CA Trip Day 5 - Take 2

Oh, Day 5… I have already written this once, and deleted off my blog by accident! Of course, I didn’t keep a copy. I’ve used this as a debriefing, and now I’m going to relive it again.

Okay, so here we go…

We woke up in Pismo Beach that Wednesday morning. I actually woke up before Jim did. The seagulls were calling to each other and anyone else who would listen, so I stood next to the sliding door and watched the waves crash in, the birds flying by, and the clouds hanging low over the ocean. All of a sudden, I saw something in the water, so I woke Jim up.

 

“Hey, I think there’s a dolphin out here!” I said excitedly. “Come look!”

“Is it the rocks?” he asked.

 

And we both laughed We had already had this conversation the night before except it was him thinking it was something then. No such luck. It was the rocks.

We got ready and went down to eat breakfast at the buffet. This was the first time we had breakfast at the hotel since we had been on our trip. It was so crazy crowded! People were standing around with their plates waiting for someone to get up from the table.

After we loaded everything up again, we went to the outlet mall. Jim was looking for some different shoes, so we went into the Vans store and got a great deal. Then he thought Challenger (there is no sense in using THE before it anymore) needed a car wash. On our way out of town, we stopped at another little shopping area for some coffee at Starbucks. When we were walking by a bagel store, Broadway Bagel Café, we decided to in there instead. They were playing music from musicals, and we had some really good coffee and bagel sandwiches.

 

Then we headed down the road to Monterey.

 

We were taking the PCH, Pacific Coast Highway. I had in my mind how beautiful it would be, but nothing I imagined could compare to the actual scenery of it all. The vastness of the water and the sailboats, the people, the sights are just something I am still finding hard to find words for.

When we started heading up in the mountains near Big Sur, things started changing for me, and I was pretty nervous. I had been looking at the map for so long while planning this trip, and it seemed like there was always at least one accident on the PCH. Thankfully, we didn’t see any on our trip. The up and down, curving this way and that, it was a good thing I took Dramamine or I really would have been in trouble.

We stayed at a little place in Pacific Grove, The Best Western Plus, which was located in a residential neighborhood. When the clerk learned it was my birthday the next day and we were celebrating our 25^th anniversary, he went into the back room and came out with a bottle of wine for us, which I thought was very sweet.

This place must have been a former townhouse community because we even had garages to park in, which was a nice touch. And it was funny the number of the room we stayed in… 114. Because we consider 14 our “lucky” number. We met on the 14^th, Jim became a Christ-follower on the 14^th (the same 14^th, by the way), and our son, Caleb, was born on the 14^th. Coincidence? 

 

We only stayed in the room long enough to get settled, and then we left for our adventure in Monterey on Cannery Row. Of course, it was hard to find parking, so we paid to park in a lot on one of the ends of the street. My directions were so turned around that I can’t even tell you what direction we were.

In the meantime, our friends were giving us suggestions about places to go and restaurants. We took some advice and had dinner at Louie Linguini’s. We sat out on the patio under heating lamps. It was still foggy, damp, cloudy, and the smoke from the fires was also hanging around. It was a great location, though.

 

 

 

I kept wondering if we were ever going to see the sun set on the ocean. It hadn’t happened so far, and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to. Watching the sun disappear over the water...

After dinner, we walked around the little stores on Lighthouse Avenue. It was a lot of fun.

 

When we got back to the car, we had to drive around and search for a corkscrew for the wine because we just don’t carry one with us. We went into a Trader Joe’s because we’ve never been in one before. They were out of stock. Can you believe that? We did find one at another grocery store, and then we went back to the room and played Canasta.

When we went to bed that night, it would be my last day being 50. This trip was something that I had been looking forward to for so long, and it wasn’t disappointing. I was missing my kids, but I was not missing the Texas heat.

Leaving a Piece of My Heart in San Francisco

My birthday just happened to fall on Day 6 of our trip. And we were spending it in San Francisco!

But first, we packed up (again!) and went out to breakfast at a great little place called First Awakenings in Pacific Grove. It was in a little outlet shopping center, and they were very busy. We got to sit out on the patio in the coolness, and it was great. We had to laugh at the birds, though, because they were showing up as people finished their food and walked away. One of them tried to eat a piece of pancake or bread that was just too big, and as he was trying to choke it down, he was accosted by about 10 others who tried to grab it when it fell to the ground. Funny!

The food was absolutely fantastic!

 

And then, there was a sock shop inside that I had to go to. I have a problem… I love socks and pajamas.

