Monterey

Lunch with a Friend

Central Coast Weekend!

Monterey Fisherman’s Warf
Santa Cruz Half Marathon
Carmel Mission
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

Monterey Fisherman’s Warf

We had a wonderful weekend on the Central Coast Saturday and Sunday. It was good to get away for the weekend and participate in some family activities, yummy food, running, and some sightseeing. Our first stop on our excursion was the Old Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey Harbor in Monterey. The Wharf has tons of shopping, dining and restaurants, and whale watching and bay cruises. We settled for food at one of the local chowder places. Bubba’s had to wait for the following day, as we were a tad bit rushed. We had to get to Santa Cruz by 3:00 so it was eat and go. Bubba’s was down Cannery Row and we parked at Fisherman’s. "Let's see if we can come back," I said. The sites were good, but it was windy and cold in Monterey. I gave the restaurant two stars. Brendan and James got four and a half stars for being very good during the outing. Brendan loved looking at the sea lions, the sea gull that sat at our table, and crawling at the end of the pier while we were waiting for our food. Where is our food by the way?

Santa Cruz Half Marathon

Arriving on time in Santa Cruz was a breeze (literally). I had signed up for the half marathon in town, which was the main reason for the trip, and the excuse to get away. We had to get accommodations, our race number, food for the evening, and get settled. The number was quick and easy, and parking was easily found as well. We walked on the boardwalk and found the start and finish line, we found a place to stay at the Travelodge, we drove up the coast to see the course and to look for the lighthouse that I couldn’t find (It is there somewhere!), and we ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Taqueria Santa Cruz. We also stopped at Natural Bridges State Park for a few photos and to get out of the car. Brendan was just done by now. “I am done now Mommy, out of the seat.” The night concluded quickly and the family was tired and beat.

The next day also came quickly. The two-star Travelodge had a convenient location and I didn’t want to spend all evening hotel shopping. It was nice to stay where some of the running pals were. The elephants upstairs also made for an interesting morning, or was it the thin walls? At least they went to bed early. After restlessly sleeping in the two-star, the running pals and I met at the lobby and we went to the start line to get ready.

The course was beautiful. I ran the half marathon by myself and loved it, even with a fierce storm approaching. The pending storm made the waves even more amazing as they crashed over Cliff Drive. Sailing would have been treacherous out there as I thought of Dad out on the sailboat. I was thankful the rain held off till after I had crossed the finished line. This is the third time I had run this race. It is good to note that pulling a Personal Record (PR) was probably more challenging here because of sections of the course; the wind, the hills, the trails, and the funnel-effect at the start with all the people on the tight streets. But you won't regret it when you see the view, running through Wilder Ranch State Park and the homes on Cliff Drive. The weather was just blustery. It was cold and windy, potential rain for the last mile, but what a view from the trails and path along the cliffs. The water stations were great, good support from the volunteers, and there were chilly smiles from start to finish. The course offers beautiful views of the ocean, and finishing on the beach made me feel I could run all day. The Santa Cruz atmosphere was also fun and made me feel free and alive. The race was well organized and I had a great time. Hot chocolate anyone?

Carmel Mission

Our third event of the weekend was to the historic Mission, San Carlos in Carmel. This was the second mission in northern California, and home to a practicing Catholic parish. This mission is the seventh mission on our mission expedition. Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, also known as the Carmel Mission, is a Roman Catholic mission church in Carmel-by-the-Sea and part of the National Registry of Historic Places. It was the headquarters of the original Alta California Missions headed by Father Junípero Serra from 1770 until his death in 1784. Serra is buried inside the mission church.

This particular mission was destroyed in the mid 1800s, and was restored in 1884. It is regarded as the most beautiful of all missions by many, and is the only one to have its original bell tower dome. This mission was first established on June 3, 1770 and was named for Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, Italy. Mission Carmel was Father Serra's favorite and, being close to Monterey, served as his headquarters until his death. In 1961, the Mission was designated as a Minor Basilica by Pope John XXIII. In 1987, Pope John Paul II visited the Mission as part of his U.S. tour. As a result of his dedication, the Carmel Mission church is one of the most authentically restored of all the mission churches in California.

