Bass Lake and Yosemite!

Katy with all the dogs!

This past weekend we met up with Uncle Jack, Aunt Sue, my cousin Tod, and his son, Bradley, for a long holiday weekend in the Sierra Nevadas! We got up to Sue and Jack's fifth wheel at Bass Lake Friday night, and then staid up late talking and enjoying each other's company.


Saturday morning Tod and Bradley joined us and after spending a while visiting we went into town to have lunch. We ate outside with a nice view of the lake as our backdrop, and then after lunch we strolled around the lake for a bit and enjoyed some of the wildlife. That afternoon we did a lot of relaxing, which was a very nice change of pace from our usual trips where we are constantly on the go. Sue and Jack had rented a cabin at Bass Lake, and so we all just hung out together chatting, watching movies and eating dinner...it was a wonderful evening and the kind of relaxation Katy and I had been needing.

On Sunday Sue cooked a big breakfast and then we headed up to Yosemite. On our way up the mountain we ran into some snow showers! This is definitely the first Memorial Day where I've been snowed on! The park was packed with tourists, but for good reason as Yosemite has some of the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen!

After enjoying the day in the park we headed away from the crowds and back to peaceful Bass Lake where we had an amazing steak and salmon dinner to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend!

On Monday Katy and I were up and out the door by 5:30am so we could get back to Napa and Katy could go to work. We can't believe the weekend is already over...with staying as busy as have been, time flies! It was another wonderful weekend, and this time we were able to enjoy it with some wonderful family! 

A month already?

Yesterday marked a full month that we have now been in California. Where does the time go? We have loved our time in California so far as we've been able to explore San Francisco and the rest of the Bay area, spend a long weekend exploring the central coast and traveling up and down highway 1, and we've also been able to make it to the beach on two other occasions. We have a lot to look forward to in California as well with trips to Yosemite National Park, San Diego, and Los Angeles coming up, and we are looking forward to having lots of visitors starting to arrive!
This past week was a busy week for us. We spent Monday recovering from our long weekend down the coast and doing the grocery shopping, laundry, etc.. Then on Tuesday we took off for Dillon Beach, which is about an hour from our house in Napa. The dogs love playing in the ocean, and when we had gone our first weekend down to Stinson Beach, which is just north of San Francisco, they were not allowed on the sand! So, we had heard that Dillon was a great area because it allowed dogs, and that it had several miles of coast line which meant you could easily walk and find a quiet place. Well, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves on Tuesday and so let the dogs loose and let them romp around the sand and play fetch in the ocean for over an hour! It was a gorgeous evening and we capped it off by enjoying a picnic on the beach before heading back home.

Wednesday I had to work an open house at an elementary school as we are trying to increase enrollment for the summer camp and are trying to do some marketing. So, it was a late evening Wednesday as I did not get home until after 8pm, but it was nice to walk in the house to the smell of dinner being laid out on the table! On Thursday Katy and I walked downtown after work to enjoy the City of Napa's Chef's Market. The downtown association puts on a wonderful market every Thursday throughout the summer. The entire downtown is shut off to traffic and is transformed into a busy market place with stands selling all kinds of delicious food, fresh produce, beer and wine, arts and craft, and there also several areas where there is live music. The biggest surprise of the evening as we were walking around was walking through the market and all the sudden being 5 feet from a python! Katy did not like that at all. There was a reptile stand and the people were out walking around holding different snakes. Needless to say we did not stay in that area very long!

One cool thing they do at the chef's market is live chef demonstrations. So, Katy and I watched a demonstration on how to make dark chocolate vanilla truffles, and then the best part was we got to sample them! We also got to sample some wine from a local vineyard that was supposedly a nice pairing with the truffle. I'll post the recipe on the blog soon for the truffles.

Chowing down on a turkey leg!

