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Like Christmas, it was a little hard to feel celebratory for my birthday this year.  At the last minute we decided to invite some folks over for a bonfire the night of my birthday.  Our holiday party bonfire really helped get us in the spirit for Christmas, so I figured some time with friends was just what I needed for my birthday too.  

I awoke on my birthday with snuggly cats in bed while Wade was decorating the house and making breakfast.  He surprised me with a beautiful orchid, fun decorations, and a breakfast feast of a veggie omelet, roasted potatoes, and orange slices from our garden.  It was a great way to start the day.  After that I opened presents and cards, then dug into setting up one of my new games while Wade took a much deserved break with a cup of tea and a book.  It was storming and rainy out as a cold front pushed through so it was good time to relax at home to let things dry out before we headed to the farmers market.

Lately, I've been really getting into playing board and card games - I used to love board games as a kid, but over the years and many moves, only just a few of the classics stayed with me (Uno, Rummikub, Pente, and Parcheesi).  We frequently play games when we are at the beach house in the summer (Pass the Pigs, and Mexican Train Dominos added to the others) and realized we needed new games we could enjoy year round.  This fall I started watching Wil Wheaton's gaming show on Geek & Sundry, Tabletop, and I was hooked since it was a great way to learn about new games and see whether we'd like them.  It's also a great way to shortcut the learning process for new more complex games. Since we've been trying to curb spending and aren't the type to go out to bars, having game nights is something I'd like to do more often with friends.  So, we started adding new games to our collection over the last few months and I was excited to get a few new ones for Christmas and my birthday. 

Our growing collection of games... I spent the morning unpacking Smallworld - what a fun game!

Once I'd unpacked some of my new games, the rain finally moved through so we headed to the Saturday Farmers Market downtown.  The market was less than half full, we're guessing due to the weather and the holidays, but we bought some organic veggies from a local farm, bought a small orange cat print I'd been admiring for months, and enjoyed some delicious tea.  On the way back to the car we did something I've been wanting to do for months - we stopped at the Fountain of Youth that's near the market for a sip and a picture.  It's been a tourist attraction in the city in few different locations since before 1900 and I've seen a lot of funny postcards of it from the 1950's, so I wanted our own fun photo op.  The light wasn't great, and we don't have a good camera anymore, so we did our best and it was fun.

We finally headed home so Wade could get started on my Key Lime pie (instead of birthday cake) - we froze juice earlier in the year when our tree was making fruit like crazy and saved a few jars for key lime pies.  While Wade made pie I wandered the yard checking on things, weeding, and chatting with the other birthday ladies in the family - the chickens.  They were happy to kick in the wet ground and nibble the rye grass Wade planted for them that's finally taking off.  When the pie was done, Wade made us some big garden salads for lunch, then we tidied up the house a bit for company, and played a new game, Star Fluxx, which I finally beat Wade at after he had stomped me 3 times the day before.  By then it was time to get in the shower to clean up for the evening.  Mom and Larry came over before dinner to open presents, then they treated us to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Ceviche, a tapas place downtown with fantastic food and great cava (spanish sparkling white wine) sangria.  After a fun dinner we headed home to get a fire going before people came over.  Wade put out a nice spread of snacks and drinks, I made some lemonade from our Meyer Lemon tree, and we had s'mores.  It was such a fun night and I was really thankful to have such fun and wonderful people in our life.  Chris & Julie, Mom & Larry, Brett, and Jess & Libby (it was also Libby's birthday) were the best presents of my day. :)  We topped it off with Wade's famous homemade key lime pie that had a layer of dark chocolate on top - nothing is better than that.  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who can also bake!  

You can see some pictures from the day here.

Kind words

This week I finally sent out my departure email to colleagues outside my organization (I sent my internal notice last Friday).  It took time to craft the right email that was diplomatic about what was happening, yet let people know "hey, if you know about a job opening, I'd love to hear about it!".  I also wanted to thank folks who had shared their expertise over the years which was critical for building my program.  

Apparently, I got the wording right, because I have been a little overwhelmed by the positive responses and phone calls from people inside and outside my organization.  Many well-wishes, many surprised exclamations, some offers to help find me a position, but what has surprised me is the outpouring of kind and supportive things people have been saying about my work and my talent and that they know I'll land on my feet.  Someone I didn't think respected me even called me "a force to recon with" and offered to be a reference or help however she can, which was really surprising.  In some instances I've misjudged people, which has been a good lesson, in other cases, close friends have gone beyond what I expected to be supportive.  This past year I've been doubting myself and my abilities quite a bit, so it's been a bit shocking to hear others call me an inspiration or someone who inspires passion.  These gifts of words have been the best Christmas present I could ask for and I am truly thankful that they have shown me a new standard to strive for when supporting friends and coworkers facing a challenging time.

