Monterey was a Beach

I decided to update the blog this afternoon, as I had today off and I know what my desk and e-mails will look like tomorrow. I'll save myself some self-induced stress and update this now.

We took a chance and loaded up the SUV, the boys, some food (I said we brought the boys), and Darla and I drove through a steady drenching of rain the 3 hours from Roseville to Monterey. We had periods of sun, some light drizzle and some heavy squalls that put the Explorers' windshield wipers to the test. Darla really needs new blades and I need to get out and find some replacement blades for her car. Daniel decided to join us as he couldn't get a ride from the poker game back home on Friday night and I think he didn't want to miss the food and fun.

It actually snowed in Monterey on Friday night and it seemed that our trip would be one of ducking the rain and trying to stay dry. We had a two-bedroom hotel room and it was certainly servicable if not a luxury suite. The name of the hotel is Quality..it used to be the Quality Inn, but now is known simply as Quality. I suppose quality is subjective, but we had three queen-sized beds in a resort town and only paid $108 a night, so Quality it was. Darla and I awoke Saturday morning and there was a partly cloudy sky and sun streaming through the blinds. We got up and readied for our day and kicked the kids out of bed. We were at the Black Bear Diner in Carmel by nine o'clock and enjoying a hot breakfast. The hotel offered a continental breakfast that left much to be desired. There was coffee, some sort of watered down Tang and muffins cut into razor thin slices and some generic white and brown bread for toasting. I managed to drink some of the coffee while waiting for Daniel and David to shower and get on to our day. I knew I'd be buying breakfast, because if I'd brought those two six-footers in to the breakfast room for a "continental breakfast", there would have been some yelling and gnashing of teeth.

The weather ended up being nice enough that we were able to take a whale watching cruise out of the wharf in Monterey. I had looked into it before we left and it was to be $25 per ticket with a discount. The weather was so iffy, that the tour operator had lowered the price of the cruise to $19.95 and we jumped on it. It was certainly colder on the water, but the boys absolutely loved the trip. We saw a humpback whale and several gray whales as well as several schools of dolphin, including a school of white dolphin. The waves were at their peak about 18 feet and the little boat was thrashed about in the sea. There were about four or five passengers that got sick and Darla and I both had our moments on the trip where we thought we'd lose it. We both hung on and endured the trip.

We ran into an old friend from Stockton, Tai Famusili, a guy I played softball with and formerly a boyfriend of Darla's best friend, Joni Minear. Tai was there with his fiance, and his daughter as well as a group of singles from Quail Lakes Baptist Church. They were there for the day and had brought the church bus which we saw in the parking lot when we left. Their group also took a whale watching tour, but it was a different company.

We went out to dinner in Carmel and tried to eat at our favorite restaurant, The Pasta House on Fifth Street, but alas, it had closed and was looking for a new tenant. We just ate there in October when I played Poppy Hills. We switched gears and headed over to the Forge in the Forest Restaurant, which is also one of our favorites. We had a large meal of French Onion soup and steak sandwiches and steak fajitas. It was a fun evening. We ended up back in the hotel room watching one of David's buddies from high school, Ike Okoye, who is a forward on Wyoming's basketball team. He started for a while during the season, but was relegated to the bench during the conference tournament. He got in the game late in the first half, had three rebounds and made two shots for four points to give Wyoming a one point halftime lead. They ended up losing in overtime and Ike never saw the floor again (perhaps a correlation?)

We went in to the Cannery Row area on Sunday and a heavy squall came through and dropped rain and hail on the area while we ate breakfast. It had passed on and the sun was out by the time we finished up and headed to the shops. The boys both wanted to get an Aqua massage and it was 2 for 1 before noon, so they pooled their money and got a 15 minute aqua massage each. The massage takes place in a chamber where a heavy black curtain lays over your back and the water beats against you. I took pictures of the boys in the massage chambers.

We drove home, stopping for a picnic lunch at the Casa De Fruta Complex outside of Hollister. It was a great weekend and the weather really held on for us. It was raining by the time we got back to Sacramento. This week calls for rain from Tuesday to Friday.

I took the day off today and played golf with Boyd, Dave and a friend of Boyd's. It was cold and the course was wet and I managed a 44+41=85. I told Dave that he jinxes me on the front side. Luckily, he's busy next Saturday when we play. Perhaps I'll break 80.

I set up our trip to Puerto Vallarta today and we'll be in PV from Saturday, August 26th to Saturday September 2nd. We'll celebrate Jennifer's birthday with or without her in Puerto Vallarta. We bought our timeshare in PV back in 2001 and haven't been back since. I'm ready to start taking a vacation to Mexico one year and Hawaii the next. It was the idea when we bought them and I'm ready to get on that train.

Well, that's it for this week. Hope you are ALL well and living in the footsteps of our Saviour. Ciao.