Mikey & KT have some tense moments in California!

Monday, May 23
We are very pleased to start our day this fine morning because we are on our way out of San Francisco and headed to the scenic town of Monterey. San Francisco has beaten us down a little bit and we are ready to head to the beach for some much needed relaxation. Actually, our morning was a little stressful because there was a gazillion people at the Budget Car Rental and obnoxious French men in front of us and we really, really wanted to bash the Budget clerk’s head against the counter. Miraculously we escape without indulging in our homicidal urges and when we see our sweet ride (yeah you know it Chevy Malibu…with a moon roof!) we finally relax.

First stop of the day is Santa Cruz! Such a sunny, wonderful day! Perfect for roller coaster riding!

We have come to Santa Cruz to ride the oldest wooden roller coaster in the US! Hooray! I like it here. It reminds me of a clean seaside. But what the crap are all these kids doing here? Don’t they have school in California?? Luckily it is early enough in the season that it is not packed and we bust a move to the Giant Dipper. I am a big wussy so of course I grab Michael’s arm and squeal during the entire ride. Fun Times.

After our coaster ride we check out the boardwalk and end up in an arcade. Holy Moly! They have Off Road! That was one of my favorite games back in the day! Ohhh! Donkey Kong! I choose Tetris (and perform most disappointedly) and Michael tries his hand at Frogger. Unfortunately he doesn’t fare much better, but we don’t have time to wallow in our arcade game failures, we must depart for Monterey!!!

We have a nice ride today, it is only about an hour from Santa Cruz to Monterey and before you know it we are pulling up in front of the Green Gables Inn http://www.greengablesinnpg.com/.

This was my first experience with a Bed & Breakfast. I have wanted to try one for quite some time and now I’m afraid I’ve ruined myself…I can’t imagine it getting much better. The staff was very friendly, the room was quite large and the view…wowie zowie! We are directly across the street from the ocean and our window points directly at the water. It was wonderful!

Monterey is known for an AMAZING aquarium. So as soon as we drop off our things we start our walk to the Monterey Bay Aquarium http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/. Ahhh. What a lovely walk this is! We stop for a few moments to gaze at the sea lions that are just hanging out on the beachfront. Wow. That’s awesome! Wildlife in the… wild!

The aquarium was pretty rad. They have a ginormous tank with all kinds of marine life…it was especially cool to sit and watch the anchovy schools moving in unison (just like in Finding Nemo). Michael’s favorite part of the aquarium was the jellyfish. Which is pretty funny considering they are not Michael’s favorite when HE is in the ocean. Anyhoo, we stand in front of the darkened tanks and watch the pink glowing jellyfish move about. Hmmmm relaxation. It is at this point that we decide that when sporto finally becomes famous (and I am his personal cruise director) we will have a jellyfish tank set up in his room and he will have allotted “tranquil time” that must not be disturbed!

After the aquarium we walk around the Monterey Cannery and buy some wine to go along with our Cowgirl Creamery cheese. Wait, what is that! Belly rumbling! Hungry! We consider a few options at the Cannery but we are getting short on money (we got a little over excited in Seattle and spend a tad bit too much)…Then Michael remembers that the B&B offers appetizers and wine from 4-6. EEEE! It is 5:15! We motor back to the Green Gables Inn and thank the heavens there is food left! It is not a huge spread but there is some crackers & bread along with some veggie sticks and a macaroni & cheese type dish. It is not amazing cuisine but it does the trick!

Technically we are staying in Pacific Grove. There is a path that goes around the perimeter of Monterey and Pacific Grove and finally into Carmel. After we finished eating we decide to explore Pacific Grove down this path. Maybe we’ll even catch the sunset!

It was a really fantastic walk, exactly what we needed. It was a laid back day, just walking along the ocean, climbing rocks (although Michael did risk injury by traversing the rocks with flip flops!) and watching the waves crash. Perfect. Looking back, it was definitely one of the best days of the trip. Probably in my Top 3. At one point, while we were walking along the path we saw 2 surfers. But as we got closer we realized that there was one surfer and a seal! How awesome is that!

Back at the Green Gables we decide to grab some hot drinks (courtesy of the Inn) and sit on a bench and watch the waves crash around us. It was sick! The tide was coming in and waves were clobbering all the rocks that we saw this afternoon. There was spray everywhere!

