California Spring Break - Day 4

In his research, Chris discovered 17-mile Drive in the upscale Pebble Beach neighborhood. And yes, there was a charge to enter the neighborhood. ~$11.50

The first stop along the drive was Spanish Bay Beach. We arrived around 9:30 am and it was beautiful with no wind and a fabulously care for sandy beach.

The girls had fun playing along the beach while Chris and I walked along the boardwalk and stopped to explore the tide pools. We always have fun looking for star fish. We didn’t find any but it was such a great time just exploring and enjoying the beach.

 

Some of the other stops along the 17-Mile Drive are:

• Point Joe
• China Rock
• Bird Rock (which is covered in bird poop)
• Seal Rock (didn’t see any seals on it)
• Fan Shell Beach (we did see seals basking in the sunshine here)
• Crocker Grove (oldest living Monterey Cypress trees here)
• Loan Cypress
• Visitor Center (nothing too impressive unless you are wowed by golf and the Famous Pebble Beach Golf Tournament that takes place here)

Using Yelp, I found a place for lunch back in Monterey. A food truck called “Wedo’s Tacos”. It was pretty yummy. Four of us got fish tacos and Kristen had chicken fingers and fries. I was wishing the fish in the tacos wasn’t deep fried.

 

Cannery Row was our next stop. We found parking along the street, added funds to the meter and wandered around the few streets of Cannery Row for awhile. It was a typical tourist area with candy shops, small cafes and restaurants, and souvenir shops.

 

We could have also visited the Monterey Aquarium there but opted to forgo that since it was $40-50 per person.

 

Amy had some homework to do so we dropped the girls off at the VRBO.

 

Chris and I drove back along the Pacific Coast Highway and around Carmel a bit. We found a cool neighborhood recreation area that had tennis courts and … a field of sheep. I had to stop and get a picture (wishing, of course, that the sheep would come closer to the fence). Look how big and fluffy they are!

Chris and I also stopped at the Carmel Mission but it was closed. I was able to still get a few pictures from the stone perimeter.

We started back to the rental where the girls had been working on cooking a lasagna we bought at Costco, making a salad, and buttering and toasting a loaf of french bread.

 

It was a yummy dinner and nice to just have a relaxing evening.

 

Amy continued to work on homework and took a test online to round out the evening.

California Spring Break - Day 3

We listened to our church meeting on Zoom Sunday morning and then set off for a day of exploring along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Big Sur.

Chris purchased a GyPSy Guide audio tour for us to listen to as we drove. It cleverly pointed out scenic locations, places to stop, and gave the history of the area. I highly recommend trying the GyPSy Guide audio tours (affiliate link) if you have never listened to one before.

 

Misha had a “lighting” photography assignment due, so she was just as anxious to make stops to take pictures as me!

 

After purchasing a few more snacks and drinks in Carmel-by-the-Sea, we were on our way.

 

I loved this field scattered with cows grazing in it right next to the ocean. Happy cows.

The conversation in our car, "If I couldn't be a happy cow in Switzerland, I would want to be one right here!"

We spent a little time at Bixby Bridge taking pictures and then enjoyed additional stops along the route.

 

Pfeiffer State Park offered a hike to a small waterfall called Pfeiffer Falls. While the girls may not have been too thrilled with the prospect of hiking, they were good sports along the way. We found the falls and then continued on the Valley View Trail. It wasn’t quiet as "un-elevated" as we thought it might be! Oh well, an excursion disguised as exercise.

 

There were a few redwoods stands in this park; nothing like Jedediah State Park, but still great beautiful.

The girls couldn’t complain too much since Chris treated them to ice cream and sherbet at the Café and Restaurant after the hike.

The audio tour recommended that we stop at Pfeiffer Beach. We had paid an entrance fee at the state park which unfortunately did not apply at Pfeiffer Beach. The State Park was about $10 to enter. Pfeiffer Beach was an additional $11.25.

 

I am going to venture a guess and say that Pfeiffer Beach is windy all of the time. The sand whipped against our legs and bodies with a feeling of being sandblasted. It was not pleasant. While the beach was beautiful, it was definitely an experience!

 

We stopped next at a popular view spot and café. We weren’t planning to eat here, but just wanted to take some pictures of the view. The girls opted to stay in the car while Chris and I explored.

 

The Nepenthe café seems like it would be an awesome place to stop for lunch though if you happen to be in the area. If the parking lot was any indication, it was a popular spot.

 

The girls were napping, so Chris and I were the only ones that got out at Sand Dollar Beach. If you had to choose between Sand Dollar and Pfeiffer Beach, I would definitely choose Sand Dollar. Sadly, we didn’t find any sand dollars which some had said were plentiful. Nor did we find any jade. State law says you can keep what you find as long as you can carry it!