This week I am packing up my office and will ship it all out next week.  I will also file for unemployment next week.  Super.  I am incredibly thankful that the bit of severance and vacation pay out I will be getting will buy me a little time to really think about what I want to do next.  At this point, I'm actually feeling excited, and dare I say a bit hopeful and relieved.

Christmas

We did our Christmas early this year and woke up on Christmas Eve as if it were Christmas Day.  We did stockings for the furry kids which is always fun since the cats go nuts for catnip toys and treats while the dogs are more about munching on treats and snoozing with the stuffed toys Wade's mom sends every year.  Once the animals got to enjoy their stockings (the chickens got firebush berries and millet) Wade and I opened the few things we made for each other.  Wade made some amazing Star Wars cut out snowflakes (see pictures here) and he repurposed one of my old cooking aprons to make a wearable pouch for when I'm harvesting veggies in the garden which I am really thrilled about.  For Wade, I printed and framed some of the photos from our Big Sur trip for him to enjoy on his desk at work, and he really wanted a sprayer for the yard, so I found an affordable one on Amazon.  He uses it to liquid fertilize or treat things in the yard that need some help.  The last two little cheap ones didn't last long (compost tea clogs them up), so I found a professional grade one with a filter at an affordable price.

Getting into the stockings for the furry kids.

Wade made some cinnamon rolls from scratch for breakfast, then baked two more banana bread loves for family presents.  We packed up in the mid afternoon and headed down to Anna Maria to stay the night with Mom and Larry.  It's been a few years since we stayed with them on Christmas and thought it would be fun to spend it on the beach with them this year.  Unfortunately, Wade and I have to work the rest of the week, so we can't stay more than a night.  I have to work through my exit paperwork, send out a notice to my contacts, and start packing up my office equipment to mail it back before the end of the week - fun fun.  I'll just be relieved to have it done before my birthday so I can enjoy a long weekend to move on and let go of that chapter of my life.

Christmas on the island was really lovely.  We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner at The Waterfront before coming home to watch Elf (a yearly tradition).  We were all pretty tired after that and crawled into bed.  Christmas morning we got up, made a big breakfast of Wade's banana nut bread and scrambled eggs then finally settled down to open presents.  The cats and dogs enjoyed treats and some toys, while we had a nice small exchange with Mom and Larry.  Before we knew it, it was time to get cleaned up and start cooking for Christmas dinner.  I made a gluten-free pumpkin lasagna for Wade and I to enjoy and helped mom get the other casseroles ready.  My Aunt Cindy, Uncle Rick, and cousins, Curtis and Ericka joined us for a fun dinner.  We had a great time catching up with them and feasting on all the holidays goodies.  After a desert of GF Christmas brownies and apple pie Wade and I packed up the car and the kids and headed home to get ready for a short week of work.  It was a peaceful and wonderful Christmas and just what we needed.  We hope everyone else is able to share quality time with loved ones for the holidays!

Winter Solstice

We decided to start a new tradition this year of celebrating the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year (Dec 21st) that in ancient times used to serve as the demarcation for the new year to begin.  Later, organized religions started borrowing some of the various Winter Solstice traditions to celebrate their holidays too - the lighting of candles, Yuletide celebrations, big feasts and revelry, etc.  It was a way to ward off the dark gloomy days of winter and celebrate the return of the sun as it would slowly spend more time in the sky after the solstice.  

This was something that always struck me as a mere astronomical observation until we actually started growing food and raising chickens.  The solstice is usually when our crops reach their worst due to the limited sunlight - some are prone to bugs, they aren't growing like they should, and the chickens slow down production with less light to keep them up and feeding.  Suddenly last year we found ourselves rejoicing when the solstice passed because we knew it could only get better from here - more daylight for the plants and chickens!  I now find myself feeling relieved on this day, like it's all easy sailing from here.  Since we've been thrilled with the productivity of the garden this year, it seemed fitting to do something to celebrate.  Wade had a great idea of using the Yule Log tradition to burn wood from our property all night long then stay up to welcome the sun back at dawn.  The bonus, as some traditions follow, is that the ashes from the fire go back into the earth to nourish it (wood ashes have a lot of important minerals for plants).  The other part of this tradition is to create a feast from your own harvest, so we were preparing a meal using eggs and our veggies.  This comes from the traditions of northern cultures harvesting their food at the end of the season to store in anticipation of needing to survive a long hard winter, so a feast of everything while it's fresh is one last hurrah before the lean times.

We were all ready to do our own Yule Log and feast, but the weather had other plans when we found out that a burn notice had been issued by the weather center - it would be too dry, cold, and windy to light a fire safely outside without fear of it spreading.  Too bad we don't have a fire place in the house...

