Going West is not the adventure
it used to be, no covered wagons or vast herds of buffalo. You just buy
a ticket and hop on a plane. We did just that in October, to visit family
and friends and to see a part of the country that I've never seen before.
We arrived in
San Francisco on the Columbus Day weekend amidst a fair amount of celebration.
As we neared the airport, the pilot announced that the Navy's
Blue Angels were in town and to avoid any mishaps, we would be routed around the city to approach the runway from the north. This gave us a chance to circumvent the Bay
area, and since it was unusually clear, we could see everything, including the Golden Gate Bridge.
When we got the
ground shuttle, the driver said the traffic was heavy in the city because
of the air show which was to start in an hour. We arrived at our B&B,
Annie's Cottage on top
of Russian Hill and were delighted with the accommodations, we highly recommend
it if you are need of a quiet place to stay that is also convenient. We
quickly changed clothes, grabbed the camera, and ran up the hill to see
the Angels soaring out over Fisherman's Wharf below. They came in from
the south, buzzed the Wharf area, split up and disappeared in all directions.
Then, as fast as they had vanished, they came at the city from all sides,
seemingly threading their way though the hills, coming together over the
Bay. What a welcome to this city. We continued on from Russian Hill down
toward all the tourist activity sites--Ghiradelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf,
then passed Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world, on our
way back up the hill. We topped the evening off with a walk to Chinatown
and a very delicious meal.
The next day we rented some bikes outside Golden Gate Park and pedaled
out to the beach, up to the Cliff House, and back through the Park. One
of the most unusual things we stumbled on in the Park was the Casting Pool
.
We had to get a look at this. There were several fly casters out there
casting to targets in the water. The water is shallow, so there are no
fish! I don't go very many places without taking a fly rod, but this trip
was one exception. Alas, I was not able to try the pool. The rest of the
afternoon was spent visiting an old friend of Susan's who is the proud
proprietor of Four
Corners Antiques, a small but very popular antique shop not far from
the Park. We then took every form of public transportation SF has to offer
back to the B&B. Our hostess recommended Rocco's
Seafood Grill for dinner since it was just a short walk and good food.
Well it didn't disappoint. We had one of the best meals we have ever experienced.
In the morning Susan's sister, Michele, joined us for breakfast. They caught
up on a lot of lost time. After much hugging and kissing, we said good-bye
to Michele, picked up a rental car and headed north to Marin County.
Some trees grow bigger on the Left Coast than the East. We spent the
afternoon hiking through the Muir Woods.
This is an old growth forest that has never been harvested. As you can
see the trees are huge by normal standards, although north of this forest
are larger ones. This night we stayed at Mountain
Home Inn, a semi-posh establishment on a ridge below Mt. Tam. One side
faces toward the ocean, the other, where all the rooms are, faces out over
San Francisco Bay. We viewed the sunrise from our bed as the fog rose off
the Bay in the morning and crept up through the valleys.
Day
four -- we left the Bay area and drove south along the coast. The views
are breathtaking, but if you're driving you really ought to keep your eyes
on the road! There are plenty of turnoffs along the way to pull over and
admire the view. If you're lucky it won't be too hazy. The road takes sharp
turns, wandering down toward sea level in some places, then up a hundred
feet or more along the edge of steep cliffs. In october there are few beachcombers
and traffic is light. It may be different other times of the year. Once
you approach Big Sur, the road veers inland. Now you are surrounded by
forest rather than ocean and steep hills.
Tonight's stay was at Big Sur Lodge,
which is more like a motel in the woods. There are miles of hiking trails
in these woods, taking you along cold mountain streams and up high ridges.
In the evening we had dinner at Nepenthe
at a bar overlooking the Pacific. The deal here is to have dinner and watch
the sunset.
In the morning we hiked Valley View Trail up past Pfiefer Pfalls. From
the top we could look out to the Pacific and across to other ridges in
the park. Big Sur is a fairly isolated area of the coast. The residents
here tend to be a tougher breed, many of whom have lived in this area for
generations. In fact there was some resistance to the construction of the
coastal highway through here. Some thought easier access to these woods
from Los Angeles to the south and San Francisco to the north would ruin
the neighborhood. If you are hiking these hills you will see that there
are a lot of remote homes set way back from main roads and high above on
the ridges.
After we left Big Sur the terrain became flatter, the land covered with
huge farms. Artichokes are a big crop here. The road is closer to sea level
although it doesn't hug the coastline. During our stop in Monterey, we
visited the Aquarium. This one is much
larger than the New England Aquarium, having something like five huge tanks.
The star of one of the tanks was a 700 lb Ocean Sunfish, which was released
only weeks after we left. He was getting too big to feed! Another attraction
that has since gone is part of the pier at Santa Barbara. Some of the structures
were destroyed in a fire. We passed through there and had lunch at one
of the now defunct restaurants.
San Luis Obispo was our next stopover. We lucked out again and found
a very charming B&B, the Garden
Street Inn, just on the edge of downtown. That night we were treated
to the weekly street fair activities. Lots of food, music, and an all around
good time was had by all. Not too many tourists up here, and the atmosphere
was very local and friendly.
The trip wound up in Los Angeles where my son is starting an acting career.
As of this writing, he has appeared in at least two syndicated TV shows
as well as some bit movie appearances. We had front row seats to see him
perform on stage aed in at least two syndicated TV shows
as well as some bit movie appearances. We had front row seats to see him
perform on stage at the Knightsbridge
Theatre in Old Pasadena. We spent five days in the City of Angels.
Liam and his girlfriend Moira gave us the deluxe tour -- from the Vasquez
Rocks to breakfast at Cantor's in Hollywood. We took a day trip to
the San Diego Animal
Park and then hurried home to meet Todd at the neighborhood sports
bar the catch the Patriots lose to the NY Jets (bummer). On our last day
of our west coast adventure, we headed to Santa Monica beach. We rented
bikes and had a wonderful ride down the beach -- stopping at the famous
Santa Monica pier and pumped some iron at Muscle Beach. To top off our
visit, we met Liam after work (Moira was unable to join us) and headed
toward Sunset Strip. Ate dinner in a lovely, quiet restaurant (for all
you ER fans, Eriq LaSalle was sitting about 15 feet from us) and walked
across the street to The Laugh Factory for some...
More hugging and kissing good-bye, and the next morning it was off to
the friendly skies and head back to the other coast. Until next time...
