Aug '12 Trip to Carmel - Part III
I figured on Monday we'd go to Monterey Bay Aquarium and Point Lobos, but Hansel said he was kind of sick of the Aquarium since we'd already been there quite a few times. Maile was also ambivalent about the aquarium, but Beck and Mathis still wanted to go. So we decided to split up -- I would take Maile to Point Lobos and Hansel would go with the boys to the aquarium. I was glad we split up this way because Maile's more Daddy's little girl and Beck and Mathis are Mama's boys, so it was nice to just spend time with Maile.
I found out at the park entrance that they don't take credit cards, and I didn't have any cash as usual. So, we parked outside of the entrance and walked in. This limited us to only walking close to the park entrance. The lack of cash also meant I couldn't buy a park map. So, I took a photo with my phone of a big park map, which came in handy. I was able to pick out trails that would maximize our time there.
I had the camera, which was working again (after it had stopped working when we tried to take a picture of Point Sur), so we only have photos of Point Lobos and no photos of the Aquarium.
In the afternoon we went back to Pfeiffer beach. On our way there we again tried to take a picture of Point Sur, and again the camera stopped working. It was as if someone was preventing us from taking pictures of the point?!?
On our last day, Hansel came up with the idea of going to Santa Cruz. We walked around Pacific Ave and had lunch there. As we were leaving, we saw these two guys help themselves to the breakfast potatoes Hansel had left behind. Conveniently for them, we had sat outside.
We then made our way to the boardwalk. We first walked the pier, where we saw some sea lions resting, and then we went to the boardwalk. We walked to the kiddie ride section. After Hansel and the kids took off on their train ride, I headed to the entertainment area to get us some seats for the free Chinese acrobats show. On the way there, I bought a deep-fried twinkie and deep-fried oreos for us to share.
After that we headed home. We made it home in time to meet up with the Yaus for dinner and figure out school stuff since it was going to start in just two days (Aug 16!).
I found out at the park entrance that they don't take credit cards, and I didn't have any cash as usual. So, we parked outside of the entrance and walked in. This limited us to only walking close to the park entrance. The lack of cash also meant I couldn't buy a park map. So, I took a photo with my phone of a big park map, which came in handy. I was able to pick out trails that would maximize our time there.
I had the camera, which was working again (after it had stopped working when we tried to take a picture of Point Sur), so we only have photos of Point Lobos and no photos of the Aquarium.
 |
| Maile looks like a tween here. |
 |
| Pfeiffer Beach |
We then made our way to the boardwalk. We first walked the pier, where we saw some sea lions resting, and then we went to the boardwalk. We walked to the kiddie ride section. After Hansel and the kids took off on their train ride, I headed to the entertainment area to get us some seats for the free Chinese acrobats show. On the way there, I bought a deep-fried twinkie and deep-fried oreos for us to share.
After that we headed home. We made it home in time to meet up with the Yaus for dinner and figure out school stuff since it was going to start in just two days (Aug 16!).
At Napenthe in big sur
Aug '12 Trip to Carmel - Part II
We like to go to touristy places when it's less crowded, like on weekdays vs weekends. So, for Sunday we decided to do the Big Sur drive instead of, say, the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We didn't want to stop at every lookout point, so we did a quick search of things to do/see in Big Sur with kids. So, based on one site, we jotted down these places: McWay Falls, Bixby Bridge, Hurricane Point, Pfeiffer Beach.
We didn't stop at all those places, and we, of course, stopped at others. Our first stop was a random lookout point, where we took some photos. The clouds weren't cooperating.
The next stop was at Garrapata Beach. The highlight from that beach was some people had strung up a climbing rope across an alcove in the beach. We didn't see any of them get very far but I applaud their effort.
The next place we stopped was by this lighthouse, but we didn't stop because of the lighthouse. We stopped because the lighthouse was on this big rock sticking out at the end of a beach. We tried to take a photo but our camera stopped working and then Hansel's phone camera wouldn't work either and I think my phone didn't have any charge. So, we moved on.
The next stop was Bixby Bridge, but at the time we did not know it was Bixby Bridge since it was not labeled. We just decided to stop because it was a slightly bigger bridge than the other bridges we had gone over. We didn't think it was Bixby Bridge because we thought it would be bigger. There was a homeless-looking guy there with a pet crow, or at least I think that was his crow.
