California...finally!

Whoooweee, this is a long one. Here are the pics from my recent trip to Carmel, Ca. I went with my friend Cindy and we hung out with her former roommate Daisy who now lives out there. It was great fun and a much needed vacation I might add. We tromped around Pebble Beach, Carmel, Monterey and I took a side trip to San Luis Obispo to visit my Aunt Joan. So here they are....to start I'll show you the first breakfast I woke up to at Daisy's place. If there was one person on earth to stay with on vacation, it would be Daisy. She says presentation counts and I beleive her. Not only was this the best waffle ever but it was definitely a great way to start the foodfest...I mean vacation.


After our great breakfast we headed out to Carmel Valley to do some wine tasting. Chateau Julien was our first stop and we had a good time with our guide (Shawn). This was my favorite wine...

This is Shawn...did you know they plant rosebushes at the end of many grape rows? Apparently rosebushes get the same bugs n' stuff that wine grapes do, but a week sooner, so they use the roses as a gauge. Mmmmm wine......


The Pebble Beach Cypress Tree - we stopped along the 17 mile drive to check out this Pebble Beach landmark. Daisy is just working for PB for the year while her husband finished his masters, then they are off to Arizona. Trust me, it's great to go this part of the country with someone who lives there! (otherwise I'd still be driving around PB trying to find the out...wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad thing.) If you've never been to PB, it's quite a place. Their motto is to make your visit a once in a lifetime experience...and they live up to it.


Daisy, Cindy and me on the PB porch. Best. Desserts. Ever. Ever. Ever.

Traps bar at PB. Best. Drinks. Ever.


We drove down to Big Sur one day. This is McQuay falls in Julia Pfeffer State Park. It was really nice when we were there, the only down side was the constant haze.



Sunset at Pebble Beach.


We stayed at the Carmel Vally Ranch in a big old fancy room with an enourmous bathroom. I've never stayed in luxury like that but could definitely get used to it. We got a great rate by going during the off season and I would recommend this place if you needed to get away. I wanted to put more pictures of the place we stayed but I think I'm already over the limit. :)


I have an odd affection for rocks on a beach...the water was COOOOOLLLLD and I could not believe people were surfing in it.


Sunset in Carmel


More affection for odd rocks...


We then headed off to the Monterey Bay Aquarium...


This was the biggest, doofiest fish I have ever seen. Just to give you a hint of how big it was...it was as tall as I am.


You may be thinking "scrabble on vaca?" Oh boy, Daisy and Cindy are HARDCORE long time scrabble players and I still can't believe they let me join. It was quite the relaxing entertainment however, I have to give a special kudos to Jeff and Matt at the Flint Journal. We played one round sans a dictionary and we needed some emergency lookups...so who else did we decide to call at 3am Michigan time...but the guys on the sports desk! :)


On the way to San Luis Obispo - I stumbled upon a really stinky collection of elephant seals. They really are quite interesting to watch.


Welcome to San Luis O...


Disclaimer: San Luis O. is one of the coolest towns I've been to but I could not resist some pictures of the town's more eccentric features. This is the reason why I will NEVER chew gum again if I can help it. This is bubblegum alley...it has BILLIONS of people's chewed gum stuck to the walls. And much of it includes wonderful displays of artwork...

Yeee-uuu-cccc-kkk...but very creative. :)


And last but not least, The Madonna Inn. Wow. If you go and need a once in a lifetime funky place to stay...stay here. It's quite the landmark (ww.madonnainn.com) and this lone picture just doesn't do it justice. Apparently in the men's room (which we didn't get to go into) when men pee, it triggers a waterfall to start up from the ceiling. Who wouldn't want to stay in a place like that! I think I need to stay in the Caveman room...although I'm not sure I could get to sleep in the "what's left" room.


OK, well that's it. There's soo much more fun that we had, but I had to cut the pictures off somewhere. Let me know if you're headed that way and I'll be glad to pass over some good eat places and some good places to visit.