This year for my birthday I wanted to get away instead of get presents. Originally we were headed to Maui but after my short trip to Provo and sitting on BART for quite a while, I realized I don't like traveling that much. Instead Heidi and I went to Monterey, CA, sans kids.
I worked 1/2 day on Thursday, 11/10. After picking up Parker's pink eye meds and cleaning the home, we left at almost 5:00. Dinner was pupusas and tacos from two separate vendors. The pupusas were better. We stayed at the Mariposa Inn. It was nice.
Friday morning we had a basic continental breakfast and then headed out to tackle the 17 mile drive, on bicycle. I wanted to take a before shot since I didn't think we'd be that happy after the ride.
The first 5-7 miles were flat, good riding conditions along the coast. The weather was perfect. Our bikes worked well.
I brought my little tripod for the Canon 5d and did several timer on tripod shots.
The bike ride should have ended here at Lovers Point but we foolishly chose to go on. The scenery changed to obscenely large houses in various stages of remodeling. It seemed like 1/4 properties had a skid steer scraper and jackhammer in use.
The Lone Cypress. Maybe you can ride to it as a bonus but don't go any farther as the scenery is just boring trees and an uphill grade that is barely rideable. Heidi had no trouble going up the grade and thought that maybe because I had the camera and waters in my basket that they were slowing me down. We switched bikes and Heidi had no problem going up the hill on my dumb Trek commuter. I realized that the bike she'd been on was quite a bit nicer.
After about mile 12 my body gave up and was running on emergency power. We seemed to stop every 100 feet so I could rest. I guess all the swimming hasn't done much for my bicycling muscles. The last three miles were downhill. Phew.
We decided to ride bikes to downtown Monterey and went back through Lovers Point and down the boardwalk
The sunset was nice but my camera didn't adequately capture it with the settings I used. If I'd had my bigger tripod I could have focused and metered a little better but these will have to do.
On the way back from cannery row for our late lunch. I got the Mahi Mahi. It was overcooked. Heidi got a clam chowder sourdough bowl and it was satisfying.
On Saturday we went to Moss Landing for a whale watching tour. Took a quick pit-stop at Phil's Snack Shack for the best Denver omelette I'd ever had.
Heidi was worried about motion sickness and asked a fellow passenger for a dramamine. I was most worried about being cold. It was cold but we were okay and Heidi didn't get motion sickness. Bonus: Saw lots of whales! The humpbacks break up schools of anchovies and the sea lions then feed, so when you see a swarm of sea lions, there's most likely a whale or two nearby.
It was a fun trip. Lindzer watched the kids on Friday and Saturday and learned what I meant when I said my kids melt down. Scott said their behavior was what it's been in days past, but that's not saying much. Heidi was soon back in the grind of cleaning and managing the chaos. She went to bed early and I finished the van's brake project but that's an entry for my other blog. Happy birthday to me! Okay, bye.
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