The beach was beautiful. Chris and I attempted walking all the way along the sandy part of the beach to avoid the bigger harder-to-walk-on rocks. Just as I was about half way through the section where I thought my feet might get wet, a huge wave came and soaked me up to my thighs! And then another came. And another wave. Back to the rocks for me.

 

At this point, we still had a long way to go to complete the GyPSy Guide tour. We didn’t think we would make it all the way to San Luis Obispo, but Chris wanted to continue on to Hearst Castle.

 

Before we reached the castle, we stopped at Elephant Seal Beach and watched the seals. They were still having mid afternoon naps, so while there were some noisy seals in the bunch, there wasn’t a whole lot of movement.

And sadly, when we reached Hearst Castle not too much further down the road, we found that it was closed. Boo.

 

We started the long trek back to Seaside.

 

There weren’t too many places to stop for dinner along the way, so when we reached Gorda, we decided to stop for dinner at Whale Watcher Cafe. It was very spendy and not the best meal we’ve ever had. Oh well, $150 later, it filled the empty spots. From Gorda we had a two-hour drive.

 

We had a fabulous view of the sun setting. Chris pulled over at a pull out overlooking the ocean and we watched the sun go down.

Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway is highly recommended.

California Spring Break - Day 2

Amy’s flight was delayed. She worked with Chris to find another flight, but wasn’t too successful.

She was delayed for two hours and then more and then more. She changed to another flight that

got in about twenty minutes earlier than her original flight.

 

While we waited for Amy, Chris took the girls to McDonalds for breakfast and then we found a

Farmer’s Market. The fruit and produce looked awesome. Too bad we weren’t closer to home!

We did buy some strawberries though and they were quite delicious.

We still had more time to wait before Amy arrived (her flight kept getting pushed back) so we found a rose garden to visit. Unfortunately we were about a month early in the rose season. Give it a little more time and the rose garden would have been overflowing with blossoms.

 

Our last stop to pass the time before picking up Amy was at a Flea Market not too far from the airport. It had a very strong Hispanic influence on the types of goods sold and vendors selling. Their produce was equally tempting and reasonably priced.

 

Finally, Amy's flight landed and we drove the short distance to the airport to pick her up. It

was nice to be together as a family. We keep saying, “This is the one of the last times we will

all travel together…” at some point it will be true.

 

Before heading to our VRBO in Seaside, California, we stopped for groceries (snacks, water,

more strawberries, milk).

 

I found a cool little Mexican restaurant and we made a quick stop there is well. It was pretty

popular, but we were able to order fairly quickly and find a table. It was delicious. It had a salsa

bar, and we were able to try as much of the flavors as we wanted. I think the roasted salsa and

green tomatillo salsa were the favorites.

Our next stop was Capitola. It was a cute little seaside town with distinctive colorful homes right along the beach and boardwalk. I found some great spots for picture-taking between a few of the buildings across the way and snapped away.

It poured for much of the day; good thing we brought rain jackets.

 

We arrived at our VRBO in Seaside and were pleasantly surprised. It had three bedrooms with

beds for everyone, a nice kitchen and comfy couches. Amy and Kristen promptly found some

blankets and stretched out for naps.

 

Chris and I decided to go exploring and found Cannery Row in Monterey to visit on Monday.

 

We came home with pizza and salad for dinner and then watched the Adam Project afterward.

 

Amy and Kristen stayed up late chatting. They were in the living room right outside our room

and kept me up, but since they hadn’t seen each other for a bit, I just let them talk. Chris finally

asked them to be quiet after they woke him up and they headed off to bed.

California Spring Break - Day 1

We had a late flight on Friday evening (March 18th). Kristen opted out of staying for tennis and came home to finish packing. We left the house around 5:30 pm and planned to meet Misha at the airport for a quick dinner before our flight.

Misha had Spring Break at the same time as Kristen so that worked out perfectly.

 

Amy didn’t have Spring Break at all, but wanted to come to California too. She would be arriving Saturday morning and then leaving mid-afternoon on Tuesday (the rest of us would leave on Wednesday evening).

 

We were happy to see that Pikes Peak parking lot was open. It had been closed even before Covid happened to have some paving done and then never really opened back up. There was very little paving done which seemed crazy. We thought they would have repaved the entire lot! Still, it was so much closer for us to park there than at the Parking Spot which adds at least twenty minutes onto our time for getting to the airport.

 

We used Chris Priority Plus perk with his travel credit card and had dinner at Sweetwater Mountain Tap House. It was all the way at the end of concourse B in the opposite direction of where we needed to board later, but he received over $50 in credit toward a meal.

