Friday, 5/28/2010

!!!HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!

We had a lovely breakfast at the Arch Cape Inn. The first course was yogurt topped with a mango puree, homemade granola, and a fresh raspberry. The yogurt was a little blah by itself, but was delicious with the puree and granola. The second course was a veggie scramble, a slice of bacon, and rosemary roasted potatoes. Although we didn't finish it, we were both brave and tried the veggie scramble. The third course was fresh banana nut bread with apricot slices. What a good way to start our anniversary day!

Jennifer and Katie took Spencer to a bus stop this morning and he took off for Indiana, via Portland, OR. He is going to a friend's wedding tomorrow. So, the rest of the vacation is with just the four of us. Jennifer and Katie picked us up at 10am and we went to Cannon Beach to do some shopping.

For lunch we ducked out of the rain in Cannon Beach, OR at the Morris Fireside Restaurant. We were seated quite quickly, but it took a while to place our orders. They seemed to be a bit short handed. Eventually, the food came and it was pretty good. Jennifer had really good halibut fish and chips. Ben had a black bean soup which was full of great flavor. I ordered macaroni and cheese. The flavor was ok, but the texture wasn't. There were crunchy onions in it. I don't like onions to crunch in my food. Katie ate off of our plates.

We had hoped to continue shopping and play on the beach in Cannon Beach during the afternoon, but the rain forced us to head to Seaside, OR where Jennifer and Katie were staying. After an afternoon of window shopping, we decided to go to Taste of Tuscany for dinner. Online it looked like an Olive Garden kind of place. It was kind of like that in person. The atmosphere was much more calm and the clientele was mainly from an older generation. The food was good- not great, but good. I had nut-crusted halibut in a cream sauce. The halibut was delicious, but the sauce was too sweet. In retrospect, I should have added some salt. Ben had chicken parmesan with pasta in a red sauce. Again, the protein was great, but the sauce was too sweet. Jennifer's lasagna was really good. All in all, it was a pleasant meal.

We really wanted to have dinner at Newmans at 988. We ate there on our honeymoon and the food was FANTASTIC. Unfortunately, they didn't have highchairs or booster seats. That just doesn't work for Katie. Shoot...next time maybe:) If you plan on going there, be sure to call ahead and make a reservation. Looks like it is a very popular place these days.

Thursday, 5/27/2010

Ben and I got up before the crack of dawn today and went on a little photo shoot! We quietly got ready and managed to sneak out of the room with our camera gear without waking up Katie. Jennifer and Spencer were kind enough to listen for Katie while we were gone. Thankfully, we got back just as she would have been waking up, so they had an easy job.

Anyway, we went out to Face Rock and took photos at dawn. The sky did not provide the beautiful sunrise we hoped for, but we still had a great time. It will be a while before our photos are processed, but we did get some really good photos and video. We only saw one person on the beach before us, a clammer. There were a couple other photographers out when we were wrapping up. It was very calm and peaceful out there- just the two of us:)

Enough about photography, on to the food. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road, destination Arch Cape, OR. We stopped at the Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, OR for lunch. Ben's family ate there years ago and wanted to revisit it. I was not a fan. They only have one, all you can eat, menu option per meal. Either you eat what they are serving, or you don't. For our lunch they served white bread, green salad, calico beans, green beans, swiss steaks (basically hamburger steaks in tomato sauce), and pinapple upside down cake. The bread was actually quite good. The salad was ok. Ben LOVED the calico beans. I don't eat baked beans, so I have no opinion about them. The green beans were heavily flavored with onions. I didn't eat more than one of them. The swiss steak was ok, but I NEVER would have ordered it in a restaurant. Ben's mom was the only person in our group who had the dessert. I just wasn't in the mood. The worst part was that it started POURING rain while we were having lunch. Katie had a dirty diaper and there was no changing table in the restaurant for her. So, we had to stand out in the downpour, changing her diaper in the van. The water was running down my legs and into my shoes. It was awful. Good thing we were stopping for ice cream later. That made up for it.

We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory late in the afternoon and had double scoops of ice cream. Yummy as always:) We were pretty full when it came time to have dinner, so we skipped it. Our 5th anniversary is tomorrow, so Spencer and Jennifer are taking Katie tonight and tomorrow night so that we can stay at the Arch Cape Inn & Retreat by ourselves. It is the B&B we stayed at on our honeymoon! We did get a little hungry as the night went on, so I had an apple, some peanut butter, a little chocolate, and wine. Ben snacked on "race mix". When he was growning up, his family would take a mixture of m&ms, cashews, and peanuts with them to car races. It was fun to have that on the trip with us.

Wednesday, 5/26/2010

Our destination today was Bandon, OR. We made it to Brookings, OR, and needed to stop for dinner. We followed the GPS to a couple potential dinner spots, but weren't pleased with what they looked like. Finally, we followed it to Wild River Brewing and Pizza Co. It was a very busy place. We adults shared a pepperoni and sausage pizza and ordered a chicken breast basket for Katie. The pizza was ok- not the best, not the worst. The fun part of the pizza was that they sliced it into small diamond shapes. Definitely different than the standard slices.

