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.

Lighthouses, Lighthouses, and more Lighthouses

We left San Francisco Saturday morning under beautiful blue skies and sunshine. It was on the way to being hot. As we were leaving the city the thermometer in the car read 91 degrees, but by the time we reach Pacifica, a mere ten miles away, we were rolling up windows and feeling right at home as the temperature dropped quickly to a comfortable 61. Thirty degrees in ten minutes! The first day of our drive down Highway 1, remember we went to San Francisco via I-5, was practically a lighthouse scavenger hunt.
The first stop was about ten miles north of Half Moon Bay at Point Montara. This is a small lighthouse and was getting a new paint job during our stop. If you look closely, you can the USCG on the back of the painter's coveralls. I guess there was no need for search and rescue that day.About 25 miles north of Santa Cruz, we found what may be our new favorite, Pigeon Point Lighthouse. You can see it from several angles. My favorite was this wide open shot from the north.Dave always likes to look at lighthouses from the most western point. (My respect/fear of high places prevents me from doing that.)There are two lighthouses in Santa Cruz. This small brick one serves as the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.Out by the marina, is the Santa Cruz Breakwater Lighthouse. We could have stayed here forever. Dave is ready to relocate, but last count the power company didn't have an office in Santa Cruz.We stopped in Monterey for the night and went looking for the last lighthouse of the day. It sits in the middle of the munincipal golf course. The grounds were closed when we got there and weren't to reopen until Sunday afternoon. We have no problems leaning over fences to take pictures. The challenge is waiting "patiently" for golfers to play through. I wish we could have gotten closer, but I have a feeling we'll return to this part of the California coast again.As we walked back to the car, we heard a man ask his wife if she wanted to stay and watch the flash. The only thing he could have been referencing was the green flash that sometimes occurs when the sun drops below the horizon in the lower latitudes. I always thought it sounded like something out of a Jimmy Buffet song, but it's for real. (Just google 'green flash' to learn more.) We didn't see the green flash, but we did have lovely end to our lovely day.

A Day in the City by the Bay

Dave's first day in San Francisco in thirty five years and my first day ever was a beautiful one. Blue skies and sunshine most everywhere except the Golden Gate Bridge in the morning.Flowers are blooming all over the city and there are places where it smells like a perfume factory because the scent is so strong. I think it's the smell of jasmine in bloom. We found a small field of calla lillies blooming in Golden Gate Park.Fisherman's Wharf was on Dave's short list. We found the crab bread that Mel and Brad told us about last year. At twelve dollars a pound for live crab and twenty dollars for crab in sourdough form, we'll wait until later in the summer when we can catch our own to enjoy any Dungeness.We walked up to the cable car terminal to take a ride to downtown, but were too close to rush hour to get there and back before our meter expired.I couldn't walk past these unique glass sculptures that were sparkling in the sunlight in our walk along the way.The clouds cleared in the afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day on a quest for the best place to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge. We took pictures from the north, the south, the east, and the west. We got below it and shot up and above it and shot down. This is one of our favorites, but we'll spare you the other 75 to 100 shots.We have a little time tomorrow to see some other things, but there's so much to do and so much to see, I guess we're just going to have to come back another time.

One Season Ends and Another Begins--FINALLY!!!

It was beginning to look like it was going to be deep into the summer before we ever got a dry weekend to put the sailboat in the water that we were in town or not previously obligated to something else. Wouldn’t you know it--it was Mother’s Day weekend. I just hate this activity and Dave’s response is always simply, “I know you do. . .” The translation of that is that it doesn’t matter if I don’t like it or not, it has to be done and heaven knows it would have been a lot less fun to be down at the marina shoveling 16” of snow off of it everyday this winter than it is to take it out every fall and put it back in every spring.
This year didn’t seem too bad though--maybe that was because I didn’t have to assist in the mast stepping process except to take pictures. My part, of which there are no pictures, was to reload all the cushions, life jackets, sails, and other paraphemalia. We learned the hard way the first year we stored it outside that if ANY water leaks in, the cabin is a moldy mess that takes hours of clorox and elbow grease to clean up--also my job. That happened once and now we strip EVERYTHING out of the cabin before we put it away. I was just sure that it would be a mess this year with all the snow we had last winter, but it was as clean inside as it was the day we put it away.

Saturday morning we met Ashley and Scott at the boat launch about nine and the hefty part of the task began--stepping the mast. The three of them climbed onboard and commenced the unwinding and untangling of the six metal shrouds, forestay, and backstay required to keep a 27 foot mast upright.Ashley connects the shrouds and then Scott helps Dave raise it. Scott connects the backstay and Ashley scurries up front to connect the forestay.Voile! The hard part is done!Pull out the rudder and attach it to the back. Lift the motor up to the mount and tighten it down.Attach the tiller and it’s go time.This was one of our least eventful spring commisionings.YEAH!!! Before you know it, you’re back in the marina. Home Sweet Home
You’d think there would be sailing pictures accompanying this post, but there’s still some fine tuning to do after it’s in the water and the rains came back the next evening. In addition to that, we’re not home.
It’s road trip time! The fact that you’re reading this indicates that we’re in the Bay Area with a successful wifi connection. We’ll be taking the next four days to drive down Hiway 1 to Long Beach. Here’s hoping for clear skies and smooth sailing.

Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens

Spring is in full bloom in this part of the northwest. We have some cool, damp days. We have days like yesterday when it just pours at times. And then we have days when it’s 75 degrees and sunny with a light northwest breeze off the river—absolutely perfect in my book. Days like that make me want to grab my camera and run, not walk, to the nearest flower garden. I noticed a few lilac bushes starting to bloom around the neighborhood last week. It was a distinct possibility that the lilacs were beginning to bloom in the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland.The lilacs weren’t in full bloom, but with only a two dollar admissions fee and a fifteen minute drive, it was worth checking out. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of lilacs. I always thought of them as very small purple flowers, but there are so many more.
There are white ones.There are pink ones.There are pink and white ones.Of course there are lots of purple ones. I was surprised to see how VERY different the buds were from the color the flowers were when they opened.But most are just waiting to burst forth.The gardens are only open until Mother’s Day. I’m hoping another of those perfect days will fall on a Monday or Friday so I can leisurely return. The aroma in the gardens makes taking macro photographs of lilacs nearly intoxicating. These were taken on a breezy afternoon so you can imagine how strong the scent was. I'll go again if the south winds subside by the end of the week, but if not, I'll just have to wait until next year. Thanks, Hulda for sharing your gardens with us.

One More Time-Win or Go Home

I was troubled when I doubled checked our blog the other day to see that the horseshoe I posted was upside down. Anyone who knows anything about the tradition of horseshoes being good luck, knows that your horseshoe needs to be hung like a "U" so that all the luck is held in. If it's upside down, the luck spills out and you don't have any. The Blazers lost both games in Houston by a total of FOUR points. They refer to those games on ESPN as heartbreakers. They should be coming home up 3-1 in the series and instead, they're coming back to Portland down 3-1. Here's hoping the Portland Trailblazers hold on to some luck tonight! No matter when the season ends this year, it will have been a fun one. It has been great to have three dates a week during the dark, rainy evenings of a northwest winter. We're excited to do it again next year. GO BLAZERS!!!

Game 4 Portland vs. Houston

A must win! Go Blazers!!!