Woo, Red Sox! I bet Boston is pretty crazy tonight. Patrick wore his Sox baseball cap during much of our vacation, and we got some comments on it. We missed Tuesday's game, but we saw tonight's game, so I guess that was the most important one. Not that I really enjoy watching baseball, but I enjoy having something to root for. So, on to our vacation...it was wonderful!
Sunday:
We drove down to Pacific Grove, stopping in Carmel for a few hours, because it wasn't check-in time yet. While in Carmel, we had lunch at Friar Tuck's, a cute little diner. The food was pretty good, and it was cheap. We stopped in a few shops, including one that had the best little purse. But it cost $100, so I didn't buy it. I'll make a fine and dandy purse of my own for cheap. But that purse sure was cute--the perfect weight fabric and the perfect size.
We also stopped in at the same art gallery we visited when we first stayed in Carmel, five (?) years ago. It had the same super-fancy chess set by Paul Wunderlich, for $24,000. Not going to buy that, no sir! I'm kind of sad nobody has bought it yet though. There was also a little metal sculpture of a man carrying a pig on his back (bringing home the bacon), very German. I didn't ask the price; I'm sure it's not within my price range.
We also stopped by Carmel Beach and just happened to be there at the same time as the annual sand castle contest. There were a few good ones, but I mostly enjoyed watching all the dogs and little kids there. That's a nice beach, although pretty crowded.
We checked in at Wilkie's Inn a little early. We'd chosen it because it was affordable and still within walking distance of downtown Pacific Grove and the beach. It was just your typical motel, although we could see a teeny bit of the ocean from our second-floor window. I can't say anything really positive or negative about it.
We made dinner reservations at Fandango, the restaurant we couldn't get into last time we were in Pacific Grove. The waiter and owner were both very nice, and it was an all-around enjoyable experience. We started with bread and olives, and we split an heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella. It wasn't nearly as good as the salad we had in Napa, but ignoring that, it was fine. I had yummy seared scallops in lemon butter, served with risotto and carrots. Patrick had salmon fettucine, which he seemed to enjoy. We then split a frozen souffle for dessert, which just turned out to be vanilla ice cream, more or less. We were going to go out for gelato afterwards (two desserts on a vacation is totally acceptable!), but we were full, so we just got hot chocolate and headed home.
Monday:
We started the morning with breakfast at First Awakenings, which is right next to the aquarium. The drive there was beautiful; I wonder how much the homes along Ocean View Blvd. cost. Plenty, I'm sure. Breakfast was fine; I had a boring breakfast burrito, and Patrick had some bananagerm pancakes (bananas plus wheat germ). I liked their texture...I'll have to try putting wheat germ in pancakes sometime.
Next up was the aquarium. We decided to get an annual membership for $85, since it provides free admission for two adults for a whole year, and it would've cost $40 for a single day's visit. So we just need to go back again within the next year, and it'll be worthwhile. Plus we get a 10% discount at the aquarium gift shop! We enjoyed all the normal exhibits and saw the white shark that's living there temporarily. I'm excited for the Ocean's Edge exhibit that's coming next year--it sounds interesting. We'd totally forgotten that they had penguins at this aquarium. The penguins looked pretty bored, but we took a picture of ourselves with them anyway.
We walked down to the Hopkins Marine Station and watched the seals on the protected beach for a little while. I'm glad they have a place to sleep undisturbed.
We spent a little time checking out potential wedding sites in the afternoon. The Mission Ranch is pretty much out. Although it has a beautiful grassy meadow with sheep in it and is generally an appealing place, they require a minimum of 50 wedding guests. Plus, they don't do beach weddings. So that's too bad...I sure did like that grassy meadow. I want one at my house!
The Asilomar Conference Grounds look much more promising. The grounds themselves are okay, and the beach across the street from the grounds (where they routinely hold wedding ceremonies) is nice and fairly unpopulated. We took some pictures. They gave us a packet of wedding information; I'm not sure if it'd be worth it to have the conference folks organize everything, or if we should just try to have a ceremony on the beach on our own (it's public land, so we don't have to go through them). We're adding it to the list, anyway.
After a brief visit to Carmel River Beach in the Carmel Highlands, we decided on a whim to have dinner at the Old Bath House restaurant, overlooking Lovers Point beach (where we got engaged). One of the good things about going on a vacation in the middle of the week is that you can get into nice restaurants without reservations (this restaurant is lauded as the most romantic restaurant in Pacific Grove, best place to kiss, best view, etc.). They had a $28 early dining prix fixe menu that sounded too good to pass up, and it was definitely a good deal. You can check out their early dining menu for details. We started with a Castroville artichoke, next had lobster bisque, then I had the seafood sampler and Patrick had the lavender-thyme pork loin (I convinced him to get it because I like food with flowers involved!), and I finished with a Belgian chocolate souffle, while Patrick had creme brulee. It was all delicious, and the view was beautiful. We even kissed after dinner, since it is the best place to kiss in Pacific Grove ;) I'd definitely like to go back there again.