So we quickly invented a plan B with Mom and Larry.  Instead of the bonfire, we ended up having a candlelit Mexican food themed feast for dinner, followed by watching some old Charlie Brown Christmas cartoons.  The next morning we headed downtown to the Farmers Market to stock up some produce, enjoy the lovely weather, and sample all the tasty fresh food available.  Afterwards they treated us to the Florida Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Pops concert which was a lot of fun.  It was also a good way to try to put some of the awfulness of my work week behind us so we could start relaxing and enjoy the holidays.

As if to prove that the passing of the solstice meant the return of good times, Clemmie, our Ameraucana chicken finally started laying again this morning!  She started molting (shedding old feathers and growing new ones) back in late October and stopped laying her pretty grey-blue eggs in early November.

Twas the week before Christmas...

...when I got laid off.  Yep, that's right, a week before Christmas, I was told I am subject to a "Reduction in Force", which is not a Star Wars pun, but instead means my program has been cut and my position eliminated.  My last day of work is January 1st.  Merry F*ing Christmas.

I do get a little severance since I've been at the organization for over four years, and I was hoarding vacation days which I'll get paid out for, so that will help cushion the blow.  In the mean time, we're really grateful we had some whiff of the impending doom and had started belt tightening already.  I'll have to get rid of my cell phone (currently work pays for it) and start paying for our phone and internet again, which sucks so I'm going to see if I can bargain down our bills to the bare minimum.  We're lucky that Wade's job is stable and we can transfer over to his health insurance (we both have been on mine since the coverage and cost were better).  It could be a lot worse.

I've been networking like crazy, but this time of year sucks to look for a job.  I have a few job applications in, but I suspect it'll pick back up in the spring.  I am looking at everything in the conservation field, not just marine work, and frankly have been talking to anyone around town who might be able to hire me, even if it's not conservation work.  Tomorrow I'm going to get signed up at a nearby private school for their substitute teachers list.  Many of our neighbors take their kids there, and our neighbor is the middle school principle, so I've heard a lot of great things about it.  I've toyed with the idea of teaching quite a bit over the years, but the timing (or pay) have never been quite right.  So it'll be nice to give it a try and see how I like it.  

I keep telling myself that the silver lining is that this will give me some welcome time to figure out what I am actually passionate about and to work through my burn out.  It's also been good to help cure me of my shopping/materialistic impulses and remind us of the true meaning of Christmas for us.  We've really enjoyed spending time making and baking things for family, friends, and each other and want to do more of it from now on.  Feeding loved ones from our yard has a surprisingly fulfilling quality we weren't expecting.  We also really enjoyed making the season about spending quality time with friends and family rather than buying gifts - memories last longer. :)

Twinkle lights make everything better

After Thanksgiving we found it hard to get into the Christmas spirit with all of my work drama.  For the past two years, we have kicked off the season with the 30th JingleBell 5k Run that's down town (complete with participants dressing up, musicians playing Christmas music along the route, and lots of twinkle lights).  This year we weren't going to participate since we've been cutting all non-essential expenses, but our friends who walked with us last year, Julie and Chris, offered to cover our registration as a Christmas present, which was really sweet and generous, so I offered to barter with them to repay them in veggies and eggs.  We were really grateful to them because it was just what we needed to jump-start some holiday spirit, and we had a lot of fun with them.

Posing in front of the soon to be demolished Pier in downtown St. Pete.  (Yes, that is a Death Star wrapped in twinkle lights on my shirt - my one and only holiday shirt)

Celebrating our completion of the JingleBell Run(walk) - Me, Wade, Julie, and Chris.

Almost 2 weeks passed before we even bothered to get the decorations out, and even then I wasn't really into it, which is unusual.  Doing the JingleBell Run finally got us going, plus we were motivated to have the house decorated in time for our holiday party.  This year, instead of giving presents we decided to invite all of our friends over for a holiday bonfire so we could enjoy time with everyone before holiday chaos took over.  We baked a bunch of Christmas goodies, had hot cocoa, wine, and cider, and of course, s'mores.  We really enjoyed treating everyone as a way to say thank you for being such supportive friends, and it was good to catch up with folks we don't see as often as we'd like.  Most people brought their kids which was pretty funny to watch since they all seemed mesmerized by the fire or unable to keep from exploring every inch of the garden.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the festivities, and I have realized that without my beloved Canon G series camera, I am really really limited by the shots I can get with my little Canon Elph I got for my birthday 3 years ago.  It's great for times when you don't need a good big camera (like the JingleBell Run), but otherwise, it's not good for capturing much else.  While wandering around in the garden today trying to capture some things, I realized I was spoiled by my old G (which recently died on our Big Sur trip) and until I get a new camera I'm going to feel pretty frustrated - and my blog pictures are going to suffer.  Since the blog is also like a garden journal for us to keep track of what blooms when, it'll be hard to keep that up with my little "party" camera.

