Berkeley - Big Sur Trip Day 3

We headed out of Los Gatos midday to head down to Big Sur. There was some sightseeing we wanted to do along the way, but an accident on the highway into Santa Cruz slowed us down, but we still got some in.

Building tucked into UCSC

The deers have domesticated us!

UC Santa Cruz is probably the most beautiful UC campus in the state. It may also be the most confusing as it is nestled into the trees like an ewok village, but it's definitely worth the trouble.

A 1934 WPA Bridge along Highway 1

Just another pretty view along the highway

Ma and Pa at Point Lobos Park

The rocks are partially white from the birds

We came out to Point Lobos about twenty years ago. Some things were just as we remembered them, but still it was gorgeous enough that it felt like we were there for the first time.

Berkeley - Big Sur Trip Day 4

Day 4: We headed out midday to Monterey to hit up the aquarium. There's a reason why it's world famous. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures of it all because flash photography is restricted. That didn't stop us from accidentally taking some shots.

Later on in the day we headed downtown. We went to a chicken place owned by one of my mom's friends called "Bird on a Wire". I had to give it a plug here because the chicken tasted just as good as California Chicken Cafe, but was more consistantly tasty. You have to try it to see what I mean.

William Tecumseh Sherman's House

I love California history, but I didn't know that Monterey was one of the oldest settlements in the west. This was a picture of Sherman's house which he lived in BEFORE he was a general for the Union Army. There are a lot a buildings still existing from the 1850's and earlier. I definitely want to go back and explore more.

Berkeley - Big Sur Trip Day 5

Day 5: Our laziest day of the trip. It didn't involve too much other than breakfast, a hike and dinner.

Point Sur

Falls on a hike

Arden starting his hour encounter with Barb's iphone.

Berkeley - Big Sur Trip Day 6-7

I decided to publish photos from our trip backwards. Why? It'll appear like they are in order by the time I'm done.

Day 6: We left Big Sur early for Hearst Castle which was about 80 miles. The drive hugged the cliffs for the first half, but flattened out as we neared San Simeon. Nearby the castle we were lucky enough to come up on a couple hundred sea lions along the beach.

Posing for the Camera

Front Entrance of the Castle

Indoor pool

Zebras with their baby.

After the castle we headed down to our hotel in Morro Bay, where we got the pictures of the Zebras on the side of the highway. Seeing how I'm far more familiar with San Luis Obispo, we took the fifteen minute drive down for dinner. I really like the downtown there. A lot of great local flavor that's able to fight off the commercialism like in Santa Barbara. We went to a restaurant I always wanted to try called Novo. Not just because of good reviews, but a really pretty setting overlooking the creek.

Dinner at Novo

The next morning, we got up and went to my all time favorite breakfast place in the universe, Apple Farm. Everything is so good there that I try to sample every item possible. Afterwards, we had time to walk around downtown SLO in the daylight before leaving for my show. Sad to end the trip, but the afternoon definitely left us something to come back to.

San Luis Obispo Mission

Bonds Mania!

Yes, I hate Bonds, but I do have an eye to catch history in the making. Hey, if he's going to break it anyways, why not try to see it?

We got seats in the most likely place Bonds would hit his 755th home run, the right field pavilion, which also has now morphed into the all you can eat pavilion. More on that later. The scene was wild every time he came to bat as everyone funnelled to the bottom of the section for the chance to catch history and quite possibly a million dollars.

I also thought that with all the havoc going on, that this father had the foresight to plant a helmet on his kid once the chaos began.

The all you can eat section was something I always wanted to try, but I probably would never find myself out there without any good reason other than to gorge myself. The section was well run and you could pretty much grab what you wanted. My previous record for dodger dogs at a game was three, so I was really surprised I only topped that record by one. I felt like I could of had more, but luckily reasoning set in because the next few days felt like someone was inflating my stomach like a hot air balloon. A word to the wise, try it once, but don't buy season tickets there.

Flight of the Conchords!!

My latest obsession! If you haven't caught this on HBO, it's a half hour sitcom that somehow incorporates a couple of their parody songs an episode. It's a cross between the Office and Napolean Dynamite. These clips don't do it justice, but I crack up everytime...

Kobe Help Coming?

No, not really. But I did get a tip that Kevin Garnett was playing pick up at Wooden Center so I headed on down to take a gander. Unfortunately, I had a crappy camera at the time. So even a day later, my mind faded with all the other pros that were there since I can't make them out in the pics. I can safely say that Paul Pierce, Ronny Turiaf and Marko Jaric were part of the crew.

Wooden Center.

KG and Pierce outside

Pierce giving props to weasely agent guy.