teresa

Elliott and I made a last minute trip to Big Sur this weekend.  Friday night laying in bed I pitched the idea.  It didn’t go over very well.  Mostly because Elliott thought we would need to wait for REI to open to replenish our fuel supply for our cooking stove and I was too excited to get on the road to do that!  So I got up early, made breakfast, reheated pancakes, defrosted and sugared strawberries, Elliott actually cooked the eggs and we discussed again.  And we decided to go, sans fuel.

Our goal was to camp.  There are several first come first serve spots that seemed promising although we had no idea if we would actually be able to get a spot or not.  We packed lightly.  We brought only our little 6 pack size cooler with yogurt, cheese, turkey, lettuce and dressing, and peaches.  Be brought a few options for bread, an extra fiber english muffin, one bagel, two dutch crunch rolls, and several protein and similar bars.  We filled two water bottles, two camel backs for a hike and a larger jug only previously used for Sangria in case water was limited.  We brought bug spray and sunscreen.  The camera, iPod, and phones, oh and I brought my gps style watch which we did use.  We brought bathing suits and towels, although never used them.  Lastly we packed the tent, sleeping bags, thermarests (little 1″ mattresses if you can call them that) and were off by about 9:30am which included a trip to the store for some of the food mentioned above.

It was to be about a 2.5 hour drive and it was.  I had an email with the campsites prepared and we stopped at the northernmost one on the list that was near the water.  It was about noon.  The ranger said it was a 50/50 chance he would have a site available and he would know by 1pm, noon was check out.  I was ok with waiting there although Elliott primed to see some sites suggested we go check out one of the things on our list to see, Pfeiffer Beach.  So we drove about 6 miles south.  The turn off is an unmarked road and is two miles of a one lane road with turn outs for when you meet a car coming the other way.  We followed a truck with a surf board, so we felt confident we were on to something.  Unfortunately when we reached the bottom the ranger let in the last car and then told a few cars in front of us that they were full.  Given the chance to wait we declined, unsure when we might be let in.  At that point we decided to go back and check with the 50/50 ranger.  We were a little early from the 1pm suggested time, Elliott offered for us to wait in the parking lot when the ranger said, we’ve got it sorted out we have a spot for you, success!  Our first spur of the moment, relatively poorly planned trip, looked like it may work out ok.

The site was a “walk in” site.  About 1/3 a mile.  Which we ended up doing about 12 times.  Although walk in is quite nice once your in, car camping always feels a bit like cheating to me.  We took one light load out the first round out.  We found our site, #20 and set up our tent in one of the areas of ground not holy from the squirrels underground transportation system.  I set a few things on the table, food in canvas bags and was quickly surprised by how brazen the squirrels are, one chewed a hole through the canvas bag and we believe bit through the english muffin bag and a Lara bar.  I realized then there were “bear lockers” available that were actually squirrel lockers.  We put up the tent and I almost caught a picture of Elliott on the bench with a squirrel coming up to take a nibble at him although he got spooked before I could get the picture off.

At this point it was lunch time, so we headed down the trail to see what we might find with the cooler in hand.  We hoped the park had beach access although given the quick planning we didn’t know.  We walked another maybe half mile, through the beautiful smell of eucalyptus trees, along a river, and eventually saw the ocean!  There were quite a few people there laying in the sand taking it in.  We plopped ourselves down and ate our butter lettuce salad with lemon dressing, and I dreamed of walking down the entire beach to a rock outcropping that seemed reachable, far at the other end.  We enjoyed our lunch and then headed back to unpack before a hike.

