Wednesday Night Market

The Santa Rosa Downtown Market began last night.  We still call it "Wednesday Night Market" , leftover from when it was the "Thursday Night Market". 

Anyway, regardless fo the name, I, Evan, Ella, and my Mom went last night.  The market opens at 5:00 and we found parking was difficult to come by at 5:15.  Evan's sure it was because everyone was excited about Kettle Corn. 

There was the usual mix of food and stuff endors - flowers, tie-dye, crafts, jewlery, soaps, honey, etc.  Mom and I didn't shop much  since that quickly leads to bored kids.  We'll plan another night for that. 

There's always lots and lots of food choices.  Mom and Ella had a hotdog, Evan had his regular cheese pizza from the La Vera pizza stand, and I had my regular combo (spring roll, vegie roll, vegie thai noodles, kari puff, and spicy lime salad) from Californai Thai.  I agreed with the people in line behind me that California Thai has the best food there, hands down.  Go try their restaurant over on 7th.

We browsed the fresh vegie vendors and came home with peas, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches.  Then, it was off to buy Evan and Ella their promised Kettle Corn.  I have to say that I was very disappointed to find that the Kettle Corn stand now only offers one size bag for $5 rather than the three different sizes.  The little $2 bags were perfect for the kids.  The giant $5 bag is way to much for us.  As a result, I told the kids not to expect popcorn every time.

Overall, we had a good time.  Its a great place to people-watch.

Graton Fire Dept. Breakfast

The Graton Volunteer Fire Dept. Annual Pancake Breakfast was fun, as always.  The firemen served up eggs, ham, and, of course, pancakes.  Seating is at long, family style tables in the firehouse and just outside under blue tarps that are strung up for the occassion.  We got there early before the line started getting really long.

All the firetrucks are out and open for the kids (and adults) to climb in.   There was also an ambulance to check out and the SWAT Team's tank-like vehicle.  Everyone had stickers and kid-friendly safety info to hand out.  We re-stocked our supply of plastic fire hats.

The most exciting part of the morning was the arrival of the REACH medical helicopter.  As son as we saw the fire truck head half-a-block down the street to wet down the field where REACH lands, we went to get a good spot.  After about 20 minutes of impatient waiting, the familiar red helicopter zoomed low overhead, circling its landing spot.  Wheels went down on the second circle and REACH landed in a cloud of flying grass. 

As soon as the rotors stopped spinning and the "o.k." was given, kids swarmed forward.  We got in line for our turn to sit in the helicopter.  Took pictures.  Ella got back in once the line went down and hung out in the helicopter while Evan and I chatted with one of the medical staff and learned what Evan needs to do to become a helicopter pilot.  (That's his newest chosen profession.)

After that, we headed home.  We're looking forward to next year!

Golden Gate Bridge Walk

For Mother's Day with our kids, we planned on walking on the Golden Gate Bridge a bit, looking around in the Presidio, and then going over to Fisherman's Wharf to check out the fishing boats, Pier 39, etc.  We didn't get any farther than the Golden Gate Bridge, but that's o.k.

It was a nice day; a bit hazy but not a whisp of San Francisco fog in sight.  Nonetheless, we bundled the kids up as walking on the Bridge can be cold.

We parked on the north, Marin, side of the bridge, in the parking lot to the right of 101.  That meant that, in order to get to the pedestrian side (the bay side of the Bridge is pedestrians only until 3:30, when bicyclists may use either side) we had to use the pathway which went under the Bridge.  Evan, who's 5, loved seeing underneath the Bridge.  He found all the steel structure fascinating, though the noise of the cars overhead worried him a little.

We started out and quickly realized that this was going to be a much longer walk than we anticipated.  Ever few minutes we had to stop to answer Evan's questions.  The wind and the traffic noise made it impossible to just carry on a conversation as we walked along.  So, we had to stop to answer: Is that an ocean? Which one?  Is that a bay?  Is it natrual or made? Why is the Bridge painted?  How did they build down in the water? What's in the cables? What's in the towers?

And, there was so, so much to see!  Maybe the most exciting thing was the bright orange Coast Guard helicopter flying around.   It made a couple of passes by the Bridge, flying the length of it with rotars right at roadway level.  The sightseeing helicopters which zoomed under the Bridge and pulled up steeply on the ocean side to head back over the City were equally exciting.  We stopped to watch a large ship glide under the Bridge on into the Bay and then waited to watch the Pilot's small boat pull up next to the huge ship for the Pilot to jump aboard.  Then there were all the ferries and sailboats out on the Bay.  We watched wave after wave of comorants headed out to sea.  All pretty exciting stuff for a 5 year old boy.

