Going to California--Point Reyes & Wine Country

The second half of our vacation to California consisted of two parts.  The first part was actually sort of a "side trip" that we decided to make the day before we left San Francisco for Sonoma.  This side trip ended up being our favorite part of the whole vacation!  We visited beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore--and it was just FABULOUS!

     

We left San Fran bright and early on the morning of July 4 (Independence Day and the day of our 8th anniversary!) and drove about an hour and fifteen minutes northwest to the park.  Upon entry, we immediately were flooded with all of this wonderful wildlife.  Notice the fallow deer grazing next to the large tree in the top picture and the little deer family across the road from the park entry sign; it was almost like they were on the payroll for the park as greeters!  The overlook picture is of the San Andreas Fault Zone, where you may walk on the Earthquake Trail.  We did not walk this trail, as we thought that if an earthquake did occur, we were certainly plenty close enough as it was!

One of the most interesting things about this National Park is the fact that a large chunk of it consists of historic working ranches.  In the early 1800s, Mexican land grantees established ranchos and this was followed by a wave of American agricultural farming.  The coastal grasslands were turned into a working landscape known as the Pastoral Zone and the area became dotted with cattle and cow ranches.  As you may imagine, finding undeveloped seashore in California is extremely rare and while the ranches were struggling to survive in the 1950s and 1960s due to a boon in real estate development, a drastic increase in property taxes, and a decrease in product price, the government saw this as an opportunity to preserve a unique chunk of the coastline by turning it into a National Park.

Another part of Point Reyes is the historical lighthouse.  Built in 1870, the need for this structure and service was unquestionable:  Point Reyes is the windiest place on the Pacific Coast and the 2nd foggiest place on the North American continent! Though its services have been retired since 1975 with the installment of an automated light, the Coast Guard donated it to the Park Service and they, in turn, have turned it into a museum. 
As you can see, in order to get to the lighthouse, you must be willing to walk up and down over 300 very small, steep steps!  It was worth it, but it was a workout!
A view descending the stairs and a view showing the long trip back to the top!

What a lonely life it must have been...

Lots of interesting algae, lichen and coastal scrub (which reallly looks all gnarly and rough like desert plants).  I know it's hard to see in this picture, but there is a little tree growing from the rock.  I believe it is either a bishop pine or a monterey cypress?  I forget.  It looks like a bonsai!

  I'm afraid I neglected the details of the geology of the area, other than knowing we were smack dab on a major fault zone that was constantly active...This is not to say that there weren't a number of interesting and unusual rocks around (there were plenty, like the ones pictured above), I just got wrapped-up with the lighthouse and watching the ocean for whales (which we did see a juvenile gray whale!) and other marine animals.

LOVE the green and purples in this coastal plant.

I have to admit, Mark fared better than I did going up the stairs!

We saw lots of seabirds, but these pelicans were the most willing to have their photos taken!  There were flocks of them flying over the pastoral lands, much like Canada geese flocking together here.  It was pretty neat.

A skull of a gray whale, which is the type of whale Mark and I saw.  We had truly unbelievable luck that day because in the relatively little time we had at this fantastic park, we saw a gray fox, a bobcat, 2 kinds of deer, hoardes of pelicans, and a juvenile gray whale (the park ranger said it was a juvenile because the adults were all out feeding in deeper ocean waters).  Can you think of a better way to spend an anniversary AND the 4th of July than being at one of our National Parks?!

Here's the competition, folks, the happy cows from California!

Our drive from Point Reyes to wine country was bright and hot and we enjoyed driving through a more arid environment, observing cacti and rolling fields of gold.

It really was VERY cool driving in this Sonoma-Napa area where there is literally vineyard after vineyard after vineyard of really great wineries (and some not-so-great ones too!).  We only actually stopped at three of them.  But it was plenty for me!  Our first stop was at Madrigal which produces really great, BIG reds, but is a relatively small operation.  Mark "wooed" me during our second date by making dinner and serving it with a bottle of Madrigal Petite Syrah.  The picture above was taken at our second stop which was another favorite of ours, Caymus.  Our last stop was at Pine Ridge which produces some wonderful whites (Conundrum and chenin blancs).  This place was beautiful and very welcoming.  See pics below.

 I think this picture best sums up an afternoon of California winetasting:  Enjoying a fresh handmade pizza and couple glasses of wine while sitting outside in a charming town (here we are in Healdsburg) people watching.

