We’ve come to the end of our American trip. It’s been fantastic. Meeting our new American family in New York and Los Angeles. Doing and seeing so much. Here’s a selection.
That’s all Folks!
Category: California
Lombard Street
Our Los Angeles family told us we really must visit Lombard Avenue while in San Francisco, so we duly did. It is described as “the world’s most twisty road”. Not sure about that but it is a short, steep and very wiggly road lined with colourful flowers, including 2000 hydrangeas. Cars are continually driving up it, tourists with cameras peering out of the windows. We chose to walk down the steps at the side. It was very pretty and once again we had some lovely views of San Francisco.
Orpheum Theatre
After delicious meal at the Grove restaurant on 3rd Street – one of several we had there during our stay – we went to a lovely old theatre, Orpheum Theatre which features a vaulted ceiling and a beautiful façade, apparently inspired by a 12th century cathedral. There we saw a really good musical called Company which had previously been on in the West End in London. It was directed by Marianne Elliot and the acting was superb.
Golden Gate Park
We took a bus to Golden Gate Park, which is enormous, we could easily have spent a day there. We walked through a beautiful rose garden and a Japanese tea garden and also visited a really interesting art gallery, the De Young museum. Most of the works were by American artists, such as Thomas Moran, who are well known in America but who we had never come across before and the themes of the paintings were interesting, many featuring scenes from the Civil War. We also went up to the top of the De Young tower where we had a great 360 degree view of San Francisco. (click on the images to enlarge)
Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge
Not far from our hotel we happened upon Blazing Saddles, a bike hire shop so we hired e-bikes and cycled along the coast to the Golden Gate Bridge stopping for a coffee along the way where we saw a heron (it’s tradition to see a heron on our bike rides). As is often the case, the bridge was covered in cloud as we rode across and it was actually quite chilly but we soon warmed up when we arrived in Sauselito on the other side. After another delicious empanada at Copita Tequileria y Comida, we cycled up the coast a bit and then inland to the Old Mill Park in Mill Valley where we saw lots of giant redwood trees and huge very expensive looking houses hiding in the sides of the hills. We then cycled back to the coast passing lots of houseboats which looked nothing like those on our canals. They were more like actual houses built on concrete slabs sitting in the sea. We put our bikes on the ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf and that evening treated ourselves to margaritas at Barrio, a restaurant on the waterfront.
San Francisco MoMA
We spent a day in the Museum of Modern Art, getting there as soon as it opened. So much to see and take in. What a wonderful place.
William Scott – This work spans the whole of one wall of the ground floor of SF MoMA. It’s William Scott’s largest painting to date. The full name of the painting is “Praise Frisco: Peace and Love in the City” It is one of a series of commissions by local artists. To find out more click here
There was so much art work – paintings, installations, textiles, you could spend days wandering around taking it all in and then going back again. Here are a few samples. (click on the image to increase the size)
Such a fantastic place.
Monterey
In Monterey we stayed at the Monterey County Fair RV site. The site had water, electricity and ‘sewer dump’ on the pitch and then toilets and a shower. When the fair ground has events the RV site evidently gets very full, but when we were there it just had a few other vans, some smaller, and some huge. The people who ran the site were extremely friendly and helpful. It was fairly close to the centre of town and a bus ride took about 5-10 minutes and was very cheap.
Whale watching
Whilst in Monterey we went out for a morning with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch. Monterey has a submarine canyon close to the shore which reaches a depth of two miles. This creates a special environment providing food for deep water species of whales, dolphins and sea birds. Evidently this unique canyon makes Monterey Bay the best place in the US to view a variety of marine animals all year long.
It was difficult to catch photos of the whales. You’d see a spout and then the whale could be seen turning in the water and going back down to feed. We saw a mother with her baby, and the guide explained that the mother gives birth further south in warmer waters. They stay in the warmer waters while the baby is feeding solely on the mother’s milk and during this time the mother has no food herself. She fasts for several months, until the baby is old enough to swim north to the bay where the mother can feed herself and wean the baby by teaching it how to catch food. The baby stays with the mother for about one year and then is mature enough to go off on its own.
