My birthday in Nederland

When we were trying to decide where to drive for on Sunday I wanted to try somewhere in a different area than we normally go. Plus, my mom and dad were coming so I didn't think we should really go off-road. Carl had been on a bike trip up Golden Gate Canyon to Nederland and we figured that would be a scenic drive that was all real roads. The problems was that the canyon wasn't all that scenic and most of it had signs saying you had to pay if you stopped anywhere along the road. It was kind of lame. I jumped out of my seat and snapped one pic of a flower when we stopped at a bathroom. Lame-O.

We get up to the town of Nederland and it was actually pretty cool. It was full of hippies and bike riders (mountain bike and motorcycles...).  There were cool old shops and a big river running through the middle of town.

Door leading to nowhere? Check!

Random poster of a tiger? Check!

Then I spotted a sign that said there was a carousel. We walked over and there was an old train car and a huge working antique carousel. It was actually really cool. Carson couldn't have had more fun.

Next we found some of the oldest tractors I've ever seen. They were enormous, but once again, Carson was in heaven.

Me, Carson and my Mom and Pops :)

Then it came time to find somewhere to have lunch. Carl insisted that he has heard about the "German influence" in Nederland and that there was a good German restaurant there. Of course he spotted it as soon as we pulled into town. I don't like German food, but it said there was American too so I figured it would be fine......

Why not have a large plant and water feature in the middle of your German cabin/restaurant??? Huh?

Carl was in German beer heaven:

And they were so nice to Carson. They brought him homemade applesauce and candy. Then this REALLY old waiter kept talking to him and when I told him to just bring him some water he said something about a "moon man" and walked away. I didn't know what to expect after that. They came out with a Shirley Temple for him. Connection? Apparently that's what he needed, but it did keep him occupied for a very long time.

The bad part about lunch was.......my lunch. I ordered oven baked chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies. Sounds just fine, right? Wrong. The chicken looked like they caught a robin out back, cooked it and then gave me half of it. I got one little ice cream scoop of potatoes and there were two pieces of broccoli and cauliflower. I literally laughed out loud when they set my plate down. And it really didn't even taste good. My mom's lunch was really really bad too.

By the time 4:00 rolled around I was already starving. Carl made the fatal error in suggesting that I make a Digiorno for dinner. Um, no. Not on my freakin' birthday when THAT was what I had for lunch! We went down to Real de Minas for Mexican food that couldn't be any better. It was the right way to eat on my birthday. And yes, I get to be a spoiled brat for one day a year. :)

Carson and Grandpa after dinner:

Carson had a blast with his grandpa for the last few days. He brought him his first real baseball mitt so guess what we've been doing all day every day since!?!? My dad finally has his boy to play sports with. You know I sure wasn't doing it!!!! haha

And I KNOW I said I wouldn't post any more photos of the sky, but but but look at this one! This was the sunset when we got home that night.