Long time, no update. Call it an unfortunate case of a very long to-do list. My birthday has come and gone, and I can say with absolute certainty that I have gotten a lot accomplished in my 24th year. Surgery, school, working, keeping my head above water. I gave myself a nice pat on the back and a few of my favorite potato chips in celebration. Yes, sour cream and cheddar ruffles. Yes, they are unfortunately just as delicious post-op as they were pre. Drat. Since I can't have birthday cake really, they are my choice of stand-in. :-P
Anyway, for my birthday and the 4th, my best friend Jennie came out from Washington DC. Can you say AWESOME! Well, we got up to quite a few things while she was here. She had a series of requests for places to visit, most of which I had never visited, so I was happy to oblige.
Our first stop was to spend the night in Monterey, CA. Monterey is a beautiful coastal town about 40 miles south of Santa Cruz on the extremely scenic Route 1. We drove down on a Wednesday after a delicious break fast at Zorn's, my favorite breakfast place in the area, who makes killer avocado, tomato, bacon and cheddar omelettes. Jennie discovered the magic of traveling with a gastric bypass patient...we're cheap dates. One omelette, two cups of coffee, and two satisfied customers.
We were on our way, sponsored by my Aunt Deb who had picked up some free passes, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. OH.MY.GOD. It was AMAZING. It narrowly beat out the Sydney Aquarium because they had so little space and did so much with it! I highly recommend it to all who visit the bay area. My favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, Jennie's was the otters, I think. They also had an entire exhibit dedicated to seahorses. Here are some photos:
Beautiful jellyfish.
Yes, ESers, those are Emerita. Not talpoida though. Could have fooled me!
Some sea anemones.
Jen's favorite, the very endearing otters
Entrance to the Aquarium
These jellyfish are currently the background on my computer. Aren't the colors awesome?
After spending the night and awaking to the sound of the ocean outside of our room, we headed out to drive south on Route 1 to Big Sur, which was quite a ways down the coast.
We did a portion of 17 mile drive, which is famed, evidently, but gave up before the end because it was boring. Ha! Sorry, but, you're better off to stay on Route 1 and skip the 9$ fee. But, we did get to see the lone Cypress, which is a very famed image of a single Cyprus tree rising up from a rock formation in the sea. Here is a photo.
On the way from Monterey to Big Sur, we stopped in Carmel, dictated by our empty stomachs. As luck would have it, Carmel is home to a historic mission! Jennie and I both love visiting missions. We're not altogether sure why, considering she and I are both not terribly religious, let alone history buffs or Catholic. But, as I mentioned in a previous entry, something about them really strikes me. So, we stopped, browsed the rosaries in the gift shop and went to check out the mission. We met a very nice padre there, he seemed very humble and kind, exactly what I like to think of when I picture holy men.
Beautiful day behind the bell tower, don't you think?
Inside the main sanctuary...don't worry, it's cool to take pics, I made sure.
Older graves marked out by rather large abalone shells.
Fountains and Gardens.
Bell Tower and Sanctuary Building
We drove southward until we reached Big Sur, then we turned around and came back up. It was beautiful. However, it was a very windy and frustrating drive, with lots of shifting and breaking, it was tough on my little CRV. But, I always make sure my CRV gets to see all of the sights. It deserves it, after all, carrying me around! Below is a photo of Jennie and my CRV enjoying the scenery near Big Sur.
See? The CRV needs love too!
And here are two shots of the scenery at the coast. It was breath taking, really.
The biker on the right side of this pic was REALLY GRUMPY!!!
Next stop was Santa Cruz for dinner...for the BEST fish tacos in the universe. I mean, they are amazing. Fresh, of course. Let's see if I can remember them all: scallop, snapper, shrimp...oh, I can't. But I will tell you, none of them are deep fried and they are all delicious. They are from a little taco bar in the back of the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters called El Palomar. Just for all of you, I took some photos! I had one bite of each...yum!
PS- Don't be scared, one of the tacos pictured is asada (beef), for those who noticed.
Alright, I unfortunately need to go to bed. I have to work tomorrow, sheesh! I will finish vacation round two including Alcatraz and a San Fran city tour and my week long birthday mania tomorrow night!!
Stay Tuned!
Cheers Big Ears
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