Hurricane Point is a point after Bixby Bridge that is supposed to have a nice view of the bridge from the other side. But since we didn't realize we had stopped at Bixby Bridge, we didn't stop at that point.
I had read that McWay Falls was in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. We stopped at the entrace of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park thinking it was the same thing, saw that there was an entrance fee, and turned around. Down the road there was another entrance that had a building, so we stopped there. I found a newsletter type thing that had a simple map of Big Sur spots and articles about the places. Thank goodness for that paper because we were able to find McWay Falls, which was further down 1 and later found Pfeiffer Beach.
You had to walk a little ways to the falls. The falls were really not that big, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless. At the end of the path was remnants of a home that used to belong to a wealthy couple that later gave their land to the state and had them name the state park after their friend, Julia Pfeiffer. There's your brief and likely inaccurate history lesson.
For dinner we ate at Nepenthe. Hansel had eaten there years before with some Wash U friends during a visit to CA. The waiting area was great, a bleachers-type setup with lots of pillows facing an awesome view.
On the way back home we decided to go to Pfeiffer Beach. To get there you have to take a single-lane road for 2 miles, but it's worth it. It was a great, peaceful, secluded beach. It had a tiny lagoon, which was good for Beck since he doesn't like waves.
By the time we got there it was going to get dark soon, so we just took a look and decided we'd come back the next day.
We didn't stop at all those places, and we, of course, stopped at others. Our first stop was a random lookout point, where we took some photos. The clouds weren't cooperating.
The next place we stopped was by this lighthouse, but we didn't stop because of the lighthouse. We stopped because the lighthouse was on this big rock sticking out at the end of a beach. We tried to take a photo but our camera stopped working and then Hansel's phone camera wouldn't work either and I think my phone didn't have any charge. So, we moved on.
The next stop was Bixby Bridge, but at the time we did not know it was Bixby Bridge since it was not labeled. We just decided to stop because it was a slightly bigger bridge than the other bridges we had gone over. We didn't think it was Bixby Bridge because we thought it would be bigger. There was a homeless-looking guy there with a pet crow, or at least I think that was his crow.
Hurricane Point is a point after Bixby Bridge that is supposed to have a nice view of the bridge from the other side. But since we didn't realize we had stopped at Bixby Bridge, we didn't stop at that point.
I had read that McWay Falls was in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. We stopped at the entrace of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park thinking it was the same thing, saw that there was an entrance fee, and turned around. Down the road there was another entrance that had a building, so we stopped there. I found a newsletter type thing that had a simple map of Big Sur spots and articles about the places. Thank goodness for that paper because we were able to find McWay Falls, which was further down 1 and later found Pfeiffer Beach.
You had to walk a little ways to the falls. The falls were really not that big, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless. At the end of the path was remnants of a home that used to belong to a wealthy couple that later gave their land to the state and had them name the state park after their friend, Julia Pfeiffer. There's your brief and likely inaccurate history lesson.
For dinner we ate at Nepenthe. Hansel had eaten there years before with some Wash U friends during a visit to CA. The waiting area was great, a bleachers-type setup with lots of pillows facing an awesome view.
 |
| Beck wanted to take a picture of this mosaic. |
On the way back home we decided to go to Pfeiffer Beach. To get there you have to take a single-lane road for 2 miles, but it's worth it. It was a great, peaceful, secluded beach. It had a tiny lagoon, which was good for Beck since he doesn't like waves.
By the time we got there it was going to get dark soon, so we just took a look and decided we'd come back the next day.
Aug '12 Trip to Carmel - Part I
We had some Hyatt points we had to use, so we made a reservation at Hyatt Carmel Highlands for Saturday, 8/11, to Tuesday, 8/14. Again, we timed the trip during Mathis' summer break to reduce the amount of time Hansel would have to watch Mathis solo.
I felt a little funny about going to Hawaii and then going to work for two days and then going to Carmel and then missing two days. But what ya gonna do.
Saturday morning, I took the kids to the library to get their summer reading prizes while Hansel finished packing up the car. He picked us up from the library and we went to Beck's Kung Fu. After lunch, we met up with a contractor at a house in Los Altos. It was nice being back in that neck of the woods. We then hit the road.
