I
started this entry still jet lagged but buzzing after our 3-week road trip in
California and am finishing it now a month later, after accidentally losing the
first version.
Instead
of doing the usual day-by-day summary, I'll do a short summary of everywhere we
went and save several hours of me typing and you reading so we can just get to
the pretty pictures!
Staying with Bex & Jon in San Jose
We
spent 4 nights with Bex (who I lived with in Balham years ago) and Jon and
their 2 children at their house in Saratoga, San Jose (the heart of the Silicon
Valley). As well as having lots of time to catch up, they kindly let us
base ourselves there while we did a couple of side trips. Bex cooked for us on
a couple of nights, hosted a BBQ with friends, and called in their babysitter
so the four of us could have a night out together. Lots of great wine, a
special Bahamian Delight cocktail care of Jon and some great food (and the
accompanying headache the next morning!). It was wonderful to see where Bex is
living now and check out the local neighbourhood of Saratoga and Los Gatos.
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The only pic we took of all of us
(in a funny booth in a pub) |
San Francisco
What
to do in SF with just one day? We started with a ride on a cable car up and
down the famous hilly streets. We explored Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 and
had (an unfortunately average) lunch in the area. We found it very touristy and
tacky so moved on quickly.
In
the afternoon, we checked out Lombard Street (crooked street), the painted
ladies (famous row of houses) and then walked through the Lower Haight area
which we liked much better. Walking through the streets I enjoyed the
architecture - lots of timber, gabled homes and art deco styles. It was a nice
day exploring, particularly in the afternoon. Everyone has such great things to
say about San Francisco. I think either we didn't spend time in some of the
better parts or we simply didn't have enough time to get under the skin of it.
Or maybe it just wasn't for me.
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| Riding the cable car |
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| Powell & Hyde Cable Car |
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| Downhill to Pier 49 |
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| Alcatraz in the distance |
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| Pretty streets |
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| Afternoon cocktails |
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| Lombard Street |
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| The Painted Ladies |
On
our drive back from Napa Valley (see below), we drove over the Golden
Gate Bridge. It was quite exhilarating as it feels enormous going across
it. We stopped off for a better view of it.
We
also popped into Muir Woods which is just on the outskirts of
SF. It has one of the largest Redwood tree standings in the region and our only
real chance to get up close to them. They aren't the tallest and roundest redwoods
in existence but still pretty impressive.
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| So tall |
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| Muir Woods |
Wine Country – Napa & Sonoma
Sonoma, a small country town, was our base for this visit. We
headed straight to Arrowood Vineyard when we arrived in the afternoon for a tasting
on their verandah and later had a walk around and popped into a tasting room in
the town.
For our big tasting day we went to Napa and took Uber taxis around the area. We spent two hours at a
private estate called Ehlers with a
great host and really enjoyed the wine tasting (we brought a bottle back to
London). We had a delicious lunch was at a restaurant called Cook in St Helena.
Afterwards we went to Merryvale with a large indoor tasting room, and Sterling
which has a cable car to get up to their tasting area which was fun. The wine unfortunately
wasn’t as impressive as the morning.
That evening there was a farmer’s market in the Sonoma plaza
(aka town square) with food stalls and live music so we spent the evening
hanging out with the locals there. It ended up being one of our favourite evenings.
The driving was very pretty - green rolling hills and
vineyards, including the Silverado Trail
which is a particularly scenic drive. We stopped in at another cute country, Calistoga, on our way back too.
I have to give a shout out to Gott’s Roadside diner. Very yummy burgers and shakes. We popped in
there twice for lunches – much needed after all those wine tastings.
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| Arrowood Vineyard |
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| Ehlers Estate |
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| Lunch at Cook |
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| In the cable car at Sterling Vineyard |
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| Great lunch spot |
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| Lunch at Gott's |
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| At Sterling Vineyard |
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| In Sonoma |
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| Hanging out with the locals |
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| The farmer's market in the plaza |
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| Vineyards |
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| Passing scenery |
Yosemite
It was a
four-hour drive to Yosemite through lots of orchards and farmland, and pretty
countryside. The drive into the park itself was impressive alongside the
rushing Merced river dotted with big boulders and lined with pine trees, and
then before you know it the imposing El
Capitan appears high above and we were passing Yosemite waterfall.
