The Carmel Mission

You know you're a nerd if you have a top three list of California Missions.  I'm a nerd and here is my top three list, 1) San Juan Capistrano in Southern California (I would have converted to Catholism to get married there but my in-laws would have gone into cardiac arrest), 2) La Purisima de Concepcion in Central California and, 3) San Carlos Borromeo de Carmel in Northern California, more commonly known as the Carmel Mission.

This picture of the Carmel Mission from the 1800's is in the gift shop.  I just love how it positioned on the coastline. 

Mr. Rogers and I are both rather fond of the Carmel Mission and never go to Monterey without stopping at the mission.  It is pure delight to watch the kids frolic around the beautiful garden, to re-discover the "secret passage" to the restrooms which is not really a secret at all but they find it quite mysterious nonetheless, to run, skip, explore as they zig-zag through the enormous courtyard and gaze into the fountain.

Ummm, the kids aren't suppose to climb on the fountain...oops!

Cannery Row and Steinbeck

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.  Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses..."  

                                                                                            - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

Books!  Ahhh....the smell, opening them, holding them in your hands, marking them and collecting them are all elements of reading books that I religiously embrace.  Classics are my vice but there is something about Hemingway and Steinbeck that keeps me reading and collecting them.  Last time we were in Monterey I hung my head low in pure shame that I had not read Cannery Row.  Then and there I shook my fist to the sky and vowed to the John Steinbeck bust not to let it happen again.  So each night last week I nestled in bed and read Mr. Rogers' copy of Cannery Row, circa his high school sophomore English class.  Steinbeck did not disappoint and it made our trip to Monterey last weekend that much richer as we tried to figure out buildings and locations from Steinbeck's Cannery Row.  Certainly with industrialization, immigration, the Depression, and WWII, the Cannery Row of the first half of the twentieth century stands in sharp contrast to the Cannery Row of today and Steinbeck does a fine job of painting this picture for  his readers.  Definitely not a book for you lovers of female herioines but what can I say, I'm just sort of a Hemingway/Steinbeck kind of girl.  

  

I think I left my heart in San Francisco...

At the mouth of the San Francisco Bay is Land's End which is, to say the least, tranquil, picturesque, and rich with history.  Relishing in an amazing lecture organized by the San Francisco Historical Society and Museum, as part of the Teach American History Grant, this is a place I can't wait to take Mr. Rogers and the kids back to.  This very trail that runners and dog walker's use daily, was originally a steam railroad track that was used to haul day trippers out to this recreational area developed by Adolph Sutro, today known as Golden Gate National Recreational Area.  Umm, would you think any less of me if I told you I have a top ten tree list?  I won't bore you with the details, but Cypresses are up there, in particular these Cyprus trees that grow along the northern California Coast.  Those trees look like they've been on the cliff's edge for hundreds of years but really just since FDR's New Deal when they were planted as seedlings but I prefer to ignore that small factoid.

I've been having this problem lately where breaking out into a trot, and possibly song, lurks inside me...think Sound of Music.  This trail was taunting me by whispering sweet nothings in my ear, "Run, frolic, and be merry!"  My brain was doing double time as I soaked in copious amounts of history while giving every passerby malicious looks loaded with pure envy as I was not able to take off into a gallant trot with them.

How can something so cute make you soooo sick?

This picture was taken right before we were plagued with some mighty mega illness just before Easter!  Little did I know that as I snapped this picture those relentless viruses were lurking in these cute little bodies.  Not only did the kids get sick but Mr. Rogers and I were flat on our backs for days!  Only a few times in my life have I been as sickly as I was the past several weeks.  The fact that I lost 6lbs. justifies just how sick I was...and is also serving as a nice consolation prize for all that misery.  Finally, everyone is back in good health and all children are as cute and happy as ever!

We've been sick, sick, sick....for those of you wondering what's going on!