Hayden's Visit--Day 4

Being from North Carolna, Hayden had never seen the Pacific Ocean so that was our first stop on Tuesday morning.  We took him to El Tunco; he was impressed with the beach and the waves.

 We walked through the fish market on the wharf at the Port of La Libertad. It's quite an experience of sites and smells that's not easily forgotten!  The waves were the biggest I've ever seen.

Our next stop was to visit El Boqueron--the dormant volcano which is visible from our apartment.  It is also beautiful, although quite a contrast from the ocean.  

One the way back home we stopped for a late lunch at La Pampa.  The food and the view were both amazing!  

Up, up and away

Hiking was the word of the day on Thursday.  The morning hike was along the McCurdy trail just outside of Stinson Beach.  Unfortunately, if Mr. McCurdy knew the shape of his namesake trail, he would be quite embarrassed.  In fact, Maleia and Josiah called it the "grass and flowers in your face" trail.  It could have kept a hard-working Salvadoreño and his trusty machete busy for a couple of days, if not weeks.

Afterwards, we treated ourselves to coffee/donuts at the Parkside Cafe and let the kids play on the playground.  

The afternoon hike was much nicer . . . up the trail with a great ocean view as your reward, well, that plus a couple of wild, ripe blackberries.  

One last splash in the cold, cold water to end the day.

Fun in the Sun (and Wind)

Jon picked us up yesterday and we drove to our home-away-from-home on Stinson Beach about 5:00 p.m.  We stopped to buy groceries on the way out of town so we were ready to settle in.  First stop, a walk along the beach and our first impression of the beaches in northern California--windy and cold, but beautiful.  Grilled chicken, fresh asparagus and corn-on-the-cob made an excellent dinner and a nice change to eating out every day since Saturday.   

We walked to the little town a few blocks away this morning and had a late breakfast.  Then drove up Highway 1 for about 10 miles and then south in to Bolinas--a quaint little town that loves it's privacy.  The townspeople are so intent on keeping their town hidden that they have been known to take down the highway signs at the intersection of Highway 1 and the main road into town.  Stephen read that fact on a website about the town and, sure enough, we missed the turn the first time because there wasn't a sign.  

We got back to the house about 1:30 and within less than 30 minutes, Daniel, Maleia and Josiah arrived.  Hurray for grandkids!  The temperature of the ocean didn't matter to them--there's nothing more fun than running along the beach and having the water sweep over your feet.

We took a walk to the park and while they played, Daniel and I stopped at the little market to buy a few pizza toppings.  Jon made his special homemade pizza dough and with everyone helping with the slicing and dicing, we had two delicious homemade, gourmet pizzas for dinner.  

The kids took another walk on the beach while I baked up a couple dozen Snickerdoodles.  Warm cookies before bed . . . . perfect.  The kids are settled in and the four of us are starting a card game.  

Spent the day with Jon

We spent the day with Jon yesterday.  We drove to Santa Cruz and went to lunch at the Delmarette in Santa Cruz.  After we walked over to our favorite candy/nut shop (Nut Kreations) and spent more money than we planned!  Unfortunately, it's hard for me to pass on their make-you-own-trailmix combos as they have a incredible assortment of roasted nuts and dried fruit, like salt/pepper cashews, honey roasted mixed nuts, ranch flavored corn nuts, red walnuts, dried golden raisins, cranberries, blueberries, banana chips, pineapple and much, much more.  Okay, enough about the trailmix!

We drove to Watsonville (about 20 minutes from Santa Cruz) which is a farming community.  We saw pickers harvesting strawberries and I realized that I must be more thankful when I eat strawberries.  Row after row, bending over to pluck them from under the plants--how their backs must ache after a long day of work.

We walked down 100 steps (I'm not kidding) to get down to Sunset Beach.  Even though it's beautiful, the ocean is so cold here in northern California that it only takes dipping a couple of fingers to decide that it's best to stay on the beach.  Although we discussed it, we decided not to be corny and write our names and the date in the sand.  Then came the bad news--the car is back up the 100 steps, which reminded me that I've got to start up on the elliptical message when we get back.

Jon showed us his new chair project and all of his most recently completed projects.  I'm amazed at his skill.  He gave us a new wooden box with a leather covered lid.  The mitred edges are beautifully done!  Don't know exactly what I will use it for, maybe jewelry.  

We finished off the evening at Bantam Pizza, a swanky pizza place in Santa Cruz.  There's nothing ordinary about their pizza which means that we had to have the waiter explain various ingredients, i.e. crescenza (cheese), panchetta (bacon), stracciatella (cheese), calabrians (spicy red peppers), etc.  We settled on a Margherita pizza and a Salchichero (pepperoni) pizza.  Delish!