Still no update on my work situation, other than this past week they eliminated my manager's position (which was a huge shock) and we still aren't sure we'll get enough money to keep me on.  I do know I'll have some severance that would start January 1, but I'm still in the dark as to whether my program is getting cut.  Merry F*ing Christmas.  In the mean time, I've been doing a lot of networking and applied for 2 jobs, which has been nice to feel like there are some new horizons out there for me, and frankly, the way everything has been handled by my organization makes me want to just take the severance and find a job where I actually feel valued and I enjoy going to work.  I keep telling myself that after everything that has happened this year, 2013 has got to be my lucky year!  Now that all of our twinkle lights are up (inside and out), maybe I'm finally feeling a little optimistic - they always make everything look better.

Not the homecoming I expected

It was a huge relief to be home after nearly three weeks of travel.  It was starting to get to me and I didn't fully appreciate it until I started having panic attacks while packing for my Boston trip, then again for our California trip.  Those are the only time I've ever had panic attacks and it was wholly unpleasant and foreboding.  Some of it was likely the fact that job stress had been accumulating over the summer as we were nearing the end of our current campaign funding.  The thought of impending job loss was not entirely new, in fact, my project has gone through fits and starts with funding over the last four years - the first two years always felt like a constant battle, the 3rd year was good and we thought would hold (so we bought a house), but towards the end of year four, it was becoming clear we were entering a period of uncertainty again.  When I left for CA I knew we had money through the end of December and likely through March if we were frugal.

When I returned to work, the day after we got back from CA, my first call of the day was to catch up with my boss.  Through my head-cold induced fog I heard him tell me we ran out of money while I was gone and that we likely only could make it through October 31st.  "I'm sorry, I'm a little fuzzy today, did you mean to say November 31st?"  No, I had heard him correctly, we were running out of money in 2 days.  The last check from our funder was due to come in but she decided to hold it while we were reviewing the direction of our program.  Soon I discovered the review hadn't even begun yet and that I had a part of the review to write, which no one could really help me understand why it was relevant, and they assured me they were reviewing our funding status.  So, the next night, Hurricane Sandy roared ashore closing our DC office and our headquarters in NYC.  The next few days proceeded without any real answers or assurances aside from a comment that our finance department was offline with the hurricane damage, so maybe we'll just get paid anyway because no one will notice we've overdrawn our project budget.  And I believe that's when something broke inside of me - "So I am to understand that I may or may not get paid this week by exploiting a loophole?!  You have control over the entire budget for all of the projects in our organization and you want me to thank you for saying you might be able to cover up this oversight if someone else doesn't notice?!"  As a manager, my first priority would be to tell my employees what happened and that we're doing all we can to get things back on track.  And then I would work with our finance folks to find the money to keep our staff paid through at least the end of December as agreed and not subject them to that level of stress, uncertainty, and frankly, appalling low amount of professional courtesy while they're expected to be drafting a renewal proposals for funders.

So, after a week of having 24/7 heartburn and nightmares about losing the house, we got a guarantee that they would cover our pay through Dec. 31.  Which was only moderately reassuring - it felt more like a stay of execution.  We got to work on the review for our funder, and that month-long memo writing process was hands down the worst process I have ever been engaged in.  After spending a week in California honing my leadership and facilitation skills in October, going through such a terrible process was even more unsettling because all my efforts to make it better seemed to fall on deaf ears.  Eventually, I was able to make some headway with some of our other team members who also agreed the memo was off the rails. We convinced the person leading the memo process that it needed rewritten, which I ended up doing a large amount of for the week leading up to Thanksgiving.  By this time, I ended up getting a weird stomach bug (stress gone overboard?) that lasted for a week which almost cancelled Thanksgiving.

In the end, we got the memo to where it needed to be, but at the cost of my desire to be involved in the campaign anymore.  We're still waiting to hear whether the funder will continue to support us, but at this point, I think she's as burnt out as I am.  I've started job hunting in earnest, and at the urging of friends in DC got on LinkedIn, despite my hatred for social networking sites.  I also realize I'm at a crossroads and I'm not sure where I want to go with my career.  All I know is that I want to stay in St. Pete, pay our bills, and be around enough to enjoy time at home with friends and family.

Wade and I have also shifted into battening down the hatches mode.  We're not going to be buying Christmas presents for anyone this year (including ourselves), and are trying to see how crafty we can get making things for people.  We still have a lot of frozen bananas from the yard this summer, so it looks like banana bread for all will be one solution!  I'm actually kind of looking forward to a simpler Christmas and getting back to it being a time to tell friends and family you appreciate them by spending time with them or sending them a little handmade something.  That just feels more meaningful to me than buying things for people because we're supposed to.

Stress relief: me picking green beans and zucchini.

