California Dreamin'
 

TRIP REPORT
California Sept 17th to October 6th 2010
Flight from London Heathrow to San Francisco 17th Sept.
Return SF to Heathrow overnight 5 Oct arrive Wed 6th Oct.
Itinerary:
17-21 Sept San Francisco
21-23 Sept Yosemite National Park
23-24 Sept Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP
25th Sept Bakersfield (overnight stop)
26th Pasadena
27th-28th Santa Barbara
28th-30th Cambria (visit Hearst Castle)
30th- 2nd Oct, Pacific Grove
3th-5th Oct. Santa Cruz

Who? active couple in their 60s (R. and M. accompanied by Emily Sat-Nav and Daniel Sat-Nav (an incredibly helpful pair).
Why? Man always dreamed of driving the Big Sur in classic American sports car. Lifelong fan of the Beach Boys. Woman keen to see more of America and see some sunshine after a poor summer in the UK.

First impressions- flying in over the Bay it looked as though we might land on the water. SF Airport - clean, clearly signed, easy to find the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train to downtown AND the self service ticket machines worked!
Took train to Powell then walked the five blocks to Sutter.
We had reservation for 3 nights at Hotel Rex on Sutter. Room on 7th Floor. Tried to open suitcase to unpack but the combination lock wouldn’t open. R. took suitcase down in the elevator to reception to ask for help. In the basement a large Hispanic man prised open the lock. Was hoping I’d have to buy a whole new wardrobe but hey!
Just around the corner on Powell we ate at Sears Fine Foods. “Penne a la Powell” was tasty, substantial and full of carbs. (pasta, roasted mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach) accompanied by a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.


Our first full day in SF.
Walked to ‘Lori’s Diner’ on the corner of Sutter and Powell for breakfast, Front part of an Edsel car took up part of the diner- all red leather seats and chrome gills. Named after Edsel Ford, Henry Ford’s son my husband informed me.
“Nothing but eggs” omelette came with hash browns and toast. R. chose Eggs Benedict,
On Powell pan-handlers occupied every corner, holding up their scrawled cardboard signs: “War Vet., please help” or ‘Family to Support’ or ‘Please, I need some weed’ (at least he was upfront about it)!!
We bought 3 day MUNI pass ($20) at the kiosk in Hallidie Plaza ( corner of Market and Powell) which covers buses and cable cars. We certainly had our moneys-worth as we criss-crossed all the city by bus, using the $3 dollar bus route map.

We headed for the Wharf and jumped on a bus going in roughly the right direction. We were the only Europeans on the bus which was packed with Chinese people, all with shopping bags. The bus emptied at Stockton where the banks, restaurants, and shops with their Chinese signs looked like downtown Beijing.

At Pier 39, seals congregated whilst crowds of people took photos – who was watching who?
Alcatraz was partly obscured by the fog and I was amused by a notice advertising a book on Alcatraz. Its USP (selling point) seemed to be that it was ‘signed by former inmate’ who could have been anybody!
As the early morning grey skies and drizzle began slowly clearing we took a bus to Fillmore Street. We ate at a popular café called ‘Grove’ where we took a table in the window. Bustling friendly service. Granola with strawberries and banana & freshly squeezed OJ

Afterwards we explored the area known as Pacific Heights with its delightful Victorian architecture and great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Our leg muscles will be like iron by the end of this holiday- steep 25% streets. A guided walking tour was just arriving at the Haas-Lilienthal House, a preserved and furnishes 1886 Queen Anne with its fanciful turrets and gables. Walking round by Lafayette Park we stopped to admire the Spreckels Mansion, formerly the home of Adolf Spreckels, a sugar baron and now belonging to Danielle Steel, the romantic novelist.

Nob Hill is the area of SF which centres on the intersection of California and Powell. Four well-known and expensive hotels are clustered there: The Fairmont, the Mark Hopkins, the Stanford Court and the Huntington, The
Grace Cathedral is opposite the Fairmont. It’s modern, with spectacular stained glass and a Chapel dedicated to AIDS victims. We recognised the cathedral’s doors as copies of the Ghiberti doors of the baptistery in Florence. Mind you, the Baptistry doors are themselves copies as the originals are now preserved in a dry temperature controlled environment.