After dinner, we walked down to Lovers Point beach and spent a little time down there. We saw a rat, so I guess the scruffy guy in a wetsuit from when we got engaged wasn't hallucinating! Plus there were warning signs that the water had very high bacterial levels, and water contact was not recommended. So we just admired the moon briefly, then went back to our motel.
Tuesday:
We got up early on Tuesday and were greeted with rain. That was a downer, since Tuesday was our day for exploring Big Sur! We stopped at a Big 5 and bought a rain poncho and umbrella because we were unprepared for the weather. Then we drove down to Big Sur, where we had reservations at the Big Sur Lodge in Pfeiffer Big Sur Park. The drive down Highway 1 was a little scary because of the rain, but it was still beautiful. There was a meadow full of cows right by the ocean; if I were a cow, that's where I'd want to live.
We were just expecting to get our free park passes from the lodge, since we were arriving so early, but our cottage was empty, so they gave us the key and let us in about five hours early. We appreciated that, since the pouring rain didn't make the prospect of exploring state parks very appealing. Our room was much nicer than the previous night's motel room, even though it was definitely rustic (no TV, phones, or clocks; a few bugs hanging around the room). It had a skylight and a little patio looking out on some redwoods. Just a very nice, peaceful place to stay. We enjoyed some complimentary tea, which helped us warm up from the rain and cold outside. The only thing that would've been better was a fireplace--we'll have to figure out how to get a fireplace room if we stay there again.
The rain let up around noon (phew!), and we walked down to the lodge's restaurant to get some nice warm soup for lunch. The restaurant was charming, and our meal was enjoyable. We each had a bowl of potato leek soup, and then we split a grilled cheese sandwich, which came with some really good potato wedges on the side. Good rainy day outdoorsy food :)
Next, we took a short hike to Pfeiffer Falls (which is in the same park as the lodge). It wasn't as majestic as I'd imagined, but it was still very pretty and peaceful. And we saw some squirrels with huge bushy tails!
Next, we went to my favorite beach of the whole vacation--Pfeiffer Beach. According to the Big Sur website, this is Big Sur's most popular beach, but also the hardest to find. We found it pretty easily; it was the second right south of the Pfeiffer Big Sur Park entrance, just before the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. We had to drive down this narrow one-lane dirt road for about 2 miles, past some horses in a meadow and some trailers. We even had to drive over a little river, due to the recent rain. And then suddenly we were at the beach parking lot, and we walked down a little dirt path, and we were there! It was just beautiful. I guess I shouldn't hype it too much because part of its charm is that it's not full of people. It was just a really pretty and unusual beach. There are some pictures in my album, if you want to take a look. It's definitely going on our list of places to have a wedding, although I'm a little worried it'll be way more crowded on a weekend, when it hasn't just rained. But don't worry--if we do get married there, we'll be sure not to leave any trash or do any damage. Big Sur is too beautiful to disrespect like that. Anyway, we'll have to do some research into high tide times and weather and permits or fees required. Of course, there was a naked guy hanging out on one end of the beach, so I don't think it's a very highly patrolled area. We could probably do whatever we wanted as long as we cleaned up after ourselves.
After navigating the access road in the other direction, we went back to the lodge and tried desparately not to fall asleep and miss our dinner reservations at 5:30. We succeeded and got all dressed up for our dinner at Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn. Even though we didn't get to see much of the Post Ranch Inn, what we did see was gorgeous (it had better be, given their room rates!). There was a grassy valley with a garden in it (I think Sierra Mar gets some of their produce from this garden), and everything was just so well-kept, but still very natural. To get to the restaurant, we had to go through the reception building (which had a crackling fire in the fireplace, classy umbrellas for the guests to borrow, and a cat lying around!) and up a bunch of stairs outside. We got there a little early, so they had us hang out on the restaurant's deck. Wow. Patrick didn't bring his camera, but even if he had, there's no way we could've adequately captured the view from the deck. The ocean is just so huge! There's so much of it! We were way up high, and it just stretched out in all directions. You'd just have to go there to understand; I can't describe it. Just amazing. Nature is awesome and breathtaking.