Tonight after work Katy, myself, and the mutts will head to Bass Lake to spend the weekend with Aunt Sue, Uncle Jack, Tod, and Bradley. We have plans to go to Yosemite National Park, which will be a lot of fun as Katy has never been. Should be another good weekend!

Highway 1

 Where to begin?  This past 3 day weekend was one of our favorites thus far.  We left the pups with our new friend and wonderful dog sitter, Molly, while we packed up the car and headed to the coast.  I was supposed to get out of work early to beat rush hour, but when you’re leaving for a day it seems as there is triple the work to make sure things go smoothly.  So..we got off a tad late and we learned quickly that San Francisco rush hour isn’t something to mess with as 15 miles took over an hour.  Luckily, we were on no schedule and eventually we made it to Highway 1 and then drove down to beautiful Monterey Bay.   On the way we stopped at one of the many lookouts of the  ocean to see the sunset and enjoy our picnic dinner! 

Sea Horse!

Petting the Sting Ray!

Friday, we got up and went to the aquarium.  This aquarium is big on education which includes the scary facts of the direction our sea life is headed with global warming but also provides an underlying hint of optimism on things we can do and things people are currently doing that can slow and even reverse some of the damage our oceans are undergoing.  While there were many neat exhibits, our favorite was the sea horse exhibit which featured a wide variety of funky looking critters!!  Did you know that the male sea horse is the one that has the pregnancy and births the baby sea horses?  Neither did we...he has a little pouch that the mom lays the eggs and he keeps them until time to hatch!  After spending the morning at the aquarium we ate our picnic lunch and walked through the town including along the famous Cannery Row while enjoying a caramel apple and chocolate covered strawberries!! 

From Monterrey Bay, we hopped back onto Highway 1 and headed south through Big Sur country.  We lost count of the number of times we pulled the car off on the narrow road for breath-taking view after breath-taking view.  It was a beautiful day so we saw lots of motorcycles and convertables taking advantage of the day.  Due to a mud slide two months ago a stretch of highway 1 was closed.  It was 20 miles from where we were headed for the day.  We were told by locals that we should turn around to where we started and take a different road to get to Cambria as they said the scenery is beautiful but the alternate road is horrible….so we took the horrible road despite their recommendations so we could “experience” the landscape.  Luckily, it truly was beautiful because the road we took had more twists and turns than I have seen in my life and I almost lost my lunch in the process.  This 20 miles took 2 hours with the new route…. BUT it was beautiful J!!  We stopped for the evening in the coastal town, Cambria.  We lucked out with a hotel right across from the beach and upon Aunt Cyndi’s recommendation we feasted on amazing bread, calamari, local beer, and a sea scallop pasta at the Sea Chest.

A walk on the beach!

 Saturday, we got up and went for a run on the board walk.  It was another beautiful day and actually a little warmer than the previous day.  After running, we took a long walk along the beach which included hiking over rocks with nearby seals resting.  After our walk, we packed up and went to San Simeon to tour the Hearst Castle which is a lot like the east-coast’s Biltmore.  Basically, Hearst was a rich newspaper publisher who built an incredible castle with 165 rooms on top of a mountain that has a match-less view over the ocean on his 270,000 acre property.  He hosted the most famous people of his time in his home which was immaculately decorated with art from all over the world, as well as housing two pools, a tennis court, and his own personal zoo.  It was a very cool tour in which I’m glad our money went to the state parks rather than the billionaire estate as his sons donated the estate to the state of California a number of years ago.  After the castle, we drove a few miles north to a look-out of that had a beach full of elephant seals.  It was wild.  Again, we picnicked by the ocean and then drove another hour and a half south down highway 1 to Santa Barbara. As we were driving to Santa Barbara we chatted with our good friend from back home, Kevin Clark, who told us that Santa Barbara was one of the most gorgeous places he had ever visited. We agreed! It is a beautiful city as it sits between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Santa Ynez Mountains to the east.  We were of course in the mood for more seafood so found ourselves eating in the harbor on a table outside of Brophy Bros, a local favorite, as the sun was setting.  We loved just looking out in the ocean with all the boats and watching the pelicans dive into the water to catch a fish.  We then completed the night with a delicious cookie and ice cream dessert at Stearn’s Wharf.