On the bus again heading to Mission the feisty woman driver announced
“Listen up, people. I will NOT be going down O’Farrell. I’ll be taking Eddy.”
At one of the stops there was a wheelchair user waiting to get on alongside a woman with baby in buggy and small boy.
The driver leaped out of her seat, slammed back one of the passenger benches to accommodate the wheelchair and asked the small boy:
“D’you wanna drive the bus?”
From Mission we walked to the Museum of Modern Art SFMOMA. Architect: Mario Botta
The special exhibition was photographic views of SF from 1935.
In the main collection I discovered the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn. I’d never come across his oevre before. Abstract expressionist paintings such as the ‘Ocean Park’ series have beautiful soft colours suffused with that special Californian light, and full of allusions to the sky, the ocean, hills bleached by the sun and architecture with sharp angles and dark shadows.

People watching in SF
• Guy in his 60s getting on to the bus- pink goatee beard and matching Mohican.
• Woman in café- seen from the rear….. black stretch extremely short shorts, knee length black socks, expensive leather boots and jacket, long blonde hair. When she turned round, the pouting lips and tight expression indicated surgical enhancement.
• Guy standing by parked car, talking on the phone, large blue and green parrot on his shoulder.

Woken at 2am by what sounded like a riot in the street below. We are on the 7th floor with the windows closed. Our room was on the side of the building so we couldn’t see into the street to see what was going on but could hear a crowd shouting , screaming, chanting almost drowning out the police car sirens.

Next morning there was no indication that anything had happened.

www.sfcityguides.org
A guided walk round Haight-Ashbury. Dull grey skies but it looked promising so we left without umbrellas or jackets. But the drizzly rain grew heavier at times and the generally murky conditions persisted.
Took bus from Market to Haight Ashbury where we met our guide and a group of around 20 people at Park Branch Library on Page. Excellent 1.5 hour tour with an experienced guide. Free but donations welcome. Suggested donation $5.
Types of Victorian architecture demonstrated: Queen Anne Tower houses- fanciful creations with ornate cornices, all gingerbread flourishes and turrets; Stick houses with their square bay windows, turned columns and tall profiles and Italianate influenced by Italian Renaissance style.
The tour included lots of references to famous names from the 1960s when Haight Ashbury was the centre of the “Summer of Love” in 1967.chitecture of Janis Joplin, Country Joe MacDonald, Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
Lunch in ‘Coffee for the People’ on Ashbury.
It was still distinctly chilly and the mist/rain was soaking us so we headed for the “Goodwill Store” where we bought a fluffy fleece for me and a jacket for R. Total $12.49 ($5 discount because we were seniors). Our server: a tall black transvestite in a red wig.
There was a comedy session going on in Golden Gate Park at the end of Haight Street where stand-up comedians played to a small crowd sitting out in the rain.
The De Young Gallery in Golden Gate Park was designed by Herzog and De Meuron. The building has a dark copper façade which is perforated apparently to replicate light filtering through trees. It is a dramatic sight and complements its park surroundings. The copper should change colour over time as it oxidizes. On one corner of the building there’s a 144-foot tower that spirals from the ground floor and there’s a public observation floor which affords panoramic views of the Bay area.

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“Cesario’s on the corner of Mason and Sutter for dinner. Good penne alla melanzane. Piling on the carbs after all our exercise.
Californian Cabernet Sauvignon

Interesting report.

Greetings fellow road warrior! Hard for me to read ‘dear diary’ trip reports, but yours is like a good read out of a travel mag. Thanks!

Are you related to Stu? :)

For all you hotel hounders: Heading to SF next weekend for cousin’s wedding and got into 4-star for $89 – Priceline! Duuude!!

Looking forward to visiting uncle, hall-of-famer handball champ (South End Rowing Club) who just got a pacemaker in his late 80’s. Unc needs to slow down his game a bit!

We rarely get out ‘cept to the Haufbrau in Morro Bay for Saturday lunches and quick swims at Hearst Castle’s Neptune pool (last month). But enough with the boring central coast grind.

Tell us more!

Lat full day in SF
The Hotel Rex could only accommodate us for 3 nights so I had made a reservation at The Golden Gate Hotel on Bush for our last night.
Checked out of the ‘Rex’ and wheeled our bags just around the corner to Bush. It was way too early to check in but a pleasant young man took charge of our bags and when we returned later in the day they had been taken up to our room. “The Golden Gate” was a charming small hotel with an antique elevator from 1913, all brass panels with enamelled pictures of cats & dogs on its ceiling.

