Asilomar State Park

It's been a long time since I've watched the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Sitting on a bench above the beach at Asilomar State Park on Saturday at 6:24 PM, it was a chilly sub-40 degree sunset, but no less beautiful than the mid-summer variety. 

The walk to the beach included a brief interlude with a California four-point buck, who appeared generally amused by my fumbling and inability to get my iPhone ready and several of his doe harem. Asilomar is a beautiful state park and conference center with accommodations varied enough to fit almost any budget. It's close enough to Monterey and Carmel to have really good restaurants nearby.  I can highly recommend "Max's Grill" in Pacific Grove. The food is excellent and the prices reasonable.

Like a One-Eyed Cat, Staring at a Seafood Store

There is no better place on the planet to start your day gastronomically speaking than "Swans" oyster bar in San Francisco.  A dozen of the freshest oysters you'll ever eat, followed by a "Crab Cocktail" with Louie dressing on the side. Smuggle in some ice cold premium vodka of your choice and by God you'll be channeling Anthony Bourdain before your second dozen are shucked. 

Get there early, because well before noon, the line is out the door and when the good stuff is gone - or 5:00 PM rolls around you're shit out of luck and you don't want to miss this place. Seriously it's that good. 

Getting in the Mood for Food

Next week I leave for San Francisco, CA for a week of vacation. I'll spend a fair amount of time shooting and continuing to test my new Fujifilm X-Pro 1. I'm also on the left coast to relax and spend some time indulging my 'foodie' side. There are a number of great resturants in San Francisco, Carmel and Pacific Heights, all places on my itenarary.

To try and get a little bit of a head start on the eating  part of my vacation, I visited one of my favorite carry out places in Arlington, "Earls." The "Louie" sandwich with a little customization, (how can you go wrong adding bacon to anything?) is really an outstanding sandwich. The turkey on the Louie isn't pressed turkey parts, shaved from a loaf. It's the real deal, turkey your grandma could identify with and like all of Earls meats, they are prepared in-house and are really delicious.

If you're in Clarendon and want food that isn't simply assembled on-site, from homogenous commercial ingredients, you owe it to yourself to try out Earls. It's a left coast kind of place on the east coast.

Fly Fishing thru the Mid-Life Crisis

There are certainly many, many beautiful places to fish for salmonids. My brother Gary says he likes to fly fish because trout "won't live in ugly places" and while I haven't made a comprehensive study of that, I tend to believe that it's true. 

Certainly one of the prettiest places that I've ever seen to fly fish for trout is the Silver Creek Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy. ​ I was lucky enough to wander the preserve for a few days, where the trout are hard to catch, wary giants and the surrounding land home to small, shy deer. 

If there is a list of 'must fish' places, I feel sure that Silver Creek is high up on that list.​

Glacier National Park, Moose

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