Eating out on Vacation

Eating out on Vacation

One of the best things to do when you are on vacation is to find some new and different restaurants to have your meals. It makes such a nice change to visit the places which you would never find in your home town. It is especially good if you are traveling with friends or family because then you can have a good meal, and a fun time without the bother of preparation and clean -up duties for anyone that you would have when you have a family meal at home.

We found some excellent restaurants in and around Monterey.

 IL Vecchio an Italian restaurant in Pacific Grove felt like a bistro in the heart of Italy, Noisy with the chatter of many friends. Eclectic decor , old chairs and tables and benches and a great diverse menu with an Italian flair. It was very crowded that evening wherever we went but we only had to wait a short while for our party of 6 to be seated which was a plus.

Great meal at the Beach House

The other restaurants we visited were places that overlooked the bay. After all if you are by the ocean you really have to find places to eat where you can dine looking out over the bay as the sun sets. The Beach House at Lover's Point would be the place I would choose to do that although it again was rather noisy but the food was excellent.

Isabella's restaurant 

We also ate at 2 other great restaurants on Fisherman's Wharf. Isabella's overlooks the marina and the service was excellent. We had lunch at Cafe Fina , just Mike and I ,after our family had gone home and spent a great time looking at the seagulls that were perched right outside the window and a seal that was swimming in the water below. All great memories.

View at lunch

We dined mostly on fish dishes as you can't get fish dishes much fresher than this.We had plenty to choose from. Add some tasty beers and various wines and we can say we had some great times and excellent meals.

The Seaside beach

The Seaside beach

One of my English friends asked me which seaside we went to on our vacation.

In England the seaside refers to any beach by the sea so I can understand her inquiry.

I told her that the name of the town was Seaside and wasn't that a lovely name. It really makes you want to visit when you are sitting in Texas and the temperature is hitting 104 degrees. The other city close by is Sand City. Another interesting name but not quite so welcoming at Seaside.

When we visited the lovely beach at Seaside , California close to Monterey it was about 70 degrees.

The morning beach/sea mist had not completely disappeared and a slight breeze was blowing. The only other people we saw on the beach was a couple walking their dogs. They were soon lost in the mist.

Lots of birds were there looking for breakfast and anything that had been washed up in the tide. They were mostly seagulls and I could see they were thinking, “Now here's another pair of people to disturb us.”

We walked along the beach on the damp sand in bare feet and I thought this really makes for a great vacation. I am very pleased we went.

Train trip, LA to Salinas

Amtrak Train 3 The Coast Starlight

San Louis Obisbo

This is one of Amtrak's best routes to travel as it quickly goes through the suburbs of LA and then on past the smaller town like Santa Barbara and soon you are traveling along the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is amazing to see the beaches almost empty after the crowded areas close to LA. A great part of the coast is used as a military area so is off limits to the public and so traveling by train is a way to see it. Not that there is much to see . It is mostly unused land of wood and fields and dunes. This time as we traveled it was very hazy with the early morning sea fog but still very pleasant and relaxing

After a while you head inland and go over the mountains virtually getting over the mountain by zigzagging back and forth. You cross the famous Horseshoe Curve at Cuesta Pass. 

Watch the link here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8joaICqizzo

The train really is this long and has 2 engines pulling it.

We were fortunate to be eating lunch and could check the train engine by looking out the window as it went round the curving bends. Most impressive.

The beautiful coast line

Next is a change of scenery as you come into Central California and see where much of the food we eat is grown. Large fields are being cultivated and tended to by hardworking people. The fields go on and on .So it's time for a little afternoon nap.

Soon we reached our destination at Salinas as we were going from there to the Monterey peninsula and to see the races at Laguna Seca race track.

If you continue on the train you can eventually get to Oakland and then other major cities in Oregon and Washington state and even make connections to British Columbia in Canada. We have done this trip previously and can really recommend it. I would however get a sleeper to travel in as it will be a very full 2 day journey.

Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited.

