Off To California

Poststructural Pub
1

Well, vacation time at long last! With the value of the dollar profoundly in the can (where it belongs, given this country’s karma), I talked the wife down to a domestic stray. We’ll be leaving the east coast for the west on Friday.

The rough plan is to spend a few days in San Francisco, and then venture south to see Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and end up in San Jose. Ten days in all.

We’ve compiled some rough notes, have a few gotta-see targets, and have hotel reservations for most of the nights. Still, this is new turf for both of us. Does anyone have advice or tips that might help us?

Also, is the California pipe-bomb thing about played out? I seldom bring mine when I travel, but I really do want to fit in. :slight_smile:

2

I’m glad you’ve got Monterey & Carmel on your itinery - its been a couple of decades since I was there but some of the highlights were the Oceanarium; scuba diving off Canery Row in the kelp forest and seeing giant limpets; and the gorgeous monterey pines along the coast. Oh, and don’t forget the sea otters they are so cute!!

I’m sure you’ll have a great trip!

JW

3

If you haven’t been there before, I would really recommend visiting Yosemite valley, if even only for a couple hours.
At this time of year all the waterfalls are going strong (they change quite a bit from season to season, some disappearing altogether in Fall).
It’s really one of the most breathtaking places on Earth.

4

It’s funny you bring this up as I posted something similar a few weeks ago. I am leaving for vacation this weekend for 10 days. I plan on hitting up Big Sur and Monterey on the way up. Never been to either but I definitely did want to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My main point of interest is Humboldt county north of San Francisco. I am purposely avoiding the big cities like Los Angeles and San Fransisco. I hope you have a good time!

5

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is definitely a must-see. Another fun thing to do is take the self-guided walking tour of the adobes in downtown Monterey. If you’re going to be there for a couple of days, it can be fun to rent a bicycle and follow the bike trail from Monterey to Pacific Grove, via Cannery Row (which also takes you past the Aquarium) I also highly recommend visiting Carmel Mission (Mission San Carlos del Rio Carmelo) – sometimes called “The Queen” of the historic California missions. Fr. Junipero Serra is buried there.

A wildlife/bay cruise, from either Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey or the Municipal Pier in Santa Cruz, would be money well-spent. The bay is teaming with wildlife…you’d be sure to see sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters, and, if you’re lucky, dolphins, whales or orcas.

If you’re a little more adventurous, renting a kayak and doing a tour of Elkhorn Slough, out of Moss Landing, is also very worth doing.

If you’d like to see some beautiful redwoods, come up to either Henry Cowell State Park or Big Basin State Park here in the Santa Cruz mountains, just a few miles outside of the city of Santa Cruz. In fact, I highly recommend a day trip to our area if you can swing it (Santa Cruz is just 40 miles north of Monterey, on the northern tip of Monterey Bay). Santa Cruz is a fun and funky town, a little like a baby Berkeley!

In San Jose, I recommend The Tech Museum of Innovation. Also, about an hour or so (I think…it’s been a few years) south of San Jose is San Juan Bautista, which has an excellent living history set-up near it’s mission.

I hope you’re planning to drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco. The scenery is breathtaking!

If you like, I can post a listing of sessions and other music happenings in the area. I edit the local Comhaltas newsletter, so I have information on most of 'em.

Redwolf

6

And remember those big yellow things on the ground out there are not bananas :laughing:

7

Lark in the Morning in SF is worth a visit.
I believe it’s not terribly far from Fisherman’s Wharf.
SF is a great city to walk around in and it is very
beautiful.

Berkeley is also lovely–the campus is one of the most
beautiful in the world and telegraph ave is a trip.
You can reach this from SF without driving,
by subways.

Also there is a Lark in Mendocino, to the north.
The drive north up the coast road (Highway 1)
is wonderful and Mendocino is a sight to sea,
pun intended.

If it was me I would go to LA too, to see Jon C.

8

Also, about 30 minutes north of San Francisco is Muir Woods National Monument which I will be visiting on my way up. It is one of the few remaining Old Growth Redwood Forests (along with Big Basin as mentioned above) left in the US. Although Muir Woods doesn’t have the tallest specimens, Redwoods represent the tallest tree in the world.