We went back to the car for the next load and also to inquire about fire wood.  Fortunately the rangers (the sweetest couple, older folks) had some, at first she started to say we would have to go 3 miles down the road until she remembered her stash had been refilled, $8 for a decent stack.  Unfortunately we would have to walk it in with the rest of our stuff.  We hadn’t brought matches or a lighter, the downside to not being smokers, so I asked if she had any extra and graciously she gave us a little box of matches which she asked that we return.  I carried what felt like a mountain of stuff.  My backpack with clothes and warm stuff, my camel back on the front full of water.  One camping chair which Elliott suggested we leave behind although I lobbied otherwise, he carried the other.  One bag with the sleeping bags, and one bag with the thermarests.  Elliott carried the one chair and the wood and boy that wood must have been heavy!  Elliott grunted damn near the whole way to the campsite.  My shoulders hurt, my arms were tired, and at times I wanted to take a break, although I couldn’t stop laughing under my breath at Elliott’s exhaustion of carrying the wood, I almost offered to trade him loads, although part of me knew that the wood probably was pretty heavy.  We laughed about this later and he said he would like to see me carry the wood from the fire ring to the tent, which I did with a smile on my face and prance in my step!  No doubt it was heavy and annoying to have to lug in.

At this point we decided to go for a hike.  We had checked out the trail map at the ranger station and we saw that there was a bluff trail that went right down the direction of ocean toward that outcropping that beckoned me.  I put on my trail runners, although there would be no running, sans socks for any water crossings.  Elliott put on his five fingers.  We brought a bar each in our camel backs filled with water.  I put sunscreen on only my face, we packed the camera and off we went.  I think we figured it would be an out and back, when we felt we had gone far enough, and hopefully had found access to the beach further down the trail then we would turn back.  I started my gps about 1/2 mile into it, we crossed the Big Sur river which widened and slowed to an easy 1′-1.5′ deep crossing.  We headed down the beach toward the trail head which we had watched people traverse during lunch.  Eventually the Ridge Trail and the Bluff Trail split and we took the Bluff.  The views of the ocean were wonderful and we took pictures every so often as we climbed higher and the beach we started on got smaller.  Our destination, the out cropping, seemed to stay the same distance away.  After about 1.5 hours and 3 miles we saw a map at a trail intersection and we realized that we could do a loop instead of an out and back by tying into the Ridge Trail and taking it back to our camp.  That was exciting.  We decided that we would hike for one more hour and if we reached the turnaround point than we would go to the Ridge Trail, although if we didn’t we would head back.  We didn’t want to spend the sunset or dinner on the trail especially without flash lights.

The trail intersection showed a Spring Trail down to the ocean, we hadn’t yet found ocean access, so we took a quick detour, and it was well worth it.  I loved the site at the bottom, this mountain of, I don’t know what, rocks or tree stumps, whatever they were they were quite fun to travel over toward the beach.  We were the only ones on the beach and it was perfect.  We watched the waves for a few minutes, looked out at the boats that we had watched from the trail, I continued to look for whales, even though I don’t think they are expected this time of year, and then we headed back on our journey.

It was a tough trail.  Some of it after this point a bit over grown and narrow, and dang it seemed like we were just going up and up and up, and indeed we were.  I thought I might not make it although I hoped that we would make it to the Ridge Trail and then just coast home on the top of the world.  We finally made it to the top and thank goodness there was a bench, the first and only bench on our trek, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Interestingly there was also a house out there.   Funny, we felt like we had, and well we had, hiked for miles, in what seemed like the “wilderness” and it was only to stumble on a dirt road, Private signs, and a multimillion dollar house with a sculpture in the back yard, we were a little annoyed.  I considered sticking my big toe under the barbed wire barrier to feel the glamor of Private Property although I was too tired to bother.

We shared our bars half and half which was good, one was very fruity-tangy and the other pretty chocolately, together they were more bearable.  We drank water and we admired our achievement, we were definitely above the clouds!  From here out, our hopes came true, the ridge trail was not only flat it was down hill all the way back.  It was a nice wide, sandy trail and we blazed back to camp.  The camp soon grew closer and the out cropping, which ended being home the house, was in our dust.  Just as we started turn down into the beach we came upon a deer, a mother with two younger ones.  We went the other way down a different trail and let them pass.  We made it back to the beach and we sat down, back where we started almost 8 miles later.  We had earned our dinner!   We rested for a bit as the sun went down behind the headlands, we cleaned our feet and shoes walking through the river and we old lady walked it back to camp.  Elliott had started to talk about his dogs hurting about 1/2 way through the trip and at this point he was in pretty good pain.  My feet were uncomfortable although didn’t hurt like his did.  When we got back to camp he took off his shoes and found a blister with sand in it!  Is that gross or what, I don’t even know how that happens.  I was in the tent putting my jeans on as it was getting cold and he called me out to see it.  I generally like things like this, although even that was a bit much for me.  He found several others in similar condition and he proceeded to free the dirt from his body.