Russian Hill
First stop …..Lombard St ( the wiggly bit) seen in many movies. There’s a steep section which is just one block of tight hairpin bends. Each bend is bordered by lush flower beds, bright with pink hydrangeas. The hairpin bends were born out of necessity because of the street’s 27% incline which made it difficult for vehicles to negotiate.

“They built a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down, and they're not satisfied with you killing yourself that way—they put grooves and curves and everything in it, and they put flowers there where they've buried the people that have killed themselves. Lombard Street, wonderful street." From a Bill Cosby sketch

Down to Ghirardelli Sq (nothing to detain us there!!)
Wandered along Hyde Street Pier where lots of old wooden ships are moored including the “Eppleton Hall’ from Newcastle upon Tyne (North East England) which is a Paddle tug of 1914, built South Shields
On Pier 39 we perused the menus at restaurants but they were all serving more or less the same thing. We chose to eat at ‘Pier Street Market’
recommended by the “SF Chronicle”. The clam chowder served in a hollowed-out sourdough loaf was excellent. Fortified, we made for ‘Blazing Saddles’ to collect our hire bikes. The first part of route was tricky—along the waterfront on an unfamiliar bike, negotiating traffic and people wandering across the bikepath. The route alongside Crissy fields leads to the Golden Gate Bridge, by early afternoon clear of the morning’s fog. After a tough hill from the “Warming Hut” we were at the entrance to the Bridge. Today pedestrian and cycle access was on the east or city side of the bridge. I am pretty nervous about heights so it’s not the most relaxing bike ride I’ve ever had. 1.7 miles in length it’s perpetually busy with streams of traffic heading on Route 101. A steep hill took us down to the waterfront in Sausalito, a snug little place of boutiques and restaurants. We dropped into ‘Poggio’ for drinks and slices of cake to replace all those calories before taking the ferry back to the city. The sun was setting as we crossed the Bay painting the water in stripes of pink and purple.

You paint a very vivid picture in my mind LOL good reading.

Did you get a room with a shared bath at Golden Gate?

No- we had our own bathroom. I liked the homely atmosphere at the Golden Gate and the lovely little parlour where they served breakfast. We shared tables and it made a very friendly sociable start to the day!

Yosemite National Park
Staying at Yosemite View Lodge at El Portal (2 miles from western entrance to National Park)
Hire car: (Thrifty) Ford Mustang 4.2 litre convertible

4 + hours to get to El Portal from SF Airport
$20 entrance to National Park- valid 7 days

Short re-fuelling stop at garage in Gustine
Mariposa- pretty place (45 miles west of the Yosemite Valley)
Yellow hills, windmills, ranches and poor farms
Signs en route:
“Home of the Superbowl Sod’
“Contact Mr Ticket….” (he will get you off paying your parking fines)
“We toss ‘em, you eat ‘em, they’re awesome!” (Pizza ad,)

Yosemite View Lodge
The shop sells nothing you’d want to actually eat.
Vegetarian ? Nah!
Healthy meal in the Lodge restaurant- pizza, beer and icecream EEEK!

I love the photographs of Ansel Adams and I’d seen other illustrations of Yosemite but nothing can prepare for the real thing, As you turn the corner and majestic El Capitan stands before you, rising sheer from the valley floor, you quickly run out of superlatives! The convertible with the hood down was a real bonus as we drove the 7 miles to the end of the valley rendered speechless by the dramatic views that opened up on both sides. We left the car at the Yosemite Village and walked through the pines to the Ahwahnee Hotel. Built in 1927 from local stone it has a grand style and is decorated with Native American motifs. The hotel’s site was once a village for the native Miwoks. It’s surrounded by the icons of Yosemite: Half Dome, Glacier Point and Yosemite Falls, yet stands in a meadow with maximum exposure to the sun. Worth a visit as you can get a drink even if you’re not a resident.
We’d read that the most spectacular view of the Valley was from Glacier Point, 32 miles from the valley floor and at the top of a 3200-foot cliff. The road passes Tunnel View where we stopped for a stunning view of El Capitan and the valley beyond with the pinnacles and domes jagged against the sky.
You can hike to Glacier Point along the Four Mile Trail which sounds easy enough but having ventured a little way along the trail from the Glacier Point end I realized that I hadn’t taken into account the altitude which left me breathless after walking less than a mile. At Glacier Point the valley floor lies directly below the viewing point, the cars and buses like miniatures along the road by the winding river Merced. Across the valley there is the most dramatic view of Half Dome. In the late 19th century Half Dome was declared ‘inaccessible’ although the summit was reached in 1875 by George Anderson by drilling and placing eyebolts into the smooth granite surface. These days climbers can make the summit by following a 8 mile trail from the valley floor, then a 2 mile approach including several hundred feet of granite stairs with the final pitch up the rounded east face using post-mounted steel cables. Not for me, I fear- no head for heights!
Half Dome is mesmorising- you simply cannot stop looking at it but we tore ourselves away eventually. Back at Tunnel View the photographers were lining up their tripods for the perfect sunset shot of the peaks and pinnacles bathed in golden light.
Wildlife spotted: Squirrels, hawks, variety of bird life which we couldn’t identify) Climbers on El Capitan (takes 5 days to climb so they sleep at the rock face!)