 

Misha joined us shortly after we were seated, and we had a pretty quick dinner.

 

We walked "Kline speed" back through that concourse to the other B concourse for our boarding.

 

Chris and I were upgraded to business class. Since we had already eaten, we declined the dinner service and just enjoyed the extra comfy seats.

 

After landing, we took the train to the rental car area and picked up a minivan. Yep, so totally not cool, but it would fit the five of us so much better.

 

We stayed at the Hilton in San Jose so that we would be closer to pick up Amy in the morning when she arrived.

 

Update on Shannoy from my Pathways Class

The young girl in my Pathways Class who received a Book of Mormon from the Elders has met

with them twice now. She seems very shy to talk about her experience, but it is cool to know

that she is investigating the church.

I have another girl in my class who is a member but does not have a Book of Mormon or a Bible. I suggested that the next time she sees the missionaries she ask them for a copy. She should at least get a soft cover copy of the Book of Mormon, maybe a Bible.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have an impact on lives around the world.

She Hit a Deer

I was driving home from Kristen’s concert when a deer jumped out of the ditch and hit the back bumper of the car in front of me. No, it wasn't Kristen.

The driver, complete with a student driver bumper sticker on her car, didn’t even stop or slow down. She had some definite damage to her back bumper as I watched the tail light bounce onto the road. The deer was badly hurt but still alive.

Kristen's Choir Concert

Kristen had a choir concert with all of the high school choirs. 

She was selected for a short solo and did a fantastic job. 

I sat on the front row so my view was unobstructed, however, the view looking up may not have been the most flattering. 

Her solo was great. 

She has really worked hard to improve her singing this past year with her school choirs teacher and her voice lessons. We always say, You can always tell when Kristen is happy because she sings!

Chris' Job

While it is a LOT of work, Chris is loving his new job and the impact that is able to make in his company. 

He has been with Logic Monitor for 9 months now and has hired 3 new people to his team. His boss loves him.

He travels mostly to Austin, TX every couple of weeks to meet with customers, his team, and other co-workers.

And, he is pretty excited that he gets to travel to London in April for a week. It will be his first international work trip in four years! He has definitely missed the travel.

Dinner Theater

Chris and I made a dinner date with friends way back in November. 

We were able to attend the musical "Curtains" at the Candlelight Dinner Theater in Johnstown.

While the food was not fantastic, the play was fun and it was nice to meet up with our friends.

Broken Dishwasher

Our dishwasher stopped working one night as I tried to start a FULL load. I had to wash all of the dishes by hand!

Chris was out of town, but even when he got home, our trouble shooting didn’t get it working. 

He figured it was the electronics that were out and ordered a refurbished electrical panel to install. It took a week to arrive, so yeah, there was dishwashing by hand to do during that time. We used paper plates as much as possible that week. 

Chris followed some YouTube videos and easily replaced the electrical panel; the dishwasher has been working quite nicely since then.

Yay for being married to a handy guy (and for you Red Green fans, I find him to be dashingly handsome as well).

Kristen Playing Tennis

Kristen is playing tennis on the high school girls' team this Spring. She is excited to be on the Varsity team this year.

I attended her first match. So chilly.

Next week should be in the 60s and so much more pleasant!

Queen with the Colorado Symphony

Chris found a cool concert for us to attend. Because Misha gets discount tickets as a student, she and Sam purchased their tickets and Chris got some for him, Kristen, and me.

We drove to Denver on Friday evening after Kristen finished tennis. It was tight timing as we wanted to fit in some dinner before hand. 

After we picked Misha and Sam up from their apartments, Misha ordered food online from Chipotle. It was a good thing we got there in the time we did as Chipotle was a bit of a walk for us. We snarfed down our dinner and rushed back to the Boettcher Theater at the Denver Performing Arts Center.

The tickets for Chris, Kristen, and me were "almost" at the top of the theater. It was chair seating and we pretty much had to lean against the padding half wall in front of us to see the stage below.

Luckily, Misha came to find us at intermission and we moved down to sit in the empty seats next to her.  Much better.

The performer singing the Queen songs was Brody Dolyniuk and his rock band. They sang some early Queen songs that I wasn't as familiar with, and then some (mostly in the second half) that were a lot of fun: Bohemian Rhapsody. As an encore, he sand "We Are the Champions". So fun.

One of the amazing moments of the night came when Brody sang, "Who Want to Live Forever?" As a Ukrainian, he dedicated the song to the people suffering from the invasion of Russia. Members of the audience turned on their camera flashlights throughout the song and gave a standing ovation at the end. It brought tears to Brody's eyes.

