Day 8, September 8, 2011
Being the nervous type, I was up at 1:30AM, even though I had set the alarm for 3AM. I really don't know what to do, so I went downstairs to use the laptop, then went upstairs to try to sleep, and got up and went downstairs, in some type of perpetual circles.
We left Sue's house at 5AM, after a prolonged good-bye. Paula, Ann and Sue were all red-eyed and teary-eyed. We finally pulled them apart and drove off. Ann and Louis had a 9 AM flight, and we arrived the airport a bit before 7AM, so that should be just perfect. Our flight was not until around 2PM, so we have plenty of time. I had originally thought of going to a DimSum place in Millbrae, the town next to the airport. Come to find out they open at 11AM, so there is no way we are going to sit in the car for four hours waiting for them to open.
We decided to drive in to San Francisco Chinatown. We asked a traffic-control cop for directions. I half expected him to shoo us off, like they would in Boston, but he even went inside to the information booth, and came out with SF map. Paula loves to follow a trip with a map, so it was perfect.
We did not have much trouble finding SF, but had a bit of trouble finding Chinatown, even with the GPS and the map. The streets in the surrounding areas have been dug up, and we were detoured a few times, so finally, I stopped on Grant Street to ask a man in a pickup truck for directions. He point straight ahead and said "See the pagoda? That is Chinatown." We were just a couple of blocks away, and Grant Street runs right through the heart of the town. The man also recommended a good parking garage (translate: cheap) on Stockton Street. (Five dollars for two hours)
in
Grant Street is an uphill climb. You have to be fit to live in San Francisco. Very hilly. After more inquiries, we found a restaurant that is open early at 8AM. Most open at 10 or 11.
No sooner had we entered the restaurant, a tour group of about 30 people walked in and completely filled the dining room. We picked up a few regular favorite DimSums: beef noodles wrap, rice in leaves, pork dumplings, spare ribs, and bamboo rolls. I so enjoyed them, I forgot to take pictures.
After a short stroll around Chinatown, we drove back to the airport and checked in, settled down at the gate. By 1 PM, I noticed the gate is still not open. I checked and found out our flight has been delayed, due to the weather in Boston, until 4:10PM. They later changed it to 3:40PM. Oh, a long day.
We took off on time, and the flight was pleasant enough. Along the way, Paula and I shared a chicken-breast sandwich, and we had an ample supply of blue chips. JetBlue will provide as much munchies to you as you want. Water too. Just walk to the gallery and pick them up yourself.
We arrived at Boston at 12:50 in the morning, and got home around 1:40AM. A long day, but it was a great trip. Thanks to Sue, we were able to visit many scenic places, and ate a lot of good food. Thanks.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
One day more - we live among animals
Day 7, September 7, 2011
As I made up this blog post title, I am reminded of a great saying from my grand-daughter Lena, after her camping trip in Maine this Summer: "We lived like animals, except in tents." That pretty much sums up everyone's camping experience.
Breakfast at IHOP. We have been thinking about the hash brown potatoes, and the bacon and eggs, and the sausages, and the pancakes, so we went to IHOP for breakfast today. I ordered the Breakfast sampler that has everything in it: eggs, bacon, sausages, ham, and a hash brown potato. I am quite happy with what I ordered. Everyone else ordered what they like.
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the Wild Things (animal shelter and rescue.) This place is also an EARS (Elephants of Africa Rescue Service) shelter. It is almost like a zoo, with animals that are discarded by owners or retired from movies. Joseph the Lion is their oldest and most famous lion, the one that was the model for the big lion in the Lion King.
Paula opt for the "feed the elephant" option when we bought the tickets. At the end of the tour, she get to meet the biggest elephant in the herd and fed him some carrots.
The three sisters in the kitchen. Sue made a delicious salad, and is planning a steak dinner.
Sue's yummy steaks, with baked potatoes and grilled baby portabella mushrooms.
We ate outside at the
patio. Manny joined us, showing us how to achieve total relaxation.
As the evening chilled down, Sue started the outdoor fire pit. It took the chill off the air and provided some nice flame to watch.
The flame bowl was interesting. It appears to be a bowl of lantern oil, but can burn without wicks.
As I made up this blog post title, I am reminded of a great saying from my grand-daughter Lena, after her camping trip in Maine this Summer: "We lived like animals, except in tents." That pretty much sums up everyone's camping experience.
