Thanksgiving 2010

The Steitz family gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving at Gary and Joyce's mountain home in Yosemite Lake Park.  They are located off of highway 41, on the way to Yosemite.  The elevation there is about 1300 ft., and there was definitely a chill in the air!

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and Gary and Joyce were waiting for us.  We had a great time catching up, then had an early dinner at the Blue Heron, one of the restaurants located in YLP.

Thanksgiving morning dawned cold and clear, with beautiful blue skies and lots of sunshine.  We got to talk to Alisha and Mark, via skype, in Ireland.  We were sure wishing that they were there, too!  After a leisurely morning, we took a walk around one of the lakes, while we awaited Jim's arrival.  We had reservations at Ducey's - a great restaurant located in a lodge at Bass Lake.

They were serving a buffet Thanksgiving dinner and we had reservations for 2:00 pm.  Now, you never know how these buffet things will go, but we were all up for the adventure!  We were seated at a great table by the window (the same one Gary and Joyce sat at on their 25th wedding anniversary!) that overlooked the lake.  There was a LOT of snow right down to the water's edge, and it was just beautiful!

Thanksgiving dinner was, in a word, FABULOUS!!  In fact, we're already talking about going back next year.  There was a huge assortment of food and everything was delicious.  There were appetizers, several different salads, candied yams, sweet potatoes, green beans (not the casserole!)  brussel sprouts, cornbread dressing, three kinds of cranberry sauce, roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, salmon with lemon and capers, prime rib and rolls!  The desserts were equally impressive - pumpkin pie, apple pie, brownies, chocolate cake, pecan pie and cheesecake!  Amazing!

We were glad that we had eaten early and that we had walked around the lake that morning!  Thursday evening we watched "Trains, Planes and Automobiles", and Joyce put out a huge array of munchies - that we didn't eat much of!

Friday morning we went to breakfast at Chuckchansi Casino, a few miles from YLP.  The casino is huge, and just beautiful!  It could be transplanted to Tahoe and fit right in.  That afternoon we all went to Mariposa - an old gold mining town about 30 miles from Gary and Joyce.  It's a really cute little town, with a great museum, cute little shops, and the oldest continually operating courthouse in the state.

We ate dinner at Crab Cakes in Oakhurst - another delicious meal!  After that it was back to Gary and Joyce's to rest and relax.  They had gotten a huge, 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, and had the outer edges done when we arrived.  All 5 of us worked on the puzzle during the evenings, and other time that we had.  We didn't finish it, but by the time we left on Saturday, it was probably 80% complete.

Saturday morning we talked to Mark and Alisha again via skype, and they showed us the ton of snow that they had received during the day.  They have two dogs, Bailey and Tricky Woo (anyone remember the All Creatures Great and Small series?), and the dogs loved running and playing in the snow!

After a great breakfast at the cafe at the golf course, we went back and worked on the puzzle (yes, we were obsessed!) until it was time to load the car.  It had started raining after we got home from the cafe, and was raining lightly when we left.  The trip home was uneventful, and it felt great to get out of the car!

Thanks so much, Gary and Joyce, for a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had a great time and are looking forward to our next visit to your lovely mountain home!

One of the lakes at YLP - we took a walk around this lake a couple of times - it was great!

More of the beautiful lake and reflections of the trees in the water

A trail through the area by the lake.  The deer are abundant at YLP and we saw 7 of them the afternoon that we arrived, in Gary and Joyce's back yard.

Gary and Joyce on a leisurely stroll along the path

The trees were turning and the colors were beautiful

Gary talking to Jim, who arrived while we were walking around the lake on Thursday

Another great shot of the lake and it's reflections

More of the beautiful area in Yosemite Lake Park

Happy walkers!  Note that Joyce is carrying their chihuahua, Atticus

After dinner at Ducey's

The courthouse in Mariposa

Nap time for Cricket and Atticus!  Happy dogs, wouldn't you say?

Warm sunny days around the bay...

Well, as the radio announcer said, fall is the new summer!  We have had wonderful, warm, sunny days for the past week!  So, we've made a concentrated effort to take full advantage of them, and go outside! 

We've taken lots of glorious walks around the coast side and enjoyed lots of beach and ocean time, too.  We saw the most wonderful sunset on our walk on Sunday evening, and, of course, we didn't have the camera with us!  We've pretty much covered Moss Beach, on foot, and also the Coastal Trail.  Great way to spend a few hours each day!