We stayed
nearly an hour’s drive outside the national park in a tiny country town called Groveland. It meant more time in the
car, but was definitely a better experience than the touristy hotels in the
park. On the way to the hotel we were incredibly lucky to spot a Brown Bear by
the side of the road! He was smaller than I thought, so was maybe a cub.
For our
second day, we did a big walk – 4.5 hours – up Vernal Falls (getting soaked through from the spray on the way up
and then on the way down again too), and then continued up Nevada Falls. 6000 feet up was the source of the waterfall which we
watched rushing over the cliffs. It was strenuous at points but definitely
worth it. The view was great up there.
Yosemite
definitely lived up to my expectations from the black and white Ansel Adams
black and white photographs I had seen and loved.
We ate
breakfast burritos in a little café for a couple of mornings, had the local
Mexican for dinner one night and another at the Iron Door Saloon – apparently
California’s oldest Saloon.
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| Ollie outside the Iron Door Saloon |
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| Our hotel in Groveland |
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| Stopped in an old gold rush town called Jamestown on the way back to San Jose |
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| The only gold rush references |
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All the country towns have a very rural, Western movie vibe to them
(almost like Toowoomba!) |
The coastal route
Our first
pit stop after leaving Bex & Jon for the last time was Monterey. We stopped
for fish and chips at yet another touristy pier and a walk around the town. The
best part was the pretty landscaped shoreline we walked along.
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| Windy fish and chips |
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| Monterey pier |
Next up was the drive from Monterey down to Carmel on the ‘17 Mile Road’ a private road through Pebble Beach golf course. The unofficial start of our coastal drive. It was very pretty with loads of wildflowers and a few seals.
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| On the 17 Mile Road drive |
Carmel is a super cute town – tree-lined
streets, very well kept, pretty gabled houses and a long white sandy beach. We
were hoping to run into Clint Eastwood who used to be the mayor of the town but
didn’t. We were upgraded at our hotel and loved our stay there. It was our base
for 3 nights while we drove up and down the coast.
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| Carmel Beach |
We drove
all the way down the Big Sur,
Pacific Highway 1 route, and back again over the next couple of days. The
mornings started foggy and then cleared to full sunshine by the afternoon. There
was a lot of pulling over in laybys to take photos, and stopping at lookouts
along the way. We stopped in at Garapatta Beach, Bixby Bridge, Pfeiffer Beach
(with purple sand!), McWay Falls and Parkington Cove. Due to recent fires,
floods, and mud slides lots of the longer walks I’d planned for us to do were
still closed. The whole drive was lovely. It felt a lot like California's version of the Great Ocean Road.
On the
south end of the drive close to Ragged Point, was a stretch of beach packed
with sun bathing sea lions. It was fun to watch them – they’re full of
character. And make a lot of noise and smell a lot too! Seals, sea lions and
otters are all very common in the area due to the feast of seaweed all along
the coastline.
There was
quite a bit of good eating and drinking over these few days. Nepenthe and
Mission Ranch for drinks, Big Sur bakery for lunch, and dinners at La Balena,
La Bicyclette and Cantina Luca.
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| Lunch at Big Sur Bakery |
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| Mission Ranch |
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| The view from Nepenthe (almost felt Mediterranean) |
Heading south to Santa Barbara
To get a
bit of culture we drove south via one of the 20 odd Spanish missions in California
set up by the Franciscans. San Antonio
Mission turned out to be in the middle of an army fort which was a novelty.
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Rural scenery driving south
(a bit like Queensland) |
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| San Antonio Mission |
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Huge rose garden in the centre of the mission
Minutes drive away there are now tanks, helicopters and troops of marines training.
One of the volunteers is an army wife. |
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| Shady cloister |
The town
of Paso Robles was our next stop.
