San Fran (continued and conquered!)

Cue: alarm clock going off during vacation (confusing, I know).  Who in their right mind would plan to wake up at the crack of dawn on the day after Turkey coma? The DeGrush ladies, of course.  Welcome to BLACK FRIDAY, California style!

 Ok, so it wasn't so crazy busy as back home, but it was still a very profitable early morning venture.  We were a bit punchy after a few hours of the consumer grind, as you can see....

 Then Bill drove us  across the Golden Gate North to see the beautiful redwood forests... This drive was foggy, mysterious and even perilous at times, making life all the more interesting :)  People live in unbelievably valuable properties so high up in the hills they are stuck in the clouds, buried deep in mossy ancient trees and audis.

 This whole experience felt a bit like Rivendell for those of you nerdy enough to appreciate.  Except it was full of Californians and not Elves.

 Phew.  We made it in the ancient volvo up all the crazy twists and turns and parking catastrophes to the Muir Woods National Park.

 Funny, they let Laura in despite her Lone Star state residence.  Probably because she is so adorable.

 Really really tall, old redwoods!

 They let Trevor in for free because they thought he might just be the lumberjack they have been looking for. 

 California banana slug! How horribly gross! These lined the trail threatening to make you slip at your next faulty step.

 Then we stopped to check out the Pacific.  Its kind of like the Atlantic, except more laid back.

 The next day we set out to find Jerry Garcia, who is most assuredly still alive and living on Haight Street. No Luck.  We did see a Janis Joplin memorial, right next to a Amy Winehous memorial. Does it seem strange that Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and probably countless other terribly famous people died at 27?!  Never been so excited for my next birthday...in case you were wondering, Mamma Cass was 32.  All "facts" thanks to wikipedia.

 Haight and Ashbury was buzzing with coffee shops, head shops, vintage shops, oh yeah... and hippies!  We also had significant hippie sightings at Golden Gate Park's self proclaimed "hippie hill" where Bill promptly tore off his shirt and shoes and began a game of loosely organized frisbee with the family to the beat of tribal drums and tambourines in the background. 
      Later that afternoon, we explored a place Trev and I had seen years ago when we visited San Fran per the recommendation of an old friend- The Sutro Bath Ruins are along the coast, and are really just a bunch of old stone structures left to crumble in interesting patterns on the beach.  At one point in the 1920's I believe it was the site of a very elite bath-house.  Air temperature was probably above 50 degrees, which meant it was perfect swimming weather for Dad. 

love from San Fran

We played on the beach until it was time to eat burgers at BURGERMEISTER!  The evening ended with drinks and games at a local bar where I realized that beer does not make you better at basketball, or any other game for that matter.  All in all, a great mini vacation in a great city with my great family.

Turkey day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  The DeGrushes head out froj the Warwick hotel in downtown San Fran to prepare for the day at WillBill's apartment.

By the way, when you stay at a classy hotel, you are immediately class-ified. and smarter. handsomer.

 Along the way to the supermarket T-day madness, we see some poignant grafiti in the Mission.
 Here we all are pre Turkey.....

 Anna, Bills lovely roomie, is a great hostess, decorator extraordinaire, and she and her awesome family are all great cooks too. 

 We saw this on one (of many....) emergency trips to the supermarket to get forgotten necessities.

 Since its California, things are just better. warmer.  and still in bloom. PS, we had at least 6 inches of snow in Worcester MA on Halloween. Just Saying.

 We took a pre-turkey-trot up the hill in the park near WillBills place, which had the most impressive view of the whole city. This was one of those requisite moments where someone feels they must teach another the sacred "Monkeys" walk.

Just kidding! We never went anywere! I just glued Trevor in front of a fake looking San Fran backdrop!
or so it appears.

 Ok, Jump to the greatest appetizer spread, to be followed up with the greatest Turkey Day spread. This spread included artichoke spread, homemade salsa and guac, devilled eggs, cheese, veggies, homemade tamales....so good.

 Mom and Dad enjoy the moment!

This will be my next home, in my next lifetime.

 Mission street (?) from above

 The Golden gate!

 This hill is very deceiving. Trevor is actually MUCH much shorter than all of us (just kidding)

 They even let people who life in Texas, who wear ostritch leather boots, into California.  Sometimes.

Lets all be thankful for families, friends, endless food  and drink, digital cameras, and the internet :)
Black Friday madness T minus 10 hours. 

West Coast, meet East Coast!

The DeGrushes (and Trevor-honorarily a DeGrush of course) have picked up their annual tradition of picking one child and thoroughly invading their lovely city. Needless to say, Worcester/Bettie was NOT the chosen child this year. Bill has been in San Fran working with the AmeriCorp doing awesome things at a local elementary school while also living THE LIFE! We decided he was the obvious invasion candidate this year.
"It's a trumpet tree! Quick, take a picture"We all flew out of our respective ports and met up with Billiam, who gave us a fabulous (with surprisingly/impressively polite driving etiquette for a big city) driving tour of San Fran. We ended up in the mission and had tacos el pastor, enchiladas, burritos and quesadillas as big as your head with endless chips at a clearly very popular hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint. Delicious.
Then we wandered onto a very quirky little bar-
Our tables were made of maps of the world circa USSR era, and a map of Paris (my personal favorite). We had sangria, flan, and dominoes. The walls, ceiling, floor, and inhabitants were literally covered in tchotchkes, art and artifacts.


Bill then drove us to his really fabulous apartment where he and all his other do-gooder Americorp people live. It has quite the impressive view.



Then off to bed- Loli to arrive soon!

South Padre Island- DeGrush Takeover!