At the half-way point, both Evan and Ella voted to continue on to the other end.  We were starving by the time we got there.  Much to our surprise and dismay, the only available food is over-priced, pre-packaged sandwiches, chips, pretzles, etc.  We spent $9 for two bags of chips and a strawberry yogurt.  Never thinking that we'd make it all the way across, we had of course left all our snacks in the car.  At least we had brought water with us.  How about a hot dog cart, guys? 

There's lots of stuff to do on the south side of the Bridge.  Fort Point is an old fort at the base of the Bridge that you can hike all over.  There is a parking lot right at the Fort.  We didn't go down as it is quite a walk.  We did walk along the Battery area which has old bunkers in earthen hills.  There are some open, roped-off, doors that lead to a deep, deep blackness.  We walked around a little.  Evan's favorite was the piece of cable which is cut-away to show all the smaller cables inside.  There are places to picnic and, had we thought about it, a picnic lunch would definitely have been the way to go. 

After negotiating with the kids over souveniers in the gift shop, we headed back across.  The walk back was much warmer and the wind had subsided a bit. 

A few tips if you go:

It can be very cold or, as we found out, quite warm with the sun shinning on your back.  Wear layers.

Its very, very noisy.  Evan wasn't very happy about that.  It makes conversation nearly impossible.

Bring your own picnic lunch, snacks, and drinks.

There are restrooms on the south, San Francisco side.  There might be on the north side as well but we didn't look. 

Allow lots of time.  There is a lot to see so give yourself time to linger and look around on both sides of the Bridge.

If you have little kids, bring strollers!  Its a long walk and I sure wouldn't want to be one of the parents I saw who were carrying their kids.  

Mexican Riveria

Our cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallerta aboard the Dawn Princess was nice.  We hadn't been on the Dawn in 10 years, (when we were aboard for her first trip through the Panama Canal) and were happy to find that the ship has lost none of its lovely granduer. 

We boarded at about 1:00, found our cabin, and moved in.  Then we spent the afternoon taking pictures for Evan of the forklifts loading baggage and supplies into the boat.  The Dawn set sail for Cabo at about 4:00.  We hung out on deck, located the shuffleboard courts, watched the pilot jump off back onto his little boat, and we treated to a beautiful sunset. 

We signed up for the traditional dining, late seating.  Happily, we had a good table and, over the course of the week, became friends with our tablemates and would meet for bingo, dance until way too late at night, have pre-dinner cocktails, and traded tips on what to do in port.

The cruise had three days at sea - one on the way to Cabo and two on the way home from Puerto Vallerta.  We whiled the time away with shuffleboard, sitting on deck looking for whales (spotted! the first morning at breakfast and on our way home right from our cabin window!), bingo (I never had to chicken dance!), eating (way, way too much eating), watching the silly art auction, I did ceramics, and a fair amount of aimless wandering and sitting, watching the waves go by.

CABO:  Cabo San Lucas was our first port.  The Dawn anchored in the bay and passengers were tendered in using the lifeboats.  We're not really group tour people so we set out on our own.  The first challenge was working our way through the gauntlet of people who were selling things.  Men with silver necklaces draped off their arms, "Mi amigo!  Good price!  Good price!"  Women with big iguanas with miniture somberos strapped to their heads who came up to Brian (good thing it wasn't me!), tried to put the iguana on his shoulder and get paid to have his picture taken, t-shirt sellers, rugs, staw hats with "Cabo San Lucas" ribbons on them, ceramics, dolls, jewelry . . . the variety was amazing.  Throw in the people who were offering snorkeling, city tours, glass bottom boats, water taxis to other beachs, sailing, diving, drinking, food . . . it all became a little overwhelming. 

Whew . . . we made it through.

It was hot in Cabo.  And once we were away from the ocean, the lack of a breeze made it hotter.  We wandered a bit.  Up ahead, we saw what looked like a mall, a new mall, and therefore, we surmised . . . air conditioning!!  (And maybe even a clean bathroom!) 

The mall was new and clean and had really nice stores and yep, it was air conditioned and there were clean bathrooms.  I wound up shopping.  The Liz Minelli store had beautiful things in the window and I couldn't resist going in.  A gorgeous red cocktail dress caught my eye.  I just had to try it on.  I was forced to come out of the dressing room since it didn't have a mirror.  I sheepishly peeked out.  The sales girl was waiting (as was Brian) and finished zipping up and arranging the dress.  As I was admiring it in the mirror, the other girl appeared behind me with a sparkly red shall that completed the dress perfectly.  Next, shoes appeared on my feet.  Wow!  I wish shopping at home was like that!  I walked out with the entire outfit.