Just there long enough to pick up a coffee and snack and pop into some shops
but it made a good impression.
Next up
was the uni town of San Louis Obispo
(SLO). Ollie really wanted to try a BBQ place there. It was a sports bar with
huge portions and the food was great.
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The most enormous meal, ever. Or at least that day.
Don't worry, he didn't eat it all. The tri tip beef sandwich was delicious! |
We needed
to break our journey south so stayed in
Pismo Beach. It’s a small surfing town that has very little appeal other
than its cinnamon rolls which we had for breakfast before high tailing it out
of there!
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| Dusk at Pismo Beach |
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| Sunset down on the beach |
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| Famous cinnamon rolls |
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| Very sweet! I couldn't finish it. |
Then it
was on to Santa Barbara. Another
great town. As soon as we arrived we headed downtown. We stumbled across an
excellent ice cream shop, McConnell’s, and then stopped for shrimp and calamari
at the pier (the first nice pier). We hung out at the beach and wharf sitting
in the sun before dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
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| Third time lucky, a nice pier in Santa Barbara |
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Santa Barbara in the background.
The city is nestled between the mountain range and beach. |
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| Stumbled across the best ice cream in town. Dessert first. |
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| Fresh seafood snack |
Our next
day was one of my favourite of the whole holiday despite a minor hiccup. We had
a wine tasting day in the Santa Ynez
Valley where a favourite movie of mine, Sideways,
was filmed. We took an Uber an hour away to our first stop, Foxen Vineyards
(from the film). It was here we discovered there was no network for our phones to
work and Uber isn’t really present. The staff at Foxen saved the day by ordering
us a taxi tour guide who looked after us for the rest of the afternoon.
With a
few different recommendations we changed our itinerary for the day. Next up we headed to Demetria. It was the prettiest setting with a terrace under trees overlooking the vineyards and countryside. We relaxed there with a wine tasting and ate the picnic we’d brought with us. After that was a modern tasting room at Andrew Murray.
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Starting the day with a hearty breakfast.
Note the eggs benedict comes with a side of fruit. |
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| Rose at Foxen Vineyard while we wait for our taxi |
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| In the vineyards |
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| View from Demetria |
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| Under the trees having our wine tasting |
Then a pit stop in the cute town of Los Olivos. We had a snack here (at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant Café also in the Sideways movie) and then bumped into some of the staff from Demetria winery so joined them for beers in the pub and an oyster with prosecco that they were eating from the back of their ute. Hanging out with the locals was a lot of fun.
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| Los Olivos, late afternoon |
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| Los Olivos |
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| Stopping for a pint |
The
absolute highlight was dinner that night at the Hitching Post from the Sideways
film. The meal was superb classics - prawn cocktail, beef, chocolate cake. I
had so much fun being there, and drinking a glass of red wine at the same bar
Miles does in the film.
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| Here it is!! |
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| Dinner at the Hitching Post |
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| And a glass of red in the bar ("Not drinking fucking Merlot") |
I woke up
the next morning at 4am to watch the Royal Wedding of Harry & Meghan! We
had a good brunch (several hours later) to fuel a ‘red roof tile’ walking tour
of Santa Barbara. We wandered around the ‘Funk Zone’, an up and coming artsy
cool area and enjoyed wine tasting and jazz in the sunshine. Dinner was at a
great restaurant at The Lark.
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Brunch at Scarlett Begonia cafe. Another huge breakfast!
(My hair has gone a bit crazy.) |
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| Very Spanish feel to the old part of the city |
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| From up here you can see all the red tiles! |
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| The attractive main street |
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| Funk Zone |
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| Wine and jazz in the sunshine |
Before
heading off the next day we had a delicious brunch at Hardwear Café.
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| The Agave Inn (our accommodation) |
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At brunch.
Instead of my eggs and avocado on toast, what is this a photo of?