Breakfast at IHOP. We have been thinking about the hash brown potatoes, and the bacon and eggs, and the sausages, and the pancakes, so we went to IHOP for breakfast today. I ordered the Breakfast sampler that has everything in it: eggs, bacon, sausages, ham, and a hash brown potato. I am quite happy with what I ordered. Everyone else ordered what they like.
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the Wild Things (animal shelter and rescue.) This place is also an EARS (Elephants of Africa Rescue Service) shelter. It is almost like a zoo, with animals that are discarded by owners or retired from movies. Joseph the Lion is their oldest and most famous lion, the one that was the model for the big lion in the Lion King.
Paula opt for the "feed the elephant" option when we bought the tickets. At the end of the tour, she get to meet the biggest elephant in the herd and fed him some carrots.
Sue's yummy steaks, with baked potatoes and grilled baby portabella mushrooms.
We ate outside at the
patio. Manny joined us, showing us how to achieve total relaxation.
The flame bowl was interesting. It appears to be a bowl of lantern oil, but can burn without wicks.
Lush Monterey - the last of the Missions Tours
September 6, 2011
After many days of good and rich food, we decided to have a healthy breakfast today. We cooked up three kinds of oat meals this morning, and sampled all three. There is the Irish steel cut oat meal, a multi-grain oat meal, and the regular five-minute oat meal. No, no instant oat meal.
Sue cooked the Irish stone cut oat meal. Four cups of water, one cup oat meal, bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. It takes a bit of time, but this can be cooked at night and stored in the refrigerator. Louis cooked up the multi-grain in another pot, and microwaved the regular oat meal. We sat around the table, and sampled all three, with complements of brown sugar, raspberries, blue-berries, and half-and-half. It was a very satisfying breakfast.
For today's tour, we drove to Carmel Mission Basilica. This old church was built by Fr. Junipero Serra in 1770. At some point, it was restored and enlarged to what we see today. In 1987, the then Pope John Paul II visited the church, and spent some time there praying. Pope John Paul II declared the church a minor basillica, and the restoration project began.
The main courtyard of the church leads to the main entrance. Two clock towers surround the main building. This is the original church building. The long hall on the left house the museum, library (the first library in the country), and the gift shop. The long building is not reinforced for earthquake, and had toppled once during an earthquake before.
In this room, Pope John Paul II had prayed when he visited in 1987.
Outside the main building, there is a very big courtyard, with a center fountain. On one side are the school rooms, and school was in session this day.
The three sisters lined up for a photo shoot.
From the courtyard, the bell tower is flanked by flowers on each side. At noon, the bell rang very loudly, and a child screamed.
Continuing with my experiment to frame the subject of my photograph with interesting background, I found this tree with large branches to frame the cross. This cross marks the original location Fr. Serra erected the cross.
This is the original fountain in the old church. It was completely restored in 1987, in time for the Pope's visit.
The long corridor outside the museum and library.
In the courtyard, there are two large barbeque pits. The fire pits burns wood, but may be started by gas. The BBQ looks like they are large enough to cook 50 chickens at once, each. On the side, there is a large cooler for cold drinks, and a wash basin for washing hands and things. This must have been a great place for an outdoor party.
More picture of the main building. After seeing the museum, I went back outside to take more pictures of the main building, including some artistic ones.
I like the way the archway frames the building inside. I have another picture of this archway with the vines on the wall, looking very much like a Spanish villa.
This picture shows the original church, before the restoration. the long building in front and to the left is in ruins.
Outside the gift shop, a humming bird was flying from flower to flower. Here he is shown at the top right of the picture.
After visiting the Mission church, we went down Ocean Avenue, and stopped for lunch at The Forge in the Forest. Paula had tea, and the tea mug bears the name of the restaurant.
We drove down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue, and walked onto the sandy beach. The beach is called white sands beach. There was a lot of big waves there this afternoon. Across the bay, you can see the green fields of the Pebble Beach Golf Club.
Manny is such a friendly cat. Here I am, late at night, stretched out on the sofa watching TV. Manny just jumped up on the couch, and rested his head on the arch of my foot. He appears to be quite comfortable and stayed for a long time.
