What an 'Extreme' week

Ty Pennington and his small army of 5,000 workers and countless semi-trucks were in Fresno this week to build a new house for a lucky family. They shut down most of the neighboring streets and fans were bussed in from the nearby civic center parking garage. The start of construction was delayed earlier in the week due to a cold and wet morning. However, we hope all went well as today is the day when the family returns and sees the transformation. We don't know anything about the story, since the show will air in March. Our guess is the mom lost her kids to a dinosaur that stomped around the city. We unfortunately could not see nor hear Ty, we think he was hooked up to a coffee IV at the local starbucks. We did get to catch a glimpse of Michael, shown in the picture below. It was a sight to see so many people working in such a small area. They truly must have some good neighbors because people were walking through yards all week. The noisy generators must keep some of them awake as well because they were loud! They apparently didn't mind because some across the street put up lawn chairs on their roof.

Trip to the coast!

Two months after leaving Florida, we finally made it back to the coast.  However, this one is a little colder, but worth the sacrifice of our fingertips.  We camped in a state park in Big Sur, a little bit south of Monterey.  It was incredible to see how the land stops suddenly, and gives way to giant cliffs of rock and sand as it meets the Pacific.  The sound of the waves crashing against the earth were thunderous, even at a distance of several hundred feet!  We could only tolerate watching the surfers for a couple of minutes before having to head back to camp and make some hot cocoa.  The wildlife was out in full force, as we awoke both mornings to a pack of deer outside our tent, and large groups of otters right below us in the top picture.  We also hit up Monterey, and check out the famous aquarium and Cannery Row, which has turned into shopping/dining/nightlife area.  The sun was out all day, and literally a warm welcome to below freezing temperatures.  The sun disappears two hours from the coast, and we returned back to our dreary skies and cloudy weather.  Yes, that is our tent and humongous fire we created from two sticks in the picture below.