Fun with Tracy

We've spent the last 5 days with Tracy.  We've had a great time.  The night before she came in I went to a bridal shower for one of our MSA sisters.  Her name is Amy, she's 42 years old, never been married, and as excited kid at Christmas!  It was so fun to hear her talk about what a wonderful guy her fiancé is, and the wonders of being in love.  Her colors are red and black, and here is the table decoration they had.  Fresh roses!  Beautiful.

Here she is with the bride's bouquet they made of the ribbons from her gifts.  I gave her a hot pad/wash cloth set I had crocheted, and she was so sweet.  She said she didn't have anyone in her family who could crochet, so was delighted to receive a handmade gift.  We're so happy for her.

So Tracy got here Friday night.  I had cooked a turkey that I had bought at Thanksgiving, so we had a mini-Thanksgiving dinner that night.  I even made a pumpkin pie!  Yum.  Then the next day we got up early and headed up to San Francisco.  The weather was absolutely perfect - no clouds or fog, and in the low 70s.  We spend most the day at Golden Gate Park, taking in a wonderful exhibit at the de Young Art Museum, and touring the Japanese Tea Garden.

There's a Scottish bag piper because the exhibit was from Scotland.  It had some amazing masterpieces.  We then went down to the Embarcadero where we walked around while waiting for a table at "The Rainforest Café", a fun restaurant that is kind of like The Mayan in SLC used to be, only with good food!  There were animated stuffed animal exhibits, live entertainers, thunder and lightening, etc., all supposedly like a rain forest.  It was fun!  After dinner we were tired, so headed home, but got caught in bad traffic in SF, but got to drive through Chinatown.  Fun, but crazy!

Sunday, Dad and I went to Sacrament meeting then we headed for Monterey.  We walked around down there (again the weather was beautiful), ate a picnic lunch, then drove the 17 mile scenic highway where some beautiful cypress trees are, and great views of the ocean.  We even saw some whales out in the distance. 

Monday was beach day.  We started out at our favorite beach, Sunset, where we gathered sea shells, then went to Ano Nuevo State Park, where Northern Elephant Seals go to mate, give birth, molt, and rest.  A lot of the adults were gone, but we still saw some, along with the "weaners", or the baby seals that have been weaned, and are teaching themselves how to swim.  The mothers nurse the babies for only one month, then leave them on their own.  They learn how to swim, and take off for the Aleutian Islands.  About half of them survive that first year, and they head back to Ano Nuevo again. 

They're active mostly at night, so we only saw them sleeping.  By this time of year they have lost half their body weight, so are very skinny.  But they soon head back into open water to feed, and re-gain their weight. 

We then headed up to Half Moon Bay where we had dinner at Sam's Chowder House.  We took pictures of our food! 

Tracy's lobster roll

 

Dad's halibut

My crab and shrimp salad (wonderful dressing)

 

We were pretty worn out by Tuesday!  We thought of heading up to Muir Woods to see the redwoods, but didn't want to drive that far, so went into Saratoga to the Montalvo Art Center.  It's an old mansion that has been turned into a place for artists and performances by dancers, singers, plays, etc.  The grounds are pretty and they have nature trails.

We were too tired to even hike the trails, so wandered around Saratoga and Los Gatos and headed home.  We had a relaxing evening, and said goodbye to our T this morning.  She made it home safely, and we hope she gets some rest from her vacation!  We loved having her here.

So that's our week.  Hope all of you had a great one as well.  Hope to hear from you ALL soon.
Much love