Sue cooked the Irish stone cut oat meal. Four cups of water, one cup oat meal, bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. It takes a bit of time, but this can be cooked at night and stored in the refrigerator. Louis cooked up the multi-grain in another pot, and microwaved the regular oat meal. We sat around the table, and sampled all three, with complements of brown sugar, raspberries, blue-berries, and half-and-half. It was a very satisfying breakfast.
For today's tour, we drove to Carmel Mission Basilica. This old church was built by Fr. Junipero Serra in 1770. At some point, it was restored and enlarged to what we see today. In 1987, the then Pope John Paul II visited the church, and spent some time there praying. Pope John Paul II declared the church a minor basillica, and the restoration project began.
The main courtyard of the church leads to the main entrance. Two clock towers surround the main building. This is the original church building. The long hall on the left house the museum, library (the first library in the country), and the gift shop. The long building is not reinforced for earthquake, and had toppled once during an earthquake before.
In this room, Pope John Paul II had prayed when he visited in 1987.
Outside the main building, there is a very big courtyard, with a center fountain. On one side are the school rooms, and school was in session this day.
The three sisters lined up for a photo shoot.
From the courtyard, the bell tower is flanked by flowers on each side. At noon, the bell rang very loudly, and a child screamed.
Continuing with my experiment to frame the subject of my photograph with interesting background, I found this tree with large branches to frame the cross. This cross marks the original location Fr. Serra erected the cross.
This is the original fountain in the old church. It was completely restored in 1987, in time for the Pope's visit.
The long corridor outside the museum and library.
In the courtyard, there are two large barbeque pits. The fire pits burns wood, but may be started by gas. The BBQ looks like they are large enough to cook 50 chickens at once, each. On the side, there is a large cooler for cold drinks, and a wash basin for washing hands and things. This must have been a great place for an outdoor party.
More picture of the main building. After seeing the museum, I went back outside to take more pictures of the main building, including some artistic ones.
I like the way the archway frames the building inside. I have another picture of this archway with the vines on the wall, looking very much like a Spanish villa.
This picture shows the original church, before the restoration. the long building in front and to the left is in ruins. 
Outside the gift shop, a humming bird was flying from flower to flower. Here he is shown at the top right of the picture.
After visiting the Mission church, we went down Ocean Avenue, and stopped for lunch at The Forge in the Forest. Paula had tea, and the tea mug bears the name of the restaurant.
We drove down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue, and walked onto the sandy beach. The beach is called white sands beach. There was a lot of big waves there this afternoon. Across the bay, you can see the green fields of the Pebble Beach Golf Club.
I received an email from Tim, enclosing two pictures of Lena. Today is Lena's first day at kintergarten. Here she is with her new dress, new shoes, new backpack (?) and sporting a new hair do.
What a beautiful girl. Oh, she is growing up too fast.
Apparently John Paul wants to get into the act too. He looks like he is ready for school. They are such good children, I really love them
I am glad I receive this email and the pictures. What a great way to end the day. Thank you, Tim.
Late entry: Manny the cat
Manny is such a friendly cat. Here I am, late at night, stretched out on the sofa watching TV. Manny just jumped up on the couch, and rested his head on the arch of my foot. He appears to be quite comfortable and stayed for a long time.Monday, September 5, 2011
Day of leisure - Day 5
Day 5, September 5, 2011
We are going to hang around the house today: do some laundry, some fix-up, watch TV and eat cake. Sounds good after running around for the last few days. Look at Manny. He knows how to relax.
Louis made waffles in the morning. He didn't have his regular recipe, but was able to find something similar online, and used it successfully. The waffles were super fluffy inside, and crispy outside.
While Paula and Ann were busy doing the laundry, Louis and I worked on fixing the faucets in Sue's room, and the guest bathroom. (Louis did all the work. I only hand him the screwdriver when he needed it.) This involved running out to Home Depot multiple times. On one of the trips, we stopped to get Paula a birthday cake - a yellow cake with strawberry filling.
We changed the light switch upstairs and telephone plated too. Tomorrow we will fix up the dinning room chairs.
Sue put a dozen (xxxx) flowers in our room for Paula. Paula really liked it and asked me to take pictures of the flowers. Thank you, Sue.
For lunch, we went to a fast food place called "In and Out" burgers. Their menu choices are simple: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, or double-double (double cheeseburgers with buns) and fries or not?
