Alameda I

Thought I'd go for the Big Picture and see how it works. This was at Pescadero yesterday; I got lucky with the wave.

So we were up and out of the SFO motel at about 9 am, after a leisurely buffet breakfast. We headed west on San Bruno avenue, partly because it's more fun than 380 and partly because we wanted to stop to buy an ice chest. Made a foray into Long Drug, where we found everything we were looking for and more, including some knee sox in a type and colors that Mom had given up trying to find. Hope they will fit o.k. Our main acquisition (besides gin) was an ice chest to get our leftovers safely to Alameda. (We were later too tired to eat them, but they'll last a while.)

We went on west up over the top. Of course it takes no time at all now on 92 to go from San Bruno to Half Moon Bay. There was a lot of traffic, but no snarl-ups. A beautiful September Sunday had a lot of people out on the road. When we got to HMB, our restaurant was 20 minutes from opening (it was ten after ten), so Mom snoozed in the car while I took a walk along the beachfront road at Miramar. At 10:30 I went into the restaurant, the Miramar, and made a reservation for lunch at 11:30. Then we drove south for half an hour, turned around at Pescadero, and drove back to HMB. Lovely drive, as always.

Lunch was oysters followed by crab Louis. Very good indeed. I like the Miramar's crab L. because they serve the dressing on the side, so one can eat straight crab if so inclined (I usually am). Excellent crab. We split a tiramisu for dessert, also very good. Nice restaurant, beautiful ocean view.

We left there at a quarter of one and headed back over the mountain. Took the San Mateo bridge to the Nimitz (I've gotten more brave as I drive here more, but I still hate driving the Bay Bridge, alas, alas, since I love the Bridge so) and on into Alameda. There's a wonderful moment after crossing one of the two bridges onto the south end of the island when one is suddenly away from the chaos of everywhere else and into the peace of Alameda (I'll bet this post is a duplicate of one I made in March). I love Alameda for about fifty reasons; one is that one cannot get lost here. Funny, though, the first time Charlie and I were here we got terribly lost because we turned north when we came out of the tube . . . .

The motel rooms were ready, upstairs waterside but on the other side of the motel (right side facing the pool from the office). I like this side better because I can see a bottle-brush plant from my window, and it is frequented by hummingbirds, of which there are several species here.

We sort of moved in and then went up to Thea's. She was impatiently awaiting our arrival, which was at three, as I'd said it would be. She seems sharp, but is a little edgy, too. She doesn't really know how much she wants me to try to do (at least I'll get her a new upstairs phone and take care of the rollover of her CD to get her better interest). I'll go up there this morning to try to get a feel for it, and then Florence and I can plan the week around her wishes. We don't plan to be up there all day every day; it's too tiring for Thea, not to mention for us. There are certain things that must be gotten in, though, including our crabfest with her, and a ferry trip to SF for us. It's five whole days, but they'll go fast!

We were up there for about 45 minutes, then came back here really tired. We had a drink, and I had bread, butter and cheese for dinner. Mom didn't really eat (I don't think), except for a pile of salt bombs. Nice sitting on the deck and watching boats go by. An egret (I don't usually see them here) did some fishing in the water at our feet. If he comes back, I'll get a photo of him.

It's pretty light now, so I'll be heading out for a walk soon. One of the things I love about being here is the nice trail along the marina.

So what I did to those photos was to press the "enhance" button in iPhoto. I hadn't thought of it before I first posted the blog. I'm glad you went back again, Suze, and saw them in their better state. Ain't technology grand!

How thrilling that you are now at two weeks and counting! Nice time to have a vacation, too, but I wish you were here.

I didn't watch any football yesterday, but it sounds like it was exciting. Since we came up the East Bay, we ran into no FB traffic, but there was a big southbound jam on the Nimitz just before we got to Alameda. Don't know what that was about, but we weren't in it. We have to see what Stanford's up to next weekend, since we plan to be in Palo Alto on Saturday in the middle of the day. Mom tells me they finally have a new stadium; if they're playing there next week, our plans will be tricky. We plan to eat at The Fish Market, which is cheek by jowl to Stanford. Last time after seeing Aunt Dotty we went up El Camino to the airport area. This time I'm thinking of Alameda de las Pulgas. Avoiding traffic is pretty easy around the Bay Area (except for bridges), but Aunt Dotty's place and our restaurant are both in the belly of the Stanford beast.

Time to start the day!