The route we toke takes us pass the Gilroy Outlets, so we of course stopped. Our main reason for stopping was to find Maile a swimsuit. I had left the one she usually wears in Hawaii. But since it was pretty much the end of the season there was next to nothing. Luckily, I found some cute board shorts for only $8 at the Gap Outlet. Then, we decided to try our luck at Old Navy, which was close by. No swimsuits, but we bought a dri-fit shirt to use as a swim shirt as well as some other stuff.
This time the Hyatt put us in a townhouse-style unit with two floors. It's pretty much the same size as the single-floor units except the bedroom is above the living/kitchen area. Hansel liked this set up better. And they gave us a "partial" view. I put partial in quotes because that's how the front-desk guy described it, but really it was just a view. You looked out the window, and you could see the ocean. I'm used to seeing home shows, where partial views are if you stand on your tiptoes and look through a small sliver between trees, you can see some blue.
I felt a little funny about going to Hawaii and then going to work for two days and then going to Carmel and then missing two days. But what ya gonna do.
Saturday morning, I took the kids to the library to get their summer reading prizes while Hansel finished packing up the car. He picked us up from the library and we went to Beck's Kung Fu. After lunch, we met up with a contractor at a house in Los Altos. It was nice being back in that neck of the woods. We then hit the road.
The route we toke takes us pass the Gilroy Outlets, so we of course stopped. Our main reason for stopping was to find Maile a swimsuit. I had left the one she usually wears in Hawaii. But since it was pretty much the end of the season there was next to nothing. Luckily, I found some cute board shorts for only $8 at the Gap Outlet. Then, we decided to try our luck at Old Navy, which was close by. No swimsuits, but we bought a dri-fit shirt to use as a swim shirt as well as some other stuff.
This time the Hyatt put us in a townhouse-style unit with two floors. It's pretty much the same size as the single-floor units except the bedroom is above the living/kitchen area. Hansel liked this set up better. And they gave us a "partial" view. I put partial in quotes because that's how the front-desk guy described it, but really it was just a view. You looked out the window, and you could see the ocean. I'm used to seeing home shows, where partial views are if you stand on your tiptoes and look through a small sliver between trees, you can see some blue.
In the below photo from our unit, the partial part of the view is really due to the clouds.
That night the boys made elaborate "car houses" with their magna-tiles. Below is one of their creations.
Aug '12 Big Island Trip - Part II
As I mentioned in the Part I trip, we had to book two different properties because we couldn't find one place available for the whole time. So, on this day we were changing properties, which meant we wouldn't have any place to go back to between 11a until 4p, at the latest. We decided we'd spend the day driving south to Kona and maybe even go down to see the Place of Refuge.
Kona was a cool beach town. We walked up and down the road that runs along the water. We stopped at an area with a bunch of street vendors. We bought some dried guava, which we'd never had before. The adults liked it; the kids did not. We also got 4 papaya for only $1 total!
We were going to check out the oldest church on the island, but when we came upon it, it was during a service. We had lunch, shaved ice, and checked out a tiny beach area.
We then headed south and tried to find a couple of places I saw on a map, but we couldn't find the entrances. So, we just stopped at a tide pool area, which had too many small dead crabs for Beck's taste.
The Place of Refuge was at least another 1/2 hr away, so we decided to see if our other unit was ready. It was. This place was not as big but still big, and the amenities were better. It had a big fancy pool with slides and a pebbly "beach." You could borrow DVDs and games for free and best of all you could access the main Hilton resort.
We spent the rest of our trip hanging out at the various pools between our property and the main Hilton resort and at the main Hilton's lagoon, which feeds directly from the ocean. So, there's lots of ocean life.
Kona was a cool beach town. We walked up and down the road that runs along the water. We stopped at an area with a bunch of street vendors. We bought some dried guava, which we'd never had before. The adults liked it; the kids did not. We also got 4 papaya for only $1 total!
We were going to check out the oldest church on the island, but when we came upon it, it was during a service. We had lunch, shaved ice, and checked out a tiny beach area.
