We’re back from a trip to the Bay Area/Central Coast and just starting to recover.  Our trip began on the 4th of July, when we drove to Newark to visit our friends that have 10 month old twin girls.  This was our first time meeting them, and they were quite the charmers.  So good-natured and fun to play with!  Dave fired up the barbecue and grilled some delicious hamburgers, rounded out with Janelle’s macaroni salad, watermelon, jello and cupcakes for dessert. 

Our next stop after seeing the Tule Elk was to see the Point Reyes Lighthouse, on the opposite side of Point Reyes.  It rained intermittently, but once we arrived the rain had stopped. 

This is the view from across the parking lot.

There are 300+ steps to descend before getting to the lighthouse.  n wanted to be carried on the way down, but amazingly, he walked all the way back up by himself!

Fortunately, there are a couple of rest stops where you can rest your legs and not block other people going up and down the stairs.  The moss growing on the rocks was interesting to me.

Closer…

We made it!

Inside shot.

The stories of the men who ran the lighthouse in such treacherous, isolated conditions sound like something out of a horror movie.  Some were driven to insanity, others to alcoholism.

If these walls could talk…

The park ranger let the kids touch a whale’s baleen.  Too bad we didn’t spot any whales during our outing.

We had picked up sandwiches earlier at Perry’s Deli in Inverness, which we ate in the parking lot.  Lunch #2 occurred in Marshall, a small town on Tomales Bay.  D wanted to try the barbecued oysters at The Marshall Store.  $15 for a half dozen.  D ate 5 and I ate 1.  The kids were content sharing a piece of bread.  The sun made an appearance for the first time since we had arrived.  The warmth was fleeting, however, and I had to go back to the car to retrieve our jackets. 

The road to the Tule Elk reserve is windy and scenic.  There are acres of green pastures with very content-looking cows everywhere.

As we approached the reserve, D commented that maybe he should slow down because he wouldn’t want to hit a Tule Elk.  Just after he said that, we approached a large group of Tule Elk, some of which were crossing the street!  I think D and I were more excited than the kids.  Seeing large wildlife so up close makes me want to go to Yellowstone to see more!

We parked at the historic Parker Ranch.  There was only one other car in the parking lot.

We started down the trailhead.  Thankfully, it was not raining; just overcast.

This small island off in the distance looked surreal in the fog.

I loved seeing all of the wildflowers.

Can you see the elk at the top of the hill?

Sometimes when we hike, k likes to go ahead of us on her own.  Lil’ miss independent. 

After the Visitors Center we went to Tomales Bay Foods to pick up some provisions for dinner.  I was kind of disappointed with the selection there.  I thought it was more of a market, but it was really just a takeout counter with a few sandwiches and rotisserie chicken.  We ended up only buying 1/4 lb. of Mt. Tam cheese from Cowgirl Creamery.

This is the Red Hawk cheese they were making that day.  I tasted a sample.  It is more pungent than Mt. Tam, which I like, but I don’t think the kids would have enjoyed it as much.

We got lost looking for the Point Reyes Hostel, where we had reservations.  (Our fault for relying on the GPS).  However, we arrived just before 4:30, which is the earliest check-in time, anyway. 

D and I have had very pleasant experiences at hostels pre-kids.  This was our first time staying at one as a family.  This particular hostel has four private rooms; each shares a bathroom with one other room.  It was small, with two bunk beds, but clean.  There was also a full kitchen, which was convenient since we did not want to go back out for dinner or breakfast, especially after getting lost.

This was the kids’ first experience with bunk beds and they took to them right away.  n actually ended up sleeping on the bottom because he had a coughing fit and I had to rock him to sleep.

We supplemented our cheese with a baguette, prosciutto, and baby carrots.  While in Point Reyes Station, I also picked up breakfast at Bovine Bakery for the next day.

The morning bun, on right, was the tastiest.  The kids were glad it did not have nuts!  On the left is a mango-blueberry scone.  We also tried a slice of zucchini cake which was quite gingery, even for a ginger lover like me.

