On the Road (Home) Again

Between weak wifi signals and just being plain tired, the trip home post had to wait until we actually got home. We left LA Saturday after the conference and decided to take Highway 101 to San Francisco. We were in no big hurry. Good thing. I-5 would take us up the center of California, east of San Francisco, and there didn’t seem to be much of interest along the way according to the map. In theory, it should have been faster, but evidently everyone else in the greater Los Angeles area thought so too. Three hours to Santa Barbara--about 65 miles. I don’t know where everybody went after that, but we pretty much had the road to ourselves until we got to Fisherman’s Wharf.
The first stop was the San Miguel Mission. You come off the freeway and there it is, literally at the bottom of the ramp. There isn’t a lot of the original mission left, but the five bell tower and blossoming cactus made it a very worthwhile stop.We continued upon Highway 101, which is the old El Camino Real. It’s marked along the highway with mission bells.The next mission along the way was San Juan Batista,but the exit the GPS gave us put it at 13 miles off the highway and after burning three hours getting out of Los Angeles, we decided to pass on burning an hour on another mission. Note to self--the GPS way is not the only way. When the sign for the mission came up a little further up the road it was only three miles off the highway and twenty minutes was doable.After that, it was time to point ourselves towards San Francisco and get to the hotel for the night. We went in via I-280 through San Jose and really did have the road to ourselves even on Memorial Day Weekend. We got off at the airport exit and drove along the bay right to AT&T Park.Too bad the Giants were in Seattle for the weekend instead of the other way around. We made a couple of quick stops at Fisherman’s Wharf and then stumbled upon another great place to take MORE pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our original plan was to take Highway 1 up the coast from San Francisco to Coos Bay, but with time becoming a factor, we opted for Highway 101 again. It was a beautiful drive. We didn’t realize we were going through wine country. So much of the drive the day before was through near desert conditions. Sunday was green rolling hills.We also stumbled upon these scaring looking guys passing the time on these posts. I’ve never been this close to a vulture before. (Don't worry, I was using a zoom lens.)After the grapes and the vultures, it was into the redwoods. We forked out the five dollars it costs to drive through the tree.I know it looks like one of us is standing in the middle of the road taking these pictures, but don’t worry, we set the camera for sports photography and took them through the windshield. If you take enough that way, you can get one or two that are borderline acceptable.
We also found that Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox are still around.When we got back onto the coast, it was lighthouse time again. Table Bluff Lighthouse sits in the parking lot of the marina in Eureka.The lighthouse in Trinidad is so difficult to access that the Lion’s Club built one above the bay as a memorial to those lost at sea.Battery Point Lighthouse is on a large rock in the harbor in Crescent City. At low tide you can walk out to it, but we were there about two and low tide wasn’t until six, so we had to be satisfied with pictures from the mainland.Twenty-five miles north put us back in Oregon at Brookings. A private residence above the marina has an operating lighthouse that is recognized by the Coast Guard. I’m sure there’s a beautiful view from up there, but of course there are no tours.Since this is an exceptionally rocky part of the coast, it is just dotted with lighthouses. Just north of Port Orford is the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. We stopped by there in February, but it since it was raining, we just took pictures from the parking lot, but not this time. In twenty-five mile per hour winds and heaven knows what kind of gusts, we bundled up and hiked straight DOWN the hill, then straight UP the hill to the lighthouse. We kept thinking it would be hurricane force winds at the top, but oddly enough, it was calm. The other wonderful thing was that you didn’t have to stand on a cliff to get a view of the back of the lighthouse. (That’s always a plus for me.)We drove to Bandon for the night and crossed our fingers for a nice sunset at the Coquille River Lighthouse, but a low bank of clouds limited us to a slight pink reflection to the east. Not bad, but not spectacular either.We got up Monday morning and headed north to Charleston to get a better look at the Cape Arago Lighthouse than we had on that gray day in February. Clear blue skies and low tide made it possible for Dave to hike out and get close.I took my pictures from a safe distance.We stopped by the Umpqua River Lighthouse for some blue sky shots to counter the gray day we were there in February.While we were there, we realized Memorial Day is the beginning of the summer weekend seafood bbqs at the Sportsmen’s Cannery in Winchester Bay. Fresh chinook salmon and lemonade for lunch was the perfect end to our trip.(Three of those pieces go on one order. Hmmm, hmmm good.)After that it was time to top off the gas tank, set the GPS for home, and hit the road. We saw so much, but feel like we only scratched the surface. I have a feeling northern California hasn't seen the last of us.

