Our Pebble Beach vacation was winding down. It went so quickly but we were having an amazing time! Our last round of golf at the hotel, the Links at Spanish Bay. We had an 8am tee time so we got up early, packed up our things, checked out of the hotel and had breakfast in the restaurant by the pro shop.
While the breakfast was good, there was a bit of sticker shock. For $100 we got two small breakfast sandwiches, a bowl of cereal, a side of bacon and some toast. It was good, but not $100 good. At least it was quick!
Links at Spanish Bay
After breakfast we paid our greens fees of $270/person and were the second group off the tee. It was a sunny day with clear blue skies. The course was covered with dew and being November, the sun was relatively low causing a lot of solar glare for the first few holes. It was extremely difficult to find our balls, even when they were in the fairway (no, really, we hit some in the fairway).
The course was quite narrow and there was lots of trouble to find. It was a great way to end our trip.
My cousin had claimed to have “found” his game at the practice center the previous day and I have to admit he may have been onto something. Despite spending most of the round with his mortgage broker working through a last minute glitch on his first house schedule to close days after we returned, he still managed to beat the rest of use handily. If only he had been able to concentrate on his game!
Well Shots
After our round, which went relatively quickly since we didn’t have to wait on the only group in front of us, we sadly had to say goodby to Pebble Beach and wind down our vacation.
We packed up the minivan, stopped by a local McDonalds for a ceremonial meal and began the drive to our hotel for our last night. During the drive my cousin was talking on the phone with his girlfriend (now wife). Being somewhat of a nerd for proper grammar, I had been correcting him often on some of the more egregious examples of bad grammar. It’s a very nerdy way of trash talking, I guess. In any case the following exchange happened:
Him (to girlfriend): “Today I played well, I hit the ball good…”
ME: “WELL!!!”
Him (to girlfriend): “Yeah, I hit a lot of well shots”
Everyone in the car burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of his response. He must have had that response planned but still won’t admit it. To this day we still bring that up and it instantly brings us back to that trip and those memories. It can be funny, and powerful, what you remember about a vacation!
New/Old Hotel and Dinner in the City
After a couple hours of driving north via a more direct, but less scenic route, we arrived at the first hotel we stayed at when we arrived, the Holiday Inn Express Belmont. We had a 6am flight the next morning and this was our last night. I had made a reservation for us in San Francisco to end the trip in style, so we checked in, dropped our bags in the rooms and drove up to the city. We made decent time and had a few minutes to spare. With that time we walked around the marina district which is one of my favorite places in San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the beginnings of the sunset.
As it became closer to our reservation time we drove to the restaurant and enjoyed our dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse which is a place we all enjoy for special occasions. We enjoyed our hearty meals and a delicious dessert while reminiscing about our trip.
On the way home we made sure we were prepared for the earlier morning departure. Despite our food coma, we remembered to stop and get gas for the minivan so we could go straight to the airport in the morning. Back at the hotel we packed everything we could and collapse into bed.
We were flying home first thing the next morning.
Tomatico Travels 
You must be logged in to post a comment.