I started to get ready to get the fire going.  Neither Elliott nor I have ever started a fire, this was to be our first, for ourselves and together!  Fortunately I had watched someone start a fire at our Labor Day camping trip so I was confident I could do it.  The only thing we were lacking was paper.  I set the kindling and larger wood up in a tee-pee, as I had witnessed before.  I tried to light some of the kindling to get the fire going although it was not near as easy as lighting paper.  I tried, Elliott tried, the matches blew out in the wind, or the kindling just wouldn’t catch.  Eventually Elliott found two pieces of paper in his backpack.  We stuffed it into the tee-pee and lit it, although it wasn’t enough, it burned, caught a few pieces, we blew on it, tried to get it catch other pieces although eventually it died.

Meanwhile the fires in the pits around us were all going strong, we were starting to feel the pressure of the sun going down and the cold sneaking in.  I remembered I had tissue paper in the glove box for any of those last minute gift wrapping emergencies and thought, hoped it might do the trick.  We took off to the car, one more time, feet just screaming at us.  Elliott thought we might as well just go to the store at this point to get matches as well as we had already burned through about 2/3 of the box with our failed attempts.  At that point I remembered I had a note book in the car, with paper that was certain to burn better than tissue paper.  With that we decided we could do it with the matches we had.  We hobbled back to camp, by now it was getting dark enough to warrant a light, which Elliott had also retrieved from the car.  We walked back into camp, ripped strips and crumpled others, determined to get our own fire going.  We put more paper in there than necessary so that we wouldn’t have to go through watching it fade out again.  We lit it, and if it ever started to die down even a bit we shoved more paper in there, until finally the kindling had caught, and then a big piece of wood caught.  We watched it for a quite a while just to make sure it wouldn’t die on us, and it didn’t.  We had started our first fire!  And we started the day without matches!  It was such a rewarding feeling.  Starting and enjoying our own fire.  We added wood to it as the night went on.  We watched the fire.  And then we watched the stars.  I can’t remember the last time I really looked at the stars on such a clear night, the moon wasn’t to be found so the stars were brighter than I could imagine.

Eventually Elliott started to lobby for sleep.  I work hard to time my water consumption and restroom visits so that I will not have to go in the middle of the night.  So I made my last trip to the restroom.  I stood by the fire and rotated slowly to warm all sides and then we put it out with water and retreated.  I slept pretty well.  If anything I was hot.  I woke up only a couple times, and I was bummed I hadn’t worn a watch because I like to know what time it is.  Finally I woke up when it was light outside, really light, so I knew it wasn’t early, like 6am early.  Elliott wrestled awake as well.  I had to go the bathroom and he said he was right behind me, which he was, unlike the “5 minutes” he gave me during Labor Day camping.

Kids were already up and playing at a nearby camp although otherwise not many other people were stirring.  Our rain fly was wet from the humidity, which amazes me every time.  In our desperate hunger after our hike we had eaten not only our dinner although also our breakfast, so we had decided to go out for breakfast, a version of what Monica, who we used to work with, calls fancy lady camping.  She goes “camping” although they eat dinner out at a nice restaurant.  So we walked to the car, on the way we saw the buck, which we assumed belonged to the family we saw the day before.  I couldn’t really make him out although Elliott said he was quite impressive.  We got in the car and we went the 3 miles down the road to have breakfast at the River Inn.  It was 7:57 and it was to open at 8am, at least that’s with the biker couple told us who were waiting outside.  We walked over to the associated and open market to buy matches to replace the ones we had squandered making our first fire and we waited with the biker couple.  They were quite friendly, enjoying an anniversary weekend, and they were headed back to Ventura, all along Highway 1.  Eventually they got around to opening the restaurant.  Elliott and I cleaned our plates like it was our last meal, I even asked for another piece of toast.  I was sad to undo all of our work, although we are planning a 7 day detox starting tomorrow so I also felt like it might be my last good meal for awhile so I enjoyed it.

