days 8-12, bb, try again

DAYS 8-12
well we finally finished the trip to santa barbara
if did not like texas so much would live in santa barbara
the weather is always about the same
never to hot and never to cold (not like we get in texas and
nothing like the northern states)

they actually get less rainfall than we do here in texas
and we dont ever get enough
think that the moisture from the ocean probably helps a lot
and the lack of extreme heat
many people dont have air conditioning there
can you imagine no ac in central texas

my wet suitcase sister in law she (the one we were visiting in
santa barbara) says that the worse thing to be in this world
 is a black cow in texas in the summer time

we mostly vegged out there
watched several basketball games
toured the beaches
watched my nephew he (brother of my rain water tank
nephew he) in a play that he  was in
he sings, dance, acts in the play
he also plays soccer, loves soccer, and beats everyone at
soccer video games
he also sings with andrea bocelli on some of his christmas
specials
has been on tv several times with the specials-hes the blond kid
that sings in the group with andrea bocellli

thanks to the wet suitcase sister in law shes  and my mother in law
shes hospitality (especially for the sees candy-yum yum)

as usual got plantings of plants from their yard to try to grow here
well see if they grow

my wife she attended a wedding journey event but i did not
have to participate-yes
spent quality time with my older son he all afternoon
enjoyed that

we ate at two great restaurants there
one was trattoria mollie in montecito california
the food was italian and was excellent
this is where my son he and his finance she will have their wedding
party meal before the wedding
she cooks some for oprah and has cooked for the obamas in the
white house
she is a interesting story-a self made women who trained in italy
and has had this restaurant since the early 1990s
one of jeff bridges recommended restaurants

the other is a place we always have to eat at when we go
to santa barbara
its real fresh authentic mexican food
the la super rica taqueria
trip is never complete unless we eat there
usually there are long lines outside especially on weekends
always a good side of good food

we finally have made it back to texas
we had a great time
wished we had spent more time on hwy one but know we will
have more chances in the future to do it again but maybe not
where that road fell in
know that sometime in the future may not remember it though

when we got off the plane though in texas i kneeled down
and kissed the ground
was glad to be back

BB
this is the time of the year when i like to watch womens basketball
tonight baylor plays texas am
its big and tall vs stocky
should be a good game
can baylor beat am 3 times in one year

uconn plays duke-hope they play better if they want to win another
championship

stanford won and is in the final four
notre dame beat tennessee
sure wanted to see tennessee play ucon as know those
coaches dont like each other
maybe next year

TRY AGAIN
this is me in front of the monterey bay aquarium
google and the internet did not like my posting yesterday

the organicgreen doctor

day 7, bb

DAY 7
today is day 7 of the spring break trip

we started at the hotel and after getting lost we
finally got the correct street to start the 17 mile drive
on pebble beach
(my gps was working correctly-my wife she)

it was cold and misty that made the scenes almost
mystical in appearance
this 17 mile drive is one of the recommended drives to make in
the us
it goes along the coast line and weaves through pebble beach
didnt see tiger

there are cypress trees that are only found on the monterey
pennisula and not anywhere else
the oldest lone cypress tree is pictured below
it is several hundred years old and sits alone on this cropping
of rocks
what history it could tell

point jo(e) is a point that boats use to shipwreck at thinking it
was the harbor of monterey
my wife she enjoyed that sign
her name is jo

we wound through the cypress forest and along the beaches
my wife she made me stop and look at all the seals

after leaving the 17 mile drive we drove through carmel
(clint eastwood was the mayor once)
carmel by the sea became known after the earthquake in
san francisco in the early 1900s when people fled sf to come
to carmel to stay
it was recognized as a place to stay and became popular after that

from there we drove down the big sur to san luis obispo and then
to santa barbara
wouldnt want to drive and text on that road
the views were just awsome
we could have stopped and just watched the ocean for hours at
multiple sites
we traveled through the edge of a redwood forest and would
have liked to stay longer but wanted to get to  sb to see my wife
shes family

if we ever drive big sur again would like to take a few days to do
it and do hiking on some of the trails and would do more
frequent stopping to look at the scenery

(after reading tomorrows blog may not want to make that trip again)

my wife she did not like me viewing the scenery too much as i
drove as it was like being behind someone texting
called seaxting

next
slugging out at my wet suitcase sister in law shes house and with
my mother in law she-she is  the chocolate candy (sees) providing
source
then there is some bb to watch
have to be selective of the games to watch as i could take up
all four days watching the games
will do that for sure in the 2nd weekend of the games

then there is the wedding journey stuff
think i escaped that this week as no men are allowed
dang it