Here are some photos from our trip. All the whales we saw were humpbacks but we also saw an albatross with its huge wings, brown pelicans, sea lions and seals.(click on the images to enlarge).
Bike Hire
We hired e-bikes in Monterey and cycled along the coast, along part of the 17 mile drive, as far as Spanish Bay. There were lots of golf courses along the way – often, to our surprise, with deer grazing on them. The coast line was stunning, very rocky with white sandy beaches and crashing waves. As we set off we saw seals resting along the harbour walls and further along we aw some furry seals and their pups resting on the beach. All along the way the roadside was covered in pretty pink flowers.
On our way back we passed through Cannery Row which was given its name in honour of John Steinbeck and his novel of the same name. In the past it would have been full of sardine canning factories but now it is full of gift shops and restaurants.
Big Sur
Part of Highway 1 (the Pacific Highway coast road) was closed because of rock falls due to the heavy rain earlier in the year, but we drove down for the day from Monterey. The coastline is amazing with rocky coves, crashing waves, forests dropping into the ocean. There was one place where it was possible to drive down to a beautiful beach where dozens of people were enjoying the sunshine. As we were leaving more people were arriving to see the sunset.
We hiked along one of the paths into the forest up to a waterfall. When we stopped to eat our lunch we were joined by a beautiful Steller Jay perched on the edge. As we walked we were surrounded by huge redwoods reaching to the sky.
The redwoods are extraordinary trees and here is some further information about them.
Finally we had some refreshments at Nepenthe a delightful restaurant, cafe and shop in the woods. The place is owned by family of Kaffe Fassett and the shop contained colourful displays of works using his materials.
A brilliant day.
Carmel
While we were staying at Monterey we took the bus to Carmel, a very pretty town a little further along the coast. There are flowers everywhere, in all the public spaces and in the many perfectly tended gardens. There are also lots of “fairytale” houses which look a bit like the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel. They were built in the 1920’s by a man called Hugh Comstock.
We were told that Carmel-by-the-Sea, to give it is full title, is rated the Number 1 dog friendly town in America and we certainly saw a lot of dogs, clearly all pedigrees and all immaculately groomed.
As well as strolling round the town we took a walk along the beach and enjoyed the beautiful soft white sand.
Carmel Mission
A friend who grew up in San Francisco told us we should try and visit a mission while in California, so we made our way to the Carmel Mission Basilica which was founded in1771by Father Junipero Serra, who is buried there. Spain built a chain of 21 missions across the length of California each approximately a day’s horseback journey apart. The Carmel mission had a very pretty garden and two museums, one with artefacts which had belonged to a prominent Monterey family, the Munras family, the other with artefacts, furniture, documents etc from the mission itself. Extracts from Fr. Serra’s diary were on display, talking about how helpful the indigenous people who had converted to Christianity had been, but themuseum did not seem to have any critique about the impact of colonisation on native Americans.
Santa Barbara
In Los Angeles we picked up the RV (motorhome) and arrived at our first stop, Santa Barbara, in early evening. The next day we walked along the beach, passing lots of sailing boats moored there until we reached the town centre. We then walked up the very pretty main street of Santa Barbara, State Street. It’s a pedestrian street with lots of palm trees, restaurants and interesting little shops. We had delicious empanadas in a Mexican restaurant and then visited the famous court house, which is still in use as a court house but is open to visitors. The building is in Spanish Colonial style and was completed in 1929 after the previous courthouse was completely destroyed in the 1925 earthquake. Like many of the buildings in Santa Barbara it has red tiled roofs, white stucco walls and various balconies. Inside it is gorgeous, with terracotta floor tiles, ceramic tiled walls and lots of interesting paintings showing historical scenes. It also has the amazing Mural Room featuring scenes from Santa Barbara’s history. It is such a beautiful building that it is frequently used for weddings – including that of US Vice President Kamala Harris -and a wedding was taking place in the garden on the day we were there.
