Big Island, Hawaii

I’ve not blogged for ages AGAIN! However, I now have something to blog about – we just returned from a week in Hawaii. This time, we went to Big Island (that’s how it’s known by most people – its real name is actually Hawaii, but it sounds odd to say you’ve been to Hawaii, Hawaii). Big Island is the “youngest” of all the islands – it’s still being formed by volcanic eruptions and is the only island in the chain that is still located over the hotspot and consequently has active volcanoes. In a few hundreds of thousands of years or so, it – like the others – will have drifted away from the hotspot and will be getting smaller as erosion takes its toll.

We began our trip by heading north from Kona airport (on the dryer, western side of the island) to the Kohala coast. We camped for our first night – at a really nice campsite by a beach. It was either that or pay $300 per night to stay at one of the very fancy hotels in those parts. The only downside was that the ground was rock-hard and we ruined half our tent pegs trying to hammer them in! It was actually the most pleasant night I’ve ever spent in a tent temperature-wise – as warm, if not warmer than sleeping in a cosy bedroom at home.

After decamping, we headed over the top of the island to the Waipio valley on the eastern side. This is one of the more scenic areas of the island, and one of the few that has the characteristic, vertiginous sculpted “pali”, or bluffs. However, we weren’t able to enjoy it as we’d hoped, because it was pouring with rain (the eastern side is the wet side), so we couldn’t do the hike down to the bottom. Instead, we headed back to the dry Kohala coast and had a lazy afternoon on one of the attractive beaches.

The next two nights were spent near Kealekekua Bay on the Kona coast south of Kailua. We stopped in the town of Kailua on the way down – it was actually a very pretty, historical little town with a lovely waterfront. I wished afterwards that we’d stayed in the town, because the accommodation we had near Kealekekua wasn’t great – pokey and situated right by a very busy road. However, we did enjoy the area. We rented snorkels and hiked down (once we found the trail – which was no mean feat) to the Captain Cook monument – a memorial right by the water, erected on the spot where Captain Cook was murdered in the 1700’s. Before you feel too sorry for him, it’s worth bearing in mind that he did kind of ask for it by kidnapping the island chief after some petty crime was committed against him by one of the islanders. When we arrived at the shore, a group of humpback whales was putting on a show on the other side of the bay – breaching, blowing and showing us their tails. I’ve never seen whales put on such a display (by comparison, they were very low-key in Alaska). Unfortunately, they were too far away for photos, but we got a great view with the binoculars. Afterwards, we went snorkelling in the water, which was fabulous. Admittedly, it was a little scary getting in and out, because we hadn’t brought flippers or sandals down with us and the rocks were covered in spiky sea urchins, but the actual snorkelling was incredible – probably the best I’ve done anywhere apart from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The coral and the sheer variety of tropical fish were stupendous. Later, while eating lunch, we were entertained by a few mongooses (I don’t think it’s “mongeese”) – but these are not so welcome on the island. They were introduced to Hawaii by westerners who hoped they would keep the rat population down. What the people didn’t take into account is that rats are nocturnal while mongooses are diurnal, so the scheme didn’t work and the mongooses promptly gorged themselves on the eggs of Hawaii’s native birds, causing many species to become extinct. After lunch, we headed back up the steep path in the shadeless heat, which was a bit gruelling, but fortunately not too long (the whole hike was just over 4 miles).

From the Kona coast, we headed to Volcanoes National Park, the site of the active volcano, Kilauea. On the way, we stopped at a black sand beach (formed by volcanic activity, of course) and happened upon a sea turtle among the rocks with its head under water. At first I thought it was dead, but when it moved I concluded that it was actually feasting on algae. When we arrived at the volcano area, we decided to do a hike straight away and set out on the Kilauea Iki trail, which takes you through rainforest (characterised by giant tree ferns), then down into and across a crater punctuated by steam vents. It was a lovely walk, and since it was much cooler up there, I found it a lot easier than the one we’d done the day before.