Paula and I each had a cheeseburger with their special sauce, and shared an order of fries. We asked for lettuce, tomatoes and onions too, but I have to fish out the pickles. For drinks I had root beer and Paula just have water.
The burgers were delicious, and the fries cripsy. We all left feeling happy and satisfied.
For dinner, Sue made shrimp civiche. It is like a shrimp salad on Tostidas chips. Everyone enjoyed it, and finished the big bowl of civiche. I think this dish will even go good on salad, or eaten plain in a cup.
Besides the civiche, I also had a piece of pizza leftover from yesterday. Ah, another satisfying meal. I soon fell asleep, while everyone watches a movie.
Both Paula and I loved the dish, so I am going to make it when we go home. I found a recipe online: I will alter it to be closer to Sue's recipe.
ci
Here is Paula, ready to serve her birthday cake, in her pretty pink dress. Sue commented that the color of the cake matches her kitchen color. Ann thought the green color on the cake looked like guacamole, and that she has never seen a cake with such straight edges. The cake was delicious.
Louis made waffles in the morning. He didn't have his regular recipe, but was able to find something similar online, and used it successfully. The waffles were super fluffy inside, and crispy outside.
While Paula and Ann were busy doing the laundry, Louis and I worked on fixing the faucets in Sue's room, and the guest bathroom. (Louis did all the work. I only hand him the screwdriver when he needed it.) This involved running out to Home Depot multiple times. On one of the trips, we stopped to get Paula a birthday cake - a yellow cake with strawberry filling.
We changed the light switch upstairs and telephone plated too. Tomorrow we will fix up the dinning room chairs.
Sue put a dozen (xxxx) flowers in our room for Paula. Paula really liked it and asked me to take pictures of the flowers. Thank you, Sue.
Paula and I each had a cheeseburger with their special sauce, and shared an order of fries. We asked for lettuce, tomatoes and onions too, but I have to fish out the pickles. For drinks I had root beer and Paula just have water.
The burgers were delicious, and the fries cripsy. We all left feeling happy and satisfied.
Besides the civiche, I also had a piece of pizza leftover from yesterday. Ah, another satisfying meal. I soon fell asleep, while everyone watches a movie.
Both Paula and I loved the dish, so I am going to make it when we go home. I found a recipe online: I will alter it to be closer to Sue's recipe.
Ingredients
Directions
ci
Here is Paula, ready to serve her birthday cake, in her pretty pink dress. Sue commented that the color of the cake matches her kitchen color. Ann thought the green color on the cake looked like guacamole, and that she has never seen a cake with such straight edges. The cake was delicious.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Mission Church - San Juan Bautista
It is Sunday. For Mass, Sue decided we should check out the old Mission church at San Juan Bautista. This cute little (and very Western looking) town is just a bit south of Prunedale on Route 101 South. It took about 30 minutes to get to the town, and off the center of the town is the large compound of the old Mission church.
This church is an adobe church, built in 1797, with the help of the native Indians. The floor tiles inside are clay tiles, and some of the tiles have hoof prints on them. These are left by animals stepping on the tiles when they were drying in the sun.
There are three aisles inside. The two outside aisles are empty. The main aisle has two columns of pews. We sat pretty much up front on the left side
The three sisters.
This is the long corridor that leads from the street to the church. You can see the clay bricks in the column in front. Outside, it is lined with tall trees, and we can park our car just in front, under the shade of the big trees.
I have come to enjoy using geometric shapes to frame the pictures. This is my first attempt to get the white building across the field. I want to show the thickness of the wall, but was not able to center the white building without losing the full thickness of the wall.
This picture just shows the geometry of the corridor. I like the simplicity of the image.
This is a building, next to the white building. It is a beautiful building. We did not go inside.
The Plaza Hotel is just across the street. The right most door says "Bar Room", and Louis and I were going to belly up to the bar and yell "Bar keep!". I don't think the hotel is open anymore. Along the front is a horse hitch, the long pole for cowboys to tie their horses while they go in for drinks.
On the side, there are individual posts with rings, also for hitching horses.
We ordered a pitcher of Margarita, but they served the drinks in tiny wine glasses. Sue was not pleased.
Paula having her 'birthday' chocolate ice cream. The waitresses and hostess sang "Happy birthday" to Paula.
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