We wanted to do some walking next day, having got our bearings. We made for the trailhead car park for John Muir Trail. The path went through stands of redwoods into an open fen where a boardwalk led through ferns and grasses. Dragonflies and butterflies flitted by, making us feel we were in the middle of “Avatar” (the movie). Our walk was to Vernal Falls reputed to be 2.6 mile round trip. I think those American miles are longer than English ones!! I found it a tough walk- climbing, climbing all the way, the last bit is tricky with people coming down the narrow stone steps so that you have to give way. We set off about 9.30am whilst it was still cool. By the time we were coming back down the trail was super busy and people were obviously feeling the heat. There’s a wonderful pool up above the Vernal Falls called the Emerald Pool, justifying its name with the sun shining on the water.
Wildlife spotted: Squirrels; Steller’s Jays, blackbirds
Bears (but only on warning notices)

Your report on SF is great -- really paints a picture of this city!! Sounds like you had a jam-packed and fun time here.

Next morning we reluctantly left Yosemite. We drove through the Park from El Portal entrance to Wawona exit which took well over an hour. Late breakfast at a diner on the main route through Oakhurst. Highway 41 to Fresno. From Fresno we joined highway 180 and began to climb. On the map the road looks relatively straight. Believe me, it is not! I was driving the Mustang and hanging on for dear life as it wallowed round sharp hairpins. The mountain road reached 7000 feet before we arrived at Grant Grove Village 5 hours after leaving El Portal. Confusingly Grant Grove is part of Kings Canyon National Park within the Sequoia National Forest.
We were staying at the John Muir Lodge in GG Village. We dropped off our bags and headed on to Panoramic Point. Before us the snow capped peaks of Great Western Divide peeled off into a hazy distance. Lake Hume, a turquoise oval, lay below surrounded by miles of forest. Smoke seemed to be rising as though there was a forest fire but a guy at the viewing platform told us that it was pollution rising from Central Valley. The walk of 300 yards from the car to the viewing spot had me breathless and I was starting to worry about my fitness until I saw that the elevation was 7250 feet!!
Grant Grove is named after the General Grant Tree which stands amongst other giant sequoias in a concentrated stand of sugar pines, cedar, black oak and dogwood. The height of the tree is truly amazing (about the height of a 25 storey building) and it’s reputed to be about 3000 years old.
The Fallen Monarch lies on its side. Its fire- hollowed trunk has been used as saloon and also as stabling for U.S. Cavalry. Nearby is the Gamlin Cabin, a traditional log cabin where the Gamlin brothers lived whilst exploiting their timber claim. I found the giant sequoia grove a spiritual place. In the early evening light it was as peaceful and hushed as a church.
Back at the John Muir Lodge we shared the large lobby with other vacationers, reading and playing cards before retiring to bed. However, it wasn’t such a peaceful night as the “exploding toilets’ (they made quite a racket when flushed) gave a whole new meaning to the term “Thunderbox”.

Enjoying your report!! Looking forward to the rest.

Next morning we decided to drive the 60 mile round trip to the bottom of Kings Canyon which, some say, is the deepest canyon in the U.S.A. at 7900 ft. When we reached Junction View though it became clear that the smoke from a controlled fire and the pollution would completely obscure any views. So we turned round and headed out of the park towards Visalia. Emily Sat-Nav got us safely to Main Street where a queue was already forming outside Brewbakers in time for their opening up at 11.30am. The place has a history of brewing beer and serving good food. It was worth the wait!

