California Christmas: Day 9

Our last full day in California, Sam got to do something he's always talking about: deep sea fishing. He and my brother went on a fishing trip to the Farallon Islands where they caught rockfish and dungeness crab. This year's crab fishing was apparently amazing and they came back with 6 crab each! It was a very long day for them, but I think they had a lot of fun.

Showing off his catch (not quite as impressive as king, but not as dangerous either)

I stayed home with Inga and the grandparents. My dad and I went shooting in the morning, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't been shooting in a long time. I didn't do too bad at 100 yards with a .22 long.

The next morning we left for the airport super early (4am). It was a long day of traveling, but Inga was a seasoned pro by this point and charmed all the grandmas at the airports. She even slept for most of the long flight from Las Vegas to Columbus. It took her a few days to get back on Ohio schedule, but she did great flying. Of course, Ohio greeted us with snow. Oh well, I got my sunny winter vacation, right?

California Christmas: Days 7-8

We took a little family getaway to Monterey for a night. We drove down US-101 through Gilroy and Salinas to get to Monterey. It took us right through the heart of artichoke farms (and strawberries, brussels sprouts, lettuce, etc.). We stopped in Castroville for a diaper change and some nursing. It was a fortuitous stop because we walked across the street to try to advertised french fried artichokes. They were amazing and I loved the fruit stand, deli, coffee shop, liquor store combination. It was so classic entrepreneurial California Mexican. I highly recommend getting some french fried artichokes if you are in Castroville.

It was such a nice day, we had to go to the beach. We just saw a sign for Ft. Ord Dunes State Park and pulled off the highway. I had never heard of Ft. Ord State Park because it became a state park in 2009. Ft. Ord was built during WWII and the park is where the rifle ranges used to be along with the old dock. It was a beautiful stretch of beach. Inga had her first experience with sand and the ocean. She LOVED the sand! We will have to take her to the beach again.

Sand dunes covered in ice plant

The beach and some great surf

Playing in the Pacific Ocean

SAND!

An amazing December day

All three of us took a nice afternoon nap at the hotel, then headed down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. It was the first "nice" dinner we had taken since Inga was born. She did very well, but we helped her out by doing a very early dinner (5pm). We ate at Abalonetti and had fresh Monterey sardines and calamari.

Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey

The next morning we headed down to Cannery Row and the aquarium. We got up nice and early and beat the long line to get into the aquarium (one of the benefits of traveling with a little one). We parked at the southern end of Cannery Row and walked the length of the street down to the aquarium. We saw some divers at San Carlos beach and I saw a whale (probably a gray).

San Carlos beach

Cannery Row from San Carlos beach

My two beach bums

We got to the aquarium not long after they opened and I am really glad we did. When we left around lunch time the ticket line was over one block long! There was so much to see, but we had to take an abbreviated tour because it was too noisy for Inga to nap in the ergo and she got really fussy by lunch. We were impressed by the kelp forest and all the schools of sardines and mackerels. They also had a really great open ocean tank with mahi mahi, turtles, and sardines (no GWS, though).

Coal boilers of the old Hovden cannery

School of sardines in the kelp forest tank

Inga loved the kelp touch pool

The circular sardine tank on the ceiling. So cool!

Humpback (for JNW)

Kelp forest

After lunch we drove to Pacific Grove to see some of the coast line. There is a great walking path along the coast here, but it was too foggy and cold (and Inga was napping in the car). We stopped at a couple pull outs to take some pictures.

Mama and baby otter

We took highway 1 to get back home driving up to Half Moon Bay before cutting across the hills. It was a very nice drive once we left the fog behind in Watsonville. We stopped at Scott Creek Beach (apparently a nude beach although there were no nudists when we were there) to see the kite boarders and wind surfers.

A touch windy

Pristine coastline

We had a lot of fun in Monterey and there is so much more to do in the area. I would love to come back and see one of the nearby missions as well as drive down to Big Sur.

California Christmas: Day 6

After all our sightseeing, Inga was getting pretty worn out. We took a break before heading down to Monterey and just went to the park to enjoy the warm weather. Inga got to swing, ride the slide, and experience grass all for the first time. She thought it was all quite wonderful.