By then the sun had come up and dried out the rain fly on our tent.  We did the walk one last time, packed up the rest of the stuff, and headed home.  All in all, our limited planned trip was a success, filled with firsts, an epic hike, and time away from the grind and the couch.  We plan to go back, hike more of Big Sur, this time with a lighter and paper in our camping box.

Elliott and I have been to Key West and back.  We had a wonderful trip.  We flew from Oakland to Ft Lauderdale and stayed  in South Beach Miami for one night.  We stayed in really cute place.  Its thing was being super simple with a hint of fun, kind of like me!  Most of the furnishings were white with a fun lamp and one red pillow.  We had dinner somewhere along a popular pedestrian street area, Lincoln Road, and walked around and soaked in the sights.  I didn’t quite get the same feel for Miami as I had in my mind from watching Burn Notice, skinny half naked people everywhere, which was fine with me.

The next day we took our time getting to Key West.  Its about a 170 mile drive although takes almost 4 hours because its a bit of a slow drive with one lane and lots of traffic.  We wanted to see Miami and drive along the coast so we took the long way out of Miami and I think with a stop for lunch the drive took 5 hours.  We rented a convertible for the drive down, we are unemployed but come on how often do you get to drive down to Key West so we splurged (although only one way on the way back we reserved a regular car which turned out to be a convertible with a broken top!).

It was hot with the sun on us although still so fun.  We blared salsa music and had a great time.  We had lunch at a perfect place in Key Largo called Eco Eats, totally our style (at least Elliott got to wear his Burning Man shades again!).

We realized on the way down that we really had no idea what this vacation was going to be about.  We had been telling people for months that we were going to “Key West” although we didn’t really know what that meant.  We didn’t know what it was going to be like, what we were going to do or really anything.  And we were ok with that.  We were going to meet Jay and Katie (pictured below) there who had lived there about 10 years ago and we were ready for fun and sun and anything else.

When we arrived we decided to go to the store so we had a few things for breakfast, as well beer, coffee, and a few snacks.  Jay and Katie weren’t set to arrive for several hours so we had some time.  Key West is not a place that it is fun to drive, at least not a car.  There are lots of pedestrians, scooters and bicycles that sort of follow the rules of the road so its a little sketchy driving.  We went to the store, brought the stuff back to condo and relaxed a few before returning the car.   The place we stayed was a two bedroom one bath condo near the Truman Annex, pretty close to the main action on Duval St.

When we dropped off the car our taxi back was a pile in the taxi with other people going the same general direct as you.  I thought that was an interesting idea, sustainable and efficient.

We then used yelp to find a place for dinner.  We at The Cafe the closest thing to Pneumatic Diner (one of our fav vegan type places in Reno) we had been to in a long time.

Then we went home to have a few beers to pass the time.  When Jay and Katie arrived they were hungry so we decided to go out after finishing off the rest of the beer.  If you can guess Key West turns out to be quite a party town.  We went to a few places and Jay and Katie reminisced about the place they met and fell in love (and partied) so many years ago.  My favorite moment of that night was on the patio at The Whistle.  The 2nd story that cantilevers out over the busy sidewalk.  A place that literally inspires you to Whistle at the people below and see if they look.  When that didn’t work I considered pouring beer on the people below which my friends and husband successfully suggested I not do.  Although later as we were leaving I walked under the overhang head back with mouth open looking for someone else as ornery as me although found none.

The next several days all blur together.  I can tell you we did lots of walking, eating and sweating – dang it was hot and humid there.  We went to the ocean a few times.  Jet skied around the island (25 miles) which was a blast.  Of course when Elliott was driving I was frustrated and when I was driving Elliott was beyond frustrated, not my fault I got the choppy part!  Although all in all that was a lot of fun and I would love to do that again some time.  We did the touristy stuff, went to the Southern Most point, and walked by Ernest Hemingway’s House.  Ate at Sloppy Joes and went to the locals bar the Green Parot.  Got stuck in a rain storm a long way from the condo so we stopped for a beer to wait for it to pass.  Ate Key Lime pie.

