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So it’s the dog days of summer, and that means vacation time for a lot of people. I was fortunate enough to be able to take almost two weeks off work and had some good times.

King Tut, Hearst Castle, and Sea Lions

First, I took the family to the special King Tut exhibit at the De Young art museum in San Francisco. That was neat, but the kids and I were very disappointed because there were no mummies!

Next, we drove down the central coast of California. We stopped in Monterey for a bit, then took a bunch of pictures thru Big Sur; it was the first time we had driven the whole way. We spent the night near Cambria and went to Hearst Castle the next day. It was a 5-mile bus ride to the castle on top of the mountain, which was neat in itself. I thought the best part of the castle was the outdoor pool. We then drove further south to Morro Bay. Cool little town with seafood restaurants, boat tours, sea lions, big beach, and one ginormous rock.

Carson and me on beach in Morro Bay

Art, Rock Stars, BBQ, Tigers, and Golf

Then I went on a trip to Michigan (just me) to celebrate my brother’s birthday. Connected in Dallas and met a few interesting people on my flights (including a army guy who just ended a 1-year tour in Afghanistan!)  I went to the Ann Arbor art fairs with my parents on the first day, then met my Web Axe co-host Ross and a few other guys at the Arbor Brewing Company. I golfed 9 holes with my brother and dad. Then took a cruise in my dad’s ’68 Mustang convertible and ate at a neat ’50s style drive-in called Tom’s Root Beer Stand. Then I went to Henry Ford Museum, where there was an awesome special exhibit “Rock Stars Cars and Guitars”. We then went to dinner at an awesome new barbecue restaurant/bar in Detroit called Slows. The last night there, we went to the Detroit Tigers Major League baseball game, and there were at least 8 home runs, and a Tigers grand slam in the first inning!

Front of Comerica Park

Garlic Festival is Last Stop

I worked this past Friday, then today I took the family to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. We ate very garlicy pizza, bread, and stuffed mushrooms–all very good! It was very crowded and very hot, but a lot of fun.

Phew, OK, I think I covered most of the last couple weeks. Now back to work.

Yesterday was a fun day. It was Cinco de Mayo, and my wife and I got away from the kids and had a great Tex-Mex meal at Don Pablo’s. Of course, had to wash it down with a Corona and a Margarita on the rocks. But more importantly, the Detroit sports teams all won! All games were at home.
The Detroit Pistons won big over the Chicago Bulls in the first game of the second round of the NBA playoffs. Take that, Ben Wallace!

The Detroit Red Wings won pretty convincingly over the tough San Jose sharks in the NHL playoffs. Not a huge hockey fan, but will always watch the Wings when I can.

The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals. Gotta get to the very nice Comerica Park before I leave for California. Damn Comerica. They put their name on the nice baseball stadium downtown, and now I hear they’re leave the city…

This is a great time of year for sports fans. The NHL playoffs are entering the second round (go Red Wings!); the NBA playoffs just started (go Pistons!); and baseball is in full swing, (pardon the pun).

I tried going to a Detroit Tigers baseball game last Friday, but the weather was actually nice and there were only standing room tickets left! So my mom, wife and I (don’t laugh at me!) went to Greektown to eat, hit the Casino for a few, and even made it to the Old Shillelagh for a brew (yes, another great pub!).

Well it was another great sports evening this Saturday night. First, in Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers finished the sweep of the Oakland Athletics! The Tigers have lost over 400 games in the last 4 years (152-game season), so that makes a trip to the World Series even more spectacular. The relatively new Tigers’ stadium, Comerica Park, had never seen a playoff game until this series.

The Tigers haven’t even been to the playoffs since 1987. They won the World Series in 1984. I remember that very well as I followed baseball more than the others sports back then. I also painted my mom’s face for one of the World Series games, and she brought back Tiger Stadium sod which we planted in the back yard!

The second game was University of Michigan football. The Wolverines beat Penn State in Happy Valley, 17-10. They are now 7-0, and should be moving to #2 in the polls. (They are currently #4.) Ohio State is #1 so it looks like an extra special showdown between the two powerhouses at the end of the season.