Escaping Hurricaine Rita (aka Christina & Sean visit from TX)
Our friends, Christina and Sean, visited this past weekend. They were out here on business and decided to spend the weekend with us BEFORE the terrible mess known as Hurricaine Rita was even a blip on the hurricaine map of the Atlantic. Turns out it was a good thing to avoid Houston that weekend all the same.
Anyway, we had a nice happy hour and dinner at our house on Friday night. After dinner we went to Mountain View to see Kaweh at Cascal. Mimi and I saw Kaweh during the San Jose Jazz Festival and I'll say that his set at Cascal was even better. Cascal is a beautiful Latin-fusion restaurant (400 Castro, MV), but it is only "okay" as a place to see a band. The bar area is too small for many to be comfortable and the band is jammed in to a corner of the bar area. Anyway, his music rules, the drinks (Capirinha Naranja, Mojito, Sangria, and Mango Ritas) are top-notch and the desserts we tried were awesome. We had a good time talking and listening to the music. I ended up buying both of the band's CDs and Sean bought the new one. We made it home by about midnight and closed the night watching Rita's devastation on the LA/TX borders. Yech...
Cascal details: http://www.cascalrestaurant.com/
Kaweh details: http://www.kaweh.com/
Saturday we got up early for a huge breakfast of steak-n-eggs and then the kids and I went to volleyball practice. Sean & Christina went for a run and Mimi got us ready for our afternoon's adventure.
We headed out after lunch to find Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Reportedly one of the top camping destinations in all of California, it is home to the largest stand of Coastal Redwoods south of San Francisco. I can now confirm that it does look like an awesome place to camp and the redwoods there are awesome. I really liked the Mother of the Grove (329' and 15' across) and the Father of the Grove (280', nearly 17' across, estimated to be 2000 yrs old). We did the Redwood Trails hike, visited the gift shop and then headed (by car) to Sempervirens Falls. We wanted to see the Bear Creek Falls, but that is at the end of a 3.5 hr hike so we didn't make it there. All in all, a very nice park and only about 1 hr from home.
We headed back through Boulder Creek to get to Natural Bridges State Beach. We wanted to take some pictures for our Christmas card photo - we'll see if they turned out as nice as I hoped. Christina and Sean liked the photo op too and we're happy to see the ocean up close.
We left the park to head to the Crow's Nest to watch the sunset from the deck with some cocktails. No live music til late, but we had a great dinner, great drinks and a great sunset.
When we left the Crow's Nest there were about 20 bonfires on the beach. It inspired us to have our own bonfire when we got home... Mimi made us banana boats for dessert - awesome.
Big Basin SP: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=540
Natural Bridges SB: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=541
Crow's Nest: http://www.crowsnest-santacruz.com/
Sunday morning we had a huge waffle breakfast with Christina and Sean. Their flights were running for their trip back to Texas. They headed out at 10AM and we're home in time for dinner.
After their departure, we all worked around the house to get ready for the fun on Sunday afternoon. We were going to the Almaden Valley Art & Wine Festival with friends to see The David Osborn Band and then hosting a bbq at our house.
The festival is one of the more popular local festivals in the South Bay area. This was our second year of going and our second annual party.
David's band was a lot of fun and we bought his band's CD.
The house party afterwards was a lot of fun too. We had a great time and some good fun.
Festival: http://almadenartwinefestival.com/
David Osborn Band: http://osborn2rock.com/
Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, all around... Steve
Anyway, we had a nice happy hour and dinner at our house on Friday night. After dinner we went to Mountain View to see Kaweh at Cascal. Mimi and I saw Kaweh during the San Jose Jazz Festival and I'll say that his set at Cascal was even better. Cascal is a beautiful Latin-fusion restaurant (400 Castro, MV), but it is only "okay" as a place to see a band. The bar area is too small for many to be comfortable and the band is jammed in to a corner of the bar area. Anyway, his music rules, the drinks (Capirinha Naranja, Mojito, Sangria, and Mango Ritas) are top-notch and the desserts we tried were awesome. We had a good time talking and listening to the music. I ended up buying both of the band's CDs and Sean bought the new one. We made it home by about midnight and closed the night watching Rita's devastation on the LA/TX borders. Yech...
Cascal details: http://www.cascalrestaurant.com/
Kaweh details: http://www.kaweh.com/
Saturday we got up early for a huge breakfast of steak-n-eggs and then the kids and I went to volleyball practice. Sean & Christina went for a run and Mimi got us ready for our afternoon's adventure.
We headed out after lunch to find Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Reportedly one of the top camping destinations in all of California, it is home to the largest stand of Coastal Redwoods south of San Francisco. I can now confirm that it does look like an awesome place to camp and the redwoods there are awesome. I really liked the Mother of the Grove (329' and 15' across) and the Father of the Grove (280', nearly 17' across, estimated to be 2000 yrs old). We did the Redwood Trails hike, visited the gift shop and then headed (by car) to Sempervirens Falls. We wanted to see the Bear Creek Falls, but that is at the end of a 3.5 hr hike so we didn't make it there. All in all, a very nice park and only about 1 hr from home.
We headed back through Boulder Creek to get to Natural Bridges State Beach. We wanted to take some pictures for our Christmas card photo - we'll see if they turned out as nice as I hoped. Christina and Sean liked the photo op too and we're happy to see the ocean up close.
We left the park to head to the Crow's Nest to watch the sunset from the deck with some cocktails. No live music til late, but we had a great dinner, great drinks and a great sunset.
When we left the Crow's Nest there were about 20 bonfires on the beach. It inspired us to have our own bonfire when we got home... Mimi made us banana boats for dessert - awesome.
Big Basin SP: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=540
Natural Bridges SB: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=541
Crow's Nest: http://www.crowsnest-santacruz.com/
Sunday morning we had a huge waffle breakfast with Christina and Sean. Their flights were running for their trip back to Texas. They headed out at 10AM and we're home in time for dinner.
After their departure, we all worked around the house to get ready for the fun on Sunday afternoon. We were going to the Almaden Valley Art & Wine Festival with friends to see The David Osborn Band and then hosting a bbq at our house.
The festival is one of the more popular local festivals in the South Bay area. This was our second year of going and our second annual party.
David's band was a lot of fun and we bought his band's CD.
The house party afterwards was a lot of fun too. We had a great time and some good fun.
Festival: http://almadenartwinefestival.com/
David Osborn Band: http://osborn2rock.com/
Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, all around... Steve
posted by Koop in ATX at
4:08 PM
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