It's Saturday, October 26, 2013, and as we drove home to Richmond from Half Moon Bay today, we felt very smug. There was no traffic going our direction on Hwy 92, yet cars filled with families setting out for the coast to check out the pumpkin farms were barely moving, backed up all the way to Hwy 280. They must not have checked their GPS. We wished we could tell them to turn around and get a pumpkin at Safeway.
Doug and I had the time to spend during the week at Half Moon Bay, and went to the best pumpkin patch around. It's called Arata's Pumpkin Patch. Some will be disappointed because they no longer have the big hay maze they were famous for, and now have a corn maze. I spotted a lookout tower that I think is used to look down on the maze to make sure everything's okay. This year I don't think it was needed, since I could see the adults heads above the corn. Kids were having fun in the petting zoo with the goats, and there were some good looking snacks to buy, but we weren't hungry. Just know that everything has a price. We made it out really cheap since we only bought one of their many assorted pumpkins, called a "turban"... and we didn't have kids with us.
The reason we go to Half Moon Bay is to stay at a favorite place of ours, The Cypress Inn. It's one of the "Inns by the Sea", and after you've stayed there one time, vacations are half off for you and your friends. This one is located near Miramar Beach, right on the coastal trail, and the sea is literally right in front of the Inn. It comes complete with an "innkeeper", Reg, who has hot and cold appetizers, crudites and cheeses, and lots of wine and other beverages for us to have our way with at 5:00 pm. We count this as our dinner.
At 7 pm, Reg brings out a homemade dessert, such as Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream. Yum!
In the morning, you have a choice of breakfast brought to your room on a tray, or being served in the lobby by the fire and visiting with the other guests. There's always fresh fruit, an assortment of croissants and breads, yogurt, and sausages, plus something cooked to order, like Eggs Benedict or a big egg, potato, cheese burrito. We figure that with all the food we're given, the room runs about $90.!
And then there's the view...
This time, we made sure to spend the night on a Thursday so we could listen to our favorite piano player, Terry Disley, play his songs at the Miramar Restaurant, only about a 2 block walk along the trail. We're always delighted to hear his renditions of everything from Beatles tunes to Gershwin and listen to him speak with his great English accent. I suppose we might be becoming "groupies" since this time we bought a CD and had our picture taken with him!
The next day we had time to take a drive further down the coast and have lunch at a usual haunt, The Paradise Grill, at Capitola Beach. The locally grown Watsonville artichoke marinated in spices and stuffed with tons of shrimp salad and served with Caesar dressing was luscious!
We were fascinated by the unusual amount of seagulls that were bathing in the end of the San Lorenzo River. The restaurant's patio looks out on it and the Capitola Venetian Court, a scenic attraction. There were SO MANY birds...layers of them, now some pelicans, flying over the sand and out over the ocean and beyond the pier....it was like being in "The Birds"!
The hordes of birds were fun to look at, but most folks didn't venture out on to the sand for fear of getting bombed. We sat on a bench for awhile and observed more pelicans diving for food, sometimes 4 or 5 would splash into the water at the same time. Even some seals were barking and getting in to the action. On our iPhone, we discovered that there were schools of anchovies that they were all going after.
I had a kind of embarrassing thing happen as we sat on a bench by the beach. A woman near me said to her husband. "Look honey! I think the splashes are fish jumping out of the water to be eaten by the birds!"
Well, since we had been sitting there so long and had the whole thing figured out, I said, "Actually the penguins are diving down into the water to eat the schools of anchovies!" She looked at me kind of funny and they walked away. I slowly turned to Doug and re-listening in my mind to what I had uttered, said, "Did I just say 'penguin'?" He nodded. There I go, being Miss Smarty Pants, and come out with the wrong word! Oh well.....
Another reason to come to Capitola was to buy myself a nice new silver ring, since I had lost one and my finger felt naked. I have a fat finger, so most of the little shops didn't have my size 10 ring and they all refered me to Super Silver Capitola, where they had 3 Trays of size 10 rings! Everything was 1/2 off as well, and I love a sale! It's a good thing that I wanted something simple and light, since they sell rings by their weight. Doug was once again impressed with my frugality.
Even ANOTHER place drawing us to Capitola was Petite Provence, on Bay Ave. I looked online for vinyl coated fabric with French prints that I had seen in Provence a few years ago. This is part of my plan to jazz up our patio. I'm going to cover the patio table with a beautiful yellow and red poppy pattern that also has painting of lavender on it. Check out their website to see the beautiful designs. I bought the fabric by the yard instead of a ready-made tablecloth, and I'll tack it right on. It should last 10 years in the elements, or so the owner said.
When it was time to head for home, we drove up the coast, watching more and more flocks of pelicans gathering and diving for their anchovie lunch.
Next stop, after a little traffic going back across the new Bay Bridge in SF, was home. We brought out a gift that Doug bought me, a great free-standing hammock. We bought it in Half Moon Bay and the wonderful Twice Is Nice Store, where they have seconds from Costco at unbelievable prices. It popped together with no assembly required.
