Today I ran 10 miles in 1:19:58 in another test to see how I would fare after taking a vacation from my training. I felt pretty tired the first three miles but began to feel better after that. However, the only way I was able to keep it under 1:20 was to do a 7:33 final mile. I still felt pretty good overall though.
I came home, changed, had a little snack for energy, and headed out and biked 26.21 miles in 1:29:58.
Total running miles for the week = 20.00
Total cycling miles for the week = 26.21
Sunday, July 31, 2011
6/10/11 (Friday) Run
Today I ran 4 miles in 31:03. It was an outside run and basically a test run to see how I would do since I have only run twice in the past week, and have not run for 4 days. It felt pretty good and I was encouraged, feeling better than I expected.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
6/4/11 - 6/9/11 Monterey Trip
Though what I will write here involves very little running, I still wanted to write about it. My son, Christopher, graduated just yesterday from high school. His school is the only school in the state that offers a marine biology course. He became interested in it, though not to the extent of wanting to become a marine biologist. Still, his class took a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and he was not able to go. I told him that for his graduation we would do so. I will relay our activities as best I can remember.
Saturday 6/4/11: We began our trip to Reno, where we had previously decided to stay the night, at about 8:30 a.m. I had told (warned?) Christopher that we were going to be stopping at a lot of donut places. I don't think he really believed me. On our way out of town we stopped at Madbrooks in Clearfield (http://www.madbrookdonutco.com/menu.php). They have some of the best donuts I have ever tasted in my life. There are others that are just as good, such as Banbury Donuts in Salt Lake City, but I have had none better. Of course we got a dozen. One was the plate size apple fritter. I am not a huge fritter fan, but had been wanting to try it. They have excellent chocolate donut holes. I have never had any that even come close to how good they are. So we got a dozen donuts and a dozen chocolate donut holes. We did not stop for any food along the way and by the time we arrived at our hotel in Reno there were four donuts and 3 donut holes left. Most of those were Christopher's : ) We got to Reno in 7 hours 45 minutes.
That evening we went to The Buffet (original name, isn't it) at the El Dorado. They and Toucan Charlies were the best buffets in Reno from everything I read, but Toucan Charlies was about $10 more per person. We got there about 4:30. I had read to get there early on weekends as you can wait as long as two hours in line. I must admit when we first arrived I was not impressed by what I saw. There did not seem to be much offerings, and overall there was not. However, everything I had was good. It was seafood night and the crab was very good. The drawn butter was strangely removed from the crab, but with Christopher's help I located it. However, the thing you should go there for is the prime rib. I had read that it was good, but it was excellent. I have had many good cuts of meat in my life and am a true meat eater. Many times people had said that a particular cut of meat was "melt in your mouth good." Yet despite having that cut of meat, at that place, I had never had that experience (though it was very, very good). This prime rib was truly melt in your mouth good. (Remember, I have NEVER used that phrase to describe anything I have ever eaten before.) It is the best prime rib I have ever had and though I was getting full I had to go back for another slice. Now I was quite full at this point, but I still had not sampled the desserts. Christopher was already done at this point. All the desserts that I tried were very good. Not great, but very good. I tried the cheesecake, the bread pudding (I think), and several others. But they had a chocolate mousse that was so wonderfully rich and chocolately that even though I was so full I was busting at the seams, I had to go back for another. Rarely do I have my chocolate fix satisfied. This did it and if I had not been so full I would have had more. Normally I hate being so full that it is uncomfortable. And even though that was not pleasant and it took about five hours to not feel like that, I do not regret it. I would definitely eat there again. I think Christopher was rather amazed at all I ate. I heard him talking to his girlfriend that night saying, "Normally I can eat more than my dad, but not tonight!"