A final spur-of-the-moment side trip was to visit Armstrong Redwoods State Park.  We actually did this the morning of our winetasting extravaganza, we just left our hotel really early (who wants to sleep-in when traveling anyway?) and drove to this relatively small but nice state park.  These trees are definitely old and big, but they're not like the ones in Redwoods National Park.  Our timing was great as we seemed to share the park with only one other car.  We experienced California budgetry issues however, as a large part of the park was closed down (with signs posted saying it was due to CA parks budget cuts) and we couldn't go to the visitor's center as it opened 3 hours AFTER the partk itself opened!

In order to get this view of the canyon valleys we had to drive up a very narrow, steep, winding, one-lane road. It was quite thrilling.

Although we had an awful time flying back to Wisconsin and some difficulties contending with Californian traffic and roadways, we really did enjoy what we saw and experienced.  My thanks goes out to our friends, Marko and Liz who took care of our hounds, and to Judy, Greg and Renee who took care of Britches and Clawed.  We couldn't have gone had we not good care for our pets! Thank you!

On a closing note, I would like to say welcome back to Bill and Scott who have returned to the land of milk and honey (that would be Wisconsin) after living in South Korea AND Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a year.  They will be now be starting a new chapter of their lives in Menominee and working as students getting  degrees and pursuing new careers.  We are happy to have you both back.  On a "sad" note, which I know is not really sad, my brother John has left the state on a new chapter in his life as a professor of history at New Jersey City University in New Jersey.  We are all very proud and excited for Jojo as we know how hard and long he has worked to get to this point.  But I will miss him.  Wah.  His partner, Jim, will be joining him next year.  I'll miss him too.  Wah wah.

We are happy that we were able to get together before John left.

Scott, Mark and John.

 

Going to California--San Francisco

Mark and I decided we needed to take a vacation this summer and when an opportunity arose to travel to San Francisco and Wine Country at a reasonable expense, we jumped at the chance to sneak away for 5 days!  Our timing couldn't have been better.  While our homestate was dealing with baking sun and unbearable temps of +100 degree days, we escaped to the Bay area which welcomed us with temps in the mid 60s and 70s and pleasant sunshine (San Francisco is known for being cool and fairly cloudy).  The top picture shows Mark and I enjoying the cool 70 degree weather in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.  If you can believe the very first picture I took on our vacation was of this black and white cat.  We had just arrived in the city and were in Chinatown feverishly looking for a place to get a quick bite to eat (more on that later) and concentrating on working through the throngs of people and activity that is Chinatown--when we stumbled upon this fat cat SLEEPING quite peacefully on the sidewalk.  It was amazing!  Amid the hustle and bustle and noise of this highly trafficked area, this guy was sound asleep.  We weren't the only ones amazed, as there were other people stopping, staring, taking pictures and shaking their heads in disbelief as well!  Leave it to me to take my first picture on a vacation of a cat!

We had an excellent meal at an old Chinese restaurant called the Green Empress of China.  We loved the hot and sour soup and wontons and thoroughly enjoyed watching the very professional waiters present the food to us and the other patrons.  The inside of the place was dated, but well-kept and really fun to look at.  I loved this tree in the entry way.

As I mentioned before, we went to Chinatown as soon as we arrived.  We entered on an end of the community where it really catered to the hordes of tourists--lots of stores and vendors selling trinkets and souvenirs and little restaurants that had English and Chinese writing on their windows.  Because we were so rushed that day to return to our car (again, more on that later), we returned to Chinatown the next day but entered it on the opposite side.  This end was much, much more "Chinese".  It was bustling with market vendors, fishmongers, and the businesses were certainly aimed for Chinese-Americans, not wide-eyed toursist like Mark and I.  It was absolutely fascinating and dizzying at the same time!

We also drove down famous Lombard Street--along with 9 zillion other tourists! 

A delightful patch of lovely flowers bedded on one of the curves of Lombard Street.

I'm afraid this picture does it no justice, because it is quite steep and crooked.  Especially when you walk up it!  Which we did because I just had to get a picture of this house just covered with this stunning creeping flower.  Love it!

We also stumbled on the original Swensen's (established in 1948) and treated ourselves to absolutely divine ice creams cones.  After all, we had just completed trekking up Lombard Street!

We spent a lot of time exploring Pier 39 and an even greater amount of time people-watching.  I believe this area of San Francisco is always busy, but we really had a chance to marvel at its transformation from early morning relative tranquility (think joggers and tai chi) to July 3 pre-Independence Day (think BIG crowds, street entertainers vying for attention, and lots of tourists). 

The main thoroughfare next to the piers--eerily still in the early morning.

