Point Reyes

Click to enlarge

Oh my goodness, what a phenomenal day and evening. We spent most of the day on Point Reyes about an hour north of San Francisco. A big thank you to the National Park Service, US Department of the Interior for protecting Point Reyes seashore. This entire area is protected by the National Park Service so there are no beach mansions or hotels here. There are Just miles and miles of wild coastline and some historic ranches (protected by the park service). I've always known about the National Parks but I had no idea about the National Seashore, what great planning all those many years ago. If you want to see unimaginable beauty in this country, the National Parks and Seashore is definitely the way to go. The coastline is simply stunning and today I had my camera aimed charged and ready to shot. We spent most of our time on Drakes Bay walking along the beach and taking in the breath taking scenery. I snapped many pictures but not a single photo captured the honest beauty of this place. We played Frisbee on the beach for at least 30 minutes getting in a little cardio exercise and having some laughs. We hiked through brambles and wildflowers up a sea cliff where we got more amazing views of the sea. After our time at Drakes Bay we drove about 20 minutes to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The lighthouse is closed on Tuesdays but visitors are still able to get a close look at the lighthouse but cannot enter it and climb up the stairs. Driving through this area you really can't believe you're in the US much less California; it really was like going back in time or traveling in a foreign country. All day John had talked about how much he wanted oysters and we even stopped before we reached Drakes Bay to get some but the place he was thinking of only sells them on the weekends. So after the lighthouse we tried again to get John some oysters. We went to the town of Point Reyes Station to a quaint place where he ordered a dozen oysters and a grape soda. I ordered a beer and tried the oysters but didn't like them and found the beer undrinkable. John was in hog oyster heaven and seemed really happy when I declined a second helping. We got back to the Olema Inn where we caught up on emails and relaxed for couple hours before dinner. I wanted to treat John to a really nice dinner and the Olema Inn has a highly regarded restaurant so it was decided that we would dine here tonight. John ordered hog island oysters, Parmesan Gnocchi with locally grown mushrooms, and asparagus for his main course, and a glass of champagne.I had the roasted beet salad, Beef Short Rib Bourguignon with pearl onions, baby carrots, local mushrooms, Neuske's bacon, pasta. and a glass of merlot. For dessert we shared something called cookies and cream but it was actually an oatmeal cake with vanilla ice cream. The dinner was out of this world amazing and I would rank it among the top 10 meals I've had in my lifetime. We are really ending this leave of absence on a high note. What an amazing day and evening.

http://theolemainn.com

http://www.theolemainn.com/menua.html

I like Ike

A lovely Sunday in the Twin Cities. I really missed that extra hour of sleep but managed to get up and going before 9:00. John and Gretchen took a flight to Florida for a mini vacation this afternoon and Mary headed back to school around 3:00. I met up with my gal pal Donna for brunch at Ike's at 1:00 and we had a blast. The last time we got together was just before I left on my first trip in January so we had a lot of catching up to do and stayed at the restaurant until after 3:00. The Ike's brunch is huge and is really just too much food for comfort, but we cleaned our plates anyway. The brunch always begins with the presentation of an enormous gooey cinnamon roll followed by: eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast, and sausage. At the end of it all patrons are presented chocolate chip cookies along with the bill because goodness knows after all of that food you are surely craving another sugary treat. I could have stayed at Ike's all day chatting with Donna but she needed to get to her office to finish up some work before she leaves on a business trip to DC tomorrow. After brunch I stayed downtown and did some clothes shopping at Sax Off 5th. Like most retailers the store was having a HUGE sale 20^% off your entire purchase. I purchased two pairs of Joe's jeans, one pair of skinny and the other classic fit and two blouses. I've never owned a pair of skinny jeans but I like the way they look and fit. After I bought them I started to worry that maybe they were already out of fashion; so I consulted John's daughter who assured me that skinny jeans are here to stay (at least for another season or two). It was actually Gretchen who introduced me to Joe's jeans when I scored a pair of her hand-me- downs a year ago and they quickly became my favorite pair of jeans. It was 64 degrees here today and when I drove by the Dairy Queen near work I was excited to see it open for the season (always closes during the winter). Not only was it open there was a line forming and several people standing in line were wearing shorts! Hello sunshine, hello Spring 2010.


Today's post is 80/90 and the clock is ticking down on my leave of absence. My final entry will be Sunday, March 28th.

Spearfish, SD

We got off to an early start, getting up at 6:30 to have breakfast and pack up the car. We were on the road at 8:00 AM on the dot only 30 minutes shy of our goal of 7:30. The drive was beautiful and today was the perfect day to spend on the road. I had no idea how much beauty one could see from the window of a car moving along at 65 mph. I was completely blown away by the spectacular scenery along the highway. We started out in the Tetons, then drove between the Wind Rivers and the Absarokas (mountain ranges), then the spectacular Big Horns, and finally into the South Dakota Black HIlls. We stopped in Thermopolis, WY and for a picnic lunch in a park near the hot springs where it was nearly 60 degrees. Thermopolis is known for its dinosaur discoveries and hot springs (the world’s largest according to words painted into a hillside leading into town). After lunch we hopped back in the car for more beautiful scenery. We spotted hundreds of antelope by the highway, and saw everything from snow-covered fields, 3 billion year-old precambrian granite. Unfortunately everything wasn’t completely perfect and picturesque; ugly oil fields complete with pumps resembling huge grasshoppers littered a long stretch of the highway. The oil towns are horribly unattractive with no sense of order or planning whatsoever. It's like an airplane just dropped houses and businesses from the sky to take root wherever they landed. Something about the oil fields polluted by the big grasshopper like machines was a little unsettling, even depressing. Once you've seen those enormous long necked machines repeating the same incessant nagging motion over and over again for 50 miles it starts to get to you. I guess they are synonymous with our constant, nagging, incessant, dependence on oil and this made me feel a tad bit slimy as we burned through precious oil trying to make our way home. We logged 495 miles today to our ultimate destination, The Best Western in Spearfish, SD and an Italian dinner at Roma's. We didn't waste any time after checking into the hotel and walked several blocks to Roma within minutes of dropping off our luggage at the hotel. Roma's is a lovely looking place and I'm sure it is hands down the finest eating establishment in all of Spearfish, SD and possibly all of South Dakota but with the exception of a decent Caesar salad and a nice glass of wine the food was average at best and the tiramisu tasted like something I made in my Easy Bake oven when I was a child. There was a plus size waitress working at Roma's, she wore a snug fitting skirt and blouse and fishnet stockings, and I truly enjoyed watching her work because she had so much confidence and style. I took at least 50 photos today so I'll upload one in a few hours to accompany this post. Goodnight from Spearfish.