GG’s trip

Just dropped off GG and NM at the airport. Their visit was great!

Arrived at SJC on Wednesday evening. We came home, dumped the bags and went to Chaat house for dinner.

 

Thurs: We made upma and mango shake for breakfast. Da and I went to office but they managed to take off for the Redwoods. GPS didn’t work but N navigated all the way and back just with the map. In the evening, we ate mixed daal and chawal, courtesy GG. NM went to the pool with Da. GG and I went shopping. Bought lots of stuff as they closed the trial room, but had to return most.

 

Friday: Simple breakfast. GG et al went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian museum. I had a doc’s appt at 3:40 so they had to be back. No time for the computer history museum. Doc prescribed me vit. D (fatigue may be due to deficiency) and I will be taking it till Sept. then retesting. Thyroid seems normal just now with an increased dose since 3 weeks. Will be retesting in late Aug. In the evening we all went to Alka’s for dinner and also met Prerna and her sis and Mom. Good food too.

 

Saturday: Started the day with dosas. GG made coconut and peanut chutneys. I made dosa of which some got burned :( though I’m pretty good with them these days. Still managed to get out by 11. Headed to Santa Cruz assuming moscow circus was at 12. Bad traffic so took a deviation to Capitola beach. Nice beach with colorful houses. Water was a tad too dirty to touch.

 

Drive from Capitola to SC was nice with beaches a bit less crowded and admittedly a bit less breathtaking than SC area. Arrived at boardwalk around 1:20. Da got stuck looking for parking. We promptly went for the rides. GG and I stood in line for the blue roller coaster while NM patiently waited on a bench (gave them one of the 7 phones we were carrying). GG and I got front seats on the ride. Awesome twists. Not too scary. Was a sunny day so I was afraid of getting a headache but surprisingly got through both days without issues. Makes me think the problem lies elsewhere (umm, stress maybe)! Then M did sea horse, while N and I went to fright house which N wisely backed out of.

 

Next was the rock and roll which was simply fun…nothing scary but M screamed every moment of it which made the whole thing hilarious. Meanwhile Da dicovered the circus was off that day and he had a headache so decided to stay in the shade. It was about time to get out anyway, so we looked for the last ride. Settled on Crazy surf which was again kinda cute. M screamed through most of it again and had a great time. GG and kids took the skyride back to the other end. I got some pizza and met Da. Then Da and I made it just in time to use the fright house tickets. It was so not for N! Not scary for grown ups but definitely not for kids. GG missed the red roller coaster, columbus and drop zone! NM played in the water for some time…N in his nanaji pose waiting for the waves. M with her pants up and running around.

 

Pretty tired already, but walked all the way to the edge of the boardwalk where the sea lions are. Da went to get the car. One of ‘em had fallen and was trying to get back on so lots of activity and cheering. Meanwhile, I noticed I had the keys so had to walk about 2 miles to meet Da by the car. GG bought some mementos…Finally, we all met up and decided to head for Monterey and Carmel.

 

Nice scenic drives…stopped at a couple of vista points and beached on the way. The pic is from one of those. NM really enjoyed the “rock climbing” here and kept asking for more. Then played some requests on the Yahoo! Jukebox in the car. Unfortunately FM trnasmitter was left behind in the store.

 

Not much time at monterey but GG took NM to get a good view of the birds and sea lions. Meanwhile Da and I spotted an otter which ultimately NM and GG were able to catch (as in view). Almost getting dark by this time but you know Da. He still drove all the way to Carmel beach via pacifica. Lots of fog on the way. Nice scenic drive. Got to the beach just between dusk and dark. Saw a ship far far away. It was a different feeling of the beach at that hour. Reminded me of my very first visit to a beach in Managalore, in the 1st quarter of 1994 I suppose.

 

It was about 9:30pm by this time and we were all famished. NM recounted their story of recent starvation at the hands of Mama. “Mom, you don’t know, I was counting every minute…my life was at stake” (N’s own words). We stopped at Great Wall in Monterey. Good vegetarian options. We wiped the dishes clean though N ate literally just rice and a touch of soy sauce. Back home via Gilroy about 12:30. Kids slept in the car of course. GG and Da discussed Australia story.