We then headed south and tried to find a couple of places I saw on a map, but we couldn't find the entrances. So, we just stopped at a tide pool area, which had too many small dead crabs for Beck's taste.
The Place of Refuge was at least another 1/2 hr away, so we decided to see if our other unit was ready. It was. This place was not as big but still big, and the amenities were better. It had a big fancy pool with slides and a pebbly "beach." You could borrow DVDs and games for free and best of all you could access the main Hilton resort.
We spent the rest of our trip hanging out at the various pools between our property and the main Hilton resort and at the main Hilton's lagoon, which feeds directly from the ocean. So, there's lots of ocean life.
 |
| Mathis dancing on a checker piece. |
 |
| That thing in the water is a turtle. We saw a lot of those in the lagoon. |
 |
| We watched a lot of Olympics while in Hawaii. Mathis is getting ready for a race. |
 |
| Waiting to board our plane home. Aloha and mahalo, Hawaii! |
Aug '12 Big Island Trip - Part I
Some time in the Spring we were trying to figure out our summer vacation plans. We already knew we would do a short trip to Tahoe soon after they got out of school. But we didn't know anything beyond that. We didn't want to go to So Cal and do the amusement parks since we had done amusement parks during Spring Break. So, we talked about Hawaii.
We looked into tickets, and the cheaper fares were to the Big Island, not Oahu where we normally go. We reasoned the Big Island might be good because Hilton has timeshares there (with dolphins) and the kids hadn't been to the Big Island yet, at least at an age they'd remember. We took Maile there when she was 8 mths old when a group of us went to the Big Island before a wedding in Kauai.
We wanted to time the trip to fall during the 2 weeks Mathis did not have school, but it was cheaper to fly out the last day of his school, so that's what we did.. We got in early afternoon, went to Kona for lunch and food supplies, and then picked up Hansel's mom, who was joining us for the trip.
One thing we noticed right away is all the lava rock. It's like being on a different planet. I had forgotten about that from before.
For this trip we had to book two different properties. The first place we stayed was big, including the bedrooms, and it was right next to one of the pools, which the kids were happy about. Not a fancy pool with slides but a pool nonetheless. Even though this property was part of Hilton's timeshare family, it did not include access to the main Hilton resort there, which has the dolphins and the fancy pools, and the lagoon.
We looked into touristy things to do since we thought Hansel's mom would like that. After looking up things to do, Hansel discovered two things -- the volcano was really far (3 hrs away by car) and that there wasn't much to do sightseeing-wise outside of the volcano. We decided to skip the volcano altogether. So, the next day we planned to do the free petroglyph tour in the morning and then in the afternoon after Mathis' nap go to a state park and do a popular drive.
The petroglyph tour was neat but hot since there wasn't any shade. Mathis, thankfully, did a good job walking most of it.
After Mathis' nap, we had a little snack and then headed out to drive up the coast and check out a state park with remnants and artifacts of an old Hawaiian village. When we got there we found out that it closes at 4p. It was around 4:30. So we continued driving up the coast and then we drove down this mountain road, which is supposed to be scenic. It was nice because the scenery and terrain would change. We stopped at an outlook, where we took a family photo there. The kids had fun with the dead grass while Hansel set up the camera.
We stopped in Waimea for dinner. After dinner, Hansel took a left out the parking lot when we were supposed to go right. When we realized this, we were approaching this large, all-wood playground. Something one doesn't normally see, and the kids noticed it right away. They wanted to stop and play. It was getting dark and it was kind of drizzly, but we stopped anyway. It's cool the places you find when you least expect it.
We looked into tickets, and the cheaper fares were to the Big Island, not Oahu where we normally go. We reasoned the Big Island might be good because Hilton has timeshares there (with dolphins) and the kids hadn't been to the Big Island yet, at least at an age they'd remember. We took Maile there when she was 8 mths old when a group of us went to the Big Island before a wedding in Kauai.
We wanted to time the trip to fall during the 2 weeks Mathis did not have school, but it was cheaper to fly out the last day of his school, so that's what we did.. We got in early afternoon, went to Kona for lunch and food supplies, and then picked up Hansel's mom, who was joining us for the trip.
One thing we noticed right away is all the lava rock. It's like being on a different planet. I had forgotten about that from before.