The Mission Carmel grounds are also the location of the Junipero Serra School, a private Catholic school for kindergartners through 8th grade, a nice gift shop and a museum. Several notable people are buried in the church and churchyard to include:

Juan Crespí (1721–1782), Spanish missionary and explorer

Fermín Lasuén (1736–1803), Spanish missionary

José Antonio Roméu, Spanish governor of California

Junípero Serra (1713–1784), founder of the mission

The grounds were beautiful, the rain poured as we toured the site, and inside was a cozy-comfort to the downpour outside. There was a church service going on inside the main chapel so we didn’t get to meet Father Serra. After our tour of the site, it was off to see Bubba.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

Our last venture before heading home was a visit to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. where food is the hero. This particular restaurant and market opened in 1996 on Cannery Row in Monterey. At the core, Bubba’s is a small chain of seafood restaurants committed to providing a casual environment where everyone can enjoy a great meal and have some fun too. Of course shrimp is the main attraction, or is it the memorabilia from Forest Gump the movie. “If we haven’t met yet, we hope you’ll stop in soon to have a great meal and make some new friends.” It was a fun food experience. The kids got gold stars for the outing, and it was time to head back to the Central Valley.

“All Done!” Brendan said, waving both hands.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann

David Grann's, The Lost City of Z was too irresistible to ignore when I was looking for a book at Borders prior to my Virginia trip. I had to have a backup after I finished Dean’s last book. I was happy to read a book and write a review on a positive note this time, after my last two disappointments. I love classic and contemporary tales of adventure with a hint of scientific stuff mixed in. This book was exactly what I was looking for, to explore a new place, get lost in the past, and find some answers to a mystery. Just what a Geographer needs to piqué his exploring interests.

The book was actually two stories in one. The first story was the life story of Victorian explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett, who began his career in the British military, stationed in Ceylon. His claim-to-fame was as a worldwide explorer of the Amazonian jungles and river ways, and as a World War I war hero. The book’s main focus was on Fawcett's last fateful expedition. Throughout the book, Gann recounts Fawcett's entire career. Fawcett and his companions routinely faced starvation, bloodthirsty indigenous tribes, horrific insect infestations and lethal tropical diseases, white-water rapids, snakes and anacondas, piranha and candiru, and other mysterious and terrifying creatures. It's hard to imagine the bravery it took to explore the unexplored and uncharted territories our planet has to offer, with little or no communication, lack of food, and for lengthy periods of time away from loved-ones.

Fawcett and his men faced death constantly. If it wasn’t the diseases, the bugs, or the Indians, it was Fawcett’s march to the next camp or his up-before-dawn attitude. Time after time he succeeded where others failed, until his last expedition in 1925 after he returned from the war. Fawcett followed his own instincts, which often were in direct opposition of conventional wisdom. He had a “I’ll do-it myself” attitude. Over the course of his long career, Fawcett had developed a hypothesis that there was once a great civilization in the depths of the Amazon, an El Dorado-like city that he simply called "Z." He became obsessed with the idea of finding the lost city. And in 1925, accompanied by his son and a friend, Fawcett entered the jungle determined to locate the lost city of Z--and was never heard from again.

Percy Fawcett became convinced that contrary to conventional wisdom, a highly advanced civilization once thrived in the extremely hostile climate of the Amazon. Fawcett made his first exploration into the region around 1910 and laid the groundwork for his world famous expedition in 1925. Several chapters detailed Fawcett's interactions with the native populations of the Amazon, which were most fascinating. Just what happened to Percy Fawcett, his son Jack and Jack's best friend Raleigh Rimell, some eight decades earlier is still a mystery.

For decades, would-be explorers would go out and search for any clue to the Fawcett story. In the eighty-some years since, hundreds have entered the jungle hot on his trail. Many have never returned. Author David Grann is the most recent in a long line of explorers passionate about this mystery. And it is Grann's tale that is intertwined as the second story throughout the book. Gann is a middle-aged staff writer for The New Yorker. He gets caught up in the saga while researching the book, so much so that he leaves his comfortable urban life, his wife, and his infant son to enter the Amazon jungle. Like so many others, he seeks to find out what truly happened to Fawcett, and/or if there really was a Z. Before long he found himself totally consumed by the mystery. He talked himself into traveling to Brazil in an attempt to find out from the government clues as to where Fawcett’s travels had taken him, he traveled to London to talk to relatives of Fawcett, and he talked to prominent anthropologists about theories about the Indians and Z. Gann did an excellent job of extrapolating diaries and logbooks, letter and correspondence, exploring companion’s letters and Fawcett’s rival’s documentation to create this fun adventure. If you are not afraid of the Xavante or the Suras Indians, the caiman or the mosquito, lets get in that aluminum canoe and see what we can find in the jungle.

In conclusion, the book's final pages, Gann meets Michael Heckenberger, a prominent anthropologist who reveals the discovery of twenty pre-Columbian settlements about two to three miles apart. They were connected by roads, a large moat, canals and bridges. Heckenberger believes the region sustained a prosperous, and a vast civilization, prior to the European expansion, which brought disease and hostility to the region. And so Grann's long search ends with the possibility that Fawcett was right all along, that the lost city was more than just a dream.

Easter Pictures

Easter Flowers

Happy Birds!

The Palapa

The Completed Palapa