Randall was once again invited to attend the Pfizer Feedlots Consultants Summit Conference. This year the conference was just outside of San Francisco, at The Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. I was looking forward to some cooler weather, warm sunshine and bare footed walks on the beach. Turns out, the weather was quite cold while we were there. The HIGH temperature while we were there was only 55. To someone who came from 100 degree dry heat, that felt really cold!
The view from our hotel room. Gorgeous! Yes, that is the ocean within a few hundred feet!
We did have a great time, though. Randall's sister Maureah and her new husband Scott agreed to come stay with the kids. We owe them BIG time! The conference is usually held in the middle of the summer, but this year it was held late August, so Cooper and Carson had already started school. So, some alone time with my hubby, no meals to fix, no laundry to wash and fold, no cleaning... very relaxing, right?!!!
One morning I took a walk down to the beach. That is our hotel on top of the cliff there.
Those "black dots" on the rock are sea lions. There were hundreds of them!
A bit hard to see in the picture, but this is a star fish I found in a tidal pool
Sea urchin I found in a tidal pool not far from the star fish. It was fun to do a little exploring!
One afternoon Pfizer arranged for us to go on a deep sea fishing excursion. (Actually, we could choose from fishing, golfing or wine tasting... we chose fishing.) They initially told us we would be salmon fishing, but turns out it wasn't quite the right time of year for that. We mostly fished for Sea Bass. In reality, we were only a few miles off shore, and we could see our resort for most of the time off in the distance. The trip out to sea to find a good fishing spot was great. Randall and I had both taken Dramamine before leaving the hotel, so we were hoping to avoid getting sick. Once we started the actual fishing, the queasiness started. I think the looking down at your line while trying to fish, seeing the waves and trying to maintain your balance while holding a large fishing pole is what did both of us in. The rest of the trip was pure agony. Randall started puking first. Once I realized I was really getting sick, I sat down and stuck my head down between my legs. I managed to avoid vomiting til we started heading back. Unfortunately, the sea sickness doesn't end when you step onto dry land. Plus, we still had to ride the bus back to the hotel. We were told later that if you are prone to getting sea sick, you should start taking Dramamine the night before. Sure, now you tell us! Once we made it back to our hotel room, we both fell asleep. We slept for about 2 hours and woke up right as it was time to go down to dinner. We debated on what to do, but in the end, decided we were hungry and we didn't want to miss out on a fancy catered meal. So, we cleaned up and headed to dinner. We felt much better after that. But, I'm not sure we'll be going on anymore Deep Sea Fishing excursions anytime soon.
A view of our hotel from the boat
Randall, before getting sick
We also went down into San Francisco to Fisherman's Warf one afternoon. That was quite an experience. It was very crowded, and very dirty. It was neat to see the warf and visit some shops. And the America's Cup Sailing Competition was just getting underway, so we watched the sailboats for a little while. Other than that, I don't have that much desire to go back there. Perhaps another area of San Francisco....
The Ghirardelli Shop- founded in San Fran!
A cool sand creation on the beach near Fisherman's Warf
Randall on the beach at Fisherman's Warf. You can see some of the sailboats off in the distance.
Fire lit in on the water in front of our hotel one night.
Looking forward to next year's trip!