Our trip was not absent of a to be expected (unfortunately) gigantic fight after margaritas which Elliott ginxed me on because he knows I am even ornerier after tequila.  There was yelling, door slams and I left and sat in the parking lot (hiding), cried, felt bad for myself, mad at Elliott and tried to sober up so I could ultimately what seemed right at the time leave the island the next day prior to our scheduled departure.  I eventually returned to the condo and slept on the couch.  When we finally talked the next day I cried a lot (the last few months have been just a little stressful is my excuse) and eventually came to an understanding and forgiveness.  I can tell  you through this episode I came to understand something new about Elliott that I never known before, I don’t think he learned any thing about me right then although we both did later after I had a chance to process it all.  This is all intentionally pretty vague because its personal although you get the idea, drinking, vacation with another couple, hot, sweaty, unemployed and yet spending money, one bathroom (for 4 people) and tequila.  The day we spent “working things out” Jay and Katie went on a sailing trip that would have been really cool for us with snorkeling and kayaking although ultimately our day was spent on something much more important.

Back to happy stuff, Elliott got a cool new hat, wore it a lot including during this lunch out to have Cuban sandwiches.

For awhile I thought I should not drink again the rest of the trip although that eventually turned into not drinking tequila again the rest of the trip.  We did have one more epic party night out which included another couple, locals, Jay and Katie had worked with the guy years ago.  We had sushi, sake bombs (can finally cross that off the list), played quarters before we went out (with shots of beer so not that dangerous), and we went to several bars “on the way home”.  I remember line dancing, a bull that was luckily not working because the girls go topless (I don’t think I could be drunk enough to think that was a good idea anyway although better off all the way around), and one place where there was a private 2nd floor mezzanine area that I was intent on gaining access to although never did.  Oh I also require a blow up doll part of a bachelor party.  I remember the local guy said several times he didn’t think he would be able to go to different bars because he had been kicked out of them, being a local would be rough I think.  Ultimately I had a great time, I made it home with my purse, my top and my husband, life is good.

We did lots of shopping although bought little, except Elliott did buy 5 finger shoes, I am mad at him because I really want a pair too although knew we both shouldn’t get a pair.  We saw some cool art, my favorite was these wire sculptures that created amazing shadows on a canvas, too cool.  And we bought a $1 art creation from a guy on the street outside of Hemingways house who then asked where we were from and gave us a baseball card with a tie to our area, he was my random stumble on find that you can’t plan for in travel books.

Our last night because we had picked up the rental car so we went up a key or two about 10 miles to a non touristy seafood place and had a great dinner.  A great idea, it was great to get off Duval, to have a nice big dinner and to see something new.

Overall it was a great time and I think I have shared enough pics and personal stories for one night.

Out trip back was a long day.  Started at 10am Key West time and we got home to our house at 1am Pleasanton time (4am Key West time) that included a drive back to Ft Lauderdale, and 2 delayed flights.  We were exhausted.

The next day I had my monthly “therapy session” an executive leadership group that turned out to be just that for this meeting.  We had a psychologist talk about beliefs and changing harmful beliefs (sometimes called self limiting beliefs) to change your life for the better.  In an already fragile state I stumbled on something I had never put my finger on.  That is I don’t let many people in.  I knew that already although I never realized what stress it puts on my relationships and my life.  After some brainstorming the speaker put these words to it, my old belief: If I am vulnerable I will be hurt.  Everyone in the group uncovered very personal and moving self limiting beliefs and then we all meditated rewriting that belief to something more positive.  My new belief is: It is safe to be vulnerable.  Vulnerable means a lot of things to me, in many cases it means sharing my feelings, having really close friends, taking help and guidance from others, and lots of other similar and parallel things in my life.  And ultimately I think in the past I chose to either not let people in, or when I did let them in I was subconsciously sitting around waiting for them to hurt me, which I think led to my Key West breakdown.  Anyway I have rewritten my belief and as part of being vulnerable have shared this very personal story from Key West and my self limiting belief with my friends and family who take the time to follow this blog.  I am opening myself up to you all, vulnerable and I trust that I am still safe.

