Jumped on the Redwood highway - 101 and made for Crescent City. Rolled in just in time for some awesome seafood (and remember, this is coming from a coastal New England girl) at the Chart House. You know it's a good sign when you find a dilapidated building packed with locals chowing down.
After dinner, we came out and heard a noise somewhere between a dog barking and a cat coughing up a hairball. Methinks there might be seals round these parts, but it's too dark - will have to return and investigate tomorrow!
I was slightly put off to find Tsunami-surviving directions in the hotel welcome book.
We awoke to a beautiful, crisp morning resplendent with seals, crashing waves & other delights. I don't know when the last time was I saw Mr so happy (and that's saying a lot as he's been pretty darn amicable since the whole leaving his job thing). He found a walking stick/baby seal clubbing wand (don't ask).
After combing the beaches, we took off for some more 101 fun. Drove up to where the Klamath River dumps out into the ocean, saw some elk & walked the "Cathedral of Trees" path at the Redwood National Forest. Stopped again in McKinleyville.
Noshed in downtown Arcata and came back in time to watch the last of the sunset from a rise over the ocean. Bliss!
Kept trekking south and hit the Avenue of the Giants in Pepperwood. Redwoods are incredible, but think Mr is od'ing on them a bit.
It is an interesting mix of beautiful, old growth and strange tourist traps. We passed the "Legends of the Big Foot gift shop" Curt asks if he should stop to get me a pair of panties that say "assquatch" on them, I'm all set with that, but reassure him that I will not judge if he wants them for himself. Tragically, we do not stop.
The next area we hit is Wine country - Windsor specifically. Neither of us feel much like wine though at 10 in the morning. Plus, they keep rainbow Snoopy in prison - clearly not drunk enough for that! They had a cool community garden and a nice Himalayan restaurant. Some strange tension - maybe it's the locals vs. summer tourists or something. The place seemed all set up for wealthy people to drop some serious dough, but the people working/living there seemed really sad or angry.
On to San Francisco - yeah baby!
Drove into sunshine and gorgeous views. A bit of traffic, but Curt's getting pretty decent at not losing his mind around the masses in their cars.
Made our way to the Castro district and then up the hill to beautiful Aunt Beth's. She is a cool bean! Wish we were closer, but then we wouldn't get to visit her awesome place:)
Seriously, she spoiled us rotten on dungeness crab, prosecco, beautiful salad, bread, pie, tea, you name it + wonderful stories about traveling the world, family lore and catching up on our lives since the last time we saw her (at our wedding back in the dark ages!)
Drove into sunshine and gorgeous views. A bit of traffic, but Curt's getting pretty decent at not losing his mind around the masses in their cars.
Made our way to the Castro district and then up the hill to beautiful Aunt Beth's. She is a cool bean! Wish we were closer, but then we wouldn't get to visit her awesome place:)
Seriously, she spoiled us rotten on dungeness crab, prosecco, beautiful salad, bread, pie, tea, you name it + wonderful stories about traveling the world, family lore and catching up on our lives since the last time we saw her (at our wedding back in the dark ages!)
She packed us up with goodies galore and we headed off to Emeryville to spend the night with the wonderful Roger! There is something almost magical about being around him that is difficult to describe. He was a friend of my parents, but also was always my friend too. Just one of those great people that always will root for you. So, I am ashamed to say that we didn't get a picture of him. Guess we were too preoccupied catching up.
Crashed at his place - splish splash (our first night ever sleeping on a water bed) and woke up early the next morning to a bit of fog. Yes, even the fog in San Francisco has it's charm (esp when it burns off after only a couple of hours) Went out to the Golden Gate bridge where I managed to get out half way before feeling wobbly.
Started feeling hungry and drove back over to get some breaka at Crepes on Cole before walking up to Buena Vista Park and down to Haight-Ashbury. Curt was impressed that he had to go up a hill leaving the truck and up another hill to get back to it. Maybe impressed is the wrong word - more like annoyed.
Ooh, get this - my phone would not let me take a picture of the street signs - claiming it was a trademarked image. Fortunately, Mr's had no such hangups. So, now a picture I might have skipped on is definitely going up here. C'mon hippies, sue me, I dare ya! Oh, wait, that image is owned by Disney? Okay, nothing to see here. No, really, I would never post it - swear on my hamster's grave.
Made our way back to Golden Gate Park. Beautiful with people doing Tai Chi and one crazy dude in the back dancing around with various weapons. Here is Highlander with his sword.
Walked thru the Japanese Garden and had some tea
Went thru the DeYoung museum which inspired our creative consciousness
Met back up with Roger and he took us over to Cafe Colucci for some Ethiopian dinner. Such a treat to have his company as well as to eat somewhere so good and like nothing we have back at home. If only Katy and Ama had been there too.
We rounded out our San Francisco experience by heading down thru Silicon Valley and meeting up with some work friends of Curts at Oracle. It was fascinating to see (thank you Karin for the tour!) and to hear about the culture there. She took us to a delicious lunch and I have to admit that it was quite an insight. I always wonder how Mr is professionally - turns out he just behaves about the same with everyone. Hmnn. Who knew I had such a stable mate? It is alarming to think that I might be the crazy one (clearly I'm not thinking clearly:)
I really want to come back here soon - not Silicon Valley, but to get to see Sausalito, Point Reyes, Berkeley and up into Sebastopol to see Starfinder and his clan. I can't believe we didn't make it over there. He's one of my oldest friends and we haven't even met his gorgeous wife, let alone his ridiculously cute kids.
