After a brief poke around Ana Nuevo, where we decided against the three hour walk out to see the elephant seals mating, and a quick stop at a lighthouse we set off in search of the the Winchester house which was built in an attempt to confuse the vengeful spirits of rifle victims, and is now a rickety complex directly off highway 280 in San Jose that you can tour for $20 a pop. Mrs. Winchesters belongings had been sold off decades before so mostly it was a walk though the empty house with a guide who focused intently on Mr. Ps mom for a good part of the tour directing all his corny jokes and rhetorical questions to her personally making pretty much everyone uncomfortable. However at the beginning of the tour the lens cap did pop off the camera and landed a good four feet behind Mr. P which he took as a sign to photograph every bare lathe wall and floor board in the house in search of photographic evidence of the next world. Two hundred pictures later he didnt have even one ghost to show for his efforts. So far we were 0-2 for confirmed spirit encounters and by the end of the day we were all left underwhelmed by the grandeur of the Winchester house. Maybe we should have gone down to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, at least we would have seen leaning brooms.

Anyway we drove back to town to spend the night in San Francisco before taking off to wine country the next day. I had work to do but Mr. P took them out for a German meal at a restaurant frequented by hipsters and hippies in equal parts in an up and coming section of town which to my complete surprise they loved.

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