Soliloquy visit

Spent Saturday afternoon at Coyote Point Marina helping Dennis and Mary prep Soliloquy for her maiden sail. Ed and I head raised Dennis up the mast in a bosun's chair. He needed to work on freeing the mainsail halyard as it was stuck at the pulley on the top of the mast. Yikes... better him than me. He tried to fix the mast lights as well, but they're too far gone for repair. How does one drill out and tap new screws 20' feet above the deck of bobbing sailboat?

Soliloquy is a 27' sailboat and she's a beauty. Built in '72 she has some hours, but doesn't show her age like I do...

Pictures here:
ttp://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=las4ycj.46nwk977&x=1&y=f77742

Big Sur Visit

Spent Memorial Day weekend down in Big Sur & Carmel area. It was our first family visit and my first visit to the area as well. We stayed at a great cabin in Palo Colorado Canyon called Casa en las Secoyas. Their website is here:
http://www.clovedesign.com/cels.main.house.html

Saturday:
- Stopped at the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras on the way out of San Jose with Ed & Hali & Hali Jr. It was on Monterey Highway in downtown Morgan Hill. I didn't enjoy it as much as last year when it was the town park. Could've been the new setting, could be that we didn't see any really cool music. Don't really know. More about the event here:
http://www.mhmushroommardigras.com/

- Checked in at Casa en las Secoyas in the afternoon and had a picnic supper at the outdoor dining room.

- Headed to Pfeiffer State Beach to watch the sunset, fly a kite (very windy), and enjoy the beach. The sand is actually purple on this beach. It was quite the sight...
http://www.parksman.com/pfifer.html

Sunday:
- Stopped at several bluffs on Highway 1 for pictures. Stopped at Nepenthe to look at menu and decided to move on.
- First beach stop was Jade Cove. You can collect jade "nuggets" below the high tide water line. We had a blast trying to find the largest pieces. We're going to ask our friend Dennis to tumble them and try to make some jewelery out of the finer pieces. You need good footwear to get to the water's edge. See it here:
http://www.parksman.com/jade.html
- Next beach stop was Willow Creek, but we didn't stay.
http://www.parksman.com/wllow.html
- Next up was Sand Dollar Beach where we had a great time playing on the beach and boogie boarding. Awesome experience...
http://www.parksman.com/sand.html
- Cleaned up and had dinner at Rocky Point Restaurant. Too much food served in our entrees; should've shared one. High quality, but you'll pay for it:
http://www.rocky-point.com/


Monday

On Memorial Day, we went to Point Lobos (MP70) to see the sea life and birds. Good hiking, but not good for beaching. After that we went to Carmel River State Beach for a brief visit. Kids tried to boogie board, but surf was a bust.

Spent the afternoon in Seaside (Marina Park Beach by the Best Western). Tons of people, tough to find parking, but kids LOVED the surf for boogie boarding.

Stopped at a huge Farmer's Market/Stand in Watsonville on our way home and loaded up on fruit and veggies.

Steve