Dr. Lolo-nonono is wary of hearing BilliamFunkFunk's bass lines

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of their parents, the DeGrush children traveled down to the unique world of Texas, specifically South Padre Island, to enjoy the spoils of Laura's new beachy life.  Bill and Beth greet Texas, Laura and Jared with a very traditional Dub-Step dance performance at the bus stop.  Laura and Bill serenaded me with home-written songs for graduation, complete with a crown, beth-a-scope, and lovely earring gifts!!!

Queen Princesa Dr. Bethula beholds her own majesty

 From there, its shenanigans, sand, seemingly excessive amounts of sunscreen, and just a bit of sunburn.  We rode our bikes around town, wake boarded until the waves won, and enjoyed BBQ in the backyard overlooking the beautiful sunset.

His most Graciousness Sir William beholds the vastness of his kingdom

 Laura is working two jobs currently- she teaches beginner kayaking, and also waitresses at a bay-side seafood joint.  We went to see her teach huge groups of army kids learning to kayak (they were very polite and obedient!) and then had dinner "with" her later at Steamers.

Just enjoying the sunset is all...

We then visited the "pulga" or literally the flea market, and enjoyed raspas (shaved ice with glorious fruity and chocolaty toppings- absolutely necessary in the unforgiving Texas sun). 

Heat, humidity, sugary snackums, and lots and lots of cheap crappums which you might find useful

Juiceeeee! Juuuuuuuice!

 Beach yoga was then in order, after a gorgeous beach walk to spy on all the spring break beach bodies.  Two more days to go, and what more adventures can we get ourselves into?

Once we achieve equilibrium we can start rolling down the beach like a unified tire

 

Building bridges

Oh, right... that blog thing...

Photo added per request of Trevor's mom. If you have any other requests for photos, please let us know.

Our first full day in Athens we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel on the roof looking out onto our goal for the day- the Parthenon! 

We then wandered through Roman Agora, the ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse. Then we climbed up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon up close.

Turns out Carmen Sandiego never stole it after all.

It was impressive, although also covered in scaffolding and under renovations. Everywhere we turned there were piles of marble and rock complete with ancient carvings.

Very cool. We also saw two amphitheaters, one of which is still used in the summer for plays and performances.

These dogs... they're everywhere.

We then headed to a cafe for a lunch of mezedhes (appetizers) such as dolmedhes (stuffed grape leaves), Tzatziki sauce with pita, fish roe spread, fried feta, and um, more cheese.

Fish... egg... salad?

The Greeks eat more cheese per person each year than any one else in the EU, so Bettie decided she would try to one up them. By eating as much cheese as she possibly could. After this delicious but comatose inducing lunch, we hiked to the Temple of Zeus, with the Arch of Hadrian at the entrance.

Temple of Zeus

I like turtles

We also met a Greek ("spur-thighed") tortoise, who seemed more than a bit out of place. We wandered through the national gardens, and saw the guards at the front of the parliament building who gather quite a crowd at switch-time.

"Shoulda gone to college... Shoulda gone to college..."

The Acropolis at night from the pedestrian promenade.

σπίτι sweet σπίτι

The next day we toured the Temple of Hephaestus, the god of metalworking, and also ancient (not Roman) Agora. 

 

The temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved ancient Athenian ruin. We got swarmed by sweaty European high-school kids of unknown origin, and quickly escaped to Keramikos, where all the cool Athenians were buried. Wildflowers were in bloom all over, especially these really pretty poppy-like flowers. 

Poppies... poppies... poppies...

After this, all the rock piles began to blend together, and so we ventured forth for some culture at Herakleidon art gallery, which houses an MC Escher exhibit. We then scarfed some amazing although extraordinarily messy baklava, and kataifi (Bettie's mom knows this well as the "shredded wheat looking one"!!!!). We then sat down for what we thought would be an afternoon snack and wine/beer, just like all other Europeans love to do. As we looked around at the cafe scene surrounding us, we realized- gasp- everyone was drinking this weird, iced coffee with foam at the top type drink. 

When in Athens... oh... coffee. I'll have a beer then.

We ask the waiter, "whats with the coffee?" and he answers, "we have a lot of coffee drinkers in Greece". No kidding. After seeing this once, it began to pop up again and again- everyone everywhere is drinking the same iced coffee concoction in a tall, sundae like glass! Weird. Bettie is now determined to try one- a Frappe, i believe its called. not to be confused with the glorious Friendly's Frappe. Later on we have dinner at a pretty touristy place whose host could speak upwards of 4 languages, at least in friendly conversation. We heard Japanese, English, Greek of course, and Spanish, and one or two words of Dutch. We had our customary mousaka, required before leaving Greece.

Day 3 in Athens brought us back to the Acropolis to see the much touted Acropolis museum. This place was very clever in design- as you entered, you were walking over ancient ruin sites under excavation, which you could watch through the thick plastic.

The entire museum allowed for a view of the actual Acropolis up the hill, and sculptures were strategically reconstructed and composed as they once were in ancient Athens. Well done!  Then on to the archaeological museum, and then some more amazing Greek food.

POOP ON ME, WILL YOU?

Bettie finally found this weird lemon chicken soup-ish soup that she had been dying to try, and Trevor ate some really delicious lamb chops.

"This is the song that never ends... yes it goes on and on my friends..."

Later that night, we attempted to locate a nightclub that had traditional "rembetika" music, but apparently none of them were open at 11:30pm on a Wednesday night. Instead, we visited a late-night cafe, ate some stuffed grape leaves and cheese-stuffed peppers, and returned home.