Sunday 6/5/11: A traveling day to Monterey. We hit some strong thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevadas, but it was dry the rest of the way. It took about 5 hours and 15 minutes to get to Monterey. It wasn't long to dinner time so we decided to head out to find a place I had found for burgers. It is in the town next over from Monterey, called Seaside. The name of the burger place is called Phat Burgers (http://www.phat-burger.com/). Their hamburger patties are 1/2 pound each. I ordered the bleu cheese burger and Chrisopher ordered the double. I must say these burgers were very good. The best burger I have ever had? No, but in the top 10 and maybe the top 5. The onion rings were actually just good, but not great. Here is Christopher's burger
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Though the meat was good, what made it stand out was the blue cheese. I have ordered bleu cheese burgers before but they are usually greatly lacking in the flavor of the bleu cheese. I like the strong kick of bleu cheese and this had it. You can see all that wonderful bleu cheese on the burger. The combination really was perfect. Any more bleu cheese and it would have over powered the burger. I would return to this place in a heartbeat. If I had not just overeaten the night before, I would have ordered the double just like Christopher.
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From here we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium is located on Cannery Row. You might remember a book by John Steinbeck with the same name. This is where he wrote about. It really does have its own little charm, complete with very expensive hotels : ) There are touristy shops on both sides of the street. Outside the restaurants there were staff trying to get you to come eat there. Sorry, but that is pathetic. I already see your restaurant. If I do not want to eat there you asking me to eat there is not going to help.
You can not see it in the photo, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium is way at the end, in the right hand corner. On to the aquarium we went. What a great aquarium! This is a non-profit operation and their goal is preservation. It is fairly expensive to get in ($29.95 for adults and $27.95 for students - luckily Christopher still qualified as a student). But you are learning so much once you enter. It is fairly good size. Very few photo opportunities but here is one of a giant octopus (and she was a very good size).
We spent a couple of hours there and did make it through all the exhibits. We were there for the feeding of the Sea Otters. That was very educational. They emphasized that they do not do "shows." They had them perform different routines, definitely not tricks, to exercise their minds. They said that since it is not the wild their brains do not get the usual workout for the natural things being in the wild would do. They are certainly playful critters!
From here we decided to walk down Cannery Row. I spied a Nestle Tollhouse shop : ) Thinking I was in for an out of this world cookie, I decided to buy two, one for now and one for tonight. Christopher did not want any, saying he was a bit sweeted out. Silly boy : ) The sad news is that they were far from great, so he did not miss out on anything. They were not horrible, but they were not wonderfully rich and sweet, the way you expect a chocolate chip cookie to be. Oddly enough, the other cookie I bought was a snickerdoodle, and that was better than the cookie they are known for! Go figure.
From here I just had to make another stop. I originally saw it and knew heaven must not be far away..
I never knew they made ice cream! I love chocolate and I believe Ghiradelli to be the best American chocolate made (unless you consider Godiva an American chocolate, not that it originated here but is now owned by Campbell's Soup - and if anybody has a better American chocolate for me to sample, just let me know the name). So I just HAD to try the ice cream. Christopher was up for a float and I had a, what else, chocolate cone. The review: It was very good, but not as good as the solid chocolate (never make s'mores with less than Ghiradelli...Godiva if you have it - trust me, it takes them to a whole new level).
We went for a walk on a nearby beach and saw a poor sunstar being harassed by California Gulls. It was low tide and hopefully it made it back in the ocean with a few of its "legs" intact. Those situations are hard for me because I want to intervene. But there have been countless times of human intervention with non-human life that were determental, in the long run, to the non-human form. So I do try to let nature take its course and deter from humankind's arrogant nature of "we know best."
We went back to the hotel. I had already told Christopher that I had wanted to go for a run here. We were less than 1/2 mile from the beach and they have a pathway that runs along the beach. Weather was great, right around 67 degrees with a nice breeze blowing and beautiful blue skies. I ended up running 6.08 miles in 45:40 minutes. I had to keep slowing myself down. I was going quite fast, frequently around the 6:30 pace, but it did not feel that way. It was great to have all that oxygen you get at sea level. It was a beautiful run, how can it not be when you see harbor seals during your run? I ran up to Pacific Grove, the next town over to the west.