We celebrated our one year anniversary last weekend in Mendocino.  We are slowly ticking through the Bay Area Backroads deck of cards with things to do that we bought nearly 2 years ago when we moved here.  Mendocino is the New England of the West Coast, or that’s what they say at least.  The weather was perfect, overcast mostly, although not hot or not cold, just nice.  We had some beach time although not much, mostly we ate, took pictures, had massages, and ate more.

We found a really cool chapel (non denominational) in Sea Ranch on our drive up.  It was one of our best random finds yet.  These are my favorite parts of a trip particularly a road trip, spotting something from the road and checking it out rather than seeking out something you read about in a magazine or something, random finds are just almost always more rewarding.





Mendocino has lots of artists and art so we went to a gallery actually originally in search of a restroom although it turned out to be fun and they had lots of these tall back chairs.  We were going to take a picture of everyone we found although then our battery died and that idea lost steam.

I don’t know what got into us although on the trip we also took more pictures using the macro function than I think we realized.  We went to a botanical garden which is where most of that happened, if anyone ever wants a picture of a flower we have you covered.

Other than that we went to a lighthouse, had a great dinner, and we took the long way home – we love road trips.

On a side note, this weekend I am still recovering from our Monica Margarita evening Friday night.  Monica shared a margarita recipe with me forever ago that I had always wanted to try and we did Friday night.  Its equal parts limeade, corona and tequila or at least that’s how we made it.  I think there’s a chance its supposed to be one limeade, one limeade tin worth of tequila and then an entire corona, oh and ice.  Although we had to have half it for our little party so we did just one half tin of each, pretty yummy.

Oh and I got a new bathing suit this weekend which always inspires a diet, good thing we have 9 miles to log today!  Our last run was not very successful although I expect we will get all the way through nicely today.

Dare I say we had an epic weekend.  Friday night… I think we even started the weekend by going to dinner Friday night, that is so long ago now I really had to think about it.  Although its true we went to one of our favorite places in Lafayette, called Chow.  I enjoyed a Dead Guy Ale, Elliott had a Heffe, we ate a noodle dish and a burger and we split the smartest pairing for dessert.  The ginger cake is amazing.  The cake is a soft version of a ginger bread man, perfect caky-ness.  Served with pumpkin ice cream or gelato with an intoxicating carmel sauce that includes something like amaretto or bourbon, I don’t know but it is the best mix of sweet and sour, definitely on the list for my last meal.

Do you have a last meal?  What you would request if you were given a choice as to your last meal to enjoy here on earth?  In high school my last meal for a long time was a roast beef sandwich from Arby’s, curly fries and a jamoca shake, yum!  Now I think I would go with something very similar to my Friday dinner although rather than the noodle dish I think I would have gotten the pasta dish I like. 

Saturday we got up early and got our 3 miles in.  Then we drove to Auburn to see our friends Carie and Josh who we haven’t seen since our wedding.  They have 2 little girls, ages 2 and 3 months and they are adorable! Maddie played a little shy for awhile although quickly warmed up to us.  Mel or I think also known Mo is still so little and I had a great time making faces at her!  We got to see there beautiful house, spend time catching up and we went to the zoo to ride the train although unfortunately it was closed.  We had a wonderful time, and it was so great to see Carie and Josh.

Then we met up with our friend Brad and his friend (becoming our friend too) Emily and had dinner in downtown Sacramento at a cute Mexican restaurant which was fun.  Then today we went kayaking in a lake/river with them which was lots of fun and we still managed to stay on track with our running schedule by running 7 miles this evening after we returned home.  The run was a bit slow, all my fault, my excuse is my stomach was bothering me a bit from the milk I had this morning, in case I wasn’t sure yes I am still lactose intolerant!

