Thanksgiving 2010 & Sutro Baths with the Youngs

Thanksgiving 2010. If you're ever even pondering, thinking, or contemplating if Thanksgiving the the Bay Area would be a good thing for your and yours, ponder no more. Debbie & Rob and kids came out for Thanksgiving this year and we had a blast with them here!

Let us make a brief attempt at recapping all the fun -- of course, with the intent of getting more people to come visit!

Turkey Day Flag Football. Rob, Tanner, Dan played in an early morning game with the San Ramon 1st Ward at Tiffany Roberts Park (turf field so we were speedy).  There were enough 8-11 age boys there to have their own game so that was a blast for Max, Tom, Nate and John.

After the first game, we went to the San Ramon II Ward game, which was down at Pine Valley Middle School (Nate's school next year).  'Twas a bit of a reunion for the Youngs as they were able to see lots of former neighbors and friends all at once.

Tommy breaks out and is wide open on Z-29 Power Right.  John hopes to contain him.  It was one of those crystal clear Bay Area November days.  Unforgettable.  Totally fun to have the Youngs back in town, even if only for a few days.  Props to them for driving all the way out here!

In the second game, Dan was QB and had a bevy of 4.5 foot receivers to choose from--Nate, John, Max, Tommy and a few neighbor kids that showed up.

Back to Thanksgiving.  Julia and Debbie and the girls (with limited help from the boys) put on a seriously awesome spread.  It not only looked amazing, it tasted 10x more amazing.

The stuffing, (normally treated as an accoutrement/filler) was seriously the best we had ever tasted.  Ever.  That is a long time. I think it took her about 4 days to make it.  It was a custom job.  It had apricots, rosemary from our rosemary bush, toasted sourdough, and other killer stuff. The salads and rolls were so good, and the potatoes and yams were well worth overdosing on.

The whole meal was seriously a very much appreciated work of art and labor of love.  I'd go so far as to rank it among the top three meals we've ever had at that table.  Just looking at this picture brings it all back! Yummmmm!

The fellas certainly enjoyed their hard earned own table.  While they are toasting with water here, I think they each downed a full bottle of Watsonville's own Martinelli's Apple Juice.

Per tradition, we all had post Turkey day pie at John and Ann's late in the day.  LOTS of pie, lots of fun.  All the great ones were there--pecan, strawberry torte, lemon meringue, pumpkin, apple, you name it.



The Ruins of Sutro Baths.  While we were on the peninsula, we cruised over to Lands End and walked past the amazing Coastal Cypress trees and along General Sutro's former railroad path that runs from Lands End to the Sutro Baths. 

Of course, we had to take a picture because this is one of our favorite angles of the bridge.  Beautiful spot.

Sutro Bath ruins are fascinating and fun to play on.  If you are reading this in print form, you'll have to do some research and see all the incredible photos that show what this place once was.  Check out this link http://www.cliffhouseproject.com/environs/sutrobaths/sutro_baths.htm .

It appears that in its time (in the late 1890s and early 1900s), this place was the real, real deal.  Three huge, enclosed bath houses with slides, diving pools, a promenade--and was very popular.

It even makes some of the modern huge swimming facilities in Las Vegas look small.  Keep in mind that this is just along the coast and isn't surrounded by anything--you really had to make an effort to get there.

The kids (and adults) loved cruising around the ruins and imagining what all of it once was.  It ultimately burned to the ground.

So, when you go there today, you can crawl all around the ruins.  Pretty fun, historical and interesting.  Beautiful confines for sure.

Debbie and Dan took advantage of the moment and had someone snap a photo of them--they both agree that this is one of very few pictures of them together without the mega family, and as adults. 

John and Tommy conquered one of the cement pillars and were quite proud of it.  After Sutro Baths, we cruised over to the Marin Headlands for sunset.The kids loved playing on the bunker/bomb shelters at the top of the hill, and running through the big gun tunnels that are all through the mountain.  Fun and eerie to go through all that.  The kids actually are starting to understand that the threat of a Pacific Coast attack was very real during WW2.  The crazy thing, the guns that used to be mounted here and were pulled through these tunnels had a range of 26 miles.  Amazing.

The Rob and Debbie Young family at the top of Marin Headlands