I came back and showered and then it was time for dinner. We wanted to beat the rush. To give us a break from burgers (I admit I did it mainly for Christopher since I can have burgers everyday) we went to Gianni's. It is a pizza place in Monterey that had good reviews (sorry, no URL available, but check the reviews and you can find it). We did get there just before the rush. We had garlic bread with the pizza. The reviews said the pizza was a bit pricey. I do not think it was, especially for being in Monterey. Most non-chain pizza places will charge a similar price for a large pizza. The pizza was very good. And you know how to tell a good pizza? If it is good cold the next day, and it was! It was not the best I have ever had, but it was very good. The garlic bread I would skip. Not bad, but not worth it IMO.
This was a very full, and very great day!
Tuesday 6/7/11: The day did not begin quite as early. We still had some donuts leftover : ) Today was the day we were going out on the whale-watching trip. I picked Monterey Bay Whale Watch (http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/) because it was just a little more money but you stayed out longer. If I had to do it over again, I would just go with this place: http://www.montereywhalewatching.com/whale-watching-tours-button/whale-watching-tours/. You will save yourself a little bit of money but more importantly you will save yourself about an hour. Don't get me wrong, the first place did a good job and the staff were very courteous. The naturalist on board explained things well and was ready to answer any question. However, for about the last 45-60 minutes of the trip they purposefully came much closer to land to try and find other sea life. They were mostly looking for dolphins, but I am sure they would have liked to see anything (to be fair we did see some sea otters, though we got the same views of those from shore as we did on the boat). But we did not see basically anything. Sure there were sea lions on the rocks, but those are a guarantee. And I am not blaming them for not seeing anything. They cannot control that. I am blaming them for purposefully leaving the whales to try and find other wildlife. I am pretty sure the name of the company is "Monterey Bay Whale Watch." Is there anything abou the name that insinuates anything? Now if you know me, you know I love wildlife. But I went to see whales. And we did see a number of whales, but that is not the point. I had read something similar in another review, but I did not understand that they intentionally left the whales to go see other wildlife. Additionally, the other boat, which saw the same whales we did (it was easily in view) looked to have more comfortable quarters. But here is a photo of one of the whales, the closest we got to one (pretty close and no this is not cropped to make it appear closer, but I do have a fairly strong 400mm lens):
and made our way to the wharf. Christopher was a good trooper, but is not yet appreciative of "taking it all in" and just observing. I think he was rather bored with the whole thing. So we spent about an hour there and then went to find a placed called the "Burger Joint." It had good reviews. It took a while to find because it is this little hole in the wall, which I love trying places like that. Unfortunately, we could not find any parking that was not $10 or more (and it was hard to find ANY parking at all). So we went to our back-up plan and headed back to San Mateo to try a place called Jeffrey's Hamburgers (http://jeffreyshamburgers.com/). It reminded me of a Five Guys when we walked in. However, the burgers and fries were extremely good. They were so good (especially the burgers) that Christopher and I were still talking about them the next day. If you are in the area, give them a try.
And as we went into Jeffrey's Burgers, what was across the street? A donut shop (and I think that was the creative name of the place as well). I had read about this place, that a local Asian family runs/owns it and that the old-fashioned donuts are fantastic. But I had crossed it off the list due to another place I had scouted out. But with it being right here, right in my face, I felt it was challenging me, "Go ahead, see if you can eat another donut." So when we got done I told Christopher I had to try the old-fashioned. By this time Christopher was being quite firm in telling me that I did not need to eat any more donuts, and I think rather embarrassed to be seen with me in yet another donut shop (but nobody else knew how many donuts we had eaten thus far!). Since when is that a need? I wanted to and nothing was going to stop me! So I bought the regular old-fashioned and the buttermilk donut. Review: Good, but I would not go back unless I was right there again. (So now we are up to 28 donuts with only two thrown away.) And thus ended our day : )
Wednesday 6/8/11: Our purpose in staying in San Mateo was to attend the only scheduled 12:45 pm Giants game for the month of June. It was just a little out of our way and there is nothing like going to a baseball game with your son. The timing was perfect because we could not go to any later of a game. But I am getting ahead of myself.
