big sur

Sunday we got up and headed south down the coast. This was our first big trip in the minivan Ryan and Kari graciously rented to haul all of us. While it lacked some of the handling features of Ryan's beamer, the van managed the twists and turns well as we made it to Big Sur. This was probably our favorite day of the trip. The coast line and the mountains were great. We ended up reaching Pfeiffer State Park and went on a short hike that led to a waterfall. Neither of us had seen redwoods before and we were astonished by how large they are. Doug, not quite the greatest friend of the environment, determined that his next house will be made of California Redwood. The area, particularly the smell of the fresh air, reminded me a lot of Colorado in the summer.

After our not-so-strenuous hike we stopped for lunch at a fancy spa on top of a large hill that looked out over the water. It was a nice relaxing meal, particular their "Ultimate Refresher", lemon sorbet floated in a hefeweizen. Not quite as rich as the Tiger Stripe/Porter beer floats from Flatbranch in Columbia, but a lot more refreshing.

On the way down and back we made several stops along Big Sur to stretch our legs and look out over the cliffs, including the famous Bixby Bridge. This would also be a good time to mention the lovely music we had the pleasure of hearing. Doug decided to make a mix CD comprised of songs with 'California' in the title. He put a lot of work into it, including nice pictures for the jewel cases and the CD labels as well as mailing us all copies in advance. If only he had put as much work into song selection. He ignored a few suggestions from Kari and I. After Lelaine and I listened to his "Westward Ho" and "B-Sides" before the trip, I decided to make a competing mix, "Sea-Sides", so we had something a little better than the dreck he incorporated on his gem of a compilation. I think we found a lot of the stuff by hanging out at a roller rink and asking the fifth graders what they are listening to these days. Doug took a lot of crap for his effort, a good chunk of it by me, but at least he tried.

Next came 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach. I was really looking forward to this. The sites along the drive were nice, including the famous lone cyprus, but the highlight was definitely seeing the Links course. At the pro shop I bought a flipping sweet hat that everyone made fun of. After walking out of the pro shop I was a little disappointed as the only part of the course I had seen was the putting green. After finding the clubhouse - not as easy as you would think since the complex is like a little village - I stopped in my tracks as I realized that on the other side of the giant glass window was the 18th fairway and green. It was one of those feelings when you know you what you are looking at will stand out for the rest of your life. We watched a group pitch and putt on 18, two of the three seemed very good while the third guy was either having a terrible finishing hole or as Ryan thought, wanted to get the most out of his $475 greens fee by taking as many strokes as possible.

We then continued north to Monterey, which has three things: John Steinbeck, pirates, and stores that sell pirate souvenirs. We ate dinner at the famous Phil's Fish Market between Monterey and Santa Cruz. Lelaine had their cioppino in a sourdough bread bowl featured on the Food Network's show Road Tasted with the Deen brothers. I expanded my horizons and had a chicken sammich...with bacon and cheese.

Made it back to Chez Palmer and had an early night. Had to prepare for the next day's drive to Napa.