We also took advantage of the weather and went back into San Francisco.  We wanted to visit the Maritime Museum, and also see the Wave Organ.  We read about the Wave Organ a couple of years ago as we were browsing a book titled "Weird Stuff in California" - you just have to browse a book with a title like that!  The wave organ is a series of pipes that play "music" as the tide comes in, and is the most effective at high tide, and, for some reason, a full moon!  Unfortunately, there was neither a high tide or full moon yesterday, but we enjoyed it just the same.  We packed a snack and watched a fisherman at the Marina while we ate.  He caught a crab and a fish, both of which he threw back.  We decided that he was really just feeding the fish!

Days like we've had, in November, are pretty much a gift and we decided to take full advantage of them.  Also enjoying the warmth is the garden!  Our zucchini plant has decided to produce, the blueberry is loaded with berries and still blooming, and one of our roses has grown up through the hedge and bloomed!  Sadly, all of this warmth is scheduled to end at the end of this week, and rain will be upon us!  Oh, well - it's almost Thanksgiving, after all!

Walking along the coastal trail - beautiful crashy waves

The Harbor Seals ashore at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

And a closer view

In Miramar - someone has fashioned a ladder of sorts, to get to the beach.

It looked pretty scary to me!  Apparently your surfboard or kayak can slide down the vertical logs, while you go down the horizontal ones....

Lots of people at the beach, and lots of wave action

Giant tire at the beach!  Wonder what vehicle wore this?

In San Francisco yesterday - the fall leaves reflected in the windshield of the SUV

The San Francisco skyline.  The white building in the left of the picture is the Maritime Museum.  It was built in the late 1930's as part of the WPA

"Pirates" at Fisherman's Wharf

Lee joined their ranks!

Crab season officially opened yesterday.  There were tons of crab pots on boats, both in San Francisco and at the Pillar Point Harbor

Boudin Bakery at Fisherman's Wharf - they make all shapes of bread besides this bear - their were turkeys, crabs, lobsters, etc.  Very clever, and very yummy sour dough bread!

Forbes Island!  This is a floating restaurant alongside Pier 39.  It's actually a houseboat that has been anchored here for many years.  We ate there about 10 years ago.  The restaurant part is actually under water, and you have portholes to look through.  The food is pretty good, too!

Lee initially wanted a shot of the seagull, but then realized that people had been tossing coins onto the pillars

This was pretty surreal - it was 80 degrees and they were decorating the Christmas tree at Pier 39!

The (not working) light house on the pier beyond the St. Francis Yacht Club, on the Marina.  The walk to the Wave Organ was beyond it.

Make this picture big to read about the Wave Organ

The wave organ!  Notice the pipes in the middle of the picture

The wave organ pipes and the San Francisco skyline in the background

A cargo ship comes under the Golden Gate bridge - probably filled with holiday items!

Blooming rose - through and above the hedge in the front courtyard

Blueberries!

Happy zucchini!  Next year I'm not even going to plant until September!

This zucchini plant is the runt of the litter, but it's blooming and producing, too!

That's all the news from Moss Beach - life is good!

Peter Mason's visit...

Peter Mason arrived from England on Oct. 31st, on his way to his final destination of Australia, to visit his brother Andy, and his family.  It's a long, long way from England to Australia, and every few years Peter breaks the trip up a bit by coming to visit us!

And apparently Peter brought the sun with him, as we had the most glorious weather for his entire visit!  Monday through Thursday brought temperatures in the 80's - even on the coast!  We were just delighted, and as you'll see in the pictures, made our outings even better!

Monday we went over the Golden Gate Bridge to visit the Point Bonito lighthouse at the opening of the golden gate, on the Marin headlands.  We weren't able to go out to the lighthouse, as they are getting ready to replace the original suspension bridge to the lighthouse.  We saw lots of cargo ships come through the golden gate, and got great shots of the bridge, too.  We also visited the Coast Guard station in Sausalito, which might be Nathan's new home this next summer.  Looks like it will be quite a different experience than Cordova!

We also visited Hyde Street Pier, which used to be the terminus of Hwy 101 before the Golden Gate bridge was built!  The car ferry took cars from there to the other end of Hwy 101, across the bay.  There are several old ships docked there, in various stages of refurbishment, and made in several countries.  It's really interesting to tour them, and sort of strange to be on a ship that was build in the 1800's, and looking back at the SF skyline!