We stayed in a cabin in the volcanoes area, a decision which I ended up regretting, because it wasn’t heated and it turned out to be surprisingly cold, even though it was only 4,000 feet up and 25 miles or so inland. However, we ate and had coffee at the Volcano House hotel, which is perched on the edge of a huge crater and enjoys widespread views across it. Unfortunately, though, at least half the park was closed when we were there, because one of the craters was spewing a large amount of poisonous sulphur dioxide. The next day, we visited a museum which was just half a mile from said crater. While we were there, the wind changed and sent the sulphur dioxide in our direction, so we beat a hasty retreat (past all the signs that said “no at-risk people [including pregnant women] past this point”, which I had ignored a few minutes earlier).

Jon was very keen to see some actual flowing lava, so we enquired about this and were told that we’d have to travel some 40 miles outside the park to view it (you used to be able to see it from the 25-mile-long “Chain of Craters” road within the park, but the flow had shifted since then). We set off and enjoyed some more time at a lovely black sand beach backed by coconut palms along the way. The lava viewing area was managed by the Department of Civil Defence or something. In any case, it was heavily guarded and restricted. We drove as far as the old road went (until it got covered by erupting lava), then continued on a dirt track to a car park. Amazingly, some people had remade their homes (admittedly, mostly just shacks and trailers) on the barren black lavascape. We had to walk about half a mile across the lava to the viewing site, which we were told was another half mile from the active flow. Well, it looked a lot more than half a mile, and the flow was not what I would call active. It was extremely slow-moving, and the only thing to distinguish it from the surrounding rock was a little steam or smoke. When it started to get dark, you could pick out the odd faint pinprick of orange, but that was all. There was a lot of steam where the hot lava hit the ocean, but it was falling from a cliff that faced away from the viewing site, so all we saw was, in fact, the steam. In short, it was a huge disappointment and not worth the drive, although the surrounding area was very nice, which meant that it was not a wasted journey.

After two cold nights in the cabin, we headed back to the Kona coast and visited a coffee plantation there. We received a free tour (very interesting) and tasting. It was like visiting a winery, but for coffee. As well as coffee trees, there were avocado, papaya and orange trees, and we were allowed to take away whatever had fallen to the ground. Afterwards, we headed to a Hawaiian cultural site (a beautiful royal compound/religious site right next to the ocean). Most of these sites are a big disappointment because very little remains of the indigenous settlements and temples, but this one is actually the best preserved in the whole of Hawaii, so it was very pleasant to visit, not least because of its gorgeous setting. In addition, there were a couple more sea turtles on the beach there (this time with their heads fully out of the water and therefore more satisfying to photograph).

Our last night was spent on a small coffee plantation with beautiful gardens inhabited by jungle fowl, pet parrots and peacocks. It was definitely the best accommodation we had throughout the week. The next day, breakfast (included) was served on the lanai (balcony) with its splendid ocean views, and incorporated fresh fruit from the plantation. We were even visited at the table by a tiny but very colourful gecko. We had such a leisurely breakfast, that by the time we’d finished, we had to just pack up our stuff and head for the airport for our flight back to San Francisco.

Back in SF, I realized how much good the trip had actually done me. Work had been very tiring and stressful before I left, not to mention demoralising, since all pay raises and bonuses were cancelled as a result of the economic crisis and all talk was of slashing costs left right and centre. So, I think I derived a great deal from the holiday, even though Big Island can’t hold a candle to its older sister Kauai (which we visited two years ago) in terms of scenery, and even though it was horrifically expensive.

December doings

I begin the blog again with yet another apology for absence – a whole month without an update!

Just before December, we had Thanksgiving. We went around to a friend’s parents’ in Alameda across the Bay for a slap-up turkey dinner, which was lovely. Two days later, we went to one of my colleagues’ apartment for another delicious turkey dinner, followed by homemade pumpkin and raspberry pies. The next day, we went for a long hike along the coast in Marin to walk it off.

December has seen plenty of rain, but we have made it out for another couple of hikes. One was on Mount Tam with a friend of mine, her pug and her friend’s two Labradors. The pug sat on my knee on the way there and back in the car, and I almost got licked to death!

