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!

Josh's visit over our last days in Oregon

Josh came to visit us in Oregon before we left, flying in to Portland on Thursday night, April 21st, and then leaving on the same day we drove down to Napa, Tuesday the 26th. We had a wonderful time showing him all over Oregon as we were able to do a lot of the stuff we did during our three months in a whirlwind of only four very full days! Its been crazy since he left Oregon as we were in the middle of moving, so this blog is just getting written and will be the last one of Oregon, a state we loved and will definitely visit again someday...

Josh and I woke up early Friday morning (Katy was at her last day of work) and drove down to the coast. We spent the day hiking all over the coast...we hiked the Dunes, we hiked to the Devil's Churn, we hiked to Haceta Head Lighthouse, and we hiked down to the Sea Lion Caves. We grabbed some delicious sea food for lunch and made several coffee stops to keep us going. On our way back to Cottage Grove we stopped in Eugene so I could give Josh a tour of the garden I had been working at. When we got home it was after 8pm, and so after eating dinner with Katy and playing our new favorite game, Farkle, we hit the sack. 

Running up the Dunes

Outside of Haceta Head Lighthouse

Exploring the tide pools at the Devil's Churn

Colby playing fetch in the ocean

On Saturday we were up and out the door by 7:30am and headed up to the Columbia River Gorge to do some hiking. It was a gorgeous clear day in the low 70s and we had a beautiful view of Mount Hood for most of our drive after we turned east from Portland. We took Josh to the scenic vista house, and then we drove to several waterfalls before hiking up to the top of Multnomah Falls (pictured to the left), a steep 2.5 mile hike to the top of the second tallest waterfall in America. 

The view from the Vista House 

After the Gorge we drove into the city. We went down to the Saturday Market for a little bit and then took off to do some walking. We walked by Voodoo Doughnuts (it was closed for renovations) and took Josh to get some coffee at stumptown. We then walked through Pioneer Square before going to our favorite Portland spot, the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the Unico Building. Today was a great day to be up there as you could easily see the snowy peaks of both Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. 

After grabbing some drinks at the grill we headed to other side of the Columbia River to try out an authentic Thai restaurant called Pok Pok that our good friend Rachel had told us was a must while in Portland. We decided to order several things off the menu and share them. We were glad we had decided to be adventurous with our dinner choices as the meal was excellent! After dinner we walked across the street to a very cute area where a bunch of trailers/campers turned mobile restaurants were parked. We went to the Pie Spot for desert to help cap off a delicious dinner. 

The theme was the same upon arriving home from Portland. We got home late, and then woke early the next morning for another full day. Sunday we met up with a friend of ours from Oregon, Heidi, and headed off to Silver Falls State Park to hike the Trail of 10 Falls, a 9.5 mile hike through the cascades that walks you by (and under in some cases) 10 different waterfalls. Before going to the Silver Falls we stopped in Eugene for some voodoo doughnuts...we needed a healthy breakfast for the day of hiking we had planned!

South Falls

Lower South Falls

Behind the North Falls

Our hike was wonderful and will definitely be a highlight of Josh's time in Oregon. Pictures or words can't do it justice. After a long day of hiking we headed home, stopping in Eugene to go to its most famous microbrewery, McMenamins, to grab a drink and a burger. 

King Estate

Monday was more of a relaxed day as we were packing up our house to head to Napa on Tuesday. We were able to show Josh around Eugene a little more, however, and he in return was able to deliver some VIP treatment for us at our favorite Winery, King Estate. We went to King Estate to grab lunch, which was incredible, and then do some tasting of their wines. Josh asked our host if they had an industry discount (since Josh now works part time at a winery) and as it turned out our host used to live in Richmond, Virginia and was familiar with the winery Josh is currently employed at. So, we had the tasting fees waived, were allowed to taste whatever we wanted on their wine list, and then were given an informal tour of the winery. Pretty impressive...Josh will definitely come in handy when he visits us in Napa! After spending several hours at the winery we went to our favorite brewery in town, Ninkasi, to do some beer sampling, and then headed to the Wandering Goat, the locals favorite when it comes to coffee.

Ninkasi

Wandering Goat

I drove Josh to the airport in Portland on Tuesday morning after a wonderful visit, and then headed south to spend the day driving to California. Katy had left earlier that morning to head straight down to Napa, and so got to our new house about five hours before I arrived. While I was still in Oregon and it was in the 50s and rainy I called Katy to see what the weather was like in Napa, "its sunny and in the 70s," she said. Yep, I think we will enjoy our next three months.  

Goodbye Oregon...Hello California

We got to Napa, California on Tuesday night and though it looks like this will be an awesome place to spend the next three months, we will definitely miss Oregon and the friendships we made while there. 

Katy with members of the therapy staff from Mercy Medical enjoying a night out at the Seven Feathers casino. Katy is not a big fan of working in the hospital setting, but loved the staff she worked with. 

These are pictures of the crew I got the closest with at the Grass Roots Garden in Eugene. It was a great group to work with because not only did I learn a lot but I had a lot of fun as well. 

We hit the door running once getting to Napa. Katy started her job on Wednesday, and then that evening when she got off work we walked, that's right, we walked downtown to do some window shopping and grab a bite to eat. When we found a place to grab dinner, we ate outside since the weather was so nice! 

Yep, I think we'll enjoy Napa!

Katy outside her new job in Napa

Eating outside at a microbrewery in downtown