So I decided that I would give you a little story that can also give you some more insight as to how busy and crazy I can sometimes plan things!!
Here is one of many busy ways that I spend 48hrs:
It all started when my friend Jeff was mentioning an Avocado Festival to me, I'm not the biggest Avocado fan, but I do like festivals. And it got me thinking about the Artichoke Festival (that I had always wanted to go to).
Of course the first step was to find out when the festival was. It happened to be on May 19th, 2012. The day before we (Dave B & I) were doing the 6am bike tour in the Pasadena Marathon, and then heading to the Vegan World Fest.
Let's just do it all!
Why the heck not?!
Well some people may hesitate because the Artichoke Festival is in Castroville, Ca - which is 6+hr drive from Anaheim Hills, and a 5.5hr drive back to Pasadena.
That's 11.5hrs of driving to go check out some Artichokes!
Well Artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables - I could eat them at every meal for the rest of my life and I'd be happy!
And of course... I'm not some people. I'm not going to pick and choose it I don't have to.
What a totally fun weekend I had ahead of me!!
So of course we drove up to Castroville on Friday night (after Dave got back from work).
We checked in at the lovely oceanside Sanctuary Beach Resort in Monterey (sadly only for one night).
The Sanctuary Beach Resort is Monterey Bay's most prestigious coastal retreat. This haven of serenity offers guests stunning views of the sparkling Pacific Ocean, the evolving sand dunes and spectacular coastline from every viewpoint.
Next we checked out and headed to the 52nd annual Castroville Artichoke Festival, my hopes and anticipation was high.
How could it possibly not be?! Until we drove into the interesting town of Castroville...
We were in the heart of the artichoke industry which is located near Castroville in Monterey County and Castroville proudly proclaims itself to be “The Artichoke Center of the World” on a huge banner that spans the main street.
Starting with a smoked Artichoke...how could I go wrong?!
Well, I hated it! BLECH! I donated it to Dave, who likes almost anything!
"Tastes pretty good to me." From SIDEWAYS the movie (that's Dave for ya!)
We saw some pretty odd things while we were here - Food Art, Giant Artichokes, you name it.
I would much rather head into Monterey Bay and go to the Old Fisherman's Wharf than hang out here!
And that's exactly what we did..
Overall, I had enjoyed most of my day; but if it had not been for the Resort, and spending time in Monterey, I probably would've been a tad peeved that I came all the way up to Castroville for that LAME (IMO) Festival.
At least I got that out of my system! That was definitely a plus!
We saw the eclipse, and then relaxed for what was remaining of the afternoon, before it was time for me to go bee-bopping into the kitchen and whip up our traditional Sunday Night Italian Dinner! Whew!