I had found a groupon to the La Bohème (http://www.labohemerestaurant.com/). I love a good french pastry and this place had very good reviews for their pastries. And I was not disappointed. Everything I got was very good, but the chocolate croissants were especially delicious. Glad I got two and that Christopher did not want his : ) And the woman there, perhaps the owner, was just as polite as anyone could be. And I have been to Paris and these were as good as those AND the chocolate croissant was so much better than the one I had in Paris. I did not have any of their regular entrees, but can highly recommend their pastries (did I mention the chocolate croissant?). (So for those keeping count, we are up to 28 donuts and eight french pastries, of which I think I had 6 of the pastries...hey, I offered them to Christopher...what was I to do...force him to eat them??? ; )
On to the baseball game we went. I had read about $10 parking, even on game day. But that was surely a myth as the cheapest parking we could find was $30. What a scam, but the attendants were very nice. I mention this and people might say, "For $30 they had better be!" but I have had costly (not THAT costly) parking and the attendants could not be bothered to even smile at you. It was a beautiful day for a game. Overcast, but not threatening. Here we are at the game (and in a very rare photo of Christopher smiling and obviously enjoying himself in a photo, which no doubt will be the rarest find of all on Antiques Roadshow in 50 years)
Yeah we are a bit scruffy. Christopher was not going to shave until we got back home, so in a sign of solidarity I decided to do the same (though I actually hate going without shaving for more than two days). And we had really good seats. Here is the view from our seats:
It was a really good game and looked quite certain by the top of the ninth that they Giants were going to win (which they did), so we headed out. Where we parked was packed. But, again, the attendants (though I know it is their job) did not grumble once when moving all the cars to get ours out.
We headed out to Reno at this point and made good time. It was past dinner time when we arrived so after checking in we immediately went out to eat. After seeing it on Food Challenges, we had to try the "Awful, Awful" at the Little Nugget's Rosie's Cafe. And as luck would have it, I found a Groupon right before our trip. Neither Christopher or I thought it was as huge as described. It was good, but not great. The surprise, for me, of the evening was the french fries. They were shoestring fries which I normally think are very average. However, something was different about these and they were better than average. But a good meal overall and worth going to if you are in Reno and want a burger.
Saturday 6/4/11: We began our trip to Reno, where we had previously decided to stay the night, at about 8:30 a.m. I had told (warned?) Christopher that we were going to be stopping at a lot of donut places. I don't think he really believed me. On our way out of town we stopped at Madbrooks in Clearfield (http://www.madbrookdonutco.com/menu.php). They have some of the best donuts I have ever tasted in my life. There are others that are just as good, such as Banbury Donuts in Salt Lake City, but I have had none better. Of course we got a dozen. One was the plate size apple fritter. I am not a huge fritter fan, but had been wanting to try it. They have excellent chocolate donut holes. I have never had any that even come close to how good they are. So we got a dozen donuts and a dozen chocolate donut holes. We did not stop for any food along the way and by the time we arrived at our hotel in Reno there were four donuts and 3 donut holes left. Most of those were Christopher's : ) We got to Reno in 7 hours 45 minutes.
