Wednesday, June 09, 2010

The Best Laid Plans..... Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Some things, I guess, are just not meant to be!  I picked up my friend, Silvia, about noon on Monday and we headed south on scenic CA Highway 1.  Our goal was to, belatedly, celebrate her birthday at the two famous northern CA lighthouse hostels, one at Pigeon Point and the other at Montara.  The day was a bit overcast but it was still a beautiful drive.  At Pescadero, we turned off, bound for lunch at Duarte's Tavern, founded in 1894 and serving customers by the fourth generation of this local family.

At Duarte's, Silvia and I both ordered a bowl of their cream of artichoke soup which had come highly recommended I was not at all disappointed in this, especially since it tasted strongly of artichokes, one of my favorite vegetables.


The rest of the meal was, frankly, disappointing.  I ordered a calamari steak sandwich which was served on a sourdough roll.  The bread was so thick, I could hardly taste the calamari and, even when I took it off the bread and ate the calamari alone, it wasn't very flavorful.  Silvia had a hamburber which she felt was only mediocre.  For dessert, we shared a straberry - rhubarb pie.  I wasn't overjoyed with that.



The wine list, however, was excellent.  I did see Treana's Mer de Soleil, one of my favorites, a blend of Marsanne and Viognier which was wonderful



After leaving Duarte's, we stopped in the next block at Arcangeli Grocery Company and Bakery to pick up several loaves of their garlic herb artichoke bread.  That is never a disappointment!
Their breads and other specialty items are available by mail order at http://www.normsmarket.com/.

Once back out on Highway 1, we could not resist stopping at one of the nearly deserted, pristine beaches to take a few photographs.  That is when I met with disaster.  Somehow, when stepping down from the curb onto the sand, I slipped and went sprawling.  I am sure my fall must have registered on the Richter scale as a small seismic earthquake.  Silvia, who had gone to the back of my van, unaware of my misstep, was chatting away.  When she rounded the corner and saw me sprawled out, holding my camera above my head, she was dumbfouned.  It took me a few minutes to get up, I was in so much pain.

We did go ahead to Pigeon Point and registered for the night.  As the hours passed, though, the pain became more and more intense and my right tibial area began to swell to about twice the size of my other leg.  I finally decided we should drive back over to Moss Beach, to the small hospital there and get myself checked at their small emergency room.  While I didn't have a fracture, there was a lot of soft tissue trauma and swelling and the doctor recommended I ice my leg and keep it elevated for a couple of days.  Knowing full well I would kill myself on crutches, I declined those when the doctor suggested crutches.  After chile rellenos and tamales at Tres Amigos, we went back to Pigeon Point where I spent a pretty uncomfortable night, in spite of my pain medication.

The Pillar Point Light Station began service in November 1872.  It is one of the tallest lighthouses in the United States and its light continues to guide sailors safely through Pacific waters.  While the lighthouse is no longer open to the public, the grounds are open and the hostel provides overnight stays in its facilities, complete with a shared kitchen, bathrooms and a large living room, all for a very nominal fee.


Talk about being a klutz!!!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Hostel


Hostel living room

Hostel dining area

Kitchen area



Yellow lupine

Ground cover

This morning, we decided to forego our stay at the hostel in Montara since we checked out of Pigeon Point at 10AM and couldn't check into Montara until 3PM.  My leg was throbbing like crazy and I really needed to keep it elevated.  The staff there were so nice and did not penalize me a night's stay as indicated in their brochure.  Silvia and I will definitely return at another time. 





13 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures and what a wonderful drive with a friend. I would love to do that soon. Just take off and go :)

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  2. beautiful pics.
    congrats for your book.
    belated happy birthday your friend.

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  3. oh, i am so sorry Carmen, but am glad at least the fall did not bring you major injury, hope you are getting better each day and free from pain now, and you managed to get great shots still despite being injured.

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  4. Carmen, What a nasty looking injury. It looks painful. Hope you are feeling better today. I had to laugh when you mentioned you were holding your camera above your head :D Just like the fall I took recently, trying to save my camera.

    It does look like you had some fun though and what great shots. The Lupine and the beach are gorgeous. If you need anything, let me know.

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  5. Ocean Girl - it started off to be a fun trip, till I fell and really hurt myself. Forty-eight hours later, my right lower leg is still swollen and terribly bruised.


    At 65, I've done it! My poetry book - Life's Journey by Carmen Henesy - is out on Amazon!
    ( Poems about the things that have been important to me in my journey through life, some humorous, some sad, some that may have meaning to you as well )
    http://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Journey-1-Carmen-Henesy/dp/1451547366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274652997&sr=1-1

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  6. sm - thanks for the kind wishes. I hope my book sales improve so I can do another one!

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  7. betchai - 48 hours later, my soft tissue injury hurts worse than ever. I went back to the doctor today and she gave me a different pain medicine. It looks even worse now, with all the swelling. Thank heavens, I didn't have a fracture. I was sorry not to be able to stay our second day at the Montara hostel...just was so miserable, I had to come home.


    At 65, I've done it! My poetry book - Life's Journey by Carmen Henesy - is out on Amazon!
    ( Poems about the things that have been important to me in my journey through life, some humorous, some sad, some that may have meaning to you as well )
    http://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Journey-1-Carmen-Henesy/dp/1451547366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274652997&sr=1-1

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  8. Poetic Shutterbug - I had to save my camera. It's functioning minimally, at best. I figure another fall would be its demise! I cannot believe how bad this injury hurts. I think it's worse than kidney stones!!

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  9. whew, glad your fall was not quite so serious...sounds like a fun trip otherwise..no pun intended...smiles.

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  10. First, happy birthday to Silvia.

    Second-- Oh my goodness-- that looks like a nasty fall Carmen. Thanks heaven nothing was broken. Sounds like it was wise to cut the trip short. I can't imagine driving or sitting in a car-- ouch. Take it easy and I hope you recover soon.

    i received your book from Amazon.com today!!!! It looks lovely. I hope to dive into it this weekend.

    Feel better!
    jj
    PS I left you something on my blog today.

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  11. Brian Miller - fortunately, I am finally in less pain but it took another trip to the doc and a stronger pain med. For a couple of days there, I couldn't even tolerate the sheets touching my leg!

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  12. Joanna Jenkins - what a nice memento on your blog. I will get to the task of the questions on the weekend. I won't have my van as Jeremy is taking it down to Cal Poly to move his girlfriend's things back here...she graduates and they will be getting an apartment together. His car is such a clunker, I probably will stay put all weekend!

    Please review my book on Amazon, if you get to it!!

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  13. Oh dear, that injury does look sore! Hope you are feeling better. At least the wine was good. The artichoke bread sounds wonderful.

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