Bring Your Own Crustacean (BYOC)

November 12, 2005

This was a tremendous day. As the week was progressing and Saturday was approaching, I was feeling very tired and weary and not sure if I was up to the task of spending a day mountain biking and then partying the night away. Thank goodness I was too tired to come up with good excuses and just went with it.

The premise was that a bunch of us were going to go biking in Point Reyes National Seashore and then hop over to Inverness for a party hosted by Josh Greenough and Margo Hasselman (fellow frisbee folks). The party was BYOC, you had to bring your own crab (or crustacean, as we chose lobsters instead). And then, Matt Tolcher had the great idea of slipping in a trip to an oyster farm post-biking and pre-party, so that was thrown into the mix.

So, on Saturday morning, Heather Brown, Gail, Ashley, Wendy and I met up at my house and finally got our butts in gear and on the road. We made a brief stop on Clement street at the Seafood Center to grab some lobsters, and we we were on our way. We made it to the Bear Valley Visitor Center in Point Reyes and after a super helpful Q&A with the staff there, we decided to do an out-and-back ride on Bolinas Ridge Trail from Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

It worked out that there was a small hiking group, and then the biking crew consisted of Matt Tolcher and 6 ladies: Bea, Wendy, Gail, Heather, Ashley and Alex Beer. Lucky dawg. So, the second meeting of Girls' Biking Club (GBC) was more like GBC + Tolcher.

Gail and Bea before the ride

Taking a breather mid-ride to absorb the wonderful scenery

The girls: Alex, Heather, Bea, Gail, Ashley & Wendy with Tomales Bay in the background

Tolcher and Alex, so cute...wait a minute, there's no hugging in mountain biking!

We put in an 1.5 hour ride, which was perfect. At 3 pm, we said good-bye to Heather (who had other plans...sucker), and loaded up Ashley's car and Tolcher's VW van. We drove over to the Hog Island Oyster Company farm in Marshall (on Hwy 1).

Post-ride pit stop at Hog Island Oyster Company

Turns out, it costs $10 per person to enjoy their grilling pits and picnic area and they close at 4 pm. So, we set up an impromptu picnic in the parking lot, which has a pretty nice view too. We chose the small Sweetwater oysters, which cost $40 for 50 oysters--what a deal!

Shucking oysters turned out to be more fun than I imagined, especially because Tolcher & Alex brought all the things necessary for a good oyster time:

1) an oyster shucker
2) towels to hold the oyster as you shuck (although this didn't help Wendy much, as she shucked her hand)
3) oyster mignonette
4) lemons--for oysters and for Pacifico!

Gail, Tolcher, Ashley, Wendy & Alex. Shucking oysters, slurping with a yummy mignonette, and washing it down with Pacifico

Alex Beer, digesting some Sweetwater oysters with some fine vino

A beautiful sunset over Tomales Bay

After the sunset and subsequent drop in temperature, we went from the oyster farm to Greenough's family "cabin" in Inverness. The "cabin" turns out to be a helluva place for a crustacean fete. The house was full of frivolity (no doubt due to the 35+ gallons of beer on the premises) and there were plenty of folks feasting on wonderful, wonderful crab.

One of two wonderful hosts, Josh Greenough...is it me, or is this the best apron ever?

We got our lobsters in line for the boiling pots and Wendy chose her metal skewer to insure that the lobsters were free of latent sea water before their demise. There were four 2-pound lobsters for me, Wendy, Ashley and Will, and a 1.5-pounder for Gail. They were monstrous!

Wendy taunting one of the 2-pound lobsters, prior to giving them a skewer enema

A boiling, watery death for five delicious lobsters

Batch & Web (wielding a particularly threatening can opener)

Mike Payne & JonZ discussing strategery and setting up their Beirut pyramid o' beer

After witnessing a few rounds of Beirut (a drinking game involving beer, a ping pong table and a ping pong ball), a few folks gathered in the kitchen for a game of Blockhead. I knew nothing about this game, but there seemed to be a lot of excitement in the room, especially from the Jam boys. It's like Jenga, only the wood pieces are all different shapes and colors and there are slightly different "rules". The blocks were all named by Jam and these names included such brilliance as "Senor Log", "A-Rod" and "Son of Tetris". You could be come a "Square", a "Character" or a "Blockhead". If you're really interested in the rules, you can find them here.

Blockhead, the lesser-known adopted cousin of Jenga, makes its appearance at the party--Tolcher separates "The Twins" from the rest of the pieces

One of the many creative and mind-blowing configurations of Blockhead pieces, where a particularly challenging placement of the "Twins" disrupts the color scheme

John Remucal, Gail, Wendy and Ashley--clearly feeling as if it's 2 am when it's really 9 pm

Jenny and Nate, the Millers on their way to adorable arm-in-arm wayward staggering

A huge kudos and THANKS! go to Josh and Margo for putting on a fantastic party, you guys are amazing!