That evening we went to The Buffet (original name, isn't it) at the El Dorado. They and Toucan Charlies were the best buffets in Reno from everything I read, but Toucan Charlies was about $10 more per person. We got there about 4:30. I had read to get there early on weekends as you can wait as long as two hours in line. I must admit when we first arrived I was not impressed by what I saw. There did not seem to be much offerings, and overall there was not. However, everything I had was good. It was seafood night and the crab was very good. The drawn butter was strangely removed from the crab, but with Christopher's help I located it. However, the thing you should go there for is the prime rib. I had read that it was good, but it was excellent. I have had many good cuts of meat in my life and am a true meat eater. Many times people had said that a particular cut of meat was "melt in your mouth good." Yet despite having that cut of meat, at that place, I had never had that experience (though it was very, very good). This prime rib was truly melt in your mouth good. (Remember, I have NEVER used that phrase to describe anything I have ever eaten before.) It is the best prime rib I have ever had and though I was getting full I had to go back for another slice. Now I was quite full at this point, but I still had not sampled the desserts. Christopher was already done at this point. All the desserts that I tried were very good. Not great, but very good. I tried the cheesecake, the bread pudding (I think), and several others. But they had a chocolate mousse that was so wonderfully rich and chocolately that even though I was so full I was busting at the seams, I had to go back for another. Rarely do I have my chocolate fix satisfied. This did it and if I had not been so full I would have had more. Normally I hate being so full that it is uncomfortable. And even though that was not pleasant and it took about five hours to not feel like that, I do not regret it. I would definitely eat there again. I think Christopher was rather amazed at all I ate. I heard him talking to his girlfriend that night saying, "Normally I can eat more than my dad, but not tonight!"
Sunday 6/5/11: A traveling day to Monterey. We hit some strong thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevadas, but it was dry the rest of the way. It took about 5 hours and 15 minutes to get to Monterey. It wasn't long to dinner time so we decided to head out to find a place I had found for burgers. It is in the town next over from Monterey, called Seaside. The name of the burger place is called Phat Burgers (http://www.phat-burger.com/). Their hamburger patties are 1/2 pound each. I ordered the bleu cheese burger and Chrisopher ordered the double. I must say these burgers were very good. The best burger I have ever had? No, but in the top 10 and maybe the top 5. The onion rings were actually just good, but not great. Here is Christopher's burger
Remember, both of those patties are 1/2 pound, so that is a big burger. Christopher was not able to finish it all, but came close.
Here is my bleu cheese burger:
Monday 6/6/11: The day began early. We wanted to go to the tidepools at Point Lobos, which our hotel people told us was 30 minutes away (found out later they were quite wrong as it was only 15 minutes away). However, I had read about this donut place call Red's Donuts (sorry, no direct URL but you can google them for reviews and location - they have two but I read to go to the one in Seaside, that is where the donuts are actually made). Every Monday it is $5 a dozen while they last. There donuts look like the very typical donut you would find any place. And, for the most part, they taste very good compared to a grocery store donut but just average for a stand alone donut place. However, their glazed old-fashioned were worth getting a dozen of those all by themselves. And the service was very friendly, very good ol' boy type. Just a bunch of friends in there before going to work, having their donuts and coffee. I would go there again just for the friendly service (and you cannot beat that price). Of course, we got a dozen : )
On to the tidepools we went. It was a beautiful day. Just partly cloudy and with blue skies and in the upper 50s already. Did not even need a jacket. To my surprise we were the only ones there. Later a handful of people showed up from time-to-time, but it was never crowded. This was one reason I wanted to go on a Monday. Also, I had read that you can park on HWY 1 and just walk in, but after reading some other posts encouraging people to pay the fee to drive in, I did so. It is rather costly, $10 (remember, this is just for one day, not being able to return like the national parks have), but I considered it an investment in the environment and do not regret doing it. Here are some photos of the tidepools:
Black-crowned Night Heron (with Fiddler Crab):
Wildflowers:
Christopher climbing over the rocks (we probably took some chances we shouldn't have in our exploration - this is NOT an example of that - see those rocks behind Christopher? Yeah, I mean those rocks : ), but nothing happened!):
Crab: (does anyone know if this is a Fiddler Crab?):
Sea Urchins (I took this photo of this very large pool. This only represents about 1/4 of that and the urchins were everywhere in this pool, just like in this photo):
Starfish (it was cool to have four colors in the same pool and so close together - the two in the middle really were different colors):
You can not see it in the photo, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium is way at the end, in the right hand corner. On to the aquarium we went. What a great aquarium! This is a non-profit operation and their goal is preservation. It is fairly expensive to get in ($29.95 for adults and $27.95 for students - luckily Christopher still qualified as a student). But you are learning so much once you enter. It is fairly good size. Very few photo opportunities but here is one of a giant octopus (and she was a very good size).