Caps on inside! Clearly very acceptable in the States. |
Desert Life
We set off
to the desert on what turned out to be the only ugly, industrial drive we
really took. The scenery quickly changed when we arrived in Palm Springs and took an Aerial tramway
– the world’s largest rotating (yes, it spins) tram car - from the desert up 8,500ft
to Mt San Jacinto. Built as a respite from the heat back in the 60s it’s much
cooler that high up.
We checked
into our accommodation (an Airbnb called The Amado) which turned out to be a highlight
of the trip. We had a late picnic lunch by the pool with a bottle of rosé and
later Mexican for dinner and cocktails in a speakeasy bar.
One of the
main reasons I wanted to go to Palm Springs was for the modernist architecture.
We started by walking around some of the homes on foot but quickly realized
that wouldn’t work with the distance to be covered (the city is very spread
out) so jumped in the air-conditioned car instead. We saw different buildings
across a couple of days. I liked seeing them all but really wanted to go inside.
Mostly we could only peek over the gates and down driveways! We did pop into
the Public Library which was very cool and calming.
We had a
fun night out playing bingo and trivia hosted by a drag queen and drinking
margaritas with two American couples we joined.
Another of
our favourite days was spent all day by the pool, having lunch in the apartment
and a BBQ for dinner there too. We played scrabble, read and watched movie.
After all the action of our holiday, it was nice to have a break doing nothing!
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| At the top of the mountain after taking the Aerial Tramway |
We went straight into the National Park when we arrived and started with the Hidden Valley walk. It was weird, wonderful and oddly pretty. Like a desert garden, and sometimes reminiscent of Japanese gardens. Ollie and I both loved it. It
turned out to be our favourite walk in the park. The ranger said it was very dry this season so there weren't many wildflowers about.
Advance warning of a lot of desert photos...
The Hidden Valley Walk...
Over the two
days we did the Barker Dam and 49 Palm Oasis walks and a hike up the Ryan
Mountain trail. We stopped in at lookouts and highlights – Cholla Cactus
Garden, Skull rock, Jumbo rock and White Tank. We saw the sunset from Keys View
lookout overlooking the Coachella Valley. The park scenery was so unusual and
fascinating to see.
(1000 feet up, 2.8 miles)
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| An afternoon hike up a mountain |
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| At the top |
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| Brown, dry and rocky as far as you can see |
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A rattle snake!!
We didn't hang around long after this was spotted by another couple. |
Sunset in the park...
We stayed
in great place just outside town that was a bit like glamping. We slept in a
very comfortable Airstream caravan. There was a ‘clubhouse’ with a kitchen, a
couple of separate bathrooms including an outdoor shower. It was very cool and
a different experience to have. We would have liked another night there to
enjoy it more.
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| Our airstream |
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| The bed |
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| The little table, and kitchen that isn't in use |
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| Some reading time for Ollie |
Sunset at Keys View...
We ate
very well in Joshua Tree in the cafes and saloons. Every meal from breakfast to
dinner was good. Great fish tacos and ribs at the Joshua Tree Saloon topped the
meals. A live music night out at Pappy & Harriet’s was fun too (we didn’t
like the music much but the food was great).
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| Great sandwich and burger here |
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| Fish tacos and Ribs at Joshua Tree Saloon. So tasty! |
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| Breakfast at Frontier Cafe |
The last leg, LA
After
three weeks, it was on to our last destination. We were only ever going to have
a short amount of time in Los Angeles
so we didn’t try to do too much. We drove straight to the Griffith Observatory for the view over the city and to see the
Hollywood sign (it took over an hour to find a car park).
We stayed
in Melrose neighbourhood so spent the evening doing a little bar crawl and
having a last Mexican dinner there which was a fun last night out.
For our
last morning in California, we had breakfast and a little wander to Melrose Place (of 90s TV fame). And
then it was onto the airport for our flight home.
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| Griffith Observatory |
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| Welcome to Hollywood! |
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| I get the feeling this is just a very small part of the city |
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| Cocktails at the hotel's Record Club |
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This place has been in loads of films including Swingers
We went to the bar for a drink |
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Mexican for dinner
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| Melrose Place! |
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