John Steinbeck once described Cannery Row as, "...a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." What he forgot to include in his description was a 14-mile oceanside hike, a bevy of barking sea lions, a $15 blue cheese burger, a short rib dinner and a finger puppet named Foo.
With bags packed and a fully-charged digital camera, we began our 90-mile drive to Monterey in honor of Bob's [
fill in the number you deem appropriate here] birthday—a fine excuse for adventure.
After a hearty breakfast and cheap backpack purchase (
Zut alors! We carelessly left our well-weathered pack in Palo Alto)—we were on our way. Our hike was nothing short of spectacular; crashing waves to our right, fields of iridescent flowers to our left, and a tasty blue cheese burger at the 7-mile mark, the Inn at Spanish Bay, and thankfully our turnaround point.
By mid-afternoon we welcomed a nap and a shower, then headed off to to Fandango for a birthday dinner where Bob played with his silverware in anticipation of his shortribs, Ms. Foo made friends with a ceramic swine and Mama Foo demolished her fillet with the same vigor used to slay the baked cookie sundae earlier that afternoon.
Happy Birthday Bob! (and many m
ooooooooore...)
That's right, the Chicago White Sox are in town for a 3-game series against the Giants—and Uncle Kevin, our intensely and excessively devoted Sox fan, is taking Foo and friends to the game. If we survive as Sox fans in Giants territory, we'll move our adventure 35 miles down the peninsula on Sunday for the "Wings of Freedom" Tour at Moffet Field; a spectacular showcase of B-17, B-24 and B-25 bombers—on display and in flight.