When I was younger and didn’t have two pennies to rub together, I worked at a savings and loan. A girl worked there who really had no money problems at all, and she wore the CUTEST socks. I vowed to myself that if I ever had money, I was going to buy all the cute socks I wanted. Socks. They were my status symbol.

So I went into the shop and spent $40. For myself. On socks. For my birthday. And I didn’t care.

 

 

Before leaving the Monterey area, we drove back down on Lighthouse and took pictures. Jim wanted to stand on the north end (at least, I think it was north) and get a picture of the entire street. That area is absolutely incredibly beautiful. That seems to be the theme of our trip.

 

We stopped to get gas, and Jim wanted a good picture of Challenger (it has its own persona now!), and when we were standing out there, a girl was driving by and stopped to ask if it was new. Jim said it was a rental (but if the truth be told, it is a 2016!).

 

We arrived in Berkeley, and when we got off of the interstate and onto the city street, right under the bridge was a homeless tent community. I was pretty surprised, though I don’t know why. It really is such a sad sight to see.

We were staying at The Doubletree by Hilton on the marina. We arrived earlier than check-in, and our room wasn’t ready. Either you pay to park your own car there, or you pay for valet parking. Jim was outside talking to the valet, and he told us that there was a shuttle that drove into downtown Berkeley so we could catch the train into San Francisco. We left everything in the car and took off to the BART. It was so exciting!

 

When we arrived, we had to stare at the maps, figure out what we were doing, and Jim downloaded the app. You could always tell when it was close because of the wind that came first. And then our train arrived! It didn’t seem to move that fast when we were sitting down. Lots of people jumped on, and it actually goes in a tunnel through the ocean (I think). 

 

We got off in downtown San Francisco and just stood there and looked around for a minute. And then we had our regular dilemma. Had to use the restroom. So we went to Starbucks (that also had a PIN system on their bathroom door) and got some coffee and made a plan. We were going to Pier 39. And using (what I call) the trolley, railcar, whatever you might want to call it.

 

It was such a cool area! So much fun. We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and looked out over the ocean and at Alcatraz. A huge speedboat, and I mean huge, that took people out on the water, was basically doing donuts out there on the choppy water, and I was glad I wasn’t on it. 

 

 

It seemed the ocean was very choppy every time I saw it. But it was still lovely.

 


After dinner, we walked down to the edge of the walkway, and there was a gigantic heart for people to take pictures by. Someone in the crowd offered to get our picture, and when they found out we were there celebrating our 25^th anniversary, everyone in the crowd yelled, “Kiss! Kiss!” So we did.

 

 

 

 

By this time, we were kind of worn out, if you want to know the truth, but we hadn’t bought anything for Noah’s girlfriend, Haley, yet. There was a puppet shop, and I love puppets! So we went inside, and I saw a cat puppet that won me over. Haley loves cats, so she was getting a fun gift of a cat puppet from San Francisco.

When we got back on the train, there wasn’t any available seats. We had to stand up. I thought it was interesting that full-grown men were sitting in the seats, young people, too, who could have stood up and let older people or women sit down. No one even offered, and I thought that was disheartening. Finally, someone got off the train and I sat down. Although the train didn’t seem to go fast when you are sitting down, standing up is a different story.

This young student “kid” lost his phone on the train, which I don’t even know how it happened, and he was panicking, cussing, looking everywhere. His friends got off, and he stayed on to look for it, but he didn’t find it.

When we got back to the station, we called the hotel to get the shuttle back. When we were waiting, a family was standing there, too, and waiting for a ride back to our hotel. The shuttle driver, Peter, was a great guy. We all talked the whole way back, and we found out the family was from Houston! All of us were from Texas!  So funny!

And Peter told us about the schools there in Berkeley and his niece and how proud he was of her violin playing. It was so sweet.

When Peter found out it was my birthday and our anniversary trip, he was excited. And when we returned to the hotel, he made sure we had cookies and asked the manager to give us some free drinks/food from the bar, which they did. It was so nice of them.

When we went to bed that night, it was hard to believe we only had one full day left on the trip. At that point, I was pretty ready to get home. I missed my boys, but I didn’t know how much I would miss some things about our vacation.

I had my husband all to myself. We weren’t on the phone with other people, and we got to laugh together and talk and have fun.

I had nothing to do work-wise, housework-wise, bill-paying-wise, I had really no cares in the world.

And it was very nice.

A Beautiful Glorious View - Day 4

So it was Day 4, and we were headed out of LA. I wasn’t really ready to leave at that point because LA has been on my bucket list. It sounded like a far-away place that I may never see, but I did get to see it. It was beautiful and busy and crowded and crazy.

