Thursday, 3/9/00

I left Honolulu at 12:30 a.m. and arrived in San Francisco at 6:30 a.m. The flight was not full, and I had a whole row and managed to get some sleep. I went outside to catch the South Bay Flyer at 7:50. The driver was a hoot. Since I was his first passenger, he gave me an employee discount and only charged me $10 instead of $19. We arrived in San Jose at 9:30. I called Nancy and found out that Rise and Luke had been delayed until 1:30. Nancy was in a meeting but said she would pick me up at 11:45. I got some breakfast at Burger King. Nancy arrived and took me on a short tour of San Jose, which is really quite a cute town.

After we collected Rise and Luke at the airport, we headed south to Pacific Grove. The weather was beautiful, and Nancy's apartment is in a lovely wooded area. We had cheese and crackers and unwound a little. We drove to a beach in Carmel to watch the sunset and the dogs, especially a cute Chow. From there we drove to Mission Ranch and wandered around. Clint Eastwood bought this ranch to save it from destruction. It is now a hotel, restaurant, and bar. The people of Monterey are quite grateful to Clint.

From there we went to dinner at Lugano Swiss Bistro. I had Geschnetzeltes from Zurich - "thinly sliced veal in a delicate wild mushroom sauce, roesti potatoes, and mixed seasonal vegetables". We got back home at 9. Talk, talk, talk. To bed at midnight.

Friday, 3/10/00

The "jocks" in the group, Nancy and Luke, went running. Nancy had an eye appointment at 9, so the rest of us drank coffee and talked. At 11 we all went to 1st Awakening for brunch. We sat outside and had a wonderful breakfast. Nancy and I had the special eggs benedict with thick crisp bacon. We were sufficiently stuffed to start the Big Sur drive.

Our first stop was to check out two hotels, Highlands Inn and Tickle Pink. These were really delightful hotels. Then we stopped at Nancy's beach. Tide was up but we got to see 10 Calif Conservation Corp folks repairing the trail. Our next stop was Rocky Point. We all had to use the ladies room, so we went in and chatted, wandered around til we could dash in and use the facilities. The view from there was wonderful - the Bixby Bridge. We went down Palo Colorado Road which goes way back in a redwood forest, with log cabins, mountain cabins.

Next stop was the Big Sur River Inn, about the only thing in Big Sur town proper. We ended up at Nepenthe Inn with the Phoenix gift shop. I bought a picture book of Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur. We went up to the bar, sat outside, and had drinks. Luke and I split a cream cheese, olives, nuts sandwich with cole slaw. The slaw was great, and the sandwich interesting. A beautiful Stellar Jay entertained us. We checked out the Vantana Inn across the road, and then headed back to Pacific Grove.

We went to dinner at The Pasta House. I had minestrone soup, salad, angel hair with Alfredo sauce. Very good. We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home. This is the ultimate California organic grocery store. What fun looking at all the "California Goodies".

Saturday, 3/11/00

We all got up, had coffee, discussed our options and decided to go kayaking. Rise and Luke had never been, so we went down to Monterey to Adventures by the Sea. We signed all the waivers, suited up in wet suits, and shoved it. Luke rode with Nancy, and Rise rode with me. We tooled around Monterey Bay looking at all the wonderful wild life. We saw otters, sea lions, pelicans, gulls.

After a couple of hours, the wind started to kick in, the waves grew a little larger, and our arms decided we had had enough. Luke and Nancy started in first. They were almost to shore when they got creamed by the shore break. Their kayak went flying sending them sprawling into the sand. Nancy ate a ton of sand. Luke landed on her arm. Needless to say, Rise and I battened down the hatches, aimed for the calmest area of beach, watched the waves, and managed to make it in. A wave did tip our kayak over after we had landed, so we got a little wet.

