Holiday Vacation

My friend Dave and I headed up to his mother's place in Clear Lake on Tuesday and come back on Wednesday. His mom is a great cook who loves to make sure guests are well fed. :) On the 3 hour drive up, we bullshitted about politics. On the 3 hour drive back, we bullshitted about time travel. A future blog entry will expound our insights in this area, so watch out. Hehe

My g/f and I meet up early on Thursday and headed down for a little vacation in Monterey. We had a great time down there. On Thursday, we did a little shopping and then had an early dinner at this one restaurant with a nice atmosphere. We ended up at Bluefin to play pool for a while. We then headed back to the hotel to rested up for the long day to follow (New Years Eve).
We got up a little too late on Friday to go for breakfast, so we headed down to Cannery Row for a great lunch at Fishhopper. The weather on Friday was supposed to be cloudy and rainy. It was actually only partly cloudy during the day, and rainy in the early morning and night. The drive along 17 Mile Drive turned out to be nearly perfect. It was sunny, cool and beautiful. At this one beach, we came across this small group of squirrels that walk right up to you, stand on their hind legs and politely wait for food. At Cypress Point, we saw a beach full of harbor seals. At the Lone Cypress, we watched sea otters and migrating gray whales, along with a gorgeous backdrop. It was a very relaxing day. Friday evening, we meet up with Dave and his girlfriend for dinner. We all had a plan to head down to downtown Monterey for this thang called First Night (a New Years Eve celebration), but instead we ended back at the Bluefin for drinks, more pool and other games. They had the MTV New Years count down on the TVs to bring in the New Year. We all had a good time that wasn't crazy or wild. (darn! ;) )
On Saturday, we all headed down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's changed a lot since I've last been there. If you haven't been there in 5 years or so, I'd actually recommend checking it out again. After that, we had another delicious lunch at the Fishhopper. We all headed back home around 3:30 or so. That evening, my g/f and I had dinner with her family.
I spent Sunday lounging around my place watching movies. For dinner, my g/f brought over a bake-it-yourself pizza which I duly cooked incorrectly. LOL I'm not as hopeless in the kitchen as that statement makes me sound.