But mostly beautiful.

I wasn’t ready to leave our nice hotel room, either, I would suggest that if you are ever staying in the LA area, look into staying at Courtyard Marriott LA/Burbank Airport location. It’s close to shopping, the highway, it’s quiet and well-kept. Here’s the link. And the pictures are spot-on. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/burcy-courtyard-los-angeles-burbank-airport/

Oh, and that's the Challenger there, too. 

 

Our friend, Willow, told us about a good breakfast place in Hollywood for breakfast. On a side note, it seemed like everything we did in the LA area took us back to Hollywood or North Hollywood. Fortunately, The Waffle has on-the-street parking AND restrooms! We sat out on the patio and had these outstanding waffles and eggs. Our server was an actor on a REAL show, was very nice, and we had interesting conversation. Check out The Waffle if you are in the area. They have fantastic food! http://thewafflehollywood.com/

I have to admit it was a little sad to be leaving a place I had wanted to visit for so long, but we had to be in Pismo Beach by 3:15 for our date with Sunbuggy. That meant we didn’t have time to go to Santa Monica Pier, which was another thing on the list in my head. Oh well, we will visit there next time.

We took a little, what I think was a detour, on our drive to Pismo, and ended up driving up and down a mountain pass. With no bathrooms. After drinking coffee. I was a mess! We finally did come upon a small town, and it was a good thing.

When we arrived at our hotel in Pismo Beach, Best Western Plus Cliff Shore Lodge, our room wasn’t ready yet. We checked in, though, and went on to Sunbuggy Fun Rentals in Oceano. We left our car in 2-hour parking (yikes!), went to the bathroom on beach with NO sinks to wash our hands, ugh, got on the trailer and rode out to the location on the beach at Oceano State Park. We weren’t the only people out there that day, and it was cloudy, windy and cool again. 

 

Jim was very excited about this experience, and I was just nervous. We had to watch a video back at the shop about safety, and then the representative on the beach also told us about safety, giving us a printed map, told us where to stay away from, etc. He specifically talked about the dunes that went down at a 90-degree angle. I hoped we would not encounter one of those because it would have sent me over the edge (no pun intended!).

We had helmets, seat belts, etc., and Jim started driving down the sand area. After a couple of turns, we found ourselves about 2 feet (maybe, that’s a conservative guess) away from the ledge of a 90-degree sand cliff down. When I looked over to my right and saw it, panic overtook me, and I said, “No, no, no!” Jim saw it, too, and he said later that it had scared him a little bit. He let go on the gas a little, turned the buggy, and we got out of it.

Then the begging started. “Please take me back to the place! I don’t want to do this anymore! You can go out without me again, but please take me back!”

Jim did take me back, but he left with me. He really had a good time and wants to go again, but it will have to be without me. Not again. I’m just not cut out for thrill-rides like that. 

We went inside a candy shop before leaving the area, and we spent like $30 on candy, caramel apples, candy...

We got back to the hotel and checked in, and the view from the balcony was, well, I have no adequate words. The pictures on the website describe it well, but they still do not explain the beauty of this place, http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/US/CA/Pismo-Beach-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-PLUS-Shore-Cliff-Lodge/Hotel-Overview.do?iata=00171880&propertyCode=05203&cm_mmc=BL-_-Google-_-GMB-_-05203. 

 

We had a dinner reservation at the neighboring restaurant, on the Pacific Ocean, called Ventana Grill. It was a good thing Jim thought ahead to make the reservation because they were busy! Our table overlooked the ocean, and it was beautiful. We hoped to see a sunset on the ocean while we were there, but the clouds really never went away that day. While we ate dinner, we watched the seagulls landing on the railing outside, and one of them was hilarious, walking closer and closer to the window. The food was expensive and so incredible. What a great night!

 

 

 

Afterwards, we walked back through the parking lot, got to the room, put on pajamas and played Canasta. The sliding door was open, and we could hear the seagulls and other animals out there making noises. Jim went to bed before I did, and I just sat there on the sofa next to the open door, listening to the sounds of the ocean. I had been dreaming about this moment since I saw the hotel listing on the internet several months ago. Pictures just don’t do it justice.

 

The birds finally stopped talking, and everything became quiet except for the water rushing in over the rocks and cliffs outside the hotel. 

 

 

To say this evening was glorious is a true understatement. When I think about it, it’s hard to find the words, but I can feel it in my heart.