Cursed

I must've upset the Fairy of All That is Open For Business Thursday because every time I turned around one of my destinations was either closed or close to it. I purposely went out and bought a 2007 guidebook since the book I had from when we lived here was possibly out of date. We were doing the Fisherman's Wharf thing that day, one of those must-do's that I grit my teeth and bear even though I hate dealing with those throngs of tourists and fighting my way through what some developer decided a pier should look like, namely lots of gaudy, over-priced restaurants and shops selling gaudy, over-priced trinkets. Clearly, they're targeting the 8 year old in everyone because Big E was in heaven. In an attempt to avoid some of the hype we went to the Maritime Museum to tour some of the big, historical ships. All but one of the old boats were closed due to restoration projects. Next we headed to Ghiradelli Square for lunch and fought our way through the crowd to a Belgian-style restaurant that was no longer in business. Tried the open diner across the plaza and they were so busy I stood in line for 10 minutes and a hostess never came once to take anyone's name. Forget that (putting it VERY nicely). Find a Mexican place with immediate seating, scarf some semi-acceptable tacos and off to the Exploratorium which we discover is due to close in one hour. After a quick trip into the fog to get an up close look at the Golden Gate Bridge we decide on an early dinner in Pacific Heights and locate a highly recommended, fun-sounding place in the 2007 Recently Purchased Guidebook. Fighting rush hour traffic and managing the next to impossible feat of street parking, we get there to find not a bustling, energetic staff, but a Big Ol' Padlock on the door. Out of Business. What the #$%!?
Luckily, there are no shortages of restaurants so we manage to get some food and get home earlyish to end the Cursed Day (doesn't every vacation have at least one?).



I'm a little behind on pictures so here are a few from the last few days. Above is at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We got really lucky here and 30 minutes after arrival all rides were one ticket, as opposed to 5 or 6 (at $.75 each) so we were able to make ourselves sick on twisty, twirly old-fashioned amusement park rides. Much Fun.



This is Lone Cypress. A point along the 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach which leads from Monterey to Carmel. Beautiful, even if you do have to pay $9 per car just to drive there.


The kids waiting patiently for CANDY! Did you know they threw CANDY at parades!??!



Our view of fireworks on 4th of July. We were high in the hills behind Oakland and were able to watch fireworks for as far as the eye could see.



At Golden Gate Bridge. Really Big Cables.