From Visalia we joined the busy route 99 to Bakersfield. The temperature gauge in the car crept up….90, 100, 103…. So the swimming pool at the Best Western Hotel in Bakersfield looked most welcoming. Next door to the Best Western is Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace where we wanted to spend Saturday evening as we’d read of the live country music and everyone dressed in the best cowboy gear. We phoned to make a reservation only to find that that evening was a fund-raiser for a local charity at $75 per ticket. Instead we ate at the diner next door to the hotel where we had an excellent and entertaining view of a local teenager’s birthday party guests arriving.

Bakersfield was intended as an overnight stop on the way to Pasadena where we had reserved places on the docent-led tour of the Gamble House on Sunday afternoon. The temperature that day reached 107 F. It was enough to dash from air-conditioned car to air-conditioned building. The Norton-Simon Museum was a real ‘find’. Good little café in a lovely Monet inspired garden and wonderful collection of post-Impressionists, Italian Renaissance, modern paintings as well as Asian Art. Our museum visit book-ended our tour of the Gamble House. Emily Sat-Nav did have a problem locating the Gamble House and it certainly does not advertise its presence, In England there’d be brown tourist signs from miles away but here there’s no sign at all. Built in 1908 for the Gambles of the Proctor and Gamble company, the architects Charles and Henry Greene created a perfect example of American Arts and Crafts architecture. Every last detail was designed by the Greene brothers from furniture to light fittings to design of the doors. Obviously influenced by Japanese aesthetics the house has a wonderful ambience, partly due to its use of different woods, maple, oak, cedar, mahogany and teak and partly due to the Californian sense of spaciousness. Despite the heat outside it stayed quite cool due to its open aspect and small windows. We braved the heat to wander round nearby streets as there are other examples of Greene and Greene houses along the Arroyo Terrace area. A lady walking her dog stopped to chat….the dog was a “woodle”, a cross between a wheaten terrier and a poodle. A man in the garden of one of the historic houses called to us:
“They’re mighty pretty but they sure are hard work’.

interesting and very comprehensive report. well done for your itinerary..

Pasadena to Santa Barbara

Up to this point we had pre-arranged all our accommodation but we had decided that we’d stop wherever we liked on the way north up the coast back to SF. Our guidebook told us that Santa Barbara was known as the ‘home of the newly wed and the nearly dead’. However that was not our impression at all. We checked into the Presidio Motel on State St described thus
‘ the Presidio is to lodging what H & M is to shopping - a cheap trendy alternative’. Well, it wasn’t THAT cheap but it was clean and cheerful and a helpful reception guy told us that the shuttle bus to downtown and the waterfront left from two blocks away. We made for the Wharf, trying to keep to the shade as much as possible out of the searing heat.
‘Brophy Brothers’ a seafood restaurant on the Wharf had been recommended by someone on Fodors. We expected it to be quiet on a Monday lunchtime but there was a queue for tables. Worth the wait for excellent fresh fish.

Wildlife spotted : Dolphins

In the evening we ate at an excellent vegetarian place called
Sojourner 134 East Canon Perdido (805-965-7922)
I am a non-meat eater and husband is a carnivore but we both thoroughly enjoyed our meal here. I’d describe it as a healthy gourmet café with very reasonable prices. I ate gingered tofu wonton pillows in a creamy coconut sauce with steamed vegetables and R. had chilli tempeh tacos. For dessert I chose vegan tapioca pudding and R. had strawberries with vanilla cream and shortbread.
At 10pm it was still 87 degrees F.

Emily Sat-Nav took us via Route 154 , the San Marcos Pass, through the Santa Ynez mountains to Cambria.
We decided to stop at San Luis Obispo on the way and so glad we did. It’s a delightful place and we found a great coffee shop “Linnaea’s” in Garden Street where the excellent coffee was served by a young man who looked as though he might be off to pan for gold any moment, either that or an Old Testament prophet!
Taking Highway One we were soon passing Morro Bay with its 3 power station chimneys and the Morro Rock out to sea. I noticed the sign for the “Rarely Open” Art Gallery (at least they’re honest)!!