Our Week in Long Beach

Our time in Long Beach is about over. Dave’s spent most of his time in seminars, which is fine, because that’s why we’re here. One evening, we drove down to San Juan Capistrano--you know, where the swallows come back to. They close the gates at five, so we didn’t get to go in and walk around, but we did peer over the wallsand through the gates.I’ve become enamored with bell towers as we’ve visited the missions. I think the bell tower on the San Juan Capistrano Basilica may be one of my favorites--especially at sundown. Yesterday we took a drive up the coast and went looking for lighthouses. Remember, let no lighthouse go unphotographed. We found the lighthouse at Point Fermin in San Pedro.It’s in the middle of a park and you can walk all around it. Tours are in the middle of the afternoon, so we missed that, but we were able to take pictures from every angle.About eight or ten miles up the road is the Point Vicente Lighthouse.It is gated and tours are only given on the second Saturday of the month. We were disappointed at first, but found that the further north you walked on the trail, the better you could see the actual lighthouse.As we were leaving, we found another turnout where you can see the entire grounds from the south.I think those pictures are probably better than if you had been able to walk around the grounds and had been up close.
Last night we took a walk along the harbor in Long Beach with cameras in hand, of course. The lighthouse in Long Beach Harbor is said to look more like a robot than a lighthouse. The local Lion’s Club built this lighthouse in the parkand Parker’s Lighthouse Restaurant makes for another interesting “faux” lighthouse to photograph.No trip to Long Beach Harbor is complete without pictures of the Queen Mary Cruise Ship.Dave's conference wraps up Saturday and then we head towards home. We’ve decided to take 101 to San Francisco instead of I-5. I think there’s a possibility we could “stumble” on another mission or two. We’ll overnight in San Rafael again and then go looking for lighthouses on the coast on our way home.

The California Coast

I’m sure our drive from Monterey to Pismo Beach took longer than it should have, but when you stop every mile or so . . .
We spent some time walking around Cannery Row in Monterey before we left. It was such a gorgeous morning.We left Monterey by way of the 17-mile drive. We knew it gets mixed reviews--either it’s the most breathtaking section of the entire California coast or it’s not a big enough deal to warrant the $9.25 you pay to get through the gate.Our opinion--it was definitely worth it. It’s the only way you can see Cypress Point, Spanish Head, and Pebble Beach Golf Courses.The rocky coast and clear, clean water allowed for beautiful contrasts.And a pretty purple ground cover gave life to what can be an otherwise plain foreground.The 17-mile drive is also the home of the famous Lone Cypress, the registered trademark of Pebble Beach.After the 17-mile drive, things became more breathtaking.Wild flowers were blooming all along the way and that helped to keep all the pictures from looking the same.As we go near Big Sur a layer of clouds settled in over the water as far as you could see to the west and literally hugged the coast.It was like looking out the window of airplane as we drove along.The low lying clouds were great until we got down in them, but they can also make for moody background effects like for this old one room schoolhouse in San Simeon.We said we’d probably never make this trip again, but we’ve had such a good time, I’m not so sure that’s true anymore.

California History 101

Little did we know that when you travel down Highway 1 you are in the heart of California State History. (If you went to school in California, you can skip this part and just look at the pictures, but for us foreigners, this was interesting.) Highway 1 is the old El Camino Real--the Royal Road--and it was along this road that Spain established missions when the Russians, and others, became interested in trying to lay claim to areas along the Pacific Coast. Between approximately 1776 and 1813, twenty-one missions were built between San Diego and San Francisco. Along our way to Long Beach, we stopped at seven of them.The first mission we found was the ornate Mission Delores still standing in the midst of San Francisco. I was shocked at the detail and wondered if they would all be like this. My experience with Spanish missions begins and ends with the Alamo.The wow factor was so high in San Francisco, that I looked up the address of the Carmel Mission and plugged the coordinates into the GPS. It wasn’t far away from where we were in Monterey. The Carmel Mission was completely different, but a fountain, a garden and a courtyard made for a good half hour of picture taking.We just stumbled upon the mission in San Simeon. We took a wrong turn off the highway and there it was behind a fence, all but boarded up.On the last leg of our trip, we stopped in the small Danish community of Solvang. When I checked attractions on the GPS, the Mission Inez popped up about four miles east of the highway. Imagine our surprise when there were two signs at the top of the off ramp for missions--one to the east and one to the west about 15 miles. We went to the closest one first--Mission Inez.Fifteen miles the other direction is the site of the first mission built in California--the La Purisima Mission. It was originally built in the late 1700s, but was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. Reconstruction began in 1813 and was completed in 1822. At its peak, nearly a thousand people lived and worked there.By this time I was hooked. I think Dave was just tired, but I was on a mission to find all the missions. Our next stop was Santa Barbara. This one is huge and if you’ve ever been to Santa Barbara, you know that it’s hard to find because so many of the homes and businesses resemble small missions, but when you get to the Santa Barbara Mission there is no doubt that this is not a private residence or a legal office.Finding the mission in Ventura was purely an accident. We didn’t know it was there until we had already passed the off ramp. I was going to be happy with the ones we had already seen and not bother, but Dave saw a sign for something about the Channel Islands and so we got off at the next exit. We never did find what Dave was looking for, but the Mission Buenaventura was right there waiting to be photographed--quickly.It was interesting to ponder a little California State History. I’m sure we won’t see the remaining fourteen missions. Some are too far inland and others are just too far south to fit into our itinerary, but I’ll be quite surprised if we don’t “stumble” onto a couple more. Hope you enjoyed colonial California.