For this trip we had to book two different properties. The first place we stayed was big, including the bedrooms, and it was right next to one of the pools, which the kids were happy about. Not a fancy pool with slides but a pool nonetheless. Even though this property was part of Hilton's timeshare family, it did not include access to the main Hilton resort there, which has the dolphins and the fancy pools, and the lagoon.
We looked into touristy things to do since we thought Hansel's mom would like that. After looking up things to do, Hansel discovered two things -- the volcano was really far (3 hrs away by car) and that there wasn't much to do sightseeing-wise outside of the volcano. We decided to skip the volcano altogether. So, the next day we planned to do the free petroglyph tour in the morning and then in the afternoon after Mathis' nap go to a state park and do a popular drive.
The petroglyph tour was neat but hot since there wasn't any shade. Mathis, thankfully, did a good job walking most of it.
We stopped in Waimea for dinner. After dinner, Hansel took a left out the parking lot when we were supposed to go right. When we realized this, we were approaching this large, all-wood playground. Something one doesn't normally see, and the kids noticed it right away. They wanted to stop and play. It was getting dark and it was kind of drizzly, but we stopped anyway. It's cool the places you find when you least expect it.
8/2012 Our Blog Is Back
Yesterday Hansel and I were talking about Thanksgiving. Last year, Hansel's family came to our house, but I couldn't remember much about previous years. So, I pulled up our blog and did a search for Thanksgiving. I started reading through the old posts, showing the kids, and re-telling some of the old stories. Going over the posts made me want to start it up again. So, we're going to do it. We're just going to start from now and maybe we will fill in the past later. You might even see more posts from Hansel.
Mar '11 Tahoe Trip with the Eastcoast Lynns
Carter and Tabitha's spring break was the week of 3/21, so we made plans with their family to meet in Tahoe. The Lynns flew into Reno on Monday, and we drove up after school. Our kids did not have the week off, so we had them miss school for the rest of the week.
It snowed like crazy that week. Great powder but it's not that fun skiing while it's snowing. One of the days I braved the snowy weather to take Beck and Mathis to KidZone Museum in Truckee while everyone else went out skiing/boarding.
Carter came down with a fever one of the days so he stayed home. Maile and Tabitha ended up only skiing half a day that day.
On our second to last day there I tried to take Beck up the mountain. I take Beck because Hansel can't ski, and it's hard to help someone learn to ski when you're on a board. When I take Beck, I use Hansel's pass while he stays back with Mathis.
Well on this day, I got "caught." Instead of letting me off with a warning, they took Hansel's pass. So after dragging Beck and both our gears to the gondola, I had to take him and all our stuff back and go into the village and talk to the Season Pass person. Basically, if we wanted to get the pass back, we would have to pay the full price of the pass. Okay, well then how about activate Hansel's next season's pass less than a week early. No. Okay, how about some discount passes. No but maybe you can find something online. There's a little more to the story but I'm just going to end it here so I can get this entry posted.
A couple of photos from the trip. The first is Mathis watching TV alone in the big bed. And the second is of the kids all gathered around iPads (surprise, surprise).
It snowed like crazy that week. Great powder but it's not that fun skiing while it's snowing. One of the days I braved the snowy weather to take Beck and Mathis to KidZone Museum in Truckee while everyone else went out skiing/boarding.
Carter came down with a fever one of the days so he stayed home. Maile and Tabitha ended up only skiing half a day that day.
On our second to last day there I tried to take Beck up the mountain. I take Beck because Hansel can't ski, and it's hard to help someone learn to ski when you're on a board. When I take Beck, I use Hansel's pass while he stays back with Mathis.
Well on this day, I got "caught." Instead of letting me off with a warning, they took Hansel's pass. So after dragging Beck and both our gears to the gondola, I had to take him and all our stuff back and go into the village and talk to the Season Pass person. Basically, if we wanted to get the pass back, we would have to pay the full price of the pass. Okay, well then how about activate Hansel's next season's pass less than a week early. No. Okay, how about some discount passes. No but maybe you can find something online. There's a little more to the story but I'm just going to end it here so I can get this entry posted.
A couple of photos from the trip. The first is Mathis watching TV alone in the big bed. And the second is of the kids all gathered around iPads (surprise, surprise).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)