As my Grandma Diddo used to say....
"Ain't life Grand?!"
Doug and I had the time to spend during the week at Half Moon Bay, and went to the best pumpkin patch around. It's called Arata's Pumpkin Patch. Some will be disappointed because they no longer have the big hay maze they were famous for, and now have a corn maze. I spotted a lookout tower that I think is used to look down on the maze to make sure everything's okay. This year I don't think it was needed, since I could see the adults heads above the corn. Kids were having fun in the petting zoo with the goats, and there were some good looking snacks to buy, but we weren't hungry. Just know that everything has a price. We made it out really cheap since we only bought one of their many assorted pumpkins, called a "turban"... and we didn't have kids with us.
The reason we go to Half Moon Bay is to stay at a favorite place of ours, The Cypress Inn. It's one of the "Inns by the Sea", and after you've stayed there one time, vacations are half off for you and your friends. This one is located near Miramar Beach, right on the coastal trail, and the sea is literally right in front of the Inn. It comes complete with an "innkeeper", Reg, who has hot and cold appetizers, crudites and cheeses, and lots of wine and other beverages for us to have our way with at 5:00 pm. We count this as our dinner.
At 7 pm, Reg brings out a homemade dessert, such as Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream. Yum!
In the morning, you have a choice of breakfast brought to your room on a tray, or being served in the lobby by the fire and visiting with the other guests. There's always fresh fruit, an assortment of croissants and breads, yogurt, and sausages, plus something cooked to order, like Eggs Benedict or a big egg, potato, cheese burrito. We figure that with all the food we're given, the room runs about $90.!
And then there's the view...
This time, we made sure to spend the night on a Thursday so we could listen to our favorite piano player, Terry Disley, play his songs at the Miramar Restaurant, only about a 2 block walk along the trail. We're always delighted to hear his renditions of everything from Beatles tunes to Gershwin and listen to him speak with his great English accent. I suppose we might be becoming "groupies" since this time we bought a CD and had our picture taken with him!
The next day we had time to take a drive further down the coast and have lunch at a usual haunt, The Paradise Grill, at Capitola Beach. The locally grown Watsonville artichoke marinated in spices and stuffed with tons of shrimp salad and served with Caesar dressing was luscious!
We were fascinated by the unusual amount of seagulls that were bathing in the end of the San Lorenzo River. The restaurant's patio looks out on it and the Capitola Venetian Court, a scenic attraction. There were SO MANY birds...layers of them, now some pelicans, flying over the sand and out over the ocean and beyond the pier....it was like being in "The Birds"!
The hordes of birds were fun to look at, but most folks didn't venture out on to the sand for fear of getting bombed. We sat on a bench for awhile and observed more pelicans diving for food, sometimes 4 or 5 would splash into the water at the same time. Even some seals were barking and getting in to the action. On our iPhone, we discovered that there were schools of anchovies that they were all going after.
I had a kind of embarrassing thing happen as we sat on a bench by the beach. A woman near me said to her husband. "Look honey! I think the splashes are fish jumping out of the water to be eaten by the birds!"
Well, since we had been sitting there so long and had the whole thing figured out, I said, "Actually the penguins are diving down into the water to eat the schools of anchovies!" She looked at me kind of funny and they walked away. I slowly turned to Doug and re-listening in my mind to what I had uttered, said, "Did I just say 'penguin'?" He nodded. There I go, being Miss Smarty Pants, and come out with the wrong word! Oh well.....
Another reason to come to Capitola was to buy myself a nice new silver ring, since I had lost one and my finger felt naked. I have a fat finger, so most of the little shops didn't have my size 10 ring and they all refered me to Super Silver Capitola, where they had 3 Trays of size 10 rings! Everything was 1/2 off as well, and I love a sale! It's a good thing that I wanted something simple and light, since they sell rings by their weight. Doug was once again impressed with my frugality.
Even ANOTHER place drawing us to Capitola was Petite Provence, on Bay Ave. I looked online for vinyl coated fabric with French prints that I had seen in Provence a few years ago. This is part of my plan to jazz up our patio. I'm going to cover the patio table with a beautiful yellow and red poppy pattern that also has painting of lavender on it. Check out their website to see the beautiful designs. I bought the fabric by the yard instead of a ready-made tablecloth, and I'll tack it right on. It should last 10 years in the elements, or so the owner said.
When it was time to head for home, we drove up the coast, watching more and more flocks of pelicans gathering and diving for their anchovie lunch.
Next stop, after a little traffic going back across the new Bay Bridge in SF, was home. We brought out a gift that Doug bought me, a great free-standing hammock. We bought it in Half Moon Bay and the wonderful Twice Is Nice Store, where they have seconds from Costco at unbelievable prices. It popped together with no assembly required.
As my Grandma Diddo used to say....
"Ain't life Grand?!"
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