California Christmas: Day 5

The day after Christmas we drove up to Napa to visit our friend from college, Tiara. She lives in Arizona, but was home for Christmas. Her boyfriend was also spending Christmas with her and her family. We decided to do a little wine tasting in Napa county.

Unlike the previous wine tasting, we just drove around and picked places that looked interesting. The first place was called Darioush and it was super fancy (and a bit pretentious). Man, did we every feel out of place! The wait staff didn't even acknowledge our presence and all the other patrons had European accents. It was more like a fancy wine bar than a wine tasting room. We high-tailed it out of there for a more relaxed winery!

Persian palace in Napa Valley

We stopped at Black Stallion and it was much more to our liking. They had pretty good wines although not as good as Ferrari-Carano or Dry Creek. I liked the architecture and gardens, though.

I got excited to go to Chandon, which make some of my favorite sparkling wines. They are also one of the big wineries in the valley with a stop on the booze train. Unfortunately, Inga was not allowed in the tasting room. I guess they didn't want children to disrupt the atmosphere of their 1 star Michelin restaurant. Tiara, Chris, and I tried to get a spot at the tasting bar, but it was too crowded. I bought a bottle of the pinot noir sparkling though since I haven't found it in Ohio.

Tiara and Chris at Chandon

We were kind of striking out on the wine tasting. Napa is just too pretentious (and expensive) for a young family. I would have to recommend Sonoma county over Napa county for wineries.

To finish off the day, we took a walk at the Skyline Wilderness Park outside Napa. The park offers great views of the valley. Unfortunately, Inga did not want to be in the carrier (again) and Sam held her most of the way. We met another dad on the trail who was having the same carrier issues with his baby. I didn't feel too bad after that.

Happiest in Daddy's arms

Napa Valley

4 Months

Taking a break from our Christmas adventures, here are some late 4 month pictures. Inga turned 4 months while we were on vacation so these portrait pictures are a bit late. Meh.

She is getting really big. She moved up in clothing size and diaper size. The car seat carrier is getting very heavy. I'm going to have to start researching for the next step up in car seats. Her new favorite toys are stuffed animals. She loves to cuddle with them and chew on their faces. It is very cute. She also likes to listen to music and dance with Mommy and Daddy. She has really started to giggle and it is so cute!

We started experimenting with solid foods at the dinner table. Just tastes of things from our plates. She seems interested, but is not a big fan of spoons at the moment. We are in no big hurry on the solid foods so I am just playing it by ear and introducing new flavors.

California Christmas: Day 4

Christmas Day finally arrived!! Sam and I were so busy before we left that we decided to skip our usual stocking stuffers. Sam already gave me my present (a trip to California) and I wasn't about the bring his with us to California (a 6 qt enameled cast iron dutch oven). We weren't feeling very Christmas-y at home, so it was great to have a tree with presents under it to open.

In the morning we went to church, where people who I hadn't seen in years cooed over Inga. She had a major blowout in the middle of the service. Sam had to do some major damage control in the bathroom. As a result, I have no pictures of her in the cute dress. However, her Christmas sleep n' play matched my outfit better.

We opened presents during Inga's nap because I was tired of waiting. It was nothing like the Wiley present opening affair with rugrats running everywhere and wrapping paper flying across the room. Sam was a little out of his element in such a quiet, orderly environment. Inga opened her presents and stocking when she woke up from her nap. We took pictures of that.

Grandma Lindstrom made Inga a stocking

Learning to rip paper!

All smiles on Christmas day

Uncle Morgan is still getting used to babies (but Inga already thinks he's great).

For Christmas dinner, we had a few more guests. My Uncle Richard, Aunt Ofa, and cousin Aaron drove up from Bakersfield to meet Inga. My mom's cousin, John, stopped by after dinner as well. The additional people and hubbub was more to Sam's liking. I'll admit I have gotten used to the large family dinner and wasn't used to how quiet my family is in comparison.

The "kids" (and Sam's the big brother :)

Great Aunt Ofa and Inga

Inga was a bit too squirmy for Aaron, but I managed a decent photo.

And, finally, we had the perfect Christmas weather: 70˚ and sunny!