Alpine, TX

Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited.

This train runs from New Orleans to L A and we joined it on the 2^nd day of our trip at San Antonio. We were sleeping in our carriage at the time so really didn't know we were joining it. We awoke to find ourselves at dawn on the track going through the south west Texas desert/scrub land. Not really a pretty scene. We had one smoking stop where the train got refueled and Mike got out to take some photos of the Texas town of Alpine really close to the Big Bend area

Mural on wall in Alpine

During the day we went to breakfast , lunch and dinner and the scenery gradually changed to more desert than scrub land and brown and blue mountains appeared on the horizon. We were passing through Arizona and the scenery was more interesting especially as the clouds were forming over the mountains and then a small shower rained on us and there was even a rainbow forming over the mountains.

Somewhere in Arizona

Pretty soon it was time to go to bed again as we knew we would be up early as 6 am was the train arrival time for LA.

Well for a change Amtrak was early- very early as it arrived just after 4 a.m. We were off at 5a.m.and sat around the beautiful , but well used, Union Station.

Union Station LA

 It was pretty cool sitting in the station waiting for dawn until a restaurant opened so we could have breakfast. By 10 am we were on the next train the Coastal Starlight heading for our final destination Monterey.

Train Trip Fort Worth to San Antonio

The first part of our train trip on Amtrak was from Fort Worth to San Antonio.

We have traveled between these two cities many times by car but when you travel by train you see things you would never see by car especially around the larger cities. You can peer into the back yards of the little houses lining the track, not all of them pretty I might add. You can see vast areas of fields and pasture with not an animal to be seen. Above all you can see just how large Texas is and how varied in scenery.

This trip would take about 7 hours with a very few stops on the way. We can do it in about 5 hours by car. Some of the stops are whistle stops ( they stop just quick enough to let the people on and off and not at all if there are no passengers). Others are longer up to 15 minutes or so if the train crew has to change or the train needs to be refueled. The passengers who desperately need to smoke love those longer stops because they rush out to puff away while they can. There is definitely NO SMOKING on the Amtrak trains. As one conductor said,” You do not get a second warning about smoking. We will stop the train and put you off immediately in the care of the local sheriff and you will have to do your explaining to a federal marshal so be warned!”

Colorado river in Austin

We had our first meal on the train, an excellent dinner picked from a varied menu with a lovely bottle of wine in the Dining car. We had to walk through 5 swaying carriages to get to the dining car from our sleeping compartment but that didn't worry us. It made for a nice change and a way to stretch our legs. We shared our table with a very interesting couple who were obviously Mennonites or Amish folk by their dress . They were on their way to San Diego so they too were looking towards a long journey as well.

When we returned from Dinner our steward had converted our seats into two beds,-one a bed with a bunk bed over the top. Mike took the bunk bed which means a lot of skillful climbing to get up there .Do not try to use this bunk bed if you are obese or non athletic because for sure you will get stuck. It always leads to a lot of hilarity with first time passengers and we could hear the remarks and laughter from some of the other carriages.

We were soon fast asleep and as darkness fell,we never actually saw San Antonio on this trip .We felt our carriage being detached from the Texas Eagle and moved onto the back of the Sunset Limited train that would take us to LA as an occasional bump and bang which would disturb your dreams but we were ready for it. We had done this trip before.

I'm Back from My Travels

Off we go

 You may have noticed if you read my blog that it hasn't been there for about 2 weeks. It wasn't that I didn't try to do it. I did . In fact for the first three days I did write a blog as we were travelling. 

There is no WiFi on the Amtrak trains unless you live on the east and west coastal areas of the USA. There is a small amount by the LA area but none that I could detect further north. I planned to write the blog add a photo or two and then when I found a Wi Fi connection, publish. We were travelling on the Texas Eagle and the Sunset Limited and then the Coast Starlight routes from Fort Worth through San Antonio then onto El Paso and Tucson . After that a trip up the Californian coast to Selinas before heading into Monterey

View of the Arizona Desert

I took my ASUS tablet with me, downloaded the Blogger application wrote the 3 posts . Then I found I could not add a photo. So I saved them . A weird thing happened.Even though I was on the same site the posts could not be published so that was all wasted effort.