Heading south along the coast holds no charms for Mr. While I would have loved it, I am ready to start east again. So, made our way down the central valley and over to Bakersfield. What is there to say about the central valley. It's seems to be a popular trucking route and where there are way too many groves for the obviously limited water supply.
Bakersfield is known for agriculture and oil. It has quadrupled in size over the last 20 years or so. Asking one resident what we should do/see there elicited the response that we'd do better to just keep going on to Vegas as there is nothing, whatsoever to do in Bakersfield. Nice.
So, we took that advice and spent the next day driving thru the Mojave and on to Las Vegas. Viva!
Kind of a strange thing to go from the desolate into the mad, sensory overload. Both had their charm, but don't think I could put up with either for too long (or at least I wouldn't want to - and as we all know, it's about what I want all the time!)
I will recommend not hitting In-n-Out burger. We'd heard good things, and gave it a try. On this, our maiden voyage, we split a burger and felt blech for hours. Honestly, it made McDonalds seem like good eats. That takes a real effort (or perhaps a real lack of effort?)
I was also a bit snippy having kicked a tumble-weed at a rest stop. Who knew those suckers had giant prickers that can stab thru sneakers? Evil, dead plant. Grouch, grouch.
There were lots of beautiful of Joshua Trees, mesquite and yuccas (so much harsh vegetation - I am afraid and staying in the car), while other places looked like the surface of the moon (in my mind). Passed a sign for Zzyzx - have to tuck that one away for Scrabble!
Eventually, we began seeing signs for casinos and then for houses of ill repute. Incredible to see this city spring up from the sands. Another grand adventure clearly awaits, but since this post is turning into Serena's 'War and Peace' I'll leave it for another time. Thanks for your patience by the way:)
Crashed at his place - splish splash (our first night ever sleeping on a water bed) and woke up early the next morning to a bit of fog. Yes, even the fog in San Francisco has it's charm (esp when it burns off after only a couple of hours) Went out to the Golden Gate bridge where I managed to get out half way before feeling wobbly.
Started feeling hungry and drove back over to get some breaka at Crepes on Cole before walking up to Buena Vista Park and down to Haight-Ashbury. Curt was impressed that he had to go up a hill leaving the truck and up another hill to get back to it. Maybe impressed is the wrong word - more like annoyed.
Ooh, get this - my phone would not let me take a picture of the street signs - claiming it was a trademarked image. Fortunately, Mr's had no such hangups. So, now a picture I might have skipped on is definitely going up here. C'mon hippies, sue me, I dare ya! Oh, wait, that image is owned by Disney? Okay, nothing to see here. No, really, I would never post it - swear on my hamster's grave.
Made our way back to Golden Gate Park. Beautiful with people doing Tai Chi and one crazy dude in the back dancing around with various weapons. Here is Highlander with his sword.
Went thru the DeYoung museum which inspired our creative consciousness
Met back up with Roger and he took us over to Cafe Colucci for some Ethiopian dinner. Such a treat to have his company as well as to eat somewhere so good and like nothing we have back at home. If only Katy and Ama had been there too.
We rounded out our San Francisco experience by heading down thru Silicon Valley and meeting up with some work friends of Curts at Oracle. It was fascinating to see (thank you Karin for the tour!) and to hear about the culture there. She took us to a delicious lunch and I have to admit that it was quite an insight. I always wonder how Mr is professionally - turns out he just behaves about the same with everyone. Hmnn. Who knew I had such a stable mate? It is alarming to think that I might be the crazy one (clearly I'm not thinking clearly:)
I really want to come back here soon - not Silicon Valley, but to get to see Sausalito, Point Reyes, Berkeley and up into Sebastopol to see Starfinder and his clan. I can't believe we didn't make it over there. He's one of my oldest friends and we haven't even met his gorgeous wife, let alone his ridiculously cute kids.
Heading south along the coast holds no charms for Mr. While I would have loved it, I am ready to start east again. So, made our way down the central valley and over to Bakersfield. What is there to say about the central valley. It's seems to be a popular trucking route and where there are way too many groves for the obviously limited water supply.
Bakersfield is known for agriculture and oil. It has quadrupled in size over the last 20 years or so. Asking one resident what we should do/see there elicited the response that we'd do better to just keep going on to Vegas as there is nothing, whatsoever to do in Bakersfield. Nice.
So, we took that advice and spent the next day driving thru the Mojave and on to Las Vegas. Viva!
Kind of a strange thing to go from the desolate into the mad, sensory overload. Both had their charm, but don't think I could put up with either for too long (or at least I wouldn't want to - and as we all know, it's about what I want all the time!)
I will recommend not hitting In-n-Out burger. We'd heard good things, and gave it a try. On this, our maiden voyage, we split a burger and felt blech for hours. Honestly, it made McDonalds seem like good eats. That takes a real effort (or perhaps a real lack of effort?)
I was also a bit snippy having kicked a tumble-weed at a rest stop. Who knew those suckers had giant prickers that can stab thru sneakers? Evil, dead plant. Grouch, grouch.
There were lots of beautiful of Joshua Trees, mesquite and yuccas (so much harsh vegetation - I am afraid and staying in the car), while other places looked like the surface of the moon (in my mind). Passed a sign for Zzyzx - have to tuck that one away for Scrabble!
Eventually, we began seeing signs for casinos and then for houses of ill repute. Incredible to see this city spring up from the sands. Another grand adventure clearly awaits, but since this post is turning into Serena's 'War and Peace' I'll leave it for another time. Thanks for your patience by the way:)