We’ve also had many Christmas parties. Jon’s office party was in the Rockridge area of Oakland, in a small restaurant that we completely took over. A week later was my office party, which was in a tapas restaurant in the Mission district of San Francisco. We also had a party at Jon’s colleague’s place in Castro Valley – they had a portable fire pit, which was a great addition. I’ve made a mental note to get one of those one day for my garden back in England.

For Christmas, we did a big dinner again – this time for 11 people. We ordered a super expensive free range organic turkey from the butcher’s in the Ferry Building, and cooked that with all the usual goodies. I also made my own Christmas puddings, which I must say were excellent, all modesty aside! We set fire to them with some rum. Jon made mince pies, which were likewise superb. To keep up the traditions, we watched the Queen’s speech, had crackers and listened to carols. Afterwards, we played White Elephant, which is kind of like Secret Santa, but allows you to “steal” gifts from other players. It was hilarious – Jon got a “Studs & Spurs Calendar”, which, fortunately for him, was stolen shortly afterwards.

I was back at work on Boxing Day, because it’s not a holiday here, but things were pretty quiet. We then went skiing at the weekend, driving up to Tahoe on the Saturday morning, and getting there in time for a half day’s skiing, which is a bit cheaper than a full day. Driving up in the morning rather than on Friday night proved to be a good idea, since we had our best journey ever at 3 hours 20 minutes. The roads were fine, in spite of the fact that there had been a lot of snow, but it was a little dicey in South Lake Tahoe itself, with plenty of near-frozen slush around, which caused us to skid a little a couple of times. We had a great time skiing – conditions were excellent, and surprisingly, it wasn’t too busy. We stuck to skiing on the California side on the Saturday, moving over to Nevada on the Sunday (the ski area straddles both states). It was clear and sunny, so there were good views over vast Lake Tahoe.

That night, we stayed in a casino-hotel just across the stateline, because that turned out to be the best value (casinos get plenty of revenue from gambling, so can afford to offer cheaper rooms) on a weekend that was very expensive accommodation-wise. We were starving after the skiing, so went out to the Montbleu casino for their all-you-can-eat buffet, which was very good. We then had a long sleep before embarking on another great day’s skiing, taking in one of my favourite runs a couple of times: the Olympic Downhill followed by the Stagecoach run, which takes you right down to the bottom on the Nevada side. I fell over a few times, but didn’t hurt myself. We were lucky that the journey back to San Francisco was snow-free, since snow had been forecast.

Of course, I shouldn’t have been skiing at all, because I’m five months pregnant! Another thing we found out this month, when I went for my ultrasound at 19 weeks, was that it’s a girl. We now need to get working on some names!

After a fairly quiet and unproductive New Year’s Day, we geared ourselves up for our visit back to the UK and braced ourselves for the 10-hour flight. We’ve now made it over and begun our rounds of visits.

November Explorations

I’ve been very lazy on the blogging front yet again. So much has happened in the last month! We have a shiny new president, for one thing! Now, the thought of the Palin woman being just a “heartbeat away” from arguably the world’s most responsible job seems like a distant nightmare. We had a friend around for dinner that evening, so weren’t concentrating on the TV, but I remember hearing the whoop of joy erupt in a nearby apartment as Obama passed the 270 electoral vote mark. What a great day for America! Whatever your politics (and I do know the odd Republican sympathiser), the country now has an intelligent, eloquent front-man that world leaders are lining up to work with. That has to be a good thing, even though he has a very tough job ahead of him. Talking of presidents, a few weeks ago, we saw the new film, “W” at the cinema (about George W. himself, who else?!). Very entertaining, but a little facile in its approach, portraying Bush as a largely innocent dummy who was misled by family and advisors. I don’t buy the idea of him being either that dumb or that innocent, myself, but at least his era will soon be over.

