Here it is, the final installment of our northern california vacation, Part V: The Petrified Forest and more! To recap, we had just gone Seal Hunting and found the (almost) mythical After-Christmas Seals. After running around on the beach with the seals (well, we did the running, the seals just laid there relaxing), we headed back up the little road out of the beach. Along the way, there were small parking areas overlooking some cool rock formations in the ocean. The following are some pictures of the beach. It was quite foggy and cloudy by this time, so the pictures actually show what we saw. Although it was fairly dreary, we thought the view was still beautiful up the road leading away from Goat Rock Beach (where the seals were). As with most of the photos in my blog entries, hover over the pictures for some more comments. Views of […]
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Northern California: Part IV
The saga continues with Part IV: The Christmas Seals? Christmas day dawned rainy and foggy in Santa Rosa. When we went to bed the night before, the weatherman had predicted another sunny day. Phaugh! Never trust the weather man! Nevertheless, Vin and I decided we would go on the hunt for Seals (we were told by my former-colleague Don Floyd that the mouth of the Russian River was a good place to find elephant seals). We looked for seals in Eureka and Trinidad with no luck! No ewoks turned up in the redwood forests either. So, after a great breakfast buffet, Vin and I went off to look for the mouth of the Russian River and hopefully some seals! It was still raining pretty heavily though as we drove down the winding road that leads to our destination. [[image:cal66.jpg:Rainy River Road:center:0]] [[image:cal67.jpg:Fog in the distance:center:0]] Finally we get to the […]
Continue readingNorthern California: Part III
I do feel a little guilty for piling on the pictures but we really did have a good time in northern california. Part I should be subtitled “Rainy San Fran”, Part II is “Eureka! Redwoods!”, and this Part III is really “Avenue of the Giants, a.k.a. You thought the other redwoods were big? Get a load of this!” In our journey so far, we have covered the first three days of our trip. It’s now Christmas Eve and we hang out with Jeff and his family that morning before we take off southwards. Here’s Sarah Kate and Sam, Jeff and Tammy’s children: [[image:cal36.jpg:cute kids!:center:0]] [[image:cal37.jpg:Sam, napping in his car seat:center:0]] [[image:cal38.jpg:Jeff and Sarah Kate:center:0]] [[image:cal39.jpg:Showing off dirty hands from playing horseshoes:center:0]] [[image:cal40.jpg:Sam woke up and needed a cuddle:center:0]] [[image:cal41.jpg:Big smile from Sarah!:center:0]] After our farewells, we head back south down the 101. Unbelievably, the weather held and we had our […]
Continue readingNorthern California: Part II
Eureka!! We finally arrived there!! To Eureka, California that is. We drove the 5-6 hours north on highway 101 until we reached Eureka, and we checked into our hotel with great relief. It was pitch dark, we were tired and hungry, and it had rained the entire drive. The next morning, we woke up to sunny skies and beautiful weather. So we got together with Jeff (Vin’s buddy from La Porte High School, IN) who lives in Eureka, and he took us to see the sights. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go to Trinidad Head to see if we could spot any seals. Sadly, no seals were to be found but look at the gorgeous view! [[image:cal12.jpg:Vin and Jeff looking out to sea:center:0]] [[image:cal13.jpg:Trinidad Head from the cliffs:center:0]] [[image:cal14.jpg:More Trinidad Head:center:0]] We climbed down a long and rickety stairway to get down to the beach. [[image:cal15.jpg:View […]
Continue readingNorthern California: Part I
For Christmas, Vin and I went roving again…this year we flew to San Francisco, and stayed in Northern California for 8 days. Part I will cover the first few days we were there – these are the days we spent in San Francisco proper (we arrived in San Fran Tuesday morning December 20th, and stayed until Thursday December 22nd early afternoon). The rest of the time was spent driving up and down the Northern California Coast. Here’s Vin sitting and reading outside – picture taken from our room three floors above. Doesn’t he just look so engrossed in his book? I can’t remember now what he was reading on the trip.. [[image:cal1.jpg:Back of Vin’s Head:center:0]] [[image:cal2.jpg:He looks up after I psssted him:center:0]] Here we are on the streets of San Francisco: [[image:cal3.jpg:Vin with I-forget-the-name-of-the-Tower in the background:center:0]] [[image:cal4.jpg:Me with same tower in the background:center:0]] See the big umbrella? The Hilton […]
Continue readingMaryland – Part II
As promised, here’s Part II of our trip to Maryland. Aside from fishing, during the day and a half we spent there, we ate our fill in Maryland’s pride and joy, the Maryland Blue Crab. Dean and Dolores who live in Crisfield, MD, live in a house where the back yard opens out into canals which lead to the Chesapeake Bay. So they almost never have to actually purchase the blue crab. Each household is allowed 2 crab pots which they toss into the canal behind their house. Amazing what some chicken wire, a dead fish, and a few hours in the waters of the Chesapeake will get you! It’s like magic – the crabs crawl into the pot and they can’t come out! Read on for more blue crab adventures, but if you are squeamish, the truth is we do eventually get to eat the crabs. So yes, there […]
Continue readingMaryland – Part I
Hisham’s reminiscing has prompted me to finally take action – all this summer I have been procrastinating making some family related entries. Vin’s family had several family-related occasions and I have been meaning to blog them. Rather than doing them in chronological order, I am going to organize it a little differently. In early August, Vin and I traveled to Maryland first to Bel Aire to visit with Aunt Joan and Uncle John, then to Crisfield to visit with Aunt Dolores and Uncle Dean. Our visit with Aunt Joan and Uncle John was short and amounted to a quick lunch with them, but stay tuned, there will be more on them in upcoming entries. In Crisfield, Dean took Vin and I fishing. For the second year in a row, I went fishing with Dean and Vin, and guess what? For the second year in a row, the girl beat the […]
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