We ended up eating in the main kitchen because the one adjacent to our room did not open until 7:30 a.m. 

I liked the plants on the porch.  We were fueled up and ready for more exploring… 

We just returned from a quick trip to Northern California.  We left early on Thursday morning, beating the L.A. traffic.  We ate lunch at the Cheeseboard in Berkeley, which is run as a coop.  The line was out the door but moved very quickly, probably because there is only one type of pizza offered each day.  The day we went it was “Fresh asparagus tips, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, green garlic-arugula pesto (no nuts).”  I really appreciated how they specified no nuts in the pesto, since that is always a question I have to ask with our nut-allergic kids.  We ordered 1/2 a pizza for $10, and they threw in three additional pieces, which was a nice gesture.  I also ordered a small side salad which had a nice goat cheese dressing.

We were lucky to snag an empty table on the sidewalk.  Inside there was even live music.

I think the cheese on our pizza had congealed a bit too much by the time we ate it, so it felt kind of heavy/oily.  The flavors were really good though, and the crust was nice and thin.

We then drove further north to the Point Reyes Visitor Center.

It was kind of misting/sprinkling so we went inside to see the exhibits, listen to a short presentation and watch a short movie.  I was also able to stamp my National Parks passport. 

Unfortunately, it was still misting but we decided to still go ahead with a short .7 mile hike on the Earthquake Trail.  It was paved, so it was not too muddy.

On the way out of the Visitors Center parking lot we were greeted by these guys:

On our way home we stopped for lunch at Phil’s BBQ.  It’s in a large strip mall, so there is plenty of parking.  Again, we were led there by Yelp reviews, 4,646 of them, to be exact!  We ordered baby back ribs, an El Toro sandwich (tri-tip) and a side of onion rings.  We probably ended up taking about 2/3 of the sandwich home, since breakfast had not been too long before.

The ribs were quite saucy, as you can see.  They were nice and meaty.

The batter on the onion rings was a little thick for my liking.  Also, I think I prefer a cornmeal batter.  I liked the onion rings at Firestone Grill in SLO better.

I don’t believe I’ve ever had deli sliced tri-tip before.  It was reminiscent of pastrami, in a way.  The smoky flavor was quite strong, much stronger than the ribs. 

We had fun in San Diego.  It was a very last-minute planned trip, but we ended up with all good picks.

Saturday morning D went on a run in the dark.  The night before we agreed that he could run 6:30-7:30 but he ended up running 5:30-6:30.  He is nothing if not disciplined. 

We went to the Farmer’s Market at 8:00 a.m.  We parked at Washington Elementary, which was free for 3 hours.  Parking in Little Italy is generally a pain, so that was nice. 

The market was about three block long.  I always enjoy a good farmer’s market, and this was a good one.  We sampled many things, fruits, cheese, chocolate, a green smoothie and lemon butter crepe, among them.   

It was difficult to make a decision about what to have for breakfast.  We settled on sharing a breakfast panini with black forest ham, chocolate bread stick and canele.  I also picked out some satsuma tangerines, my favorite.

I’ve always wanted to try a canele, and I thought it was really good.  D wasn’t as impressed…more for me.

We found a nice bench on which to enjoy our goodies.  Next we returned to our hotel and walked right out of the lobby into Seaport Village.  This is where D’s run started out in the morning. 

I wanted to reenact this photo at the Upstart Crow from 2008:

n wanted in on the action too.

Another picture of our hotel.  We always enjoy Seaport Village.  The weather was nice and the scenery is beautiful.  I can see why it is so popular with tourists. 

The kids were chomping at the bit to check into our hotel.  We originally booked a hotel room several weeks ago but decided at the last minute to try our luck with Priceline.  We were rewarded with a room at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for $82, which felt like a steal, even with $26 parking. 

The hotel is adjacent to Seaport Village and the bay.  The view from our room:

The tv was bigger than the one we have at home.