November also brought us a heat-wave. Two weekends ago, I was sunbathing on the beach, enjoying some of the most pleasant temperatures San Francisco has to offer. We topped it off by heading out into the balmy evening on the Alcatraz Night Tour. We had lovely views of the city and bridges from the ferry, then alighted on the island, where we did a very good audio tour and went to a talk about the Birdman. The spookiest bit by far was the hospital wing (coincidentally, where the Birdman had his cell), which was lonely and empty, but for the odd piece of outdated medical equipment, looking for all the world like something out of a horror film. I’d been to Alcatraz before, but that was back in 1999, so I hadn’t visited since moving out here.

We’d had a good few weekends without leaving the city, so I was ready to go somewhere. We decided on a mini-break in Zion National Park and Las Vegas. I’d heard good things about Zion, a “mere” 150 miles from Las Vegas, and we’d recently seen the film “21”, about a group of MIT students who make and lose their fortune playing Blackjack, so we fancied a bit of Vegas action, having only spent an evening there previously, when we went to the Grand Canyon in April. This time, as then, we had the experience of driving to/from the most fake place imaginable to one of world’s most lovely natural landscapes. Zion was a delight – kind of like a red rock Yosemite.

We did a couple of short walks on our first day, one up to the Emerald Pools, the last one of which stops sharp against a huge 1000 foot or more vertical wall of rock. The second was up to a viewpoint a little above the canyon, with vistas of Mount Watchman and the increasingly red hues of the rocks. We set off mid-afternoon (or so I thought), convinced that it would get dark later here, since we were some way south of San Francisco. Of course, I didn’t stop to think that we were actually a fair way to the east, and I also failed to realise that we’d crossed a time zone (Zion is in Utah), and were actually an hour ahead. By the time we got back down from the viewpoint, it was dark, and we startled a mule deer along the path. We made our way swiftly to our accommodation, Zion Lodge, and settled in for the night as the temperatures dropped to a surprisingly chilly level.

Our second day began with a huge breakfast. It was healthy, but enormous. Mine consisted of four immense whole-grain flaxseed pancakes the size of dinner plates and at least half an inch thick, with a berry compote. It was a good job we’d planned to do a fairly decent hike that day. The walk took us relentlessly upwards to a narrow monolith above the canyon with steep drop-offs on either side. The last half mile is really a scramble, using hands almost as much as feet, pulling oneself along by the chains strung along the ridge. People had warned me that it was very scary, but I’m fortunate in not being a vertigo-sufferer, and found it to be no problem at all. The views up and down the canyon were stunning. We were also rewarded with the sighting of a California Condor, the largest land bird in North America (wingspan can be up to 9½ feet) and one of the rarest birds in the world. S/he landed on a rock just a few feet away and posed for a good few photos. Later, we saw him/her soaring past the walls of the canyon, far below. As for us, we hadn’t had enough walking (the hike up to Angel’s Landing and back is strenuous, but only five miles round-trip), so we continued a bit further and found a quiet, sunny lunch spot with splendid views. Before we left the park, we had chance to visit the Weeping Rock, a wall that seeps droplets of water that have run through the porous rock until they reach harder stuff and are forced to dispense themselves. It was then time for the long, monotonous drive back to Sin City.

We were staying at the Bellagio, probably Las Vegas’ most exclusive casino-hotel, but because we were there out of season and on week nights, it was really good value – less than half the price it would be on a high-season weekend. The room didn’t disappoint – a plush marble-floored bathroom with an immense shower and a huge, tastefully decorated bedroom with electrically operated curtains and a view out onto the Tuscan-style pool area. It also features a gorgeous reception area with a glass ceiling by Chihuly (this is the guy whose smallest glass bowls fetch $3,000 – $4,000), a conservatory with regularly changing themes (at this time of year it was harvest and pumpkins) and a dazzling array of fancy restaurants and shops, but still the same old tacky casino area, of course. At half-hour intervals it also offers impressive fountain displays over the huge artificial lake at the front.

