Day 25-27 - Carmel to the Shark Tank

Well, that sucked.  Game 7…all the hype, lots of Flames fans at the game – including us!  But the Flames sure didn’t come out to play!  We got there quite early which made it very fun cruising the concourse..enjoyed all the jibes for wearing red (my Stampeders sweatshirt had to do) and all the high 5s from all the loud Flames fans on the street.  Jack was filmed by Hockey Night in Canada camera – zeroed in on his face a few times and his little flames shirt!  I hear Hockey Night in Canada has no taste and cut out Jack’s Flames cuteness.  The nerve.  He was also filmed by another camera guy because we met another mini Sharks fan and we got them together…they actually ended up sitting right beside us.  Weird. 

The shark tank actually had great fans and good gimmicks…the noise and cheering would rival the dome.  They have shark fins on the zambonis and huge remote control blow up sharks circling the fans.  Very surprising since I couldn’t get a hockey game on any channel leading up to the game and only found 1 sharks fan prior to the game (a lady in a travel info booth).  At one point, we had 4 sports channels and no game 5.  The game sucked but the event as a whole was enjoyed by us all (even John the oilers fan who wore a red t-shirt but never did take his black jacket off I noticed).

Monday, we went to North America's best aquarium in Monterey.  Then cruised the expensive shops in Carmel and then spent the rest of the day on the beach.  Jack points out all the birds (loves the seagulls) and thought is was funny that his feet would disappear in the sand.  It sure would be nice if we could be in beach clothing soon!  I know, it is much colder there - but still - we are on holidays!  Picked up freshly caught Crab (my favorite) and had a little coastal feast in the beast before heading inland.

On Tuesday we made our way to San Jose for the game but had issues with the Beast…it was making a horrible noise when John hit the brakes so we traveled separately (to lessen the load and keep Jack safer!).  We got to a town about 30 miles south of San Jose called Gilroy and had great service at an RV/truck stop…apparently it was just power steering fluid issue.  Jack thought we had already arrived at Disneyland...a place where there were tons of  semis coming and going - I bet he said "truck" about 500 times that day.

 So, since we had a crappy travel day and then a crappy end to the game (and Jack stayed awake the entire game) we decided to stay in Gilroy today…it is the Garlic capital of North America so why not!  Nothing better to drown my sorrows of the Flames losing than a day of shopping!  Jack had a good 3 hour nap while I shopped and John relaxed  Good for all.  Gilroy just happens to have more stores than people I’m sure.  There is an outlet here that has 150 stores.  It was even overwhelming for me!  That just means I buy things for Jack because its easier to zero in on kid’s stores.  Like he needs anything but how can you resist??   Went swimming and out for dinner for Vietnamese (almost a whole month without it – was too long!).

Heading to Yosemite National Park tomorrow so we are heading further inland.  We will miss seeing the coastline as we travel I’m sure.  California coast was beautiful as well…it was strange to see farms right on the coast.  Fruit and vegetables deserve a view too I guess.  Lots of Mexicans can be seen working in the fields picking the fruit and veges.  It was artichoke season as we went through.  Now we are camping right by a garlic plant and a field of broccoli.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have such fresh fruit/veges all the time!

I also included a picture of how I get to spend my mornings!