Happy 2012!!!

Well, since I lowered everyone's expectations with the last posts' reference to not posting until after the New Year, I'm practically on time! :)  But, alas, much has transpired since Dec. 10th...

We headed back home to Rockford on December 17th; just in time to celebrate Christmas with Bridget's family on the 18th.  Everyone was there, so it was a fun time with family (and food too, of course).  They celebrated a week early to help reduce the busyness on Christmas Day for everyone and make sure everyone could come.  It was a pretty decent plan and worked out pretty well.

The next week was pretty much a blur of getting coffee with friends, shopping (Bridget did more than I...), watching movies (saw Alvin and the Chipmunks III and the new Mission Impossible), playing games, and catching up with family.  My brother surprised my mom by coming back early in time for Christmas, so my whole family was together for Christmas.

The most unfortunate part of Christmas was the lack of snow.  I even brought my snow pants and gloves home, but to no avail.  It was a brown Christmas this year.  Always hope for next year.

We came back to California a few days before the New Year because Bridget and I had to work (well, I didn't have to, but did want to get some loose ends tied up).  But it was quite relaxing and the 60-degree temperatures warmed us back up from Illinois.

On New Year's Day, we drove down to Big Sur, which is a coastal town/region a little over 2 hours south of Palo Alto.  We got a sweet deal at a hotel for a room with meals included at the hotel's restaurant.  We rolled into town Sunday mid-morning and promptly drove to the wrong hotel to check in.  For some reason, I was thinking the hotel was inside one of the state parks.  Alas, it was the one just outside the state park.  So, once that was squared away, Bridget and I set off on a 9-ish mile hike up Mount Manuel.

Yep, that's me in a picture!

Those elevations say we have 2,800' of vertical left...

The trail was pretty rugged at times; parts were washed out a little and others were more overgrown.  Plenty of poison oak around too.  But the hike was great.  We were in and out of the shade the whole way up, which was nice because it was 72-degrees out (hence the summer clothes...)!  But, enough rambling and on to the pictures!

See that small line along the hills... that's where the trail went!

On the trail!

Panorama from the top! [Click to make bigger!]  The panorama is about 270-degrees of rotation (almost all of the way around)

Still many more peaks to explore!

The trail was a bit overgrown at times...

"Now I've gotta go back down that?!?"

We eventually made it back down and to our hotel.  We tried to catch the sunset before dinner, but it happened so quickly that all we got were some pink clouds, which were still pretty cool.

Just missed it...

All of the hiking made for quite an appetite, so we were definitely ready for dinner by the time we made it back.  Dinner was great.  We were sat on the far wall, right next to a huge window looking into the forest.  After some post-dinner strategizing for the next day, it was lights-out.

Monday morning was supposed to start with bagel sandwiches and a quick hike along the coast before we checked out of the hotel.  Luckily, the bagel sandwich part went fine, but the "quick hike" would have required crossing a small river without a bridge.  It was much cooler that morning, so we didn't feel like getting our feet all wet and then hiking and risking blisters and all.  So, we went back to the hotel and checked out and figured we would head the other direction and try another hike I found.  Half-way there, we pulled off to admire the coast (it's really tough to not stop at every vista point because it's just so spectacular!) and ended up talking with a Highway Patrolman who gave us directions to our hike and recommendations for a few other hikes to check out if we had time.

The coastline...

And again...

Anyway, so we kept going along the coast and pulled off for our hike, only to find out that it was closed.  So, we went to third-string hike, and weren't disappointed...  We hiked down to a secluded cove beneath a hairpin turn in the highway.

Nice little lookout

The cove...

Another view of the cove

Ready for any whales or dolphins to pop up

And, yes, we did see dolphins and whales out that day.  Bridget took a bunch of pictures of them, but they are really hard to see... (not sure if she actually got them in the picture or not...)  But it was pretty neat to see them just swimming along nonetheless. :)  After this short hike, we drove a little further and got out to see a famous waterfall (McKay falls, I believe it is called) onto the beach near one of the state parks.

The Falls and the beach

The coastline to the north

After that, we grabbed some lunch food and went on a short hike out to the beach for a picnic lunch on the coast, which was fantastic.  It was a bit chilly, but we ate and read our books for a little while.

Lunch Spot!

After spending a few hours here, we went and found a good spot to watch the sunset.  Totally worth it.  It was amazing!

The dynamic dropping of the sun

The water and sky glowing pink

The horizon aglow

The finale!

After taking at least 25 more pictures of the sunset, we started the trek back to Palo Alto, although we did stop at the farmer's market on the highway.  Cheapest produce around.  And it's good too.  :)  We made it back in time to catch the 2nd half of the Stanford game.  In case you didn't catch the game, it didn't end well for Stanford.  And to make matters worse, I was watching the game with 2 friends from church who are originally from Oklahoma.  They were actually really good about it, but the fact they were pleased with the outcome (as opposed to the other 10 Stanford fans in the group) couldn't be ignored.  But it's just a game, so we're back to friends again.  :)

This past week seemed like a blur since we started a day in.  But this weekend (so far), we've taken it easy.  Relax, read some books, play some tennis, make pancakes for breakfast (oh yeah...).  :)  Nothing huge planned for tomorrow either, so looking forward to some more R&R.

Stay tuned for my next post (most likely in another month or so...)
~ Jeremy