The basket contained two, bone-in fried chicken breasts and thinly sliced potatoes, which were breaded and fried. Ben said the chicken was some of the best fried chicken he had ever tasted. Katie ate a little chicken and a little pizza, topped off with goldfish crackers. I didn't care for the potatoes at all. They were kind of soggy once the outer breading was gone.

Two hours later, we finally made it to our hotel- another excellent location for us, the Best Western Inn at Face Rock. We had two adjoining rooms that were plenty spacious. Inside the mini-fridge there was a sandwich baggie containing a plastic spoon and a note that read "Need Ice Cream? See the front desk." How did they know we needed ice cream? So, I went to the front desk and came back with small cups of chocolate ice cream for us. How nice:)

Tuesday, 5/25/2010

We stayed in Ft. Bragg, CA tonight. When we first got into town, we needed to stop at the grocery store for Katie's milk and ice. The first store we saw was like a PCC or Whole Foods. The store had a small section of clothing in it, including t-shirts for a local brewing company. When we checked into our hotel, we asked if the brewing company was a good place to eat. Turned out it was!

We had dinner at the North Coast Brewing Co. Ben and Spencer each had a plate of BBQ pulled pork with cornbread. Jennifer and I shared a cheeseburger with fries. That was one fabulous burger. The bun was toasted and the burger was super juicy without being undercooked. Ben said his pork was good, but that the bite he had of my burger made him want to switch what he ordered. Katie gnawed on tough crusted bread and while I fed her some of Ben's pork and cornbread. She also stole a few fries from her grandma's plate:)

If you ever plan on driving down the coast and find yourself needing a place to stay in Ft. Bragg, CA, I highly recommend the Shoreline Cottages. We stayed in cottages 8 and 9. Each had a small kitchenette, furnished with dishes, paper towels, dish soap and a sponge, a microwave, coffee maker, and fridge. They had TVs with DVD players, comfy beds, fast response heaters, and nice toiletries. The rooms were clean and the property manager was very knowledgeable about the area.

Monday, 5/24/2010

This morning we drove to San Francisco. Again, we had a pretty big lunch, so for dinner we decided to go for drinks and dessert:) We went to an Italian restaurant, just a few blocks away from our hotel, called Cioppino's. Once there, we just couldn't not have bread too. Ben and I ordered garlic sourdough bread, and Spencer ordered bruschetta. I must say, that bruschetta was amazing. I'm usually not one for raw tomatos, but I LOVED the garlic, oil, and herbs mixed in with them for this appetizer. Ben, Spencer and I had margaritas with the bread, and I think Jennifer had a glass of wine.

Spencer and I shared a chocolate lava cake with ice cream. Jennifer had tiramisu, and Ben had triple chocolate mousse. They were all delicious. We definitely had a great non-dinner at Cioppino's.
Here's a fun picture of the drink diversity at our table:

I should point out that we got real food for Katie, but she didn't eat much of it. We ordered her a separate kids meal for about 1/2 of our meals. She rarely ate enough to make it worth the extra expense.

Sunday, 5/23/2010

We spent today at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. What an AWESOME place to be! I can't begin to name the amazing things/creatures we saw. Ok, how about just a few:

Penguins (Katie now has a stuffed penguin named Penny.)
Hammerhead sharks
Sea horses and dragons (And sticking with the LOST theme, Katie also has a stuffed seahorse named Sawyer.)
Otters
Jellies

I even touched a bat ray! After a pretty big lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and a late afternoon ice cream snack at the Nestle Cafe, we didn't need much for dinner. At about 7:30, while getting ready to watch the series finale of LOST, I had an apple with peanut butter and wine for dinner. The end of LOST was not as satisfying as my simple dinner.

I must say that my ice cream sandwich snack (yes, it was huge) was delicious! It was made of two peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, fresh out of the oven,with dark chocolate ice cream. OMG...so good.

Saturday, 5/22/2010

Tonight Ben and I had dinner at a wedding! Our friends Lauren and Tim tied the knot in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, and we were thrilled to join them for the wedding and reception.

CONGRATS TO MR. & MRS. FLOOD!!!!

After the outdoor ceremony, there was a cocktail and appetizer hour. The crab cakes were YUMMY! They were sitting on little round pieces of bread, SOAKED in butter. Ben joked that the crab cakes were sitting on bread soaked butter;) The chicken skewers were tasty too. For dinner we each selected the chicken and salmon option. Our friend Mckenzie was kind enough to give Ben a bite of her steak. He said the sauce on it was good. I wish I could remember more about the dinner, but honestly, I had too much to drink.

I do remember that Lauren and Tim had a couple different cake flavor options. We sampled them both...white and chocolate...and they were delicious.