Back out in the heat, we continued our aimless wandering.  Time to eat.  By this point, we were far from tourist world.  On the road leading to the school (Ninos de hereos?  Hereos de ninos?  I can't remember.)  We found a restaurant that met our requirements - no other tourists and looks clean. 

Oh my God, what food!!  Brian had a shrimp stuffed chile relleno - no battering and deep frying like they do here at home.  It was a huge chile, bursting with fresh shrimp, grilled quickly and served with the chile still crunchy.  I had chicken fajitas which were served with fresh, homemade tortillas.  And the guacomole - I could have eaten bowls and bowls of that. 

After stuffing ourselves, we meandered back into the street and walked a bit 'til we found an internet cafe to send an e-mail to Evan and Ella.  Then, we kind of decided we were done with Cabo.  On the way back to the ship we stopped at a supermarket.  I picked up some coffee.  Supermarkets are a great place to find cheap, unique souveniers. 

MAZATLAN: My "Mexico" Lonely Planet guidebook informed me that Mazatlan is home to the second highest, working, lighthouse and that one could hike to said lighthouse.  Sounded like a good plan to me! 

On board, the cruise director staff had informed us that, for those of us who were going to explore Mazatlan on our own, when we got off the ship, there would be a sign listing all the places the taxis go and the appropriate price they should charge.

We got off the boat.  Problem #1: The lighthouse, "El Faro" wasn't listed on the taxi price board.  Problem #2: I wasn't about to wait in the line, which had to be at least 30 minutes, to hire a taxi.  We walked through the 15 foot tall steel gates that enclosed the port area.  The street was teeming with taxis!  I approached one, "To the lighthouse?"  "Yes, 5 pesos."  "5 pesos each or 5 todo (for both of us - my apologies for my misspellings; my written Spanish is worse than my spoken Spanish!)?"  "5 each."  "No, too much," I said and began to walk away.  "O.k., o.k., 5 pesos todo."  We climbed in.

A few minutes later we were at the base of the mountain the lighthouse sits atop of.  It was right by the sewage treatment plant.  We started up.  It was hot.  Now, why "second highest lighthouse in the world" didn't translate in my mind to "super long hike with multiple switchbacks that end into at least 500 stairs", I never will know.  Brian asked me that at least once or twice.  I still don't know.  Let me repeat . . . it was hot.  Not a breath of breeze in the air.  I felt better seeing "Se vende agua y refrescos" written in magic marker on the stairs every now and then.  It meant I could drink all the water we had brought with us.  There was quite a view from the top.  The lighthouse keeper lives there and I happily gave him a dollar for a cold bottle of water out of the little refrigerator in his living room.  We saw two iguanas (these didn't have stupid mini-sombreros strapped to their heads).  I took pictures of cactus on the way down.  Mostly, I spent the hike back down wondering how on earth the lighthouse keeper had lugged his total body gym machine up there. 

We grabbed the one taxi waiting for silly gringos who had hiked to the lighthouse.  The Lonely Planet guidebook had also informed me of the large central market so off we went.  5 more pesos.  Downtown Mazatlan reminded me of being in the garmet district in downtown Los Angeles - hot, crowded, sticky, dirty, air clogged with exhaust fumes.  The market is a collection of individual booths selling everything you could possibly want and lots of stuff you don't.  "What are you looking for?  Good price, mi amigo!  Maybe a dress for your wife?  Come in, come in.  I help you.  Good price!" 

The hike to the lighthouse had left us starving.  We settled on tacos at a little lunch counter.  Again, no other tourists.  And, while it certainly wasn't as clean as the restaurant in Cabo, we figured we could always ask for the meat to be grilled longer and we'd skip the salsa.  Again, amazing!  Good carne asada.  Fresh, handmade tortillas.  Three tacos set us back $2.  We finished off lunch with tamales from a different stand.  Wish Mario's at home made tamales that good!

The cathedral was a few blocks away so we walked it.  The cool, quiet, interior was refreshing.  Again, we hunted down an internet cafe to say "hola!" to Evan and Ella.  After a bit of souvenier shopping back at the central marketplace, we headed back to the ship. 

PUERTO VALLERTA:  Getting off the ship here is easier - no hoards of taxis or mobs of people trying to sell you something, anything.  Our plan was to make our way to a little place just south of Puerto Vallerta called Mismaloya and try to go snorkeling.  After some debate, we hired a taxi for the 30 minute trip.  Our taxi driver dropped us at the door to his friend's dive shop (which was really little more than a shack). 

