Dogs and Water

So, two weekends ago, my family went to Berkeley to celebrate my younger brother's graduation from Cal! Exciting times! Since he's the baby of the brood, it was very emotional for our mom and dad. Well on the way there, we decided to take the nice scenic route up the 1 fwy. We stopped in Big Sur at The River Inn. What a great place to enjoy yourself! The outdoor eating area was beautiful and lush with tall trees. You really felt like you were in a wondorous forest. The birds were out, the trees were tall and green and the sun was shining! I really do love California! A bit beyond the eating area was a creak or river. It was not very deep because from our view, there were two wooden lounge chairs in the middle of it. We've never ever seen that! We decided after lunch we would go and relax in the chairs.

Anyways, back to the food. Did I say it was fantassssssstic! The waiter really gave us the story behind their famous apple pie and my favorite: their barrel stored root beer. It was a pleasant blend of sweet, fresh and spicy. I never thought I would use fresh and spicy when describing root beer - ever!

We ordered:
- Sweet Potato Fries
- Fresh Monterey Bay Calamari
- Crab and Avocado Timbale (salad) - A tower of fresh crab and avocado lightly tossed with a basil aioli, served with crostini
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Portobello Brioche - Toasted brioche topped with grilled portobello mushroom, fresh goat cheese, crispy shallots, finished with a balsamic reduction and white truffle oil

WOW! It must have been the air or the happy sun, but everything was delightful. I guess it could have been the food too hahaha. We were stuffed like little satisfied piggies. Oh by the way, they charged us like $4.00/refill for the root beer and I was a little disappointed that no one bothered to tell us when they refilled our glasses without us asking. Other than that, I would absolutely recommend that place.

So after our great food experience, my older brother and I mosied on down to the creek/river. We took off our shoes and entered the ice cold water, walking carefully over small and medium sized rocks. We could see to the bottom so there was no worry of insects or fish or anything. It was beautiful. The water didn't care what you were doing, it went on its merry way regardless. It was flowing at a melodious tone that drowned out as soon as you closed your eyes to take a deep breath.

As we are in the middle of this river, not knowing what to do next but enjoying ourselves, we see this couple come walking up the river with their light colored dog. They are IN the water. Their dog is prancing, running, walking, smelling and playing. As they get closer there is another dog and they start playing with eachother. They are both soaking wet and loving every minute of it. The couple stops where we all are and sits in one of the chairs close to me. Their dog is romping around and dragging tree bark and wanting to play fetch with his tennis ball. Funny enough I was trying to take pictures of their dog and all of the sudden it shook to dry off and got me wet! Ah, dogs and water!

It was such a great day! (and the graduation was great too. Ha!)