From here we decided to walk down Cannery Row. I spied a Nestle Tollhouse shop : ) Thinking I was in for an out of this world cookie, I decided to buy two, one for now and one for tonight. Christopher did not want any, saying he was a bit sweeted out. Silly boy : ) The sad news is that they were far from great, so he did not miss out on anything. They were not horrible, but they were not wonderfully rich and sweet, the way you expect a chocolate chip cookie to be. Oddly enough, the other cookie I bought was a snickerdoodle, and that was better than the cookie they are known for! Go figure.
From here I just had to make another stop. I originally saw it and knew heaven must not be far away..
We went for a walk on a nearby beach and saw a poor sunstar being harassed by California Gulls. It was low tide and hopefully it made it back in the ocean with a few of its "legs" intact. Those situations are hard for me because I want to intervene. But there have been countless times of human intervention with non-human life that were determental, in the long run, to the non-human form. So I do try to let nature take its course and deter from humankind's arrogant nature of "we know best."
We went back to the hotel. I had already told Christopher that I had wanted to go for a run here. We were less than 1/2 mile from the beach and they have a pathway that runs along the beach. Weather was great, right around 67 degrees with a nice breeze blowing and beautiful blue skies. I ended up running 6.08 miles in 45:40 minutes. I had to keep slowing myself down. I was going quite fast, frequently around the 6:30 pace, but it did not feel that way. It was great to have all that oxygen you get at sea level. It was a beautiful run, how can it not be when you see harbor seals during your run? I ran up to Pacific Grove, the next town over to the west.
I came back and showered and then it was time for dinner. We wanted to beat the rush. To give us a break from burgers (I admit I did it mainly for Christopher since I can have burgers everyday) we went to Gianni's. It is a pizza place in Monterey that had good reviews (sorry, no URL available, but check the reviews and you can find it). We did get there just before the rush. We had garlic bread with the pizza. The reviews said the pizza was a bit pricey. I do not think it was, especially for being in Monterey. Most non-chain pizza places will charge a similar price for a large pizza. The pizza was very good. And you know how to tell a good pizza? If it is good cold the next day, and it was! It was not the best I have ever had, but it was very good. The garlic bread I would skip. Not bad, but not worth it IMO.
This was a very full, and very great day!
Tuesday 6/7/11: The day did not begin quite as early. We still had some donuts leftover : ) Today was the day we were going out on the whale-watching trip. I picked Monterey Bay Whale Watch (http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/) because it was just a little more money but you stayed out longer. If I had to do it over again, I would just go with this place: http://www.montereywhalewatching.com/whale-watching-tours-button/whale-watching-tours/. You will save yourself a little bit of money but more importantly you will save yourself about an hour. Don't get me wrong, the first place did a good job and the staff were very courteous. The naturalist on board explained things well and was ready to answer any question. However, for about the last 45-60 minutes of the trip they purposefully came much closer to land to try and find other sea life. They were mostly looking for dolphins, but I am sure they would have liked to see anything (to be fair we did see some sea otters, though we got the same views of those from shore as we did on the boat). But we did not see basically anything. Sure there were sea lions on the rocks, but those are a guarantee. And I am not blaming them for not seeing anything. They cannot control that. I am blaming them for purposefully leaving the whales to try and find other wildlife. I am pretty sure the name of the company is "Monterey Bay Whale Watch." Is there anything abou the name that insinuates anything? Now if you know me, you know I love wildlife. But I went to see whales. And we did see a number of whales, but that is not the point. I had read something similar in another review, but I did not understand that they intentionally left the whales to go see other wildlife. Additionally, the other boat, which saw the same whales we did (it was easily in view) looked to have more comfortable quarters. But here is a photo of one of the whales, the closest we got to one (pretty close and no this is not cropped to make it appear closer, but I do have a fairly strong 400mm lens):
Again, please do not misunderstand. It was very enjoyable, Christopher and I got soaked by a good size wave which was/is a very laughable moment in time, and I would recommend this place with the above caveat. I would just try the other place first (and then who knows, maybe I would prefer this one after all).