We ended the evening with a delicious Cow Girl Creamery Cheese Plate (professionally presented by Michael Wood) and some not bad wine. I fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves outside my window. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Tues, May 24
We are very, very sad to leave the Green Gables Inn. We have some complimentary breakfast and head out to Big Sur/San Simeon and Cambria!

After the hell drive on Rt. 1 to San Francisco we are, understandably, a little tense about the ride to Big Sur. For all we know it is 94 miles of perilous curves and terrifying drops! But our fears are eased almost immediately as we see the crystal blue water and (hooray) guardrails!!!

Again, I almost feel like my attempts at describing what we saw are futile. When I tell you this water was blue…I mean, you just have never seen anything like this. I suppose people who have been to the Caribbean or Hawaii have similar experiences but the only water I know is the Atlantic. I mean, yes, I did see the Pacific when I went to LA, but this was astounding. So blue. It was just gorgeous. CRAZY!!

We make our first Big Sur stop at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State park to see a waterfall. Allegedly it is a 2 mile walk to check this thing out. Fooled you! The path is closed (a tree is blocking the way) and we must detour on a longer (and more treacherous) hike! For the love of God! People do this for pleasure! As I huff & puff my way up the mountain I see a most disturbing sign! What! Mountain Lions! Oh, it says mountain lions are not likely, but they show up from time to time! And they are unpredictable and go for children first! EEEEE! As if the bears weren’t bad enough! And what is this park thinking, hiding the sign deep into the path so now I’m already committed to seeing this frikkin waterfall. For a moment, I considered going all Parent Trap and grabbing two wooden sticks and banging them together to ward off the mountain lions. EEEE! I hate nature!

Oh my god. I’m going to die. In this frikkin forest just because I wanted to see a frikkin waterfall. I’m going to die all sweaty and dirty and then a mountain lion is going to find me and chow down on my flesh!!!! I HATE NATUR…oh wait. There is the waterfall! Hallelauhia! Wow. I risked my life for that? I mean, don’t get me wrong. It is pretty. But if I had known that was what I was getting all sweaty for (and risking my precious life) I may have waited in the car.

Unfortunately I am only safe in the Malibu for a few moments before we see the entrance to Julia Pfeifer Burns State Park. Ugh. I can not take any more nature walks! Wait! Our trusty guidebook says that is a 5 minute walk to the waterfall. SWEET! We head out and Hooray! It is only a 5 min walk and there are no hills and no mountain lion warnings! McWay Falls is awesome! It is a waterfall that goes right into a crystal blue lagoon. I have to say I much prefer ocean-cliff-lagoon waterfalls as opposed to forest-rock-stream waterfalls.

After our waterfall excursion we head over to Nepenthe for lunch. Nepenthe is stuck in the side of a mountain and offers an amazing view of Big Sur. We had a very tasty, but a bit overpriced, meal. I had a super duper tasty portabella sandwich with fontina cheese and red pepper aioli. MMMM. So good!

After our meal Michael and I have our second dangerously close to an argument moment. I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible as I relay the story.

We feel a bit more comfortable driving because there are guardrails, but make no mistake, there are still cliffs and rocks and treacherous curves that can throw you off the mountain! So I got a little irritated when Michael (as he is driving) continually stole glances out the window, hoping to see a whale. I assured him that if I saw a whale I would notify him immediately, but I continued to catch him looking out the window!!! Luckily, we escaped the situation without a throwdown over whales. Although looking back, I’m sure it would have been highly amusing if (on day 13) we pulled the car over and had a knock down, drag out brawl over whale watching.

Although we dodged an argument, we were still on tension level red. So as the time started to tick by and I realized that we would most likely miss our tour time for Hearst Castle, I started to get a little jumpy. Thankfully, Michael didn’t throw me out of the car.

Have I mentioned Michael’s mysterious hip injury? (KT side note, Michael, have you gotten this examined yet? You have not mentioned it!) I’m pretty sure when we got off the plane from Seattle Michael’s hip started to hurt. If he was in one sitting position for too long, his hip would start to ache. Then we would have to slowly “walk it off”. For 99% of the trip this was not a big deal. But we pulled into San Simeon and Hearst Castle an hour late. I knew there was a later tour at 3:20, but wasn’t sure if there was room or if they would let us switch tours.