BB
butler won and in final four
ucon outlasted arizona-guess they arent too tired yet

today its kentucky vs north carolina
blue vs blue
dynasty vs dynasty
should be a good game

then kansas plays vcu
kansas is the only team left on my bracket
does vcu make it

the organicgreen doctor

my wife shes bd, day 6 monterey bay aquarium, bb

MY WIFE SHES BIRTHDAY
today is my wifes shes birthday
thanks to her for putting up with me for all these years
for her birthday she gets to veg out (in recovery mode)
and watch basketball with me (lucky arent i)

happy birthday to you my wife she


MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM
this is the part of the trip i have been looking forward to as
i have always been interested in marine wildlife, the ocean,
the beach, and biology in general
my major in college was biology

in college in california we made a few trips collecting specimens,
diving (well i mostly threw up over the side of the boat), and then
taking them back to school to study them so i did develop some
appreciation of marine biology

know that when we get the ocean good and polluted that we
we are all screwed then

the monterey bay aquarium is the largest one in the united states
we spent over 6 hours there yesterday looking at the exhibits, taking
tours, listening to talks, watching films, and doing a lot of walking
my feet and legs were dead tired but it was worth it
would definitely do it again

we took a behind the scenes tour of the place
we were glad we did that as we got more historical information
on the aquarium and its surrounding area
since we toured john steinbecks museum the day before and
since im reading steinbecks book cannery row  and we
are staying in a motel on cannery row the areas history was more
familiar to us than had we not done that

my favorite part of the aquarium besides the large kelp exhibit
and coral exhibits with all its fish was the jelly fish and the
sea horse exhibits and of course everyones favorite the sea otter

those seem to be the kids favorites also plus they like the sea otter
exhibit

could have just sat there all day and watched that big kelp
aquarium with all their sharks and fish swimming aorund

the aquarium works closely with stanford university which has
a site located next door
they do  a lot of marine research

this is an area whose economy years ago was based on sardine
harvesting from the bay here
as we in america do sometimes they fished the sardines out
until the sardine population all disappeared and the local
economy collapsed
whats next the blue fin tuna, the whales, ?????

the sea otters were also destroyed for their fur and almost
all disappeared but seem to have been saved by conservation
measures (they are sure fun to watch)

hopefully conservation can save the endangered ocean animals
hopefully lessons were learned here in monterey bay that can be
used in other places
lets see oil dependency, air pollution, water pollution, trees, wet
lands, ?nuclear power, etc
we havent done so well with these have we

tomorrow will do the 17 mile drive and then will drive down
big sur as we finish our trip to santa barbara

this is a picture from san francisco
didnt try the pizza but it must be good with a name like this

BB
whoa it is march madness
vcu did it again
but can they get past kansas
kentucky got ohio state so now kentucky gets north carolina
now that should be fun to watch huh
now my bracket is blown except dont let me down kansas

the organicgreen doctor

day 5 john steinbeck, bb

JOHN STEINBECK
my wife she teaches creative writing, english, reading, and combat
training in high school
when we started our highway one trip i was told that we would
be going to the steinbeck museum in salinas california
so thats what we did today

if you eat iceberg lettuce then it comes from salinas valley
as do many of our vegetables we eat-broccoli (well some of
us dont), lettuces, artichokes, brussels sprouts (thought those
came from europe), celery, and several others

steinbeck grew up there and was able to look at the people, the
times, and write about what he saw
he was the super blogger of his time
he used family and friends in his stories but altered the stories
to fit his writings (thats what i do with this blog)

he wrote alot about the workers and the depression era
experience of that time
we thought we were in rough times just read about how they
had to live
he was actually not well liked in the salinas valley for a long time
they even burned his books
(usually when books are burned there is some zealitism going on)

he wrote about the migrant workers and conditions there
these writings attacked those instiutions established by the farm bosses
am sure they felt threatened

he later was accepted and now his legacy is carried out through
his museum

we took several hours going through it but most would not have
taken as long (except my white on white relative would have taken longer)

have read his book cannery row which has made touring this area
more interesing as he used the local area as the basis of the book
and used well known people from this area as characters in the
books
now will read grapes of wrath, east of eden, red pony etc and
will try to watch movies that were made from the books

this is my wife in front of the steinbeck museum

tomorrow will tour the monterey bay aquarium
will take all day there
yes
my wife she said it was ok

