SPRING VACATION 2013: DAY 3

You will be happy to know, Dear Readers, that Camille and I are fighting the forces of jet lag by sticking to Michigan time, whether we like it or not. We've been in bed by 8-9 Pacific each night, and I've woken up by 5-6 a.m. every morning (Pacific time), whether I wanted to or not. So except for that pesky Daylight Savings Time, we should be fine when we get back to Michigan. Or perhaps we're just getting old... who's to say.

Day 3 started out with breakfast at Leann's. Again nothing with Spam, but instead some delicious pancakes and some passable eggs. (Coffee did not exactly meet muster either, but rocket fuel is rocket fuel.) So fortified, we headed off for San Jose.

One item of business to attend to first thing this morning, as my work with staffing speech language pathologists for schools lead me to my biggest client for summer schools work, Santa Clara County Office of Education. Traffic was horrendous on the way down to San Jose (and yes, I did have Dionne Warwick cycling in my head, why do you ask?), but we endured.

Santa Clara County Office of Education has an impressive facility right off Highway 101 in San Jose. They had a cafeteria where Camille was able to sit and study (ever the diligent student, gotta love her), and I was then able to schmooze and schmozzle with my client contact. Good day, as I was able to obtain a job lead immediately and solidify our chances at staffing with them for the summer. Excelsior!

Then it was on to Monterey, another lovely "little" seaside town. Being an off-peak Monday, it certainly was not as busy as San Fran was on a sunny Sunday. We were able to take in the Monterey Aquarium, which, while being almost twice the price of the San Francisco aquarium, was definitely worth it as they had many varied aquatic species to enjoy. I highly recommend it.

We had lunch at Cannery Brewery: some delicious clam chowder and a house salad with a surprisingly tasty citrus vinaigrette. Lest ye worry that we slipped into totally health conscious mode, we also hit up the Tollhouse Cookie shop for a pre-lunch cookie. I hated every delicious Tollhouse morsel, Rabbit Holers, I'm sure you'll imagine.

Then it was on to our adventure portion of the day: California Route 1, which runs right along the Pacific coast. Scenery was spectacular, but if you've ever wanted to experience what a James Bond car chase might feel like, California Route 1 is for you. So many hairpin curves that I lost count and enough hills to give Peter Jackson second consideration on where he might have filmed "The Hobbit." The trip, though not for the faint of heart, was definitely something to do once in your life. Next time I might just hop on US-101, though... (Sorry if I'm beginning to sound like that awful SNL sketch, "The Californians.")

Our first disappointment of the day then occurred, as we arrived at Hearst Castle too late to take one of the tours. We had hoped to see the inspiration for "Xanadu" in Citizen Kane up close and personal, but alas, it was not to be. Something for next time, I suppose.

Then on to Morro Bay, a sleepy bayside town that was just right after the harrowing (yet enjoyable) trip down the coast. Camille and I have a tradition of having one "splurge dinner night" per vacation, and this was it, as we traveled to Distasio's on the Bay. Excellent shrimp scampi (I had to get my seafood fix one way or the other while we were on the coast) was eaten by me, and Camille had some excellent grilled halibut. All in all, a great day.

Onward to SoCal tomorrow to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary, but now if you'll excuse me, I need to be in bed to keep up with our strict adherence to Michigan Time. Ciao bella!