We got back a little earlier than planned and immediately headed north to San Mateo. However, we went through Santa Cruz and I had read about a certain donut shop called Ferrell's Donut Shop that makes their eclairs with real whipped cream (again, no URL but look up the reviews to find it). Christopher could not handle any other donuts at this point. That is what happens when you are young...you just don't have the wisdom to know that life is too short to not try another donut you may never try again ; ) While in the shop I spotted a pastry that looked like it had a cream cheese filling. I love those kind and asked if it was cream cheese. The attendant stated it was not but could not remember what it was. Just then a customer came in and stated it was cream cheese. Due to the attendant's less than confident reply about what it was and the customer's very confident reply, I bought that one, too. Turns out the attendant was right, and it was not very good. The eclair was quite good and so nice to NOT have one with custard. I won't even eat those anymore. Actually, I don't even know anybody that makes them with real custard. I like custard, a lot. Most places make something akin to vanilla pudding and put it in the eclair. (In case any of you are keeping count, we are up to 26 donuts with only two thrown away, Christopher's two I might add ; ).
We continued our journey to the hotel in San Mateo. We arrived around 3:30-4:00 and I really wanted Christopher to see some of San Francisco. I tried to talk Christopher into splitting the "Kitchen sink" at the San Francisco Creamery (http://www.sanfranciscocreameryco.com/) (featured on Man vs. Food), which is actually in Oakland, but he was saying something about eating too much this trip, too many sweets, blah, blah blah (I don't know, some foreign language I could never really understand). So with no need to make that long trip (about one hour from the hotel), I decided Fisherman's Wharf would be a great way to see SF. We went there, parked not too far away from this iconic sign
And as we went into Jeffrey's Burgers, what was across the street? A donut shop (and I think that was the creative name of the place as well). I had read about this place, that a local Asian family runs/owns it and that the old-fashioned donuts are fantastic. But I had crossed it off the list due to another place I had scouted out. But with it being right here, right in my face, I felt it was challenging me, "Go ahead, see if you can eat another donut." So when we got done I told Christopher I had to try the old-fashioned. By this time Christopher was being quite firm in telling me that I did not need to eat any more donuts, and I think rather embarrassed to be seen with me in yet another donut shop (but nobody else knew how many donuts we had eaten thus far!). Since when is that a need? I wanted to and nothing was going to stop me! So I bought the regular old-fashioned and the buttermilk donut. Review: Good, but I would not go back unless I was right there again. (So now we are up to 28 donuts with only two thrown away.) And thus ended our day : )
Wednesday 6/8/11: Our purpose in staying in San Mateo was to attend the only scheduled 12:45 pm Giants game for the month of June. It was just a little out of our way and there is nothing like going to a baseball game with your son. The timing was perfect because we could not go to any later of a game. But I am getting ahead of myself.
