer and Charles enjoys progressive application of science (fingerprints, electricity, wireless). In each book, you follow Kate in one storyline and Charles in another. I very much enjoyed their lastest adventure in Cornwall.

Philippa Gregory, who I've written widely about here, first wrote a trilogy following the stories of the Lacey family in Wideacre then The Favored Child and Meridon. I read Wideacre many years ago before I knew it was the first in a trilogy. So I re-read it and wasn't sure while doing so that I really wanted to. It deals with issues (incest mostly) that make me feel very disturbed and like I need to take a shower immediately. The main character, Beatrice, is obsessive, manipulative and rather unlikeable. I find it very difficult to enjoy books when I don't have much respect for the character. But I soldiered on because I really wanted to read the other two. I've just started The Favored Child about Beatrice's children, Julia and Richard. It's having the same flavor but not as bad, yet.

I've been also reading The Intelligent Traveller's Guide to Historic Britain and am only as far as the Saxons. I know! I'm making very slow progress with this one. I have plenty of time though. My trip's not until November. As long as no one else at the library needs this particular book, I should be okay.

Well, that's it for another issue. My next post won't be for awhile as I'm off on vacation for a week. Catch you then on Books I've Read This Week.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

A Big Country Twang

I'm sure glad I recorded American Idol last night. Not because I love it so much, but because I can't stand country music. I did love it once back in junior high but nowadays it just makes me cringe. So I fast forwarded through all the performances and just listened to the judges' comments. I was really with Simon last night. Nothing sounds good when it's country.

Well, I should say I skipped most, not all, of the performances. I had to listen to Chris. He, again, was awesome (and hot). As was Katherine. I just don't know how she got in the bottom three last week. She better be safe this week.

Rain, Rain, Rain

I love rain. I really really do. But seriously, I've about had enough of the stuff. San Fran broke the record from 1906 for number of rainy days in March—24 out of 31 days. (Or was is 25? I can't remember.)

And it hasn't stopped raining. Oh, I did see the sun today—for about an hour. I have family coming to town on Friday and guess what's also coming to town on Friday? You got it. Another storm. I think they'll be taking umbrellas back home with them as souvenirs.