California Christmas: Day 3

Christmas Eve was a warm, sunny day so I had to spend it outside. I had also been dying to eat some In-N-Out and Sam really wanted to experience the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve shopping. We decided to go to Costco, In-N-Out, and Sunol Regional Wilderness to meet everyone's goals for the day. My brother, Morgan, spent the day with us as well.

At Costco, we bought some bottles of the finest Alaskan fish oil concentrate and drooled over the smoke salmon. Sam and I also lamented the fact that in Ohio club stores can't sell liquor. This Costco had amazing prices on wine, beer, and liquor. The store was sufficiently crowded for Sam so we left for lunch at In-N-Out. My cheeseburger, animal style, was delicious. It should hold me over until the next time I am near an In-N-Out.

Sunol is one of my favorite parks because it usually isn't very crowded and has some short hikes. The Alameda Creek runs through the park and there is a gorge called Little Yosemite that is a bit of a misnomer. It's never reminded me of Yosemite, but it is still pretty nonetheless. However, it has been a very dry December and there wasn't much water in Alameda Creek so Little Yosemite just looked like a bunch of boulders in a ditch.

Some very dry hills

Trail side diaper change!

Inga was pretty fussy for most of the hike. She really didn't want to be in the carrier and would just start yelling. Sam carried her in his arms the 1.5 miles up to Little Yosemite, but was too worn out to do the same on the way down. I put her in the carrier and let her yell until she fell asleep. Poor little girl needs more practice hiking.

Screaming and clawing at my back

Trail side nursing also left me with a tiny poison oak rash on my arm, but since I am super sensitive to poison oak I still have the rash and it hurts. Poison oak is possibly my least favorite plant.

This was a very different Christmas Eve evening. Inga has a meltdown right before bed and just screams for 30-60 minutes pretty much every night. It kind of interrupted any Christmas Eve rituals. Sam and I took an evening walk (without the peanut!) and looked for orange trees to collect some fruit. We are so building a green house so we can grow citrus.

So excited for Christmas Day!

California Christmas: Days 1-2

We decided to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Lindstrom out in California. Since it is a long way from Ohio to California, we spent a little over a week out there. We had a great time and Inga was a wonderful little traveler. Since we did so much I'm breaking up the trip into multiple posts.

We left Ohio on Thursday before Christmas at about 4am. Our flight left Columbus at 6:30am. It was a very early morning for all of us and a very long day. We flew with 5 pieces of checked luggage, 2 carry-ons, and Inga in our laps. We felt like real pack mules. I am very glad we chose Southwest because none of the checked bags cost any extra fees.

In the Oakland Airport with all our bags

We didn't do much that day other than travel. We headed for my parents' house to get some sleep.

The next day my parents took us to a couple wineries in Sonoma county near Healdsburg. I had never been wine tasting in California and insisted that we go this time. We had lunch at the Bear Republic Brewery in downtown Healdsburg. It was a pretty good place for lunch and the waitresses loved Inga.

Inga and Grandma Lindstrom at the brewpub

After lunch we drove up the Dry Creek valley to Ferrari-Carano. The area is known for its zinfandels and this winery was suppose to have an excellent old vines zin. They had a nice pinot grigio and excellent zinfandels. We bought a couple bottles to ship home. There was a tasting room in the basement that had the premium wines, but they only allowed people over 21 in that tasting room. Given how wonderful their regular wines are, I might order a premium bottle. The winery grounds were immaculately manicured and a real pleasure to walk around as well especially in such a beautiful day.

You touch the boar's nose for good luck. There was a whole story that went along with the boar that I don't remember.

Zinfandel grape vines

Part of their beautiful gardens

Grandpa Lindstrom and Inga sporting the same hairstyle

Wine cellar

Enjoying the sunny weather

Next we headed down the valley to Dry Creek Vineyard. They also had great zinfandels and a crisp fume blanc. The two people serving the wine really loved Inga and her wild hair. They were so overjoyed to see a baby Sam was able to talk them into opening a bottle of the special vintage served at the SAG awards ($125 for a magnum). The grounds were also very pretty and great for a picnic, but it was getting late in the day and time to head home with the little peanut.

Sonoma county was more beautiful than I remember it and the wineries and towns had a very relaxed atmosphere. It is definitely worth another visit and more wine tasting.