After resting up we walked to the Gaslamp District, technically, the East Village, and ate dinner at j.wok.  It has good Yelp reviews, but we are usually skeptical about so-called “Asian fusion” places.

The centerpiece of the dining room is a tree sculpture made of thousands of chopsticks.

Thai pork—D thought it was overly salty, but I liked it.  Big portion of meat, and I liked how it was on a bed of mixed greens, almost like a salad.  The pickled cucumber side was also a nice contrast.

Pad See Ew—everyone enjoyed this dish, also a good size. 

Tilapia with green apple slaw—this was a “small dish” and contained three chunks of greaseless fried tilapia.  Also a nice contrast to the tart green apples.  There was a sprinkling of peanuts, so we saved this dish for ourselves and told the kids they couldn’t have any.    They still had plenty of food.

Our view at night.

This was the nicest hotel that D and I have stayed at together.  Thank you, Priceline!

Happy New Year, everyone!  2013 will be a year of change for our family, but I am looking forward to it!

After visiting the museums we went to Extraordinary Desserts.  I’ve wanted to go there during our past trips to San Diego but we never made it.  Friday was the day! 

Looking at the display case, I was paralyzed with indecision.  Everything looked so good.  Our only requirement was “no nuts”, of course.  We ended up with a slice of La Bete Noire: Creamy semi-sweet chocolate mousse, vanilla crème brûlée, chocolate ganache, are layered in between dark chocolate cakes and moistened with Madagascar vanilla bean syrup.  I almost feel bad revealing that we paid $8.95 for this slice of cake.  But, it was probably the best cake I’ve ever had, so that is saying something.  D also ordered a cup of coffee, which had distinct macadamia nut flavor.  We were planning to sit inside the restaurant, but there was a 20 minute wait in the middle of the afternoon.  So, we opted to get our order to go and ate outside, thus avoiding paying tip, at least.  We saw tons of flowers being delivered to the restaurant—I think their floral bill must explain a good part of their high prices.  After reading the menu, I regretted not ordering the Dulce de Leche cake, as featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate.  Oh well, at least I’ll know what to order the next time (if there is ever a next time…I’m kind of thinking this place will be a once in our lifetime type of place—haha). 

After our hikes we went to Lucha Libre for an early lunch.  We arrived less than ten minutes past eleven o’clock, but there was already a line out the door.  I wonder what percentage their business went up after being featured on Man v. Food?  I didn’t see that episode, but I used to enjoy that show when we had cable. 

The décor is *interesting*; a Mexican wrestling theme.  Let’s just say it would fit right in on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. 

This booth must be reserved.

I knew what I wanted to order: two Surfin’ California burritos ($7.25 each).  They contain steak, shrimp, avocados, french fries and a special sauce.  That is a lot of goodness wrapped in one tortilla!

Bathroom shot…

Next we went to Balboa Park to check out the Natural History Museum and Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.  We were able to use our Discovery Science Museum passes to obtain free admission to both—another score!

First up was the Natural History Museum, aka theNAT.  The two special exhibits were about chocolate and horses.  The kids enjoyed the play area set up with tents.

Isn’t that soft campfire so cute?

Chocolate gift shop.

Cacao tree—the whole exhibit smelled like chocolate!

Right across the way is the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

This museum didn’t take us very long to explore.  As D noted, a lot of kids’ museums have the same types of exhibits.  I’m sure the IMAX movies are cool, but we didn’t pay extra—I think it may have been too much for the kids anyway.  Both museums provided some educational entertainment, but I’m glad we didn’t pay full price for them.

“Let the little children come unto me.”  There was a series of scenes depicting Jesus’ life in the Organ Pavilion. 

Balboa Park is amazing for what it is.  A vast park in the middle of an urban landscape with grand architecture, museums, cafes and open space.  Visiting made us daydream about whether the Great Park in Irvine will ever realize its full potential.