Casebolts in Campbell

This last weekend we got to show off our new apartment and the surrounding sights to Amy's parents and her sister Jessica. We picked them up from the airport Thursday evening, and began planning for the next few days. Amy had to work Friday morning, so she missed out on breakfast at Stacks, in downtown Campbell, where I enjoyed the BEST banana pecan belgian waffles. We drove up to Palo Alto and picked up Amy at noon and then headed up to San Francisco. First stop was the Golden Gate bridge:

After taking some pics from the battery on the north side of the bay near Sausalito, we went to Fisherman's Wharf for some lunch. Amy and I took them to Boudin, our favorite spot for clam chowder in sourdough breadbowls.

Lunch was quickly followed up by a visit to Ghiradelli Square:

Then we checked out the shops on Pier 39 and headed off to see the "Painted Ladies" at Alamo Square, a famous row of Victorian houses featured in many films, as well as the opening credits of Full House.

After a long afternoon in San Francisco, we returned home to get ready for Saturday. With rain forecasted for the next 8 days, when we woke up Saturday morning to sunny skies, we decided to head down to Carmel and Big Sur for the day to enjoy the good weather while it lasted. We took Hwy 1 south out of Santa Cruz and stopped along the way to see a large pride (herd?) of sea lions on some docks right next to the road in Moss Beach. We then took the 17-mile road and saw an island virtually boiling over with sea lions and harbor seals.

We also stopped at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and checked out the 18th hole and clubhouse.

We arrived in Carmel just in time for lunch, and ate at Flaherty's, a delicious seafood restaurant. Russ's jumbalaya was definitely the best dish at the table. After wandering the shops and galleries in Carmel, we drove south along the cliffs of Big Sur and watched the huge waves come in ahead of the arriving storm.

After a long day of driving, we arrived home and enjoyed some Round Table pizza for dinner. The next morning, we went to church at 9:00, where Amy and I happened to be giving talks in sacrament meeting. After church, we took a drive up Hwy 9 through Saratoga and over the Skyline ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains. We dropped down into Big Basin Redwoods State Park and took a short walk among the huge trees.

I was in charge of spotting a banana slug, but never did. For those of you who don't know what one is, here's a photo of one I took when I spotted one about a week ago.

Although it was pouring rain Monday morning, we decided to drive over to the beach in Santa Cruz. As soon as we crossed over the summit, the rain stopped and we even got some blue skies. We walked over to the lighthouse to see if there were any surfers, but the storm-powered waves were too crazy.

We went out on the wharf and saw dozens of sea lions swimming in the water on either side of the pier. Amy also tried to get close to a pelican without getting attacked.

On our way back to Campbell, we stopped in Los Gatos and had lunch at Andale before walking the streets window shopping. Amy and Cheryl went over to Valley Fair mall to do some more shopping while the rest of us hung out at home. We loved having them visit us and were sad to see them leave this morning. It was a great weekend. Sorry that this read like a 5th-grader's essay. Amy is way better at this.