9

Yes, and there are magnificent redwood forests on the
way to Mendocino.

10

Yes, indeed. When I was a child, I always used to beg to go down Highway 1 when we’d visit California, as the old Redwood Highway is one of the most beautiful drives on earth.

If you do go up or come down 1 toward Mendocino, take the scenic by-way (the old Highway 1 route). The forest is just…well, beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. Pull off anywhere in one of the groves and just follow the trails away from the highway a bit…maybe find a little mountain stream…and just be in the moment for a while. Closest thing to heaven on earth I’ve ever found.

One of my favorite “tourist traps,” if you will, is Trees of Mystery, in Klamath, near Crescent City. It’s actually quite educational, and a pleasant break in a long drive.

And yes indeed…don’t mistake one of our banana slugs for a banana. My daughter, who had to kiss one as an initiation rite at camp, tells me they don’t taste very good at all! :laughing:

Re: Lark in the Morning…it is indeed near Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s actually in The Cannery, just a couple of blocks off the Wharf.

If you go down to Fisherman’s Wharf, be sure to go out onto Pier 39. It’s always crowded, but at the end of it is a fantastic view of both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Also, coming down on the Wharf side of the pier, you’ll see a huge group of California Sea Lions, who, for some reason, moved in there after the big 'quake in '89 and never left.

Another San Francisco attraction I highly recommend is Alcatraz. If you want to do that, you’ll want to buy advance tickets and have them held at will-call, as the trip is very popular.

Redwolf

11

If you can shake it…take a 2 hour drive north up through Napa and taste some wine!!

Napa is the best this time of year.

I might sneak my wife away this weekend for something like this…

12

Thanks, all. We actually did get to SF and Napa Valley about 7 years ago, and have seen Alcatraz, etc… So the coastal route is the main focus this time. I’d love to get to Yosemite, but it’s not likely this time. (We’ll just have to come back!). The Aquarium is definitely on the list, though.

:party:

13

go tide pooling (at low tide) -several places, half moon bay is good.

walk across the Golden Gate Bridge - at least half way

Bill

14

One thing I DON’T recommend is the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. It’s a rip off, IMHO, and not worth the time, unless you’re just dying to see where the Pro-Am takes place every year. You can’t really see any of the houses. The scenery is pretty, but so is the scenery just about everywhere else in Monterey County. The famous “Lone Cypress” was actually killed by lightening a long time ago…there’s a new one been planted there, but it doesn’t look a thing like the one that’s on all of Monterey’s promo literature. It is kind of nice to see the oldest growth of Monterey Cypresses in the world, but I don’t know that it’s worth the admission price, plus driving at 10 mph behind hoards of tourists. If you want to see the famous European black-tailed deer that the Del Montes imported to stock the forest, you can see them just as easily in Pacific Grove (they love to hang out in the golf course and the cemetery in PG, and I’ve even seen them downtown!)

BTW, I’ve been seeing LOTS of dolphins in the bay recently…many quite close to shore. Something to keep your eyes peeled for. Too bad you didn’t come last week…the bay was full of gray whales (again, many coming close enough to be seen quite clearly from shore). The migration’s pretty much finished for this year, though…I haven’t seen any this week at all. Still, often we get visited by blue or humpback whales and orcas, so I still highly recommend a boat tour of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.

Redwolf

15

Speaking of Junipero, if you like gin that’s the place to get it. I don’t think you can find it back east here.

16

Junipero gin is good, but we have one out here that’s even better: Sarticious. Makes the best martini you’ve ever tasted.

Redwolf

17

That’s cruel! So cruel! I might as well be living in a dry state! :laughing:

18

Ah, well…I’m an Anglican chorister. We live for gin. And, well…sing for gin. Seriously. Not only do we gather for gin and tonic after every rehearsal, we even hold a gin tasting for our fundraiser. Gin R Us.

Redwolf

19

Oh and I remember seeing a humming bird - just gorgeous.

Are they a California speciality or do they occur all over the US?

JW

20

They are everywhere but California has a number of different species, even in the heart of SF. Lombard St. is a good spot. I always get strange looks when I walk around that area with binocs hanging from my neck.