I had really hoped to see giant manta rays that are supposed to be in the bay at that time of year.  I was disappointed (but admittedly, also a little relieved) to find out that the mantas were in the north end of the bay and fairly far out into the open ocean.  Having been "snorkeling" in the open ocean, its not something I wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

A quick boat ride had us (and every other snorkel boat in Puerto Vallerta) at Los Arcos National Park.  It should be noted that I'm a very nervous snorkle-dorkeler.  So, I hesitated when our guy stopped the boat and said, "o.k., jump off!"  I looked at Brian, "What does he mean, 'jump off'?!  Just jump off into the water??"  Now, mind you, snorkeling had been my idea.  Brian just rolled his eyes at me.  He's heard this before.  Finally, I jumped off.  The water felt so good after two days of hot, gritty cities.  Our guy tossed pieces of bread into the water near us and beautiful blue and bright yellow fish came up from the depths.  After a little bit, our guy's radio cackled with a message from the shop that there were four more people who wanted to go snorkeling.  "O.k.?" he asked us.  "I be right back."  Ummm . . . o.k.  "Want a noodle to help float?" Well, that's more than I got in Zanzibar, I figured, and here, the shore or other snorkel boats were an easy swim away.  He threw us a noodle and motored off with our backpack, which contained our passports, money, etc.  We waved.

He came back!  And, all our stuff came back with him.  After a bit more snorkeling, it was time to head back to the beach.  The new snorkelers were left with noodles. 

Lunch was on the beach.  It was good, if you could ignore the salespeople who made constant rounds on the beach.  Rugs, t-shirts, hats, wood carvings, jewelry.  We gave into the little turtles carved out of pink onyx.  We couldn't decide what to do next so we ordered another Pacifico.  Hmmm . . . that didn't really help to motivate us.  I went off to track down "The Pie Lady".  Turns out The Pie Lady sells cake - chocolate, orange, lemon chiffon, cheesecake, coconut (well, that one was pie).  I settled on orange, being a little worried about the chocolate and cheesecake having been carried out in the sun for the afternoon.  Orange was yummy!  The stray, tan-colored, dog with floppy ears who magically appeared at my side, agreed.  "Stop petting it!" Brian repeated.  Another Pacifico!  Looks like the day was going to be spent right there on the beach in Mismaloya. 

We asked our waiter where to catch a taxi back to the ship.  Sizing us up, our waiter suggested that we could take the public bus.  We rousted oursevles out of our lounge chairs and headed up the road.  We waited, looking for the blue bus.  I took pictures of Brian, which annoyed him.  Bus came!  The buses are private and this one was decked out with red velvet curtains across the front window with white fringe.  Nice!  We rattled into town.  Eventually, after a ride on the green bus, we arrived back at the ship. 

Our two days at sea on the way home were pretty much like the first.  I could have spent another week. 

Just a little too close

Recent trip to Tahoe:

We set out from the house in Marla Bay to show the kids where Mommy, Aunt Sharlyn and Joe would be skiing the next day.  Ten minutes later, we were in the Boulder Lodge parking lot at Heavenly.  As we drove in, we noticed staff running about the parking lot, moving orange cones around.  We didn't think too much of it.

Then, my ever-observant husband said, "I think they're going to close the parking lot." 

Looking around and trying to figure out why (it was too early for skiing to be done for the day).  We heard a helicopter and, looking up, saw the medical helicopter circling.

Everyone in the parking lot had to stop and remain in their place.  The parking lot is big; the far end was nearly empty.  The helicopter was circling, getting lower and lower, being blown sideways in the wind.

The ambulance and fire truck roll in and park right by the entrance to the parking lot, well out of the way.  A fireman comes to stand at the back, passenger corner of our truck after confirming with Brian that we're not going anywhere.

The helicopter pilot passes sideways, about 20 feet off the ground, over the ambulance, facing our direction.  It stops to hover right behind the truck!

Admittedly, I'm a bit nervous looking at sweet, sleeping Ella in her car seat behind Brian and Evan, who by now is excitedly sitting in my lap.  I'm thinking, "one good gust of wind the wrong way and that rotor is coming right through our truck!"

I keep reminding myself that the person I can clearly see sitting in the pilot's seat is a highly trained professional who I'm sure has put his helicopter on the ground in much tighter spots, in much worse weather.  I'm trying to sound upbeat to Evan, talking about how the people on the helicopter are going to help whomever's in the ambulance.

And, what about the entire other side of the parking lot??!!  There aren't any cars over there!  Why not put the helicopter on the ground over there??  Away from my truck with my kids in it!!!  This was just a little too close for comfort.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity of the helicopter hovering 10 feet off the ground, rotors spinning what seemed like a scant 20 feet from the back of our truck, the pilot put it on the ground.