Twenty miles north we reached Cambria and headed off the Highway into the village. We were not immediately drawn to the place. Its pretty clapboard houses seemed be trying too hard! There’s not a great deal to see or do in Cambria but it’s a convenient place to stay when visiting Hearst Castle which we planned to do the following day. And there are a number of good restaurants particularly in East Village.
We had lunch in the lovely little garden at the rear of “Indigo Moon” on Main St. A woman wearing a T shirt inscribed “Trainer Jane’s Boot Camp- Do one more than you think you can” was sitting at the next table.
Ever since we visited our daughter in Argentina 10 years ago I have had $300 dollars in traveller’s cheques which I decided to try to cash in the Bank of America on Main. The teller was about to cash them when he noticed they were Mastercard rather than the more familiar American Express. He had to seek advice from another member of staff. Soon all the bank’s staff were involved in making phone calls, discussing whether it was possible and so on. When it became obvious I could be some time, husband went off to fill the car with gas. Forty five minutes later I eventually emerged with most of the dollars (they decided $240 was the maximum they would cash) and husband, failing to operate the gas pumps, had been helped by a local guy who turned out to be an English soccer fan.
We read that many of the hotels in Cambria were along Moonstone Beach Drive. We tried the “Blue Dolphin” but rooms there started at $159. The helpful receptionist pointed us down the street to “Sand Pebbles” where a lovely room with a ‘peek of the ocean’ was $114 including breakfast.
Wildlife spotted: Seals, squirrels, large hawk
The most spectacular sunset that evening.

“Wild Ginger” Main Street for dinner. Small place serving Pan Asian food Excellent Pad Thai.

Did you get a chance to look at the elephant seals at Pietras Blancas beach, directly off Hwy 1 on the way toward San Simeon? They're quite the sight.

Yep! Coming up soon!

The sounds of the ocean must have been very soporific as I had one of the best night’s sleep all holiday. Morning constitutional along the boardwalk with pounding surf filling the air with ozone.
Lovely sunny day so we drove Highway 1 to Ragged Point. It used to be part of the huge Hearst Ranch but is now a hotel and restaurant. Wonderful views along the coast from the gardens which were overflowing with flowers, the hibiscus and bougainvillea perfuming the air.
Wildlife spotted: Humming birds, Steller’s Jays, blackbirds with red under-wings and Elephant Seals in their hundreds on the beach

We had reserved places on the 2pm tour of Hearst Castle. You can clearly see “La Cuesta Encantada” (The Enchanted Hill) from the coastal road (highway 1). Its prominent position gives it a commanding view of the whole coastline. The Castle was the ‘holiday home’ of William Randolph Hearst and must be one of the most extravagant & opulent houses in the world. It’s packed with priceless antiques- Greek vases, walls, floors, ceilings and fireplaces from European castles and churches, Egyptian statues, Moorish tiles, medieval tapestries. The main house ‘La Casa Grande’ has 100 rooms and it’s surrounded by three ‘guest houses’. There used to be a zoo of free-roaming animals: zebra, lions, tigers, bears and Barbary sheep (the latter still roam the hillside). At the end of the tour, back at the Visitors’ Centre, the movie theatre was showing “ Hearst Castle - Building the dream” which tells the story of William Randolph Hearst and includes stills and movies from the 1920s and 30s showing many of his famous guest at the Castle.

After leaving the Visitor Centre we wandered down to San Simeon itself which is roughly at the half way point between Los Angeles and San Francisco. There is little left of the old whaling station which operated from here but the old wooden pier as the sun went down was an atmospheric spot to watch a single sea otter play in the waves.


Dinner that night was at “Lombardi’s”, a family run Italian restaurant in Cambria. There wasn’t much Italian about it really, except for the rather poorly painted murals of vaguely Italian scenes but the seafood ravioli was hot and tasty and filling.

Our day for our much looked forward to drive along the Big Sur. We couldn’t see the horizon from the ‘Sand Pebbles’ windows. A murk of sea mist obscured Moonstone Beach. We drove in and out of fog all along the first part of the coast. At Piedros Blancas seal ‘rookery’, we stared down at the giant elephant seals, littering the beach like giant slugs. We drove on, passing Ragged Point where we had stopped the previous day in lovely sunshine, now hardly visible in the misty murk. We stopped at Lucia Lodge where we sat in the sunshine on the terrace looking down at……fog.
In and out of fog all the way along Highway 1, our views of coast and beaches obscured. We had intended to lunch at Nepenthe but, as the main reasons for eating there were the fantastic views we decided to save our money and continue to Carmel/Monterey. We had a brief stop at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns NP where we took the ¼ mile walk to look at McWay Waterfall which pours 50ft on to beach.