The view from the train

Now even though I am home and using my regular laptop the vanishing posts do not appear anywhere so all I can think is that Blogger is definitely a very peculiar program. So I will continue on my daily blogs but may look into using another program that is a bit user friendly for both tablets and laptops.

Memories of Great Places- Fredericksburg Texas

Center of Town

This was taken in early morning before most of the little stores had opened and the tourists arrived. This is a great town full of quaint stores and also a German immigrant population.Lots of interesting things to do here and to see as well.

A wall full of cuckoo clocks in the German Restaurant

We stayed in a charming bed & breakfast just off the main highway and the food and intimate apartment was just lovely.

Back garden area of the Das Garten Haus bed & breakfast.

The Painted Bunting

The beautiful painted bunting

This little bird is not often seen in my garden but it does come to North Texas.In fact they often come in flocks but whether they are passing through or are native birds that stay here all year round I don't know
My friend Kathy has a bird feeder just outside the window of her dining room and she managed to take this wonderful photo of colorful bird when it came to visit. The colors remind me of a Van Gogh painting and I am really wanting to try my hand at painting it's portrait.

Benjamin Franklin's Bastard by Sally Cabot

Benjamin Franklin's Bastard by Sally Cabot

If you like to read literary historical novels and want a really good read, this ones for you.

Set in the colonial times in Philadelphia it traces the early life of Benjamin Franklin and the two of the many loves of his life plus the son William born to him, the bastard of the title.It goes on to trace out Benjamin's rise to fame and the conflict between his wife Deborah and his son's mother Anne It is a well rounded book and shows the different morals and social behavior of the times. It describes Benjamin Franklin, the printer, inventor and politician of his time and I found out all kinds of things about this very clever man that I did not know before. It is not a dull and dusty tome but is extremely readable and makes you feel empathy with all the characters in the book. I shall look for other books by Sally Cabot. She is a fine author.

The Hardy Begonia

The Hardy Begonia

I found just one more flower in my yard that was putting out flowers and this was this hardy begonia. It is mostly big leaves for nearly all the year. The large plants have to be brought inside in the really cold weather. It is really an amazing plant. It was given to me as a small plant years ago by friend Tamsin who is a begonia enthusiast and knows all about this versatile plant and it's variations. Until you visit the Begonia House at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens you don't realize how many different varieties there are of begonias.

That small plant grew and grew with very little help from me except the occasional watering and re-potting. It also survived a very bad Texas hail storm where the leaves were nearly all shredded. It came through and started growing new leaves and in a month or so looked great again. To make a new plant all that is needed is to take one stalk and put it in a new pot and voila! a new plant grows within weeks. The blooms are very delicate creamy pink white color and nearly always appear just at this hottest time of the year.

Amazing!

I Tried....

I Tried....

As I looked at my sun-baked garden this morning, some of the plants, eaten by grasshoppers and aphids looked really bad. At least 5 were no more . They had gone to an early grave without even having a spring and summer they could remember.

 Despite all my watering and mulching, spraying , reading and researching I realized that one can only be thankful and grateful for the plants that actually grew and bloomed and gave us a lot of pleasure.

 I certainly need the garden plaque that you can see above. I think I saw it on Pinterest but I probably would need about 15 of them if I count up the plants I had put in and they have died off.

Still like all good gardeners usually think

“ Well there's always next year.....

Texas Lantana

Texas Lantana

Another pretty flowering plant that can withstand the high Texas summer heat is the lovely flowering bush of lantana. Nearly everywhere you go you see it and it comes in a variety of colors. I have both yellow and a pretty rose pink in my garden. 