Sunday morning we got up early to rent a tandem kayak.  We took the “typical” path which was around the harbor then out to the sea where there are sea lions resting on the buoys and then back around under the pier where there are lots of star fish and sting rays.  We stopped a few times just to take it all in.  After docking the kayak we visited the Santa Barbara Mission and headed back north to San Luis Obisbo where we met Aunt Cyndi's friends Kay, Penny, and Mike for a wonderful lunch at the Big Sky Café.  They then took use to the old San Luis Port which was another beautiful spot!!  The best part was hiking down the pier to a dock which had a sign that said “Beware, Sea Lions will bite.”  When you get to the bottom of the steps...bam, there were about 4 huge sealions within 10 feet of us.  I was a little skittish when one of them moved ever so slightly so decided not to stay too long , but they were truly amazing creatures.  After an absolutely wonderful weekend we trekked back home to two excited pups to begin our 5th week in Napa!

The Oakland A's!

We have now been in California for two and a half weeks and just filled up one of our vehicles for the first time! Since gas prices are so high, we are definitely loving the fact that we are so close to where both Katy and myself are working and that there are good public transit systems close by. Whenever we go downtown we just walk, and half the time I end up just walking to my work at the Parks and Recreation office.


Katy and I had a busy week, but a very good week. I did interviews all week long for our summer staff, and had several late evenings. Katy, as it seems will be the norm here in California, worked extra hours most days and staid very busy! On Wednesday we grilled out for the first time since coming to Napa. We had Mahi Burgers with Pineapple salsa, some homemade potato salad, and a watermelon. It definitely put us in the summer mood! On Friday night we walked downtown and went to a wine bar and retail shop to participate in a tasting event. This wine bar does a different tasting event every Friday evening, and this past one was "White Wines off the Beaten Path." So, we enjoyed six samples of various white wines from around Europe and Australia that are not very well known. We also enjoyed an Appenzeller cheese plate with bread...which truth be told was probably my favorite part of the evening.

On Saturday we drove down to Berkeley and caught the train into Oakland to watch the A's play the Chicago White Sox. Even though we are not huge baseball fans, it is always fun to go to a new ball park and catch a game. Oakland won 6-2 and Katy and I spent the first 6 innings watching the game from a restaurant inside the colisieum chowing down on some messy hot dogs. Let me tell you what, the Bay Area is one very busy area....driving around Berkeley made me appreciate the small town I was raised in. We are loving California so far, but I am not crazy about all the traffic! After the ball game we returned to Napa and then that evening went to the movies and watched Bridesmaids, which was very funny, and no, not just a chick flick!

Today Katy worked since next weekend we will be taking a three day weekend to drive down Highway 1 to Los Angeles to visit our good friend, Philip Holbrook. I worked around the house all day and made a Rhubarb Cake. We are getting ready to call it a night and get ready for a busy week before our big trip next weekend!

View from our table at the Coliseum restaurant

Goodbye beard....hello California!

A tribute to Eli's beard and hair..bye bye!