Wildlife spotted: Blue Jay; Humming birds; monarch butterflies, elephant seals

The fog made everywhere seem dull and lifeless and it was also rather chilly. Instead of ‘shopping around’ for accommodation, we took almost the first that seemed just OK. The Best Western Monarch Resort in Pacific Grove is neither a resort nor a good example of a Best Western. But our room was fine and the bathroom was clean even if it did have an overwhelming smell of bleach!

The “Red House Café in downtown Pacific Grove was just closing at 3pm so we crossed the street to “The Works” Coffee shop, book shop and giftshop which became our favourite hang-out to relax and read the papers whilst drinking their excellent Freetrade coffee.

We decided to check out Monterey. First impressions weren’t that great so we went on to Carmel by the Sea. Most people in the UK will only know of Carmel because Clint Eastwood was once the Mayor. We wandered the main street of Carmel past Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Prada, Gucci and designer clothes shops and galleries selling the most execrable art and after half an hour decided we’d seen enough.

Dinner at ‘Passionfish’ in Pacific Grove which came highly recommended in various guides. The meal was fine but nothing special. I had crab spring rolls but the sauce of pineapple and tamarind completely overpowered the crab. For an entrée I had tilapia with thyme mashed potato, balsamic butter sauce and sugar snap peas. We thought the restaurant took itself a little too seriously and put on needless airs and graces. Also the tables were so close together you feel you wanted to join in the neighbours’ conversations.

The Museum in Monterey was supposed to sell a self guided walking tour of the old town. The Museum, when we finally located it, was closed. Emily Sat Nav had tried to take us via a pedestrianised street, then changed her mind about whether we should go straight on or take a left. R. was driving and he hesitated, trying to follow Emily’s instructions. We took a left and then realised a police car was on our tail. We pulled over and waited for the officer to approach. He warned us about following the rules of the road when he heard our nervous explanation. We tried our own walking tour by following coloured tiles in the pavement (sidewalk) which was successful, up to a point. We soon got bored and found the title ‘Path of History’ rather portentous.

Back in Pacific Grove the sun put in an appearance so we made for Lovers Point and hired bikes to ride along the seafront to Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf. Jeremy, an ex-Marine, now looking after hire bikes, seemed quite impressed when we told him we’d made it to Sand City and back in our 2 hour slot.

In “The Works”, our favourite coffee shop, a woman in her 60s, sporting an all-pink outfit and with her long white hair held in ribboned bunches, regaled her friend (and anyone else who cared to listen) with tales of her recent cruise on the Queen Mary.
Across the street I could see a stall manned by two young people. A large poster proclaimed ‘Impeach Obama” Leaving husband cowering behind a newspaper, I went over and introduced myself as a visitor and told them I was interested to know why they wanted the President to be impeached.
The young woman immediately started to rant about the Glass Steagall Act. I had to stop her there and ask what that was. As I understood her diatribe it would seem that the repeal of the Act removed the separation between investment banks (Wall Street) and deposit banks. Obama voted for this and so he needed to be brought to justice. Ergo he is to be held personally responsible for the failure of banks!! The ‘discussion’ went on to other areas such as healthcare reforms, troops in Afghanistan and so on. I’d noticed that the picture of Obama on the poster had a ‘Hitler’ moustache drawn in. I told the couple that I found this most offensive and there was no way you could compare Obama to Hitler who killed millions of people. The boiled down response: ‘Obama’s killing our people………. ( ……through the Medicare reforms) ”.
In the middle of all this, a middle-aged guy rushed up to the stall demanding ‘where do I sign? Give me the petition…..let me sign”. I turned to ask him why he wanted to sign to impeach the President. Hearing my English accent, he turned to me, jabbing his finger in my face and yelling….. ‘Great Britain is dead! The British Empire is finished! You lost in 1770….” I politely requested he stop shouting. Another woman who had been listening advised me to walk away as ‘there’s no talking to some people’.

Wildlife spotted: Cormorants, seals, right wing American

Dinner at Tilly Gort's vegetarian restaurant on Central Avenue. It was very quiet, well dead really. There was only one other couple in the place. The meal was generously proportioned but not that special. Polenta for R, and veggie paella for me.