Tomorrow is another big day, Elliott is taking the car to Tahoe for a work site visit and as we are sharing one car I am going to bike to work, which is not a big deal, and then I am going to bike 11 miles to my haircut in Danville!  Which I am really looking forward to.  There is a great regional trail so I will be safe and I only feel bad that my head may be sweaty and my hair will be helmety for my haircut, although over all I am still looking forward to that.  Only thing is my computer is at home and needs to get to work.  Elliott told me if I was really “urban” I would strap it on my back and bike it to work.  That is true, although it is 12 pounds (may be a slight exaggeration) and I have 9 other things i need carry to work.  So he is going to drop it off at the office for me so I don’t need to lug it to work on my bike.  My bag is a rolly bag so I kind of think it would be funny to rig it up and tow it behind me although I think our IT guy may have a different opinion on that being a good idea.

I lost the last few weeks.  Between my high school reunion in LV and strategic planning in Tahoe for work the rest has been a blur.  A typical night has been make dinner and have some wine or out to dinner for margaritas.  That means the next day at work is a 2-3 cups of coffee day, finish the day and repeat.  I don’t want to sound like it has been out of control binge drinking, I have just felt disconnected.  Like I have been going through the motions.  I believe I was working while at work and still thinking although a bit more like a computer responding based on previous inputs and outputs with little consciousness.

This weekend I started a detox.  It being Halloween I couldn’t necessarily give up cocktails so I gave up coffee as a start.  I think coffee makes me crazy.  It just adds to the monotony of the work day and contributes to my fog in the morning.  We decided to stay home this weekend instead of traveling to Reno mostly because we needed it.  We got invited to a party Friday night which was great!  We didn’t dress up, I joked with Elliott that we were going to the party as lame-o’s.  Because we didn’t dress up I insisted that we bring the ingredients for a cocktail that would be Halloween related.  So we brought – Dracula’s Kiss.  It was a hit so I felt like we contributed.  We also joked that we looked like Old Navy models, which was pretty true.  Who knew that two people who went through a phase of skull t-shirts and dark eyeliner with jeans held together with safety pins would turn out to be so preppy!  We learned a new game called liars dice which was a lot of fun (similar to the card game bullshit), it will definitely be making an appearance at the holidays if we can get any traction with it at either of our families.

As a back track Friday day we went to the Ardenwood farm in Fremont.  Including a tour of one of the old farm house.  I am not usually into museum type stuff although the house tour was cool.  They had an ice box that was the refrigerator of the day.  And so many kitchen appliances that were hand powered, it was pretty cool.  We didn’t have a camera so no pictures to post…

Today, despite the grand entrance of the rainy season we decided to hit another bay area back road.  Totally unsustainable, I know, driving is still one of our favorite things to do.  We drove up towards Sonoma.  We went up 101 to Healdsburg and then headed west to Stewart’s Point.  What an amazing drive!  It was so beautiful.  Some of the first pictures are at the Sonoma Lake with a really cool overlook area with a great view of the earthen dam.

We continued on and eventually hit the coast and highway 1.  I wanted to visit the small towns general store although it was closed…  So we headed south to see Jenner.  We stopped when we saw a cafe open, I had a banana for a snack although approaching 1:30pm I think Elliott was pretty hungry.  The food was perfect.  May be just the thing to inspire me to set up a yelp account!  We were the only 2 in the place, not surprising for a rainy day on the coast.  We had hot tea, chowder, ham & swiss, a burger – yum!

Then we drove through Jenner and through Bodega Bay.  I really wanted to go to Bodega Bay because I always think that a certain is bridge is there that I want to see.  I don’t know why but my brain can’t remember that the bridge is in Redding.  My mom put me onto this bridge and I think every time I ask her about the bridge in Bodega Bay and she looks at me questionably until she can extrapolate my reference.  Well we never found the bridge because apparently it is in Redding, just a little off!

At any rate we had a great day together.  Stopping to take in the ocean.  Listening to the rain.  Snapping pictures.  Oh and we saw some of those happy cows you hear about in California.  They were walking along highway 1, I have to agree they most be really happy cows!

We posted pics of our adventure here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottgoodwin/sets/72157608581224327/

Oh, I totally forgot, saved the best for last.  We don’t have a picture to prove it, both me and our camera are too slow.  Although we saw a wild boar walking down and then cross the street right in front of us.  We are such yuppies that this was nearly the highlight of our day!  I had never seen such an animal.  Pretty cool.