Dave and Maren landed in San Jose on time and aux luggage. We arrived early enough to figure out the airport parking and met them at baggage claim. We got lost leaving the airport and ended up having to go through Santa Cruz, which entailed lots of traffic. Do you know your way from San Jose? Anyway we made it back to the house, where Dad and Chris were there to greet them and then whisk us all off to the Rio Grill in Carmel for a sumptuous dinner. Dad’s birthday cake and an evening of hearts substituted for the usual British TV murder fare. The next morning, David, Maren, Anne and I launched south on the Pacific Coast Highway. First stop, Point Lobos, always a favorite. We spent a couple of hours there hiking and hunting sea beasties. Then we drove to Nepenthe in Big Sur, which as always was fantastic. On the was back, we stopped at Andrew Molina State Park, a first for me. We did a one mile hike to the beach. Coming and going we had to ford a creek, where all save Anne went barefoot. Saturday, we went to Moss Landing, in the center of the bay. We lunched at Phil’s and even met Phil there. Our main agenda item was the Elkhorn Slough boat tour, which was a huge success and a baby otter bonanza.