After the sailing we decided to stop by some fancy places. The first was a little winery tasting room for MJA Vineyards. We had some of their wine, but didn’t think it was that great. The chocolate covered coffee beans were pretty tasty, but that didn’t justify a purchase. After the wine tasting we went to a chocolatier and got a lot of chocolate. Steph was cute and kept seeing something else she thought sounded tasty and she would grab one and add it to our pile. We ended up getting 11 different kinds of chocolate. We tried one while driving back and it was really good. I don’t think it was quite as good as the Chocolate Garage chocolates, but still nice. It was more flavored with not as great chocolate.
Today we took Cat 35 out for our first sailing outing on the big boats without an instructor and it went really well. We only stayed on the water for about 4 hours, but it was plenty for us. Nima and Caryn weren’t feeling too good, so 4 hours was about the limit. The winds were really strange, as there was about 2 miles of no wind before getting into the regular wind stream. It took us a long time to get out into the wind, and we were really far off the coast. I am glad we got some good wind after all, as it would have been a disappointing sailing outing without it. Julian was a lot of help around the boat as he had done a good bit of sailing with Lasers, so he knew the basics. Bri didn’t seem to be enjoying herself all that much, and was the only one not to take a turn at the wheel. Since we had to go 2 miles offshore to get wind, the waves were pretty big compared to what we had normally been dealing with. It made the adventure that much better, but also made the passengers that much sicker. When we were moving it wasn’t too bad for them from the sounds of it, but when we were hove to they were feeling really bad, especially Nima. We had lunch out on the water after we had hove to, and it was really tasty. Julian and Bri brought a tasty spinach and artichoke dip, along with some margarita. As we were heading in the racing had move to only a couple hundred yards from the mouth of the harbor, and we got a little in their way. They were far to close to shore, but there wasn’t any wind anywhere else within a few miles.
Steph and I went to Stillwater Cove at Pebble Beach for a nice dive. The surface swim was incredibly long, about 45 minutes. The dive was nice, we saw; large valleys, small overhangs, sunstars, sea slugs, and a lot of abalone (shells and live). We also saw the cutest adolescent harbor seal. They have the biggest puppy-dog eyes and look like a stuffed animal. We had a bit of a BBQ on the beach there. Some of the other guys were spearfishing and caught a good number of fish. I was there with Greg, Mike, Dave, Joe, Joey, and a few others that I can’t remember their names.
The BBQ last night is making me feel a little sick this morning. Mom made some scrambled eggs for breakfast, and I had a good bit of the other half of the cantaloupe from the farmer’s market. After packing everything up they took me to the airport. All in all it has been a pretty good vacation; it has been good to see the family.
When we got back to the house Dad was ready to take the iPad case in for exchange, so we stopped by the Apple store and I got the light blue front cover. We then headed to the Commissary to pick up the BBQ for that evening. We got all the good stuff, and a lot of BBQ. As always the Commissary is super tasty. When we got back to the house Dad and I started drinking some wine and played some cards. He beat me badly, and I just wasn’t getting the cards I needed. I made a few mistakes in the early games, but the later ones I was getting really bad luck. Kim joined us for dinner and brought over a really tasty dessert, apricot tart. This morning I’m feeling sick from all the tasty, rich food last night, and all the meat.
After getting home from the bike ride we called Kim and the three of us went to the farmer’s market at the Agricenter. Mom was looking for a broom, but was unable to find one. The food looked really good, and I got a really sweet smelling cantaloupe. We then stopped by Kim/Ray’s house, and it was really large and nice looking. I wish I could have a house like that in the bay area. She introduced me to her cat Thumper, who was born without a tail.
She then attempted to do a cat beard with Thumper (She’s doing it wrong!). Just kidding, she was giving him all sorts of love.
Once Dad called we headed right back to the house, and met up with Dad.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs with goat cheese and bacon, Mom and I went on a bike ride from the house to patriot lake. It was a perfect day for a ride and we went at a relaxed pace. I really enjoyed the ride with her and we got to talk about some interesting things.
After spending time with Nana, I hit the road for Memphis. The trip took about 4 hours as expected, and 22 was a fast smooth ride. I drove to the Airport to drop off the Nissan Hatchback at Alamo by the airport and Mom came to pick me up. We went back to the house and had some dinner that Dad had gotten from the Club. It was a nice salad and some really tasty soup.
They gave me an iPad for my birthday, which was really nice of them. I of course downloaded the latest Zynga games along with the Supercell games.
Dad showed me the latest guitars he’s been working on, and they both look and sound really good.
Mom brought up the 23 and me info and we talked over it for a while, I showed he how to go more in depth for the ancestry and how to look at it in chromosome view.
Mom also had some really tasty cookies she had baked using almond flour. They had a really great tast and texture, and I think I’d like to give baking some almond flour cookies a try.
I had a great night’s sleep last night and woke up around 9:30 at Jeff’s, got ready, and headed to Birmingham. I forgot to get the 23 and Me kits from Jeff, but I’ll just remind people to get them and use them at their convenience. The drive to Birmingham was uneventful and nice.
When I got there I went to Nana’s house and gave her the trivet/bowl. She and Coleman thought it was really neat, and I think they will get some use out of it. We went down 280 a ways to Joe’s Crab Shack for lunch and we all got the Surf N’ Turf burger. It was pretty good, but I couldn’t get close to finishing it. She gave me a big update on the family, which was nice to hear, and all of the stuff that she had been up to. She gave me a tiny Disney Rubik’s Cube to give to Mom. I showed her my diving video from Cathedrals off Carmel and gave her the link to this blog.
It's an Exciting World 