Full transparency...this is my first attempt at blogging. And it seems like a catchy title is key!
I opened up my calendar as we pulled away from our home for 11 years, I counted the days until we arrive in our new home. 40 days.
"40" screamed at me. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. 40 winks in a nap. A typical pregnancy is 40 weeks. The list goes on!
And as for vagabond, it sounds better than derelict, nomad, tramp or bum!
Day 5: Doodles, Pirates, and Casanova
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The minute you enter Carmel, you will notice there is probably a 1:1 dog to human ratio. They are everywhere! In hotels, in shops, under tables, on tables, in strollers, in front packs meant for babies. And it seems there is a city ordinance or something that requires most of the dogs to be a Doodle of some sort. Goldendoodles, labradoodles, bidoodles, schnoodles, sheepadoodles, and cockadoodledoos! The lack of dog diversity in Carmel is concerning. The Australian Shepards are shunned to the far end of the beach to incessantly chase their sticks. The King Charles Cavaliers barely have a bench to sit on that's not occupied by a human or a Doodle! And the Bichon Frise's are only allowed at the one French Bistro in town! Doodles are taking over the world...one boujee resort town after another. It's a Doodles world out there, folks!
The Doodle Majority really became obvious on my morning walk. I walked down to Carmel Beach which has breathtaking views of Pebble Beach to the right, and stunning rock formations to the left. I walked as far as I could go on the beach and then cut up to a cliffside trail (it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it sounds😜) and I noticed all of the ocean front homes have names instead of street numbers. Names like "Sandy Feet", "Never Gets Old", "Sandbox", and I was especially excited to see that Oliva Newton John has a home here!
In the meantime, Brad was playing Spyglass Hill golf course, part of the Pebble Beach Courses. The holes on Spyglass Hill were named after the book, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson is legened to have spent time in the dunes that are now Spyglass and they were his muse to write the famous novel. They even have a Long John Silvers on hole 14!
That night we had one of the best meals of our life at a little place called Casanova! First of all...the bread. We thought it was weird to pay for bread service, but we ended up ordering two! Woodfire baked sourdough with an aged butter than almost tasted like it was infused with blue cheese. Then we had the Gnocchi Casanova as an appetizer, which is a spinach gnocci au gratin...I mean...I can't even!!!
I had the braised short rib canneloni with mozzarella, truffle, and tomato sauce (still craving those tomatoes!). Brad had the linguini which had clams, mussels, prawns, and calamari in the most amazing veloute sauce with just the right herbs. AMAZING!
They had a fantastic somlier. The type of guy you wanted to sit down and join you for dinner. We explained what we were looking for: a pinot, within a certain price range, and it needs to have a cool name (because that's how sophisticated people pick wine😂). He walked by a few minutes later and asked if we were into 80's music. Of course!
He opened this amazing bottle of "Banshee". Needles to say, we were "Spellbound"!
As we pulled away from Mercer Island, our home of 11 years, giving those final hugs until we "see you next" was brutal! I tried to blame it on being utterly exhausted after weeks of packing, but I was just, simply said, SAD! While I'm crazy excited about moving back home, this place and these PEOPLE are incredibly special! As part of our 40 day road trip, we've committed to 40 days of healthy eating , 40 days of fitness (which is tough on a road trip), and 40 days of being thankful for something wherever we are! So we started the trip off right with a stop at Arby's for Beef & Cheddars, Curly Fries, and Diet Coke. (I think Brad had to do something to get me to stop crying!). And I took less than 1,000 steps and some of those might have been bumps in the road! Obviously there's room for improvement! We turned off I5 to head west towards the coast and filled up with gas in a town called "Drain, Oregon". We didn't see a drain, but ar
We pulled into our family beach house in South Mission in San Diego around 5:00. By the time we unloaded the 44 bags, took the bikes off and locked them up, unloaded the Thule and took that off, and got settled in, it was time to make a cocktail and watch the sunset...which did NOT look like this! It was completely overcast.😑 But we did make the cocktail;-) We're so happy to be here. Not just because we love this beach house. Not just because we like looking at the beautiful scenery. Not just because we love the bike rides and long walks on the beach... but because we don't have to carry our bags in a new place every night or two!! We definitely packed too much! At least we're in San Diego for 12 days, so it'll give us time to come up with a new strategy!
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