Eventually we came back inside and warmed up next to their fireplace. The building interior is beautiful, incorporating a lot of wood, and it has large windows looking out over the ocean (too bad there were clouds obscuring the sunset, but it was still an awesome view). Everything was very nicely laid out, but not overly fancy. We felt comfortable there (there was a group of three 20-somethings seated shortly after us, and one of the girls had really long dreadlocks, dyed in all different colors of pink, and she seemed just as comfortable as we did--this place was definitely "casually elegant", like the guy on the phone said). We both decided to have the full four-course prix fixe menu (expensive, but it was worth it for both the food and the atmosphere). We started with the cutest little amuse bouche (yeah, it was so fancy it had a zeroeth course!). It was a baguette round with chive butter and grated raw radish on top. And yum! I didn't think I'd like it, but it was delicious, and it made me so happy. I love getting little treats with dinner :)
For the first course, I had Pan Roasted Squab Breast with Foie Gras Crostini and Cassis Sauce (we didn't take home a menu, so these names are from memory). I'd never had foie gras, and there really wasn't that much involved in the dish, but from what I could taste, it's good. Maybe I should've gotten the plain old foie gras course, which was also available, but I wasn't sure that I'd like it, and plus I don't know how I feel about eating something that is obtained from the cruel treatment of animals (but where do I draw the line, since any meat product involves some level of cruelty towards animals?). So yeah, I just had a little taste of it. The squab was so nice and tender, with a wonderful sauce (cassis turns out to be a kind of berry), and the crostini (just a piece of toast spread with foie gras) was rich and buttery. Patrick had the Ahi Tuna Carpaccio with Gribiche and Quail Egg One-Eyed Susans. We had no clue what most of that meant, but it turned out to be delicious (I wish I could've had everything on the menu because everything we had was so great!). It started with a layer of thinly-sliced raw tuna, which was then covered in gribiche (apparently a sauce made with eggs and herbs, although it didn't taste eggy) and decorated with two quail egg one-eyed susans (sunny-side up egg cooked in a donut-shaped piece of toast). Really good! I should note that our waiter was very helpful and offered to answer any questions we had, but we decided just to order stuff that sounded interesting and find out what words like "cassis" and "gribiche" meant after the fact. Our approach worked well.
Both of us had the same second course--Butternut Squash and Pear Soup. It was good and thick and drizzled with creme fraiche and some other mystery sauce that had little black dots in it (something using vanilla beans, perhaps?). I almost got a Baby Beet Salad with Horseradish something-or-other, Walnut Pesto, and Winter Greens, but I figured the soup was safer. Although if I enjoyed something with radishes in it, maybe I would've liked the beets too. We'll never know!
Third course: I had Papardelle with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Greens, and Mushroom Gravy (it had fancier words in the name, but I forgot them). Delicious gravy and mushrooms and all around tasty. Patrick had a cute little steak on top of swiss chard and gruyere potatoes au gratin and covered in a yummy sauce (peppercorn, maybe?). The few tastes I got were delectable, especially the potatoes. Can you tell I'm running out of words for "yummy"?
For our fourth course, dessert, I had Chocolate Veloute with a Honey-Poached Pear and Vanilla Ice Cream. It turned out to be a little chocolate cake with chocolate sauce (maybe that was the veloute?). It was good, but not as good as the savory parts of the meal. But still a very happy dessert. Patrick had a Carmelized Banana and Rum Tart, which was also good.
And then! I was hoping for a secret surprise fifth course, and we got one (clearly I haven't had any meals of this caliber, since I think it's standard practice to serve an Apres Dessert). It was a little plate with: a grape gelee, a profiterole, a lemon bar, and a tiny little cup containing a carmelized banana covered with hot chocolate and a meringue lid. They were all fun to eat and a nice surprise, but again, not quite as good as the non-dessert courses.
And then I was hoping for a super super secret surprise sixth course, but all we got was the check. Oh well! It was totally worth it. I hope we can go back someday. It's a special place.
Today:
It was clear today, happily, so we started out with breakfast at the lodge's restaurant (we both had a smoked salmon scramble, which was only so-so). We drove down to Julia Pfeiffer Park (different from Pfeiffer Big Sur Park, and from Pfeiffer Falls, and from Pfeiffer Beach) and took a short hike to McWay Cove, to see the waterfall there. The beach there is off-limits, but somebody had been down there and left marks in the sand. There's no way I'd try climbing down there, even if it weren't off-limits. It sure was beatiful from up high though. The water was a really light blue color.
Next, we stopped at the Big Sur Bakery and picked up a picnic lunch. It turned out to be unexciting, but it's probably just because the sandwiches had been sitting around for awhile in the display case (they only had two kinds of sandwiches to choose from--turkey and gruyere on a croissant or ham and gruyere on a croissant). The croissants were good, so that was something. Patrick got a tasty blondie, but I chose a crystallized ginger scone which was all dry and crummy. Maybe I should just give up on scones all together.
We wanted to hike through the meadow at Andrew Moleras Park, since we'd heard it was nice, but it turned out that the trail is only accessible in the summer, and they'd removed the footbridge necessary to get to the trail. Lame--they could've said that somewhere on the Big Sur website! Maybe we should've just waded across the river.
Our final park destination (we made it to almost all of the parks to which we had free admission) was Point Lobos State Park in Carmel Highlands. I was all jaded by the beauty of the Big Sur parks, so I wasn't really impressed by Point Lobos. I'm so spoiled! We had our picnic lunch at Whaler's Cove, then we walked out to Sea Lion Point, where there were a bunch of sea lions hanging out on a rock out in the ocean. It was a fun walk, but I was getting tired, and flies kept landing on me, so we headed home after that.
We had burritos for dinner tonight, to try and compensate for the nice dinners we had for the past three days. They were good! Yum, guacamole.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Tree and Andrew lent us their Firefly boxed set a few weeks back, and we watched it, and now we want more! Good thing there's a movie coming out next year. It's too bad the show was cancelled :(