This year's new plant

Once they are established, like a lot of plants, it takes a good year for this, they then fade away in the winter only to sprout up again bigger and better the next year. They do well in the sun with little water , which is always a good thing as our lakes are fast drying up and water restrictions are happening all over the place. One of the lakes to the west of the metroplex is already 17 feet below what it should be for this time of year.

If everyone grew more lantana instead of green fertile lawn grass that needs a lot of water, we could save a lot more water.

The bugs don't eat it or chew it and so it is really easy to grow.Even the dreaded grasshoppers left it alone.

Only one problem that I know of- it stinks if you brush past the leaves, kind of like cat's pee, maybe that's why the bugs leave it alone!!

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

I am a child of World War 2 , having been brought up and spent my childhood in England during the whole course of the war. I was very small at the time so have limited true memories of that difficult time.

I do remember falling down the air raid shelter built in our back garden , but not during an air raid only when I was playing. I also remember at kindergarten having to clutch my cushion and go to the cloakroom to sit there while the sirens sounded. I don't remember being frightened but then I didn't realize what was happening.

I think most of my other memories come from seeing films about that time and reading books. This is one book that I have just read and it is a very readable novel based on actual experiences of a young half French and half English girl who was trained to become a helper in the French resistance. She comes from a secluded upbringing and has to almost change her personality to become a trained fighter. This is based on the true story of 39 women of the French Section of the Special Operation Executive that were in the war from 1941 -1944

It was very interesting to have a picture drawn to the actual training of these brave and remarkable young women who were dropped into a war zone to help win the war.

It is a book you can't put down and it has a surprise ending.

The Lovely Hyacinth Bean

The Lovely Hyacinth Bean

My first bloom

I first saw this lovely plant at a friend's house. It was growing up the side of a garden gazebo and the pink/mauve blossoms were falling over the side making a lovely show.

I thought I must try and grow a hyacinth bean plant next year. The next year came and I finally tracked down some bean seeds. These were not in my local gardening shops and I had to send away to an internet store to get them. It was late in the year and although I planted them and they grew, they were spindly plants and the blossoms were pathetic. I mentioned this to my friend Priscilla who is one of those ladies that was born not only with green thumbs but all her fingers are green as well, She said “I have that plant growing in my garden I'll save you some seeds and you can try again”. And so I did. She actually brought me a couple of self-set tiny plants as well as some beans and told me to plant them in a place where they could get lots of sun.

Well the tiny one she gave me flourished despite the grasshoppers. The other 3 that I planted , 2 are mediocre and one is definitely poorly. 

The beans form in these beautiful purple pods

So I was so happy to see the beautiful bloom appearing on my one good plant. I am hoping to get more blooms and maybe I shall be able to save some bean seeds to plant again next year. I am ever hopeful.

Caught in the Act

the little devil caught in the act

So this is what I saw as I did my morning walk, a fat little grasshopper having a munch of my Rose of Sharon bush. Caught in the act indeed!

This poor bush had already been deleafed once by the grasshopper hord. I had sprayed the bush and thought I had won as the leaves  started to grow back and it seemed the grasshoppers had left.

Poison Ivy

Leaves of three , let them be!

Poison Ivy is a scary plant. You can be walking in the woods, along a path, or even in your own garden and not even notice it and then when you get indoors you will notice the tingling on your skin,  itching and then sooner or later the tell tale blobs will appear and then you realize that you have been touched by poison ivy.
Not everyone gets the same reaction, If I get it I usually can get it cleared up in a day or two by washing it well and putting on some ointment. Not Mike though. The slightest touch of the oil on his skin and his red rash will develop almost overnight and continue to spread and itch until he can get  to the doctor and gets ointment and a course of steroid shots.
So you can see that when we went walking in the park with the dogs the other day  and we were walking along a wooded area , there along the edge of the path was the dreaded poison ivy  We rushed  past pulling the dogs out of the edges of it because if the dogs get it on their fur, it won't matter if Mike touches the plant or not, as he will only have to touch the dog's coat and he will be running to the doctors again.
So far so good, no signs of it yet. Another mishap avoided.