BB
watched the duke arizona game until half time
boy was i surprised when i woke up and read that
duke lost
think it was dvred so will try to watch the 2nd half today
there went my bracket

butler wins
florida beat up jimmer and won
ucon marches on arent they tired yet

only two #1 seeds left and think they will probably
play for finals-was on my original bracket which ive
saved for documentation
rest missed my predictions

next group tonight
go vcu

the organicgreen doctor

thanks, more san fran

THANKS
thanks for the birthday wishes yesterday
yes im 23 or is that 32

share the birthday with two people
one is a former patient now 21 years old and a college student

she is well remembered because at 2 weeks of age she fell
out of her car carrier seat onto the floor
she was brought to my clinic after we were through
seeing patients and were about to leave for the day

in walks this crying bawling mom with is a 2 week old little
girl with a bruise on the side of her head where she had
hit the floor
we took her up to the er and did a xray of her skull
she had sustained a linear skull fracture across the whole side
her skull from front to back
she spent the night in ped icu without any complications
she has done well since and has not had any residual
problems with the injury
have always kept in touch with her and her family
do wish her  a happy birthday every year
things could have been different

the other person i celebrate my birthday with is my niece she
the daughter of my older sister she
when i was in medical school my sister she  and her husband he
were attempting to adopt a child
they had gone through the lengthy fertility evaluation with no luck

during the adoption process my older sister she discovered she
was pregnant and that the due date was near my birthday
i was excited to have a niece born on my birthday
luckily about the time she was due i was on a break from
medical school

well she went into labor on my birthday
was i excited
the labor lasted all day into the evening
it went to 1000 pm then 1100 pm
i was going to be disappointed
come on sis pick it up
then it was 1130 pm and there was no baby
then before midnight all the effort and pushing
produced this cute black haired baby who i
forever will have a birthday bond
thanks sis
happy birthday my niece she

MORE SAN FRAN
while in san francisco we went to eat at a mexican restaurant
that was vegan and who made everything from scratch
most of the food was grown in their own organic garden
some one in our group wanted to know where the meat was
oops forget to tell this person veggies only
it was hard to enjoy the food since am use to my wife shes
mexican food and to chuys mexican food

we also went to a  organic creamery called bi rite creamery
its totally organic and uses no additives and uses local sources
for its ingredients
i had vanilla-no experimenting for me
my wife she had vanilla with olive oil and sea salt
sounds not good but sure was
my son he was skeptical after the vegan mexican restaurant
but i noticed he ate all of his and then he drank and licked the
bowl
knew it was a good place when we had to stand in line
definitely would go back more than once

we also walked down from the apartment in cat hollow to a
farmers market to buy ingredients for our evening meal
my wife she made her style of mexican food which my son he and
i enjoyed more
thanks mom

next the steinbeck museum

the organicgreen doctor

day 3

DAY 3
this is day 3 of our trip
we are in san francisco visiting our kiddos

san francisco reminds me a lot of austin texas in a way
they are more progressive in green things in a way that is
different from austin
those electric buses are so much fun to watch
no pollution locally-just wherever the electricity is produced

we have been to san francisco several times now since they have
lived there so we have done so much of the tourist stuff
my wife she and i walked along the edges of san francisco once
it took us all afternoon but we were here when the weather was
sunny warm and just right for a marathon walk
seeing things from street level is not the same as driving in a car

every time we go though i make them go to the big farmers market
down at the ferry center
think next time i come here will just have them drop me off and
they can pick me up when it closes
would love to take my time and talk with and quiz the sellers about
how they grow their stuff

we just vegged out in the late afternoon (had to watch the horns
play) but went out to eat at a restaurant for our evening meal
(i call that my supper but i guess its really dinner)
all the places we have been taken to have been good
and like in austin the diners come in different types of dress-from
more formal to the more laid back jeans and shirts (my favorite)

today
will go to a restaurant and creamery we saw on the rfdtv show
california country
the owners rasise their own eggs, veggies, milk products
the restaurant is a vegan one but apparently its is very good food
and the desserts at the creamery are to die for

then its bracketology this evening
am ready for that

tomorrow we leave sf and will drive on our hwy one trip
first stop steinbecks museum

the organicgreen doctor