We stuffed our first week and a half in Napa with lots of good eating, beautiful site-seeing, downtown walks in beautiful weather and yes, some work as well!  The first couple days we arrived to Napa, we spent a good bit of time cleaning out the home we are renting and putting our personal touches in it while exploring local restaurants such as Downtown Joe’s, The Fish Story, and Butter Cream Bakery and Diner.  I began work last Wednesday at Golden Living which is a skilled nursing facility.   I had to hit the ground running without much of an orientation so was initially just trying to keep my head above water, but now that I have my feet on the ground I think this is going to be a great opportunity for professional and personal growth.  I have found I really love this population as they have a variety of diagnoses and physical challenges to address mixed with the opportunity to appreciate their diverse backgrounds, wonderful life stories, and great sense of humors.  Speaking of work, that same Wednesday that I began working, Eli received a phone call from one of the jobs that he applied for as they wanted to interview him on Thursday.  Without enough time to get a professional hair cut, I was able to talk Eli into shaving his head AND beard to look “professional" for the interview.  Yes…I was very glad to have an excuse ;)!!  Eli went in interviewing for a summer counselor position and left a co-director for the City of Napa Parks and Recreation Summer Camp. Eli will be helping to organize and run around 400 kids and 30 counselors in the traditional camp as well as manage 20 specialty camps for the summer.  He has already started work doing planning for the summer and interviewing for the counselor positions.  He is enjoying the people he is working with and excited about this opportunity.

Our first Sunday here, we packed the pups in the car and headed to Stinson beach.  It was our first experience on Highway 1 which was beautiful but consisted of tight, congested, winding roads alongside steep mountainous cliffs.  Once we arrived to the beach we immediately noticed a huge difference between the Oregon and California coast….PEOPLE.  The tiny bit of beach, while beautiful, was packed with sunbathers, kids, families, and friends enjoying the sunny day.  This beach did not allow the dogs on the beach, so Eli and I did not spend too much time on it, but did take a nice walk along the water.  We drove further on Highway 1 to a place where there were lots of people standing with cameras so figured we should pull off.  When we looked out we saw lots of seals in the distance swimming.  We went to pull the camera out to capture this and….our battery was dead!!  So, no pictures but it was fun to watch them play and swim.  After more exploring, we headed back home to begin the first full week of work.  

This weekend we ventured into San Francisco.  We got up early on Saturday morning and drove to Vallejo where we rode the ferry to the Fisherman’s Warf.  As we walked off the ferry, we were initially overwhelmed by the amount of people and choices of things to do!  I think you could spend a whole year there and never do everything, so we just began walking and did whatever fancied our attention.  It was a bright sunny day, but much cooler and much windier than we had been used to in Napa, so we began with coffee on Pier 39.  At the end of the pier there was a great view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  While looking out we heard loud barking and as we walked towards the noise we saw hundreds of seals and sea lions on the docks right by the pier.  Some were sunbathing and others were wrestling.  Also on Pier 39 was some WWII exhibits, including the Pampanito, a submarine that served in the Pacific. We toured the submarine and were amazed at the insanely tight quarters in which the crew lived and worked.

Since San Francisco is the home of the sourdough bread bowl, we thought we should honor it by getting a yummy clam chowder bread bowl.  While eating along the street we saw various ways to tour the city and decided we would take a Duck tour to get a better idea of the layout of the city.  It was an hour and a half tour that took us all throughout the city including Ghirardelli Square, China Town, right by the Giants stadium, and into the bay.  Eli even got to drive the duck boat a bit when we were in the bay!  After our tour, we walked to Hyde’s Pier, went in a few shops, and to Ghirardelli Square where we found out that there are 4 chocolate shops.  If you walk in looking interested, they give you a free piece of chocolate so of course, we had to go to each one!!  We then made our way back across the Fisherman’s Warf to grab a coffee milkshake at The Fog Diner to give us a boost to hike up the Coit Tower.  We were blown away by the beautiful views of the city, the bay, and the pretty flowers along the way. 

View of Bay Bridge from the Duck tour

Coit Tower

View from Coit Tower

To finish up the day we walked to the Market Place where we enjoyed fresh shrimp quesadillas.  One of our favorite parts about the city was the live performances along the streets.  We saw a group do a mini-circus act that was amazing and that as a physical therapist had my stomach in knots!  Today, we have been taking it easy enjoying our backyard with the dogs, a work out, and a walk downtown to people watch over a glass of wine. Today we would love to be home celebrating our wonderful mothers and grandmothers as we are both blessed for these women in our lives who have been amazing influences and whom we love so much. Happy Mother’s Day!