I had found a groupon to the La Bohème (http://www.labohemerestaurant.com/). I love a good french pastry and this place had very good reviews for their pastries. And I was not disappointed. Everything I got was very good, but the chocolate croissants were especially delicious. Glad I got two and that Christopher did not want his : ) And the woman there, perhaps the owner, was just as polite as anyone could be. And I have been to Paris and these were as good as those AND the chocolate croissant was so much better than the one I had in Paris. I did not have any of their regular entrees, but can highly recommend their pastries (did I mention the chocolate croissant?). (So for those keeping count, we are up to 28 donuts and eight french pastries, of which I think I had 6 of the pastries...hey, I offered them to Christopher...what was I to do...force him to eat them??? ; )
On to the baseball game we went. I had read about $10 parking, even on game day. But that was surely a myth as the cheapest parking we could find was $30. What a scam, but the attendants were very nice. I mention this and people might say, "For $30 they had better be!" but I have had costly (not THAT costly) parking and the attendants could not be bothered to even smile at you. It was a beautiful day for a game. Overcast, but not threatening. Here we are at the game (and in a very rare photo of Christopher smiling and obviously enjoying himself in a photo, which no doubt will be the rarest find of all on Antiques Roadshow in 50 years)
We headed out to Reno at this point and made good time. It was past dinner time when we arrived so after checking in we immediately went out to eat. After seeing it on Food Challenges, we had to try the "Awful, Awful" at the Little Nugget's Rosie's Cafe. And as luck would have it, I found a Groupon right before our trip. Neither Christopher or I thought it was as huge as described. It was good, but not great. The surprise, for me, of the evening was the french fries. They were shoestring fries which I normally think are very average. However, something was different about these and they were better than average. But a good meal overall and worth going to if you are in Reno and want a burger.
Thursday 6/9/11: Now it was time to make our way back to Utah. However, I am sure you are thinking there must be more donuts in this picture. I had read about a place called Doughboy Donuts (http://doughboysreno.com/). The reviews were very positive and people said it was worth going out of your way. It is about 15 minutes south of the downtown area. The thing I really looked forward to was that they supposedly had speciality donuts. I love trying unique donuts. We bought 14 donuts (the original plan was a dozen but a couple just looked so good...). Review: DEFINITELY worth the drive. Some of the best donuts I have ever had and this is the best donut I have ever had
I do not know what it is called but not only was it smothered in even more chocolate chips then you see in this photo, but they had somehow interweaved some chocolate into the dough internally. Sort of like a fudge ripple effect. Though the attendant (very nice young lady) highly recommended it, I was foolish enough to only get two. (I did eat both but I did offer the second one to Christopher.) These were so good I have seriously thought about contacting them to see if they would be willing to overnight a few to me (and I continue to have that thought). The cake donuts were very good, but not nearly as good as this was. The raised donuts were also quite tasty, which is how I judge a donut shop. Highly recommended and I wish they were here.
We made our way back to Utah without any mishaps. We had donuts for breakfast and some for lunch. I had seven donuts this day alone. That is the most donuts I have ever had in one day : ) So the final tally was 40 donuts, with only two thrown away, and 8 exquisite french pastries. All in all I would say I ate about 22-24 of the donuts (okay possibly more) and 6 french pastries. Now you know why I chose the name of my blog : D
If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
6/4/11 (Saturday) Run
Even though we are leaving later on today, I just had to get in a run. Part of it was knowing I would not be running much on this vacation, and part of it was that I knew that tonight we would be at an all you can eat buffet : )
So today I ran 5.10 miles in 40:13. An outside run.
Total running mileage for the week = 41.10
Total cycling mileage for the week = 42.11
So today I ran 5.10 miles in 40:13. An outside run.
Total running mileage for the week = 41.10
Total cycling mileage for the week = 42.11
6/3/11 (Friday) Activities
Because my son and I are leaving tomorrow for Monterey for his graduation (from high school) trip, I did my long run and long bike ride today.
Today I ran 14 miles in 1:52:28. This was all outside and felt refreshing.
I quickly changed and went out for a 26.11 mile bike ride in 1:32:10. I had to get to work by 11:30 for a meeting and the whole time I was thinking, "Please don't get a flat, please don't get a flat" as I had no time to spare. Luckily, no flat!
Today I ran 14 miles in 1:52:28. This was all outside and felt refreshing.
I quickly changed and went out for a 26.11 mile bike ride in 1:32:10. I had to get to work by 11:30 for a meeting and the whole time I was thinking, "Please don't get a flat, please don't get a flat" as I had no time to spare. Luckily, no flat!
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