Roy's 85th Birthday PARTY!

We had about 40 friends and family over for Roy's 85th birthday party.  The food was catered BBQ, with Roy's special request of tri-tip and was followed by his special request of chocolate cake.

It was Richard's birthday so we sang happy birthday to both of them with a quick switch of the candles, which were only 2 years off for Richard!

Uncle Glen brought a bunch of old pictures that everyone enjoyed looking at!

After everyone left, Jim, Roy and their hiking buddies sat around the fire pit and told fishing and hunting stories.

Davis Soccer

TNDC went on a road trip to see Kayla play soccer against Davis!  We love a good boondoggle and it was a classic.

We got some La Vics, picked up Kaylene, picked up Drew at work and rolled up to Davis.  We met G at her apartment and ran the dogs (Hops, Oak and Ahi all came with us).  It was nice that Kaylene and Drew could see where G lived.  Then we took a campus tour before heading over to the game.  Hawaii won their first game of the season - 2 to 1.
 

We packed up and headed home stopping for burgers on the way.  All in all a super fun day.

Wilder Ranch

My friend Shannon, who I backpack with, just relocated to Carmel from Washington.  That means we can hike together more regularly - YAY! Today we met up at Wilder Ranch and did a 7.3 mile hike along the coast.  It was a flat hike but the distance had us feeling it at the end.  The weather was super warm and the beauty stunning.  We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.  And now I am lucky to have Shannon closer!

Chocolate Tasting

My team and another team at work got together for a virtual chocolate tasting event.  They sent us 5 specialty chocolate bars and we all got on a zoom call together.  The gal from Dandelion Chocolate talked about they sourced their cacao beans and made their chocolate.  And then we would taste one of the bars and talk about what it tasted like.

It was absolutely fascinating.  The bars had two ingredients cacao beans and sugar!  The flavor of the bars came solely from the cacao beans.

 Some of the bars tasted like fudge, almonds and marshmallow, while others tasted earthy or boozy.  I definitely had favorites and others I didn't like at all.

Happy 77th birthday

We went to La Foret to celebrate my mom's 77th birthday and surprised her with Brian's family and Drew and Kaylene!  We had a delicious brunch that I am still thinking about weeks later!

My favorite pics are them with the grandkids.  G, Sam and Jack were away at school so they missed the celebration.

 

New Glassware

Remember the glass blowing class we did at G's work over the summer?  Since that time I have wanted some pint glasses from the gal who taught the class.  We tried to get it together to get them delivered to G while she was still at work, but that didn't work.  So she dropped them off at the cabin and Jim brought them back to SJ with him when he went up for a recent hunting trip.  I LOVE them!  If you come to my house, DON'T EVEN try to drink out of them!  LOL! 

Morro Bay

Here are some more pics from our Morro Bay get away.  We brought G's bikes with us and that allowed us to get around town faster.  We really enjoyed having them.  It was so cool because at one moment you were in the sunshine and a few minutes later the fogged rolled in....and then it went out again.  It was an awesome introduction to the fall weather I love so much.

We hiked at the Morro Bay State Park which overlooked the wetlands which we thick with birds.

We drove just south to Los Osos and the Montara State Park to check out that area.  Beautiful place with lots of hiking - but it was socked in with fog.   This was a great time to do a driving tour because we had just scarfed a late breakfast at Frankie and Lola's.  I had an amazing scrambled egg sandwich on sourdough with brie and cranberry chutney.

This guy hung out around our cottage.  One evening as we were walking into town, he took off right over my head and squawked the whole way - it scared the bejeezus out of me!

We decided to rent a canoe instead of kayaks since I had never canoed and I don't remember Jim canoeing the whole time we have known each other.  We canoed all over the bay and wetlands and saw tons of birds, a sting ray, oyster farm, sea lions and otters.  It was a cool way to spend a couple hours. 

Just to round out all our physical activity, we hiked to the top of Black Hill.  We were rewarded with amazing views.  After the paddle and the hike, we got take out Thai food and ate it on our deck while watching the oyster farmers go to work.

 

Get Away Morro Bay

This was the week we were supposed to be in Mt Lassen and at a fire lookout in Northern CA.  But the resort we had planned to stay at, Drakesbad, partially burned down in one of the wildfires this year.  So we pivoted and booked a place right on the water in Morro Bay.   

We drove down Highway 1 and stopped at Nepenthe for lunch.  Had a yummy lunch and then stopped to check out the elephant seals.

Our place in Morro Bay is super cute and right on the water.  We are watching boats go by from our couch!  There are tons of birds and otters right off our deck.  So close that you can hear the loud crunching.

Morro Rock

 

The first nite, the fog rolled in really fast.  Luckily we have a nice fire place and we were able to stay in and have appetizers while watching the football game.

Don Pedro Drought

At the bottom of Lake Don Pedro is an old mining town that can only be seen during a drought.  We have never seen it and since it is visible we went for a look.  This is part of the old mine.

 After checking out the mine, we went up the river to see what we could see.