The first night, we went to a Cirque du Soleil show, then slept in the next morning and partook of a tasty – if pricey – breakfast down at the café. We then headed out to the pool area and relaxed for a couple of hours on the sun deck, taking the occasional swim. By mid-afternoon, it was turning chilly, however, so we headed across the road to take a look at another casino-hotel, Paris, then made for the one next to ours, the Roman-themed Caesar’s Palace, complete with its own “Fontana di Trevi”, and more reminiscent of modern than ancient Rome. That evening, we dined at the Michelin-starred Michael Mina restaurant in our hotel, which was truly exquisite. I was especially delighted with the way they offered trios of dishes in one – perfect for me, who wants to try everything on the menu. After dinner, we had a go at one of the Blackjack tables. Things started well, and we were soon $20 up. After that, things didn’t go quite so well, and we came away half an hour later with our tails between our legs.

On our last day, I had a quick swim in the morning, then we had crêpes for breakfast at a patisserie with the largest chocolate fountain in the world, before heading up the Strip to take a look at the Venetian, a very elaborate casino-hotel themed around Venice. It had its own Rialto Bridge, Ducal Palace, Grand Canal and Piazza San Marco, including a huge array of exclusive shops. We took a look around the Peter Lik photo gallery (= store) – he’s a photographer who takes wonderful landscape shots, many of which covering places we’d visited in the States. However, I’m pretty sure I overheard someone saying one of the larger pieces was $49,000. That didn’t deter the manager from pursuing us around the shop in the hope that we’d buy something, however.

The desert climate took its toll, as it did last time, on my skin and eyes, noticeably drying them out. And while Las Vegas is certainly lots of fun, I think I’d had my fill of it by the end. It’s really an absurd place. Sure, it has some glamour, but it is also tacky, materialistic and fake. However, it provided an enjoyable and much-needed getaway. We had one day back at work upon our return and now we have four days off for Thanksgiving – hurrah!

Vineyards and stuff

A couple of weekends ago, it was Jon’s work party at Wente Vineyards. This winery is not in the famous Napa Valley, nor even in Sonoma, but out in the East Bay obscurity, near Livermore. We got taken there on a coach (which Jon and I nearly missed because we couldn’t hail a taxi to take us to the departure point for love nor money, and ended up running through North Beach down to the Embarcadero – me in heels at that!) and arrived just before dark. I thought it was a shame we didn’t get there when it was still light, so that we could take in the vineyard. Anyway, we had a good feed and socialise. Afterwards, Jon and I met and chatted to the chef at the bar, who was a nice chap and a big admirer of Gordon Ramsay!

The next day, I took part in a 5km charity run organised by one of our clients, BioMarin. My colleague, Elizabeth, picked me up very early in the morning and drove over the Golden Gate up to Novato, where the run took place. It ended up not being 5km at all, but closer to 4km, since I finished in 21 minutes. I took 2nd place for my age/gender category and got a medal, which is the only thing sporting that I’ve ever won! The company did pretty well in general, as a project manager was 2nd female overall and both she and the boss’ wife were first in their respective age/gender categories, and another participant, Seth, was 2nd in his age/gender category. Back in San Francisco, Jon, Seth and I went out for a hearty breakfast at a greasy spoon in North Beach (in Jon’s case, it was well needed to cure the hangover from the night before!).

The next week was a hot one. Temperatures got up well into the eighties in the city. I walked home part of the way on the Friday night, enjoying the balmy temperature, the gorgeous views of the Bay and Alcatraz, and the joys of living in the most liberal city in America, with Obama posters all over the place and two blokes walking down the street, hand-in-hand, without anyone batting an eyelid.

The good weather carried on into the weekend, when we went on a trip to Napa Valley with some work colleagues of Jon’s. It got up to 32 Celsius over there and the place was absolutely rammed with people. We visited V. Sattui - a very pretty winery, but ridiculously crowded - and then headed to Elizabeth Spencer. Jon had done a tasting there and been very impressed last Christmas, but this year the wines were both more expensive and not as good. However, they did seat us in our own tasting tent in their pumpkin-decorated courtyard, so it wasn’t all bad. After that, we went to Domaine Chandon, a fancy, modern champagne place. It was there that Carly received a call from her uncle and promptly asked us if we’d like to head over to his vineyard. So, off we went, passing through the electric gates, up the hill and past the vines to his beautiful home. The house had an amazing kitchen and was filled with interesting art, but most importantly had a huge covered deck with fabulous views over the valley to the hills beyond. There was also a swimming pool, a fire pit built in a stone wall and an adjacent 3-bed, 2-bath guest house for friends and family! It was lovely to relax there for a while before heading back to the city. As well as vines, the estate boasts lemon and olive trees. Carly’s uncle gave us each a bottle of their home-grown olive oil when we left. I smiled as we drove past his Obama poster as we swung through the gates and onto the highway.