She Brought Me Flowers

Kristen ran to the grocery store to pick up some stuff and came home with a bouquet of flowers for me.

I love her thoughtfulness.

He Made My Day

I was walking down the hall after church today and saw one of my former seminary students.

I casually touched his arm and asked, "How is seminary?"

He responded, "Good, but I miss you."

He made my day.

Kristen YW President

Kristen was just set apart today as the Young Women President for the oldest group of girls in YW. 

Aha Moment from Come, Follow Me

Aha moment today. 

I always thought Jacob served for seven years, married Leah, and then served another seven years before marrying Rachel but it was only one week later that he married Rachel and then he served another seven years after he married her.

Genesis 29:24-28

24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. 

25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? 

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 

28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

Kristen's Hair

Chris has pretty much nixed the idea of Kristen dying her hair in the house anymore. 

She had friends over and they all went outside to help her apply the dye. It was passably warm outside.

I was kind of surprised that she offered to let me take a picture like this.

Kristen still showered after which may count for "dying her hair" inside since the dye seems to stain her shower.

And just in case you think her dad is heartless, we have a hot water spigot in the back yard that she could have used.

A Quick Trip to Utah

Kristen flew out to Utah to spend Presidents' Day Weekend with Amy.

She was confident in just having me drop her off at Departures and then making her way through security to the train and then boarding. 

We figured Chris would be arriving at the airport a couple of hours later, so if Kristen had any problems, she could just wait for him.

She left out of gate B41 and that's exactly where Chris deplaned later in the morning.

Amy picked Kristen up from the Salt Lake City airport a couple of hours later and they set out to have a fun weekend together.

From the pictures I received, they went to the gym together, had a sisters' date at the nickel arcade, went bowling together, and shopped.

Kristen was not at all anxious to come back home and get back into the routine of school. She's pretty much over school altogether at this point.

Chris and I picked up Kristen from the airport Monday evening after meeting up with Misha for dinner in Denver. Always good to see Misha.

Ski Day for Chris

It was a ski day for Chris and a quiet weekend for me. Chris bought a ski pass for discounted tickets and was happy to find a friend who was available to go with him.

They left early Saturday morning to get to Loveland Ski area before the parking lot was filled. Chris said the lot filled up shortly after they arrived and no more skiers were allowed into the parking area.

It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and pretty nice temperatures with minimal mishaps.

Roses From Chris

Chris arrived home from being away in Austin, TX for a few days with arms his laden with a suit jacket, his suitcase, a backpack, and a dozen roses for me!

Scary Day at Work

Just before Amy was finished work, some guy ran into the front entrance of VASA (fitness facility) and yelled that they needed a defibrillator at the Red Lobster across the street. 

Amy grabbed the defibrillator and she and another coworker ran over to the Red Lobster. Fortunately, the police were already there working on the guy and quickly grabbed the defibrillator from Amy. 

She left once the ambulance arrived but didn't think that the gentleman ever regained consciousness. Kind of a scary "get your own heart pumping" way to end a day of work!

Kristen Gets Her Braces Off!

It has been a loooooong three years with braces for Kristen.

When she first met with the orthodontist, she told her she won the lottery in our family for needing the most orthodontia. 

And thus began three years of pain. Kristen had the braces applied to her teeth, and not long after that, she went to the oral surgeon for jaw surgery and to have her wisdom teeth removed.

From there, she had appliances and gizmos in her mouth that made me want to cry. It made her cry for sure and she endured lots of pain and discomfort.

Not to mention that her original orthodontist had to quickly retire due to health problems and the new orthodontist said she would need these piston-like gizmos to move her jaw. Not fun! And he added about 9 extra months of torture.

Hallelujah! The angels sang today as Kristen finally is brace-free (though she does have retainers to wear 24/7 for the next eight weeks and then probably at night forever more).

Before Before

Before

After!

Doesn't she look amazing? And happy? 

Kristen's New Phone

Using her money earned from work, Kristen purchased her first phone yesterday.

She has been using an iPhone 8 for a number of years and was more than ready to have a phone that would stay charged throughout the day.

She was looking at driving to Boulder to pick up the phone, but then Apple required that the person on the T-Mobile account also go with her. That was a huge chunk of time out of my day.

The other option was to pay a small delivery fee; she chose that option and a lady dropped the phone off at the house a couple of hours later. Easy peasy.

Valentine's Day Dinner for Kristen

Kristen and her boyfriend, Kyle, are having a lot of fun together. I like that they are creative in their dates.

For Valentine's Day, Kyle surprised Kristen with a homemade dinner complete with all of the decorations too. Kyle made spaghetti and meatballs with cheesecake for dessert.