What a day! We got up bright and early this morning and Greg went out to get our rental car. I was hoping he would come back with some snazzy convertible, but instead he pulled up in a red Toyota Camry; I have to say, it is a really nice little car though, and Greg made a good point in saying “you would be cold in a convertible, Grandma!”…yes, I would! We took off with our Hertz GPS telling us to go this way and that way to get out of the city - I am not really sure why Greg even bothered programming it because he wouldn’t listen to anything she was saying! We had to play “Red Light Green Light” for a while too because the street lights here are not like the ones back home – they are not hanging above you, they are only on the side where the pedestrian lights are. Greg came close to going through a couple of red lights because he didn’t even know there were lights, so I became a backseat driver and had to tell him to go and stop! Once we got out of the city we took out my brother-in-law Luke’s hand drawn map (he is the one who suggested we take a trip down the coast) and set off down the beautiful California Coast. The roads along the coast are amazing – well, I suppose it’s really the ocean just off the road that make it amazing – but you should see it, it’s fabulous! We finally got to the one place Greg couldn’t wait to see – Pebble Beach (the golf course) and 17 Mile Road. We found a parking spot and headed over to the shops and restaurants and we even got to go into the Club House! Greg bought a couple of shirts from one of the shops and we met a very nice lady working there who was chatting with us and told us that we could go to the 18th Green and take pictures on it. She said “don’t be shy, it’s open to the public”, so we thought we would go check it out. We headed over to the club house and followed the directions given by the nice shop lady. I am not sure if I have EVER seen such beautiful views than I did from the club house and I am not sure if I have EVER seen such hoity-toity people in my life and I am not sure if I have EVER been so self-conscious of myself! We walked out onto the area that is just off of the 18th Green and all we saw and heard were the worlds best dressed and some of the richest eating on the patio of some very fancy restaurant – which I don’t think we would even be allowed into – and there we were standing with our shopping bag and camera! Greg asked if he should go over and stand on the Green so I could take a picture but then we both realized that we couldn’t stand out more at that point, so we just snapped a quick picture of the course itself and headed out. I had to go to the bathroom though and saw them as we were walking past the restaurant. I pushed open the door and there I saw two ladies, dressed to the nines, so I just slunked into one of the two stalls and closed the door, but it wouldn’t lock! I couldn’t hold the door because the toilet was set too far back and I figured if I stuck my foot out under the door to hold it, Muffy and her friend might just call security or something! I just took the chance that nobody would walk in on me and see a commoner peeing in their clubhouse! After I had flushed, I looked back and couldn’t believe it – the toilet paper was stuck to the inside of the toilet! What was I to do? Leave the paper stuck to the toilet or flush again?? I could see some very fancy shoes, which were probably worth more than my whole outfit (and I was wearing my best outfit that day), and once I heard them click their way out of the bathroom I flushed again and got out of the stall quick! When I was done washing my hands I looked for some paper towel, but instead I found rolled up towels and a hamper to throw them into! How posh! Once I found Greg loitering in the halls, we checked out some of the trophies and I took Greg’s picture with some big crystal looking thing and a golfer’s picture behind it. As we were leaving the Club House, a very nice lady who was working there told us we were allowed to enter one area and sit down to look at the view – but I think she could tell how uncomfortable we were and she gave me the sweetest look as if to say “I know exactly how you feel being in this stuffy place and I totally understand why you want to run as fast as you can to get out of here”, so we politely said thank you and left! Once we were out of the golf course, we drove past the rest of the gated houses and ended up in the small town of Carmel where we thought we would get some lunch. There seemed to be nothing but art galleries, fancy shops and even Tiffany’s & Co., so we figured that we should probably just keep on going and find somewhere that wasn’t quite so uppity. We drove to some town where they had a fresh food market (just past the fields where I believe they were picking strawberries) and stopped in to get some food. Let me tell you that if you have not eaten California Strawberries in California from a little food market like this, you are missing out! They also grow Almonds here – who knew! – I have never had such fresh, soft almonds in my life!! Sooooo good! We snacked on that until we drove up a winding road to Big Sur went to a restaurant where we had lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean from way, way up high!
After our tour of the coast, we drove back to Mountain View, a town just outside of San Francisco because we had tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert. Greg wanted to go more than I did, and really only to see Billy Currington open for him, but I thought it might be fun too….boy was I wrong! The concert was supposed to start at 7:00 p.m. but we, along with thousands of others, didn’t even get parked until after 7:00 and then had to walk for about 10 minutes and stand in line for another 25 minutes! I have never been to a concert where people seemed so willing to stand outside partying instead of going inside to see the show – perhaps because all the concerts I have been to in Canada are in the dead of winter!! Some of these girls in their Daisy Dukes must have been frozen by the end of this outdoor party though, because I was chilly with my jacket on – and trust me, I wasn’t wearing any Daisy Dukes! Once we had our seats I got to watch more PDA’s than I would have liked to, but what was worse is that they were between some old lesbians and some greasy couple! Once the concert started we watched Blake Shelton and actually quite enjoyed him, but once Kenny started and the whole crowd stood up…well I couldn’t see a darn thing and so I just sat back down. I don’t think Greg was having the time of his life either, so when he suggested we leave only four songs into the concert I jumped at the chance!! We were amazed by the number of people who were also leaving…sorry Kenny!
We drove back to San Francisco and arrived at our hotel around 11:00 p.m. for our very last sleep of the trip! Tomorrow will be our final day in this very wonderful city, but I know we will be back again!
SJ
No comments:
Post a Comment