Mom and dad got up early and decided that their walk would be to Mitch's so that they could say good mornin' to me and Mitch, but mainly to walk me. We had a great walk around the park that's situated in front of Mitch's apt building on Eddy Street. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was happy to see them after our first night being separated..I slept on Mitch's big king-sized bed...I think he's crazy about me though. They left me again so they could shop, they hit Macy's and Banana Republic....there was talk that I was going to be sent home FedEx, due to the lack of room in the car. Some reorganizing was done and I'm still in like Flynn!
Ready to collapse from lack of sustenance, Bonnie and Clyde (store robbers) headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf to meet up with Rob and Goran for some late lunch,. They ended up at The Slanted Door, a Vietnamese restaurant that dad especially likes. The foursome said their goodbyes and mom and dad walked back up the steep street of California which mom captured on video in between huffs and puffs, it's like mountain climbing.....it's one of the hardest streets to walk up. Then dad came to walk me again, I thought he forgot me, Mitch went to work, and I was all alone. Both dad and I fell asleep on the bed. Dad needed to rest as he and the boys were planning to partake of some more cocktails tonite. AND they did, but not as many. Mom stayed at the hotel and got some much-needed rest.
We all got up bright and early, said goodbye to Mitch and and left our beloved San Francisco behind and started off down the coast towards our next destination - San Simeon and the Hearst Castle. The route got very interesting as soon as we departed from I-5 South and headed into another winding, scary ride up and down mountains, while gazing down at fog shrouded valleys. We started weaving in and out from the ocean until we got almost into Monterey and spotted surfers suiting up and pulled up to watch, but no one got in the water and surfed??!?!??!We continued to drive into town which literally wraps itself along the ocean, and found an inviting hotel restaurant that had some killer seafood dishes and had some crab, salmon, shrimp, and oysters, all served by a cute Siberian waitress who won dad and mom over with her personality, she speaks three languages for god's sake! Dragging themselves to the car they finally walked me and we traveled down to Carmel to sniff out Doris Day, who we heard still lives down there. We didn't find DD but we stumbled upon some sweet ocean side compounds that mom drooled over , dad too! Big Sur was wavy and sunny and then we were almost totally engulfed in fog as we motored mere inches from the certain death we'd have experienced if the car swerved to the right. The craggy, rocky shore line was right below and I'm glad mom was driving(she was too).
We' almost arrived in San Simeon, when we spotted a bunch of, what looked like big, grayish logs, they weren't, they were elephant sea lions, god knows we had to stop and gaze at them along with dozens of other car loads of people.
We arrived at a "Bates Hotel" looking place across the street from the ocean and went out to buy a delicious BBQ chicken and rib dinner and settled in to watch the emmys. Next morning mom and dad went through the drab, foggy, and cold streets to find the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. They watched a 45 minute IMAX movie retelling the story of William Randolph Hearst and waited for the tour bus to deliver them at the castle steps after a 5 mile winding and panoramic drive up the mountain. The mansion, castle, whatever you want to call it....is truly a magnificent creation. The luxe of the luxe in every way, just the building and the hauling of materials up this steep mountain boggles the mind! The tour included the pool(s), the dressing rooms and private apartments that dignitaries and movie stars alike shared, the dining room, with the longest table EVER and the billiard room, the humongous living room, statues galore and stories to go with each of the features.....it was quite an experience, never to be forgotten.And while it was foggy and cold at sea level, the mt top was sunny and quite hot, in the high 80's.
Back at the "Bates"....I was fetched and we headed out across the Southern California wine country, think "Sideways", and as we climbed the mountain, the temperature did too, into the high 90's, it was sweltering all the way to Las Vegas, where we ventured our way to a Holiday Inn that David Moy had reserved for us, actually in Henderson.
It had been a very long, hot, tough day, especially for mom, who stated she "was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed." So no dinner and no ride along Las Vegas Blvd to see the STRIP. We did glimpse the hotels the next morning and waved good bye, had breakfast at the Omelet House and chatted with our TMI waitress and tooled it out of there and decided the next stop would be Eagle, Colorado, the home of Grandma Schrubba's late best friend, Mary Ann Norton Johnson Morris' daughter Lisa Mary Johnson Hammond and her husband, Dave. When we called them that morning to say we were on our way, Lisa was giddy with excitement, we were excited to see her as well since it had been 16 years or so since we'd last laid eyes on her . Mom and dad grew up with her and used to babysit Lisa and her younger brother Kenny.
It was going to be a 662 mile drive to Eagle, and the drive was exceptional as we dived into Arizona for a while then Utah with its towering sculpted rocks and gorgeous colors. The sky was as dazzling as the scenery so thank god the time passed in as pleasurable a way as possible. It took a shorter time driving than Lisa and Dave thought it would(dad likes to drive around 90 when mom dozes off.)We arrived about 8:30pm in Eagle, it was cold and dark and our GPS lady gave us the wrong side of the street as we wound around the hillside where Dave Hammond had built a big, beautiful home high above Eagle. Well we couldn't locate the address we had so mom got out and asked a neighbor who actually taught English to the Hammond's daughter, so we found them!
It was like mom and dad at the door when we saw them. We all had a wonderful reunion, Lisa prepared some cheese and crackers and ELK jerky..it was yummy! While Dave poured wine , we chatted ,until one by one, just Lisa and dad and me were left chatting about old times until about 2:00am....that Lisa sure has some hum dingers!!!!!!!!
Dad is so tired he's going to finish the rest of the trip tomorrow, adios amigos.
Love to all,
Barclay,J&J
XOXOXOXOXOXOO
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