We had a picnic lunch at Chrissy field, then on the way home stopped at the Sutro Tower for amazing views of the city and surrounding areas.

On Tuesday we went to Sonoma, and did some wine tasting there.  Sonoma is different than Napa - smaller, the town surrounds the town square, and is the northern most Spanish Mission.  We had lunch there, toured the mission and some of the historic sites, and visited three wineries - Sebastiani, Buena Vista and Chateau St. Jean.  It was a great day, and we got home in time to go out to dinner at the HMB Brewing Company, courtesy of Peter. 

Wednesday we avoided the city as the celebration parade for the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants was taking place.  A truly historic event, as the is the first time that San Francisco has won the series.  Millions of people showed up - traffic was bad, as you can imagine, and public transit was packed!  We decided to watch the event on the evening news!

So, we stayed on the peninsula.  We spent some time in Half Moon Bay and had lunch at our favorite deli there.  Then we went to San Carlos to the Hiller Air Museum - a museum devoted to the history of manned flight.  I'd never been there before, and it was really interesting!  Also lots of interactive things to do, including flight simulators!  I crashed!!  Several times.....

On Thursday we went back to San Francisco, and took a tour around the bay.  The tour took us out under the bridge and around the back side of Alcatraz.  The weather was glorious, and we were all in short sleeves the whole day.  After the tour, we had lunch at the Boduin bakery and cafe - the home of sourdough bread!  We had soup in bread bowls and it was wonderful!  From there we wandered down to Pier 39 and browsed along Fisherman's Wharf. 

Thursday night Peter was back on an airplane, for the next leg of his journey - all 16 hours of it!

It was a great visit, and we got to do lots of touristy stuff, which we love, and for some reason, never think to do on our own!

Thanks for visiting, Peter!

Picture perfect day in San Francisco

The Golden Gate bridge from the Sausalito side

This could possibly be Nathan's next post!  How cool would that be?

And if it is, he'll be trading in his cutter for these little speedy boats!

Peter and the bridge, from the Marin Headlands

The Point Bonito lighthouse, with the suspension bridge in the foreground

The bridge and lighthouse

The ships moored at the Hyde Street Pier

Peter at the Hyde Street Pier

A square rigger!

This is the same square-rigger.  There was a class of children on the ship that were going to be spending the night!  I doubt that much sleep was had.

A steam-powered tug boat.

The Hyde Street Pier entrance to the car ferry, Eureka.  Note the highway sign on the right.

Some of the cars on the ferry.  They had a great display of old cars and trucks.

The passenger deck of the Eureka.

The Eureka from the front, where the cars would drive off on the Marin side.

San Francisco skyline from Sutro tower.

Peter at the Sutro tower.

Sunlight streaming through the forest at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.

The front of the mission in Sonoma.

The courtyard of the mission.

 

Old, carved redwood barrels at Sebastiani Winery.

This was one HUGE barrel!

There were some amazing wood carvings at Sebastiani - this one portrays the winemakers calendar, with different tasks represented in each month.

Buena Vista Winery - barrels in the storage cave, built into the side of a mountain.

Fall color at Buena Vista.

Our last winery visit was Chateau St. Jean.  There, the tasting room guy saw Lee's camera, and we had a photo shoot!

The grounds at Chateau St. Jean.

Chateau St. Jean, with the winery in the background.

This shot will be familiar - Peter at our lighthouse in Montara.

The ocean was at a full boil - huge, crashing waves!

Peter, pointing to the sign to London.

Half Moon Bay.

At the Hiller Air Museum

A shot from upstairs

This was fun!  One of the interactive displays

Peter checking out all the controls

And I'm getting some great information

Lee as a Blue Angel pilot!

From a tiny cockpit to a huge one!  This was the cockpit and upper deck of a Flying Tiger Boeing 747 100 series aircraft.  We got to sit in the flight deck seats and ask questions of the actual (retired) airline captain seated behind us.

First Officer Peter Mason

Captain Pat! 

The air intake of the 747 engine

Peter in the air intake

Our bay cruise on the Red and White Fleet.  We were on the Harbor Prince

Getting ready to board

The cruise included headsets and a pre-recorded tour description.  That's Alcatraz in the back ground

A beautiful day to cruise the bay!

Heading out to the bridge - you can see that Alcatraz has gotten small

Coming back in

Lee, Peter and the bridge

We thought this was a neat shot