This large shopping area by Pier 39 definitely transformed itself to loud and crowded mecca by the early afternoon.  It was crazy!

These seals were the loudest things on the docks in the early morning.  Well, maybe they were tied with the calling of the gulls.

This was as close as we got to Alcatraz.  Because of the holiday, all of the tours were sold out way in advance. 

Picture above:  A very shimmery street entertainer and a little boy who thought it was just great that I was taking his picture.  That seaman better not be British!  Not the day before Independence Day!  A giant iron crab sculpture was textured with live plants and flowers growing from its shell.

And speaking of crabs, probably the best meal we had on our trip was a delectable dungeoness crab prepared by this very dutiful street vendor.  The preparation of our lunch was absolutely fascinating to watch.  First, we selected one of these guys:

Then the woman pulled apart the already deceased crab and pounded the shell surrounding the body and legs using a special mallet and stone.

Finally, she cooked it in a large vat of boiling hot water (making sure the bowl was covered by another bowl so no limbs would be lost).  Sounds a little morbid but with a little drawn butter it was YUMMY!

This same day, we also walked the shoreline of the bay to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.  Again, we were fortunate to get such a clear, sunny day to observe this structure. 

long the way, we found empty crab claws and shells, watched the fisherman do their thing (alas, nobody caught a shark this time--an exciting memory I have from my childhood when we vacationed in San Francisco), and walked by Crissy Field.

I'm pretty pleased with this shot!  It was a great view.

Here is a view of the city from the Golden Gate Bridge.  The large pier in the foreground was where all the fisherman were fishing.

Hello!

I thought this little sign printed on the bridge was quite charming and very appropriate.  The Golden Gate is heavily trafficked by pedestrians, bikes and tiny service vehicles...you really do need to pay attention to what lane your're walking in and not lose track of your companions!

Although we weren't planning on coming here, we were curious about this interesting structure as we were walking around the city (which, by the way, we probably walked 14 miles in one day).  This is the Palace of the Fine Arts and was originally constructed in 1915 for the Panam-Pacific Exposition.  Still situated on its original site, the structure was rebuilt in 1965 and then received a seismic retrofit in 2009.  Seismic retrofit refers to the process of  modifying existing structures to better withstand the ill-effects of earthquake activity.

 

We loved the Grecian columns and the interior of the rotunda dome.  We also enjoyed the multitude of turtles basking in the sunshine and the egrets stalking their prey.

Shrugging their shoulders, The "Weeping Maidens" look more confused than sad!

We did not ride the trolley cars, but enjoyed their frequent passing.

We noted the similarities of color and architecture San Francisco seems to share with the fine city of Charleston, South Carolina.  The house on the right, however, is not an example of this--we just thought this goofy abode looked like a place Strawberry Shortcake would vacation while visiting the west!

 

Not only were many of the homes reminiscent of the color and style used in Charleston, but many of the San Francisco residences had gates and ralings made of beautiful stylized ironworks.  Also, there was a lot of attention to tiling on walkways and stairs as well as the teeny tiny front "yards" which were really patches of landscaping.  Not a lot of grass there.

San Francisco comprised the first half of our trip and in my next blog I will share pictures and comments from the second half of the trip.  While we certainly found the city full of interesting and unique things that were fun and exhilarating to see, we also experienced and observed a not-so-flattering side to California.  Whenever we visit any major urban center (which isn't very often), Mark and I are always amazed how many people live so close to one another.  Indeed this is the case of San Francisco and perhaps because there are so many hills it really seems pronounced there--almost like homes are stacked on top of each other.  Mingling with the grandiose natural beauty within the city and the obvious wealth of the area, our visit to SF also revealed the significant number of homeless people living there.  Now, we certainly have homeless people in Madison, but the numbers and the conditions we observed out west was noticeably higher and different.  The above right picture shows a homeless man sleeping on a bench by Pier 39 under a stunning tree.

Mark and I had lots of issues driving in the city and we are partly to blame for this.  We shouldn't have even tried and just used the efficient BART Railway system instead (which we did after the 1st nightmarish day of driving).  Heavy, heavy congestion, super-fast traffic, crazy motorcycle laws (they can weave between vehicles in traffic whenever and however they want), poorly marked streets and exits, and ridiculously expensive tolls contibuted to the madness that is CA driving!  We developed a whole new appreciation for the user-friendly roads found in Wisconsin.  There was also a substantial amount of constuction going on and pictured above is the end of the Bay Bridge which connects SF to Oakland.  A few beams were giving a lot of support to an extremely large and busy structure!