Salad Is Slaughter

I had meant to write up the details of the parental visit every evening so the folks back in St. Louis would know what they were up to, but alas it wasn’t to be. We were pretty busy all week and when I finally found some time to do some writing, I didn’t have the inclination. So, here’s a wrap-up of what they did:

Saturday: Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Mom wanted to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium and walk along Fisherman’s Wharf.  We decided to hit the aquarium first because we figured that it would get crowded since it was a Saturday. We got there early enough that the line to buy tickets was pretty short. Our plan worked pretty well at first, but the aquarium got crowded pretty quickly. By the time we got to the jelly fish exhibit the place was packed. We did get some pretty good pictures of some of the exhibits. The grandkids should ask to see the pictures of the Nemo clown fish.

For lunch we went down to the wharf and ate at Domenico’s On The Wharf.  We started off with the Oysters Rockefeller, and they were okay, but not spectacular. For lunch I had the Sea Scallops with Fettuccine, Janet had the fish special, Dad ordered the fish and chips, and mom got the burger. Dad liked his fish and chips, but the rest of us were not impressed. My Sea Scallops with Fettuccine was disappointing. The scallops were cooked correctly, but the sauce was bland, and didn’t have any of the nutmeg flavor promised on the menu. Janet was similarly unimpressed with the special, and mom thought the burger was okay, but not great. I don’t ever plan to go back to Domenico’s On The Wharf again.

Sunday: Wine tasting in Napa. We were nearly out of white wine so we dragged the parents up to Napa to go shopping. We stopped at Cakebread, St. Supery, Grgich Hills, Beringer, Stags Leap, and Chimney Rock.  We decided to drop our V. Sattui wine club and add St. Suprey because we really liked St. Suprey’s white wines, and I haven’t been very impressed with V. Sattui lately.

For lunch we stopped at Taylor’s Refresher in St. Helena. Those were some of the best burgers we’ve had in a long time. Janet and I also split an order of sweet potato fries that were dusted with chili powder. They were fantastic. I also had a white pistachio shake which was amazing. We will be stopping at Taylor’s Refresher again. It’s pricy, but it’s good.

Monday: Golf at Pacific Grove.  Monday was a gold day, this time at Pacific Grove on the Monterey Bay. The weather could have been better; it was cool and overcast, and quite windy near the ocean. There were deer everywhere and we got some good pictures of deer watching us golf. The wind affected our game but we still had a good time.

Tuesday: San Francisco and Muir Woods.  San Francisco was really foggy on Tuesday. We drove along the Embarcadero then crossed the bridge and headed for Muir Woods National Monument. We started off walking around the boardwalk paths they have set up, then came to a map. We decided to walk up the Ocean View trail then take Lost Trail to complete the loop. The hike was a lot tougher then we had planned. The trail was pretty narrow and climbed for a good mile or more. When we got to the Lost Trail trailhead we decided to head down. We could have taken the final .3-mile hike up to the summit but decided against it. I wish we had brought water but we stopped frequently enough that no one was over-taxed. It’s a beautiful hike and everyone enjoyed it.

For lunch we headed over to Stinson Beach and bought sandwiches at a local market. The road to the beach was very rough and under repair, which made for an interesting ride. The weather cleared somewhat, and warmed a bit so it wasn’t too bad.

The trip back took us through San Francisco again (it was still foggy), then it was back home.

Wednesday: Golf at Spring Valley.  Spring Valley has become a really nice golf course. The weather was beautiful, and the course was in good shape. My score improved for the third game in a row, so I was pretty happy about that.

When we got home, dad put up a weather vane that Janet and I bought at least three years ago and has been sitting at the side of the house since. I’m glad that job’s finally out of the way.

All the dogs like their grandparents, and Rolfe especially took a liking to his grandma. He’s going to miss her not being around.

We took the parents to Santa Teresa golf course today. It looks like they’ve done a lot of work on the course and it was in great shape. It was really hot and we could have used the drink cart coming around more. Before we started both my mother and I bought new pairs of golf sandals. They’re really comfortable and I like them better than regular golf shoes.

I had forgotten how tricky the greens are at Santa Teresa, and that added several strokes to our games. I haven’t played at all since last June, and I did okay, considering. The others played their regular games, but I don’t remember anyone’s scores. You’ll have to ask them about that. I think my father’s score was a bit higher than normal.

After golf we went down to Morgan Hill for Mexican food at Sinaloa Café then returned home for that card game the parents like where you play with like five decks of cards.

Yesterday we took the parents up to see Yosemite. Janet and I had debated taking the parents up there on this visit because it makes for a long day. We were either going to do the long one day trip, try to get rooms up there and do two days, or not do it at all and find some other touristy place. Finally we decided on a single day trip.

We left the house a little after 7:00 AM and headed out. Someone had told Janet that highway 140 was open again. It turned out it wasn’t, and we had to go to the south entrance. We made our way to our first stop and got to Glacier Point at a little after 12:00. It was beautiful up there. The sky was absolutely clear, Half Dome was very prominent, there were several waterfalls visible, and snow still covered the tops of the mountains.

We stayed up there for a while then made our way down to the valley floor. We stopped at the tunnel exit and looked over the valley from that angle. Of course, El Capitan, Half Dome, and the Bridal Veil Falls were all visible. We decided to have lunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel and headed in that direction. On the way we stopped and took more pictures of the Bridal Veil Falls and the Yosemite Falls.

Usually the Bridal Veil Falls looks wispy but yesterday the water was really coming down. And Yosemite Falls was really impressive. All the previous times I’ve gone up there has been late in the season, and Yosemite Falls is dry. Not yesterday. The water thundered down the mountain.

We arrived at the Ahwahnee just before 3:00 and they were serving lunch for another 15 minutes. We got a table with a fabulous view of the Yosemite Falls. I had a barbeque beef sandwich, Janet had a garlic chicken sandwich, dad had the burger, and mom had the Chinese chicken salad. The food was great.

After lunch we drove over to the Yosemite Falls for a closer look. It was well worth the walk from the road up to the base of the falls. They were just amazing, and the cold spray really helped cool us down after being in the hot sun for most of the day.

We finally left around 5:00 to head back to the Bay Area and got back a bit after 9:00. It was a long day, but an impressive one.

In February we discovered the tacos at Casa Blanca and I described them as the best tacos ever.  Last night we got take out from them and loaded up on tacos.  When we got home we were shocked to discover that the tacos were larger than we remembered them.  Then we tried them.

Casa Blanca has lost their way.  No longer do they have the best tacos ever.  They’ve switched from hand made tortillas to a commercial brand.  The new corn tortillas are thin and flavorless and tear easily.  Gone are the small, flavorful, amazing corn tortillas that made Casa Blanca’s tacos stand out.

Dinner last night was disappointing.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist held a news conference in support of an amendment to ban burning of the American flag. I’ve always been against such an amendment.  Dispatches from the Culture Wars says why better than I could:

“One of the very first things that Hitler did upon seizing power in Germany was ban the burning of the German flag; the punishment was imprisonment. In China, where we all watched the student protestors at Tianenman Square burn the Chinese flag, their actions result in a minimum of 3 years in prison. The other two nations that punish those who burn their flag at the moment: Cuba and Iran.”

Do we really want to join those beacons of freedom by passing this amendment?