So when I busted out of the car and started toward the building I was not happy to see Michael hanging on the side of the car. Yes. It was a low moment. Poor sporto all injured and not able to move because of the mysterious hip injury. And I was yelling to hurry up.

We made it to the ticket window and everything was ok. Of course after the “incident” I was sure to be extra nice to sporto and we enjoyed our tour of Hearst Castle. I have to take this moment to give a little shout to the power of music. I definitely believe that if not for Britney and the Buffy Musical, Michael and I might have had some serious issues along this trip!!


Hearst Castle http://www.hearstcastle.com/tours/index.asp is where William Randolph Hearst lived. It is humongous. You have to take a tour bus up this crazy hill to get to the house. CRAZY!! The estate is so huge that there are 5 different tours!!! We went on Tour 2, which focused on The Guest Library, Gothic Suite and 4 guest rooms. We also saw the outside pool, which was amazing, and the indoor pool, which had gold in the floor! Wowie.

After our Hearst Castle tour we headed into Cambria. For some reason, Cambria is pronounced Came-bria. Weird West Coasters! Anyhoo, Cambria is a big adventure for us because we are staying at the Bridge Street Inn, which is a kind of B&B/hostel. http://www.bridgestreetinncambria.com/

The inn is run by Ann, who is a really nice hippie. Can’t escape the hippies on the West Coast. But Ann is a cool hippie and the house is very sweet. Most people don’t describe houses as sweet, but this place was very welcoming and home with a pinch of quirk. We drop our stuff and head off to the Main St Grill to try some Santa Maria Style BBQ (grilling over local red oak)! Oh wait, I totally forgot! Michael and I wanted to see Star Wars because we were supposed to see it in LA and someone *coughnelliecough* saw it and didn’t like and was against seeing it again!!! So after we dropped our stuff I asked Ann where the closest movie theater was. I figured we could walk to dinner and then the movie. The closest movie theater was 25 miles away! Holy Lord! How do you live in such a place!!!!

So yeah, the Main Street Grill. I think this was one of my favorite meals. It was no fuss, and so tasty and I find myself thinking about that sandwich every now and again. The Main St Grill is a huge restaurant that looks like a cafeteria, but really it serves the tastiest BBQ Tri Tip Sandwiches. HMMM So delicious. The meat is still a little red and with dripping bbq sauce. HMMM!

After dinner we decided to investigate Cambria, the town with no movie theater! We went to the Moonstone Beach Grill for a glass of wine and some dessert. http://www.moonstonebeach.com/mb-main.htm The Moonstone Grill is right next to the water and it was nice to sit and relax with a drink. Until… a bunch of seagulls harassed us! We tried to catch the sunset again, but our waiter was no where to be found and by the time we paid our bill….it was too late. Very sad.

The beach in Cambria was not too impressive but it was a very eventful walk. Why?

Let me tell you a little something about Michael. He is constantly singing little ditties about what he is doing. For example, if we were walking in Seattle Michael might sing something like, ‘We’re going to the market. Going to the market, bop, bop, gonna buy me a belt buckle…’. Anyway you get the idea. So I’ve been dealing with musical interludes for the last 12 days.

Michael and I were walking along the ugly Cambria beach when he broke out into the Cambria Song. Cam-BRI-AAAAAA! Cam-BRI-AAAA! Before I knew what was happening I joined in! And there we were, in the middle of California, trying to harmonize the Cambria song.
It gets better.
I was pretty disappointed with my performance so I said, “Ya know, I’m really a lower register. We should try that again.”

Now, I’m sure this is not 1/10000 as funny to you as it was to us. Michael literally was falling over he was laughing so hard. He had penetrated my brain and now I was singing little ditties too! And so serious about it that I wanted to try again so that it would sound good. Now I was concerned. What would happen to me when I was back in North Brunswick with Jay off to Shoprite? Would I break into song? ShoooppppppRiiiiitttte! Shopppppriitttteeee! It would not be good. (KT Update: Thankfully, my spontaneous singing outbursts seem to be a West Coast affliction).

After our musical moment, we head back to the Bridge Street Inn and call it a night. We’ve got a big day tomorrow. Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country!

Stay tuned for Solvang, a little town with a Denmark complex, tasty treats and lots of wine! Santa Barbara & Michael takes on the traffic capital of the world so we can meet up with some ol Rutgers friends!