Thankfully, our garden has been one bright spot in all of this to help me combat the stress (yes, I am still having almost 24/7 heartburn) - zucchini, green beans, Meyer lemons, spinach, lettuce, collard greens, scallions, eggs, flowers, and herbs are plentiful right now.  We're also waiting on carrots, heirloom tomatoes, brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli, daikon radishes, turnips, beets, onions, garlic, shallots, oranges, starfruit, and parsnips.  We'll plant another round of veggies in February, but for now, we've been happy with our October-planted crops and think we'll try to plant even earlier next year, around late August and September so we can get veggies for Thanksgiving.  To see the garden, head to our Picasa site for pictures here.

California road trippin'

I had already been in San Francisco for 5 days by the time Wade joined me to kick off our road trip vacation.  The night before he left he loaded up the furry kids and took them to Mom and Larry's for some grandparent time (haha).  We were really lucky that they were so generous to share their home with our zoo while we were on vacation - knowing the kids were going to be well cared for make it so much easier for us to enjoy ourselves.  The Ladies, however, stayed at the house in their coop, but some of our lovely neighbors traded off coming to check for eggs, feeding them, and letting them out to play in the yard.  The neighborhood kids have come to love the Ladies and we're pretty certain the chickens had a fun time while we were gone. :)

The plan for our trip was to see coastal central California, redwoods, wildlife, and eventually Big Sur.  I wanted to show Wade some of the areas I've traveled to for work, and we both wanted to see wild Big Sur and the redwood forests.  However, given the uncertainty with the future of my job, we needed to be thrifty to make it work.  We got really lucky on a great deal with the rental car, and to save more money on the trip, we decided to camp half of the nights in state parks, which would also let us see more redwoods.  Since we were ultimately heading to Big Sur, where it's very remote and there aren't really any stores for supplies, we decided to stock up on everything in San Fran that we could before leaving.  We even brought a collapsable camping cooler so we could bring good food along and cook for ourselves instead of eating out.

Friday morning Wade's flight was a little delayed on the way out to join me, but he finally made it safely.  I used the extra time that morning to pick up the rental car and some additional camping supplies that we needed before we could leave town.  Once I had picked Wade up at SFO, we headed back to the hotel to drop all of our luggage (which included camping gear) and the car so we could stroll down the Embarcadero that's along the waterfront downtown.  We saw the classic gathering of sea lions at Pier 39, which were backdropped by foggy views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, before continuing down to the heart of the tourist district at the end of the Embarcadero.  

Wade on Pier 39, with San Fran sprawling behind him.

After seeing the sights, we hopped on a trolley car back to where we started to have a nice dinner at the waterside organic vegetarian cafe, The Plant.  It was a little surprising how quickly it got cold once the sun went down, so after some hot tea with dessert we hoofed it back to the hotel for a hot shower and PJs.

Saturday we got up early to hit the farmers market at the Ferry Building behind our hotel.  We had breakfast at a little gluten-free bakery I'd been frequenting all week call Mariposa.  After some fantastic quiches and breakfast tarts we bought some of their fresh GF bread and GF cinnamon rolls for our trip. Next, we needed to get the rest of our supplies for the week and challenged ourselves to only buy whatever local organic foods we could find and to try as many new things as we could.  We bought the most red tomatoes we've ever seen, onions, shallots, wildflower honey for our tea, kale, heirloom apples, green beans, purple potatoes, thyme sea salt, plum jam, rosemary, chocolate, cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, and GF veggie wraps for a picnic lunch on the road that day.

The farmers market at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.

Once we stuffed everything into our cooler, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Whole Foods to top us off with a few more essentials... some frozen black eyed peas, sweet potato chunks, and mixed veggies, plus some snacks and jugs of water.  Then we headed out of town and got on Skyline Blvd/CA 35 to cut through the Santa Cruz mountains on our way to Big Basin Redwoods State Park.  It was a lovely drive, but the last bit of road into the park was pretty winding, tight, and the visibility was bad so we were relieved to finally make it to the ranger station in the late afternoon for check in.  After buying some firewood, we set up camp, started a fire, and got to making dinner.  Our method of cooking for this trip was making campfire packets - chopped food wrapped in parchment paper, then tinfoil, left over the fire to cook.  The first night was a combo of some of the best looking stuff from the farmers market, followed by a dessert packet of banana, chocolate, and GF graham crackers, mmmmm.  We hovered by the fire to stay warm and played Zombie Dice until the fire died, then we crawled into The Ghost (our recycled white tent) in a grove of beautiful redwoods for the night.  That was actually a terrible night of sleep - despite having great sleeping bags and having lots of clothes and even hats on for bed, the 41 degree low of the evening was more than we were capable of handling - even our eyes hurt form the cold.  Also, sharing two mummy-style sleeping bags zipped together was a new experience since we were used to sharing our huge square honeymooner sleeping bags that zip together when we car camp.  

Sunday morning in Big Basin - The Ghost's first camping trip out West.

Wade checking out some of the giants we shared our campsite with.

Inside one of the large trees in Big Basin - it's still alive although the center has been burned out!

Sunday morning we lit a fire to warm up, while Wade made tea, hot cereal with fruit, and cinnamon rolls from the bakery in San Fran.  It was a breakfast of champions.  

Freezing our buns off  our first morning in camp - and thankful for a hearty breakfast and warm fire!

We then proceeded to experiment with the state of California's way to deal with budget cuts - quarter operated showers.  Fortunately we were prepared with a roll of quarters, but it took us some exceeding painful minutes to figure out how to work the shower in the freezing cold before we could get the hot water to work.  At one point when Wade told me to get in and I realized it was not actually even warm water, I may or may not have almost cried like a small child, until I realized he hadn't bother to adjust the temperature to turn on the hot water.  Worst.Shower.Ever.  We finally warmed up a bit, and sort of felt clean and were ready to pack up camp and head down into Santa Cruz.  We swung by the Patagonia outlet there then took a beautiful drive along the water to Natural Bridges State Beach just outside of town to see the monarch butterfly aggregation.  There's a little eucalyptus grove there that is protected from the cold and wind where the monarchs winter on their way to Mexico.  There will end up being tens of thousands there, but we were a little early and were treated to only a few hundred clinging to the branches and fluttering overhead.

After that we headed to Monterey to check into our hotel and be thankful for a King sized bed and fireplace.  We lucked out finding the Monterey Bay Lodge with a great AAA rate that also had a fridge so we could make some of our own food while we were there.  Once we were settled in, we freshened up and headed out to an early dinner of Indian food at Ambrosia, a place a coworker and I found and liked last year.  After a ridiculously good and big dinner, we put our leftovers in the fridge, and curled up in front of the gas fireplace in our PJs to read for the rest of the evening.  It felt so good, but I couldn't get close enough to the fire and eventually Wade begged me to turn it off since he swore it was 100 degrees in the room.

Monday morning the weather was grey and rainy as a front pushed through, so we headed downtown to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  This was Wade's first trip, but my third since I do some work with folks at the aquarium, so we took our time for Wade to see everything. 

A neat sandollar display

By the time we were done, the skies had actually cleared so we were able to go out on the observation deck to see otters and sea lions playing in Monterey Bay right behind the aquarium.  We ended up heading back to the lodge to enjoy our Indian leftovers for a lunch on the porch before getting back in the car to take the 17 Mile Drive around Pebble Beach.  The scenery was pretty incredible and we were treated to lots of wildlife too, including playful otters.

Iceplant covered much of the rocky shoreline along the 17-Mile Drive.

We ended up in Carmel-by-the-Sea after the drive and had dinner at a little sushi place.  It was great to warm up with a little bowl of miso soup.  We ended the night in our PJs again in front of the fire reading a good book.

Tuesday morning we packed up the car, enjoyed our last real shower for a few days and started the journey south.  We stopped in Point Lobos State Nature Reserve to hike and enjoy the rugged coastline.  We were treated to more sea lions and our first seals basking on the rocks.

Wade checking out the tide pools.

Not long after this picture was taken, my beloved Canon G series camera died.  The motor finally gave up and it stopped working.  I was heart broken since that camera and I have been through a lot together (including surviving winter in Yellowstone), but it also meant the rest of our trip and time in Big Sur we would be without a camera.  Since one of my favorite things about our vacations is to capture it, photojournalist style, I was at a loss for how to really enjoy or remember our vacation.  Wade did some quick thinking and remembered that we had passed a Best Buy north of Monterey, so we hopped in the car and booked it back north to get a new camera.  

We didn't have much money to spend, and weren't sure which good replacement camera we wanted just yet, but I had been wanting one of those "tough" waterproof point and shoot cameras and thought it would be great for our outdoor adventures.  Fortunately, Best Buy had one left and on sale so we were set.  We managed to make it back down to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (about 3 hours south of San Francisco, and an hour south of Monterey) just in time to check in, buy firewood, and make camp for dinner.  We made another great packet meal over the fire of Mexican food (with a s'more packet for dessert) and settled in to a chilly night in front of the fire before heading to bed.

Wednesday morning we awoke cold and tired.  We didn't sleep that well since we were freezing, but we did enjoy hearing owls in the pre-dawn hours.  We finally motivated to get up, light a fire, and make breakfast.

Testing out the new camera, I got Wade to pose with a huge redwood log in our campsite that reminded me of a humpback whale. 

Once we got ourselves showered we were ready to explore.  We headed south to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to do an easy hike to see McWay Falls.  It was a beautiful hike, but we were a little surprised that we couldn't get down to see the falls and that there were big warning signs everywhere not to try because people hurt and kill themselves every year in the attempt!  Big Sur is pretty remote (it's a wilderness area) so there are no facilities or help nearby and to access the coast is very difficult, only making rescues more challenging.  We heeded the warnings and stuck to the trail.

Testing out the panorama function on the new camera - Wade is checking out McWay Falls in the cove below.

Looking north up the coast from McWay Falls.

After that we headed back up the coast to Partington Cove for a hike down through a tunnel to a cove where bootleggers used to land during prohibition, and then over to a rocky beach.

Wade checking out the cove.

A cairn we found on the beach.

It was a nice hike filled with wildflowers, but like most of our hikes, we were constantly struggling with the sun being in our face, so the pictures never quite captured the colors of what we were seeing.  The end of the hike on the beach was no so great though because Wade slipped and cut his leg up pretty nastily so I had about 30 seconds of panic while I calculated how to drag him back up the trail and get help with no cell reception and no one around.  Fortunately, it was just a bad cut and he didn't break anything, and we were both thankful for that.
We were pretty hungry after two hikes, so we stopped at the iconic Nepenthe for a pick up.  We had some good snacks and drinks and enjoyed the view that the restaurant is famous for - a long view down the Big Sur coast.  It's basically an open air restaurant with almost all the tables facing out towards the water to take in the view. 

The driftwood phoenix carving on the patio at Nepenthe - it's bigger than a person.

Once we found our second wind, we headed north to Pfeiffer Beach, part of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  The beach is normally known for reddish-purple (garnet) sand and spectacular sunsets.  It's a long twisty drive down to the beach and once we got there were surprised by how rough and rugged it was.  My favorite was the iconic large rock/small hill in the middle of the beach with a peep hole for sunset and crashing waves.  I tried testing out the video function on the new camera by getting a shot of the waves churning through the keyhole in the rock.

Wade taking in the view.

The big rock on the beach that the surf constantly crashed into and through. - the key hole is big enough for several people to fit through at once.

Almost sunset on Pfeiffer Beach.

We ended up not being able to wait for sunset - the temperature was dropping rapidly and with the ripping wind, these two Floridians were turning to ice.  We booked it back to the fire for a lovely night of camp meals which included the best apple pear cobbler ever. 

Thursday morning we decided to wander down the coast to see Hearst Castle, the elephant seal rookery, and a few other beaches along the way.  After another cold night, I was starting to feel like maybe I was getting sick.  A hot breakfast by the fire (including leftover apple pear crisp!), followed by a hot shower helped get me going.  We headed south until about lunchtime when we decided to stop along a pull off to eat (there are pull outs all along CA Route 1 on the coast to allow visitors to take advantage of the view and to get out of the way of the locals who don't want to drive as slow.  One pull off we found had two dead trees that had been carved into seats.  One was as big as a throne and big enough for us both to share while we ate lunch.  The view was spectacular and it made our picnic feel special, so naturally I had to get a video of it.

Our picnic lunch throne.

We continued down the coast after lunch and the land changed - it became softer and turned into rolling grassy hills that gently met the coast.  This was my kind of land.  We saw lots of hawks roaming the prairie and more horses and cattle on the land.  Finally, we made it to San Simeon, where Hearst Castle is, roughly 5 hours south of San Francisco, or halfway to Los Angeles from San Fran.  It was a longer drive than we expected, but it was worth it in the end.  Perched upon a hill with a view of the Pacific Ocean, the mediterranean style Hearst Castle was once the remote summer escape of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, which was donated to the state of California upon his death.  In the Roaring Twenties, the house was a gathering place for the rich and famous of the day including movie stars, inventors, and star athletes.  To accommodate such a crowd, a lavish and sprawling mediterranean-style estate was built (complete with pools, airport, cattle ranch, fruit orchards, and a zoo!).

Neptune's Pool, the Greek/Roman style outdoor pool.

The formal dining room, modeled after a medieval castle.

The castle was quite a spectacle and it was a nice change of pace form hiking since I was starting to feel sick again.  
After the tour, we started working our way back north, stopping first at the elephant seal rookery, where hundreds of juvenile elephant seals were sunning on the beach.  In winter, the adults return to mate and raise young.

After chuckling at the seals, we got back in the car to head north again.  We had some snacks during the long drive, and once we were back in Big Sur, stopped at Jade Cove.  The cliffs contain jade, so the rocks are green, and real jade can be found.  We found a small rock that flaked like shale, but was a deep green that we selected as our memento.  However, it was one of the worst hikes - it was pretty steep, and at the end, the last 20 feet down you had to hold a rope to let yourself down the steep incline.  I almost totally refused, but Wade finally talked me into it and we made it without incident.  

Looking down at Jade Cove from the trail head.

The cliffs surrounding the cove were even green!

After that we headed back to camp to make a feast for dinner with whatever we had left in the cooler.  We had a great BBQ campfire packet of veggies and beans, followed by an incredible apple crisp.  We finally let the fire die and we crawled into the tent very full and very tired.

On our last morning at the campsite, the sun was streaming through the redwoods.

Friday morning dawned in the campground with sun streaming through the redwoods while we reheated the apple crisp for breakfast and started sorting and packing our supplies.  I also awoke officially sick with some sort of cold and felt pretty miserable.  After breakfast and a hot shower, I could function, but it was clear I wasn't doing much that day since I was constantly carrying a kleenex box around.  We had to be out of our campsite by noon, so we packed up then headed over to the laundry facilities to wash our clothes - we managed to keep our luggage load small (despite bringing our camping supplies) by under packing our clothes and planning to do laundry.  We did some laundry as soon as we had arrived in Big Sur, then did more Friday so we'd have things to fly home in that didn't smell like campfire.  

Oh yeah, folding laundry on vacation!  And note , my best friend the kleenex box within easy reach.

Once that was done, we went to the Big Sur Lodge in the campground to check into our room.  We figured that by the last night of our trip, we'd be ready for a real bed and shower, and we were right!  We paid a little extra for a room with a king bed and a fireplace and were so thankful we did.  By the time we checked into our room, I was a pathetic site.  Wade really wanted to do a nearby hike to a waterfall, but I was starting to get a fever and my head felt like it weighed 100 pounds.  So I sent Wade on the hike alone while I curled up in an arm chair in the room under a blanket - just what I needed.  Even though I didn't leave the room, I still got to see wildlife - a flock of turkeys wandered by our little cabin calling to each other so I was able to see them from our balcony!

Redwoods along Wade's hike to Pfeiffer Falls.

The turkeys were decidedly not impressed with my turkey call.

Once Wade got back from the hike, we got cleaned up to have a nice early dinner somewhere.  Our first two tries failed, but the third was a charm.  We ended up at The Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant for an amazing gourmet vegetarian dinner that really hit the spot.  We came home, stoked the fire, got into our PJs and read in front of the fire.  Eventually, Wade realized I was just sleeping in front of the fire and put me to bed.

Saturday morning we finished packing for our trip home, ate a quick breakfast in the room, then checked out to go have lunch and try to check in for our red-eye flight home that night.  We had some great tacos at the restaurant in the Fernwood Resort and finally got internet access to check in while we were eating.  Once that was squared away, we headed to Andrew Molera State Park to find an easy hike or see if I could go horseback riding while Wade hiked (I was still sick and in no shape to hike, but riding to the beach sounded perfect).  We lucked out and I made it just in time for a 2 hour trail ride through the park to the beach, while Wade decided to hike instead.

Me on the beach with Snickers.

It was nice to be able to just enjoy the scenery, the fresh air, and the sun rather than be worrying about my footing for once.  I also got some pictures and a video of the beach.  The vacation made it clear I am a flatlander, and rocky/jagged coasts are not really for me.  It was nice for Wade too since he got some time to hike at his own pace without having to worry about whether I could keep up.

We met back at the stables, and after a quick trip to the bathroom  it was time to get on the road.  We stopped at one last place on the way out of Big Sur, the iconic Bixby Bridge, which is also the unofficial marker of the entrance to the Big Sur area.  Big Sur isn't a town so much as an area of the coast that is more wilderness than development with no cell phone service and very few structures.

A panorama shot of the historic Bixby Bridge and the Big Sur coastline.

The last windblown shot of our California road trip vacation.

We said good bye to Big Sur and got started on the 3 hour drive back up CA Route 1 to the SFO airport.  To get some extra time out of our vacation, without taking an extra vacation day, we picked a red-eye flight home from San Francisco that night.  We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, returned the rental car, freshened up and chained clothes in a bathroom, had dinner at the airport, then made it through security without a single person in front of us - an unprecedented event for me at SFO where the security line wait is usually at least an hour.  We used my frequent flier status to board early and settled in for a long flight.

Sunday morning we connected through Philly before finally making it back to Tampa before lunchtime.  We were happy to get home, take a shower, and change into clean clothes before heading down to the island to pick up the kids and give Mom and Larry their thank you gifts for watching the kids.  As expected, the kids were all happy and healthy and missed us, but seemed confused as to why they had to leave.  They certainly had made themselves at home.  :)

So, in a little over a week, we drove over 500 miles and saw most of the Central California coast.  It was more time in the car than we expected, but we did cover a lot of ground and saw a lot of dramatic scenery.  And Wade finally got his first real taste of California.  However, for me, I realized a vacation where I'm cold is not really a vacation for me, so next time we're heading to the tropics!

To see more pictures and video of San Francisco, coastal redwoods, otters, sea lions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the dramatic Big Sur coast, check out our Picasa site, here.