Christmas Evening

December 24th - Happy Christmas, almost....

Lots of fun with family and great eating.

On Sunday night, we went out to view neighborhood Christmas lights.  Our first stop was at a house which broadcasts a 45-minute music medley harmonized with house lights.  It is unique and well done - there is no sound outside of one's car, just flashing or pulsating lights.  The soundtrack comes through a limited FM broadcast -- note the frequency in the lower right side of this photo.

Brent and Stephanie's new car - a minivan!

Ditto.

But before today, Catherine, Betsy, and I took a brief excursion to Monterey, to give our hosts a break from hosting us.  We drove to Monterey on Monday, returning late on Tuesday.  We left Castro Valley in heavy rain but arrived in the Monterey Bay Area with vastly improved weather.  We drove the famous 17-mile drive past the majestic homes of Carmel and around parts of three or four notable golf courses (Pebble Beach, etc).  We had a memorable stop on the coast for sea otter and bird sightings.  We also stopped at the Lone Cypress tree.

Candelabra Aloe overlooking a Carmel beach.

A raft of Sea Otters, resting amidst the kelp.

Brown Pelicans.

Ditto.

The Lone Cypress, a famous landmark on the 17-mile drive.

The sisters.

Then we drove north along the coast past Asilomar, Pacific Grove and into Monterey.  We checked into the Cannery Row Inn, then walked to the Monterey Aquarium to buy entrance tickets for the next day.  We walked the main road along the Cannery Row, and stopped in a wine tasting room for drinks.  I bought snacks at a nearby Italian deli and brought them back to have them with the wine flight and meads.  For dinner, we went back to a favorite restaurant that Betsy and I had found several years ago -Wildfish.  The three of us enjoyed a relaxing dinner -- Betsy and Catherine had poke bowls and popovers; I had halibut.

Murals celebrating the canneries.

Ditto.

Wildfish Restaurant in Pacific Grove.

The next morning we checked out of the inn, but left the car in the inn parking lot, walked to a coffee shop before entering the flow into the aquarium.  It was busy with lots of families and small children,  not surprising given that school was on the Christmas break.  

The Monterey Aquarium.

We arrived shortly after opening and join the hordes for the 10:30 am sea otter feeding.  We then moved to the Deep Sea tank for its feeding (lots of white fin tuna, dolphin fish, and sardines cruising around the massive enclosure).  It was fun to watch the tuna and dolphin fish scarf up the nuggets of food -- the fish seem respectful of each other, never bumping into each other, and capturing every morsel before it fell much more than a foot or two below the surface.  These bigger fish were well fed before the sardines were fed a more typical powdery food.  Sardines are filter feeders.  They also form quite large schools of fish.

We toured the rest of the aquarium exhibits, enjoying the jellys, the kelp forest tank, and the tideland  aviary.

Pacific Sea Nettle

Purpled-striped Sea Nettle.

Blacksmith Chromis.

Olive Rockfish that seemed intrigued with Phil.

Yellow Fin Tuna.

Black Necked Stilt.

Marbled Godwit.

After the aquarium, we drove north to Moss Landing to meet up with our friend Ralph, a superior blogger that I wish to be, whom we met on our 2015 Japanese trip.  His wife, Donna, was away taking care of their older daughter who recently broke her ankle.  We met Ralph at their vacation house that overlooks dunes and Monterey Bay in one direction and artichoke fields in the other; their "first" home is in Emeryville,  just north of Oakland where we have met with him and Donna on other visits to the Bay Area.  We enjoyed a great lunch at the Woodward Marina Market at Moss Landing.

We dropped Ralph off at his home and then drove north to Santa Cruz, over the coast range to San Jose, and north up I-880, a miserable, congested ride of nearly 3 hours.  We picked up Thai food at a local restaurant to feed everyone at Brent's and Stephanie's.  Stephanie's mother, Debbie, arrived that afternoon, to join the Christmas festivities.

Today, Brent and I worked on a pullout rack/drawer for his kitchen, something he had not completed in four years.  On our last visit in May, we took measurements of the drawer opening.  I designed a rack for him and constructed the components in Portland.  Betsy and I brought the components with us on this trip, and Brent and I fitted the pieces to the drawer box.  This is the last unfinished bit of the kitchen -- he said "the island is now done."

The final, installed pegboard rack for hanging kitchen tools.

Christmas Eve dinner of appetizers, etc.  Logan, Catherine, Debbie, Stephanie, Cooper (behind Brent), Brent, Betsy and me.

Cooper (17 months), 'reading' a book.

Happy Christmas everyone!!!!