We made it back to Nancy's where we all showered off the ton of sand. Luke's arm really hurt, so about 5 we took her to the emergency room. After x-rays, it was determined that she had broken her elbow. They put her in a half cast and sling, and sent us on our way after 3 hours. We went to The Gem for our "gourmet" dinner. I had Tournedos Rossini, salad, mashed potatoes, and veggies. We all shared a chocolate mousse cake and a creme brule for dessert. We were all exhausted when we got home. Luke took her drugs and we all went to sleep.

Sunday 3/12/00

We managed to make it up for coffee and toast at Nancy's. We were going to head to San Francisco, but Luke's cast was very painful, so we took her back to the emergency room. They removed her cast and left her in a sling. She was not feeling well, so we took her back to Nancy's. Nancy, Rise, and I got back in the car to head to San Francisco, but the car wouldn't start. Ick. We collapsed in laughter, looking all around for Chevy Chase.

We took a vote and decided to take Woody (Nancy's 1984 Chrysler LaBaron wood-paneled convertible)and go. Poor Woody is a wonderful beach car - he even talks - but a little noisy. But we were not to be deterred. Halfway to San Fran we got In and Out burgers - a Calif treat. They were good and kept us going to San Francisco. We arrived there about 6 and went looking for the Club Fugazi where we had reservations to see Beach Blanket Babylon. This is a wonderful show - click here to read about it or here to see a photo of one of the fabulous "hats". The show is absolutely incredible and indescribable. Nancy gets big points for getting tickets to this always sold out show.

After the show we wandered around Washington Square, gazing at St. Peter and Paul Church. We went through Chinatown and shopped at a wonderful Chinese department store (wear those slippers, girls!), went to Union Square and were awed by the St. Francis Hotel. We grabbed a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. Our breakman was "Cable Car Kelly" who entertained us at the back of the car. He took our photo and sent us off to The Buena Vista bar for Irish coffee. We then wandered around the Wharf (even though it was 11 p.m.), got a cable car back to the parking garage and headed back to Pacific Grove. We arrived at 2:30 and fell into bed.

Monday, 3/13/00

We all slept late and went for brunch at 1 at From Scratch. Once again, it was wonderful and we ate too much. I had another eggs Benedict (what can I say? I love hollandaise). We then drove through Pebble Beach on the 17 mile drive. We stopped at the Pebble Beach Inn/golf course. Everyone got souvenir dog poop mitts from a dispenser there. We wandered the hotel, looked in all the shops. Then back in the car to continue the drive: the Lone Cypress lookout, Nancy's rock, Spanish Bay Inn. The drive was lovely.

Nancy had told us about "doggy Happy Hour" at the Cypress Inn in Carmel. So we had to go see. The Cypress Inn is a small, old hotel owned by Doris Day. Dogs are welcome at Happy Hour, and we saw and petted many while we drank our Cosmopolitans, ate nuts and poppers.

Then it was time to get serious about leaving. We went to the Monterey airport to pick up a rental car to get us to the airport in San Jose Tuesday morning. We stopped by the mall so I could get shoes (which I cannot find in Honolulu), get money. Nancy took Luke home to pop more pills, and Rise and I stopped for pizza. We ate, packed, said our goodbyes.

Tuesday, 3/14/00

Nancy was up at 4 am. She had an 8 am flight to Denver out of San Jose. Luke, Rise, and I got moving about 7. The fog was rolling in. This was the first fog we had seen throughout the visit. The weather could not have been more perfect for us. We managed (with only one idiot detour - my mistake) to make it to San Jose for Rise and Luke's flight back to Indiana. I turned in the car and caught the bus back up to San Francisco. Would you believe I had the same bus driver, and that this time he didn't charge me at all??? I gave the man a $10 tip. I spent most of the day in the USO at the San Fran airport. They fed me (a wonderful ham and havarti with dill sandwich), let me sleep on the recliners, read, watch tv. I got the 7:30 pm flight to Honolulu. Once again I lucked out with a whole row and got some good sleep. Got home about 11 pm.

What more could we have asked for? Good friends, fabulous scenery, great food, fun talk. The only dark spot was Luke's broken arm. We hope she has a speedy recovery.