The days of balmy weather are now over, however, as the rain set in yesterday and it has thrown it down all day today. Strangely, however, the wild parrots have been very active and noisy all the same. Yesterday was Halloween, but I was too tired to go out in the evening, although I did spot some costumed people on my way home. Now, we’re building up to Tuesday, the great day when the world could change for the better (surely, THIS time!).

Mendocino getaway

I haven’t blogged again for three weeks – terrible! Well, here’s a quick catch-up. Two weeks ago, we had a friend from Hoddesdon to visit (Tom). On the Saturday, I went with him down to the De Young museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Chihuly exhibition. Chihuly is a glass artist who makes wonderful, colourful formations, which look fabulous lit up against a dark background. In spite of the fact that we had a timed ticket, there were still hordes of people. We spent the rest of the (very sunny) day seeing the main sights, like Alamo Square, Haight Ashbury, the Ferry Building and Pier 39 with the sealions. The next day, we weren’t so lucky with the weather, as some low fog spoilt our plans to go for hike on Point Reyes. Instead, we did a walk on the top of Mount Tam, where it was very hot above the fog layer. I managed to trip and cut a hole in my hand, but fortunately, it’s just about healed now.

Last weekend was a lazy one for the most part (for me at least) - poor Jon was revising for his maths exam, which he had last Wednesday. On the Sunday, I volunteered down at the Castro Street Fair on behalf of the organisation I used to work for, Shanti. It was good fun, but surprisingly tiring standing there for three and a half hours in the hot sunshine.

This weekend, I had booked us a cottage just south of the small coastal town of Mendocino, about 150 miles north. It was the first time we had travelled over the Golden Gate on a Friday night, and the traffic was somewhat stickier than expected. We arrived pretty late, but fortunately, the cottage managers had pinned the key outside their office. We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday. We got up slowly, enjoying the luxury of a bacon and egg breakfast and watching hummingbirds hover around the landscaped garden, before heading out to do a hike in a small state park a little way up the coast. The walk took us up from the coast through different types of woodland to a small “pygmy forest”, where trees a hundred years old or more had only grown to a few feet due to poor soil conditions. Afterwards, we drove up to a rather uncharming town called Fort Bragg to see the so-called Glass Beach. Apparently, until about half way through the last century, people just used to dump their rubbish in the ocean there. As a result of the sea smashing against it over the years, the beach got covered in small glass pebbles. Needless to say, no one dumps their rubbish there now, and in fact it is inhabited by seals. Before heading back for a cosy evening in the cottage, we strolled down to the Point Cabrillo lighthouse, built in 1909 to service the booming post-earthquake lumber trade, then stopped in the quaint town of Mendocino itself. The town was settled by East coasters, apparently, which explains the New England style houses, perched attractively on the bluffs above lovely little coves. Nearly every shop was a gift shop, though! When we got back to the cottage complex, we were met by a rather plump English bulldog, aptly called Buddah, and his rather asthmatic French bulldog friend, which belonged to another guest. We lounged around on our little deck, taking in the ocean views before dinner.

This morning, we went for what turned out to be a fabulous run from the cottage, down to the little beach nearby and through part of Van Damme state park. We followed the appropriately named Fern Canyon up a shady creek. It was icy cold, but invigorating. Of course, we passed a couple of mountain lion warning signs along the way. Marvellous. When the activity we were engaged in was jogging – just the thing to incite a big cat’s chase instinct. However, we avoided attack and returned for another well-deserved big breakfast. We then went for a stroll on the Mendocino headland bluffs, admiring the many rock arches and natural harbours, finally wandering into the town for a coffee. Before leaving the area, we took another coastal stroll (the highlight of which was seeing a stag disappear into the undergrowth - too fast for a photo!), then drove back towards the freeway through the gorgeous Anderson Valley. We travelled first through a huge redwood forest (coastal redwoods being the tallest trees in the world), then through rolling hills, apple orchards, vineyards and olive groves. We stopped briefly at a small, unpretentious winery with a cute little tasting shack where the tastings were… wait for it… free! Amazing. On the way back, we tried to get dinner at a fish restaurant by one of the marinas in Sausalito, but the line was so long that we gave up, and went instead to an excellent Thai place in the city. However, we still managed to enjoy some great views across the pink-hued Bay at sunset from Sausalito. Arriving back at the flat shortly after 9, we saw a small red glow out on Angel Island – fire! It’s now an hour and a half later and the fire is covering most of the eastern side of the island, which is really sad. They’ve ferried fire engines over there, but surprisingly, there are no helicopters. No one lives on Angel Island except park staff, but it’s a lovely state park and a gorgeous place to visit, with a few interesting old military buildings.

Jon and are suffering other trials right now, as we can’t get a tenant for our house. The letting agent told us that there has not been much interest, largely due to the crashing economy. If we can’t get a tenant soon, we’ll have to come back, something neither of us wants to do. Whenever we have to do it, giving up the California lifestyle is going to be extremely difficult.

Big Sur

Had a very busy week last week. Spanish class on Monday, Step class at the gym on Tuesday, Stereophonics concert at the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, dinner at a friend’s in Oakland on Thursday, drive down to Salinas for the start of our Big Sur weekend on Friday! Salinas is the birthplace of John Steinbeck, but we didn’t see anything to do with him. Instead, we just stayed at a cheap motel there and took advantage of a cheap Mexican supermarket the next day for our camping supplies. It really was like Little Mexico from the food to the huge array of piñatas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1ata if you don’t know what they are!) to the fact that a little Spanish certainly helped with communications at the deli counter.

We’d planned to get in touch with Oli and Karine (my colleagues from work, who were accompanying us on the trip) when we arrived at the Big Sur coast, which starts some 120 miles or so south of San Francisco. There was a big flaw to this plan, however, since there is absolutely no cell phone reception along this coastline, which is basically a narrow belt nestled between the Pacific and a range of high, forested hills. As a result, we didn’t see these friends until we got to the campsite that evening. However, we spent a pleasant day with our other friend, Cassie, driving down the gorgeous coast and taking little walks to the shore. We spotted a sea otter during one such stroll, visited a cove where it’s possible to find jade (aptly called Jade Cove) and photographed an absolutely gorgeous 80 foot coastal waterfall (McWay Falls), before heading to the campsite at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Our camping spot was among trees, but not as spacious as some others I’d stayed at. However, there was just about enough room for all of us (six, in total, including Karine’s cousin, Marlène, who is visiting). After an initial crisis with the barbecue (it went out, after half-cooking the sausages), we had a great dinner of grilled meats and Mediterranean veg. with salad, topped off with apple pie warmed over the charcoal. I even got to practice my French with Karine’s cousin! For me it was pure delight to be camping and not to be freezing cold, after the Yellowstone experience! Having said that, I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, in spite of not having grizzly bears, wolves or even raccoons to worry about!

After breakfast the next day, we decamped and headed to nearby Pfeiffer Beach. I have a photo of that beach, taken on our road trip in 1999, when the wind was so strong that you could barely stand up! It’s a lovely photo, though. It was very windy this time too, although not as bad, but we still ended up with sand in pretty much every exposed orifice! However, it’s a beautiful beach with interesting rock formations that include perfectly formed tunnels. After admiring the beach for a while (and marvelling at the surfers), we took our leave of everyone and headed off to do a hike in Andrew Molera State Park. Oli, Karine and Marlène had been lucky enough to see a bobcat there the day before, but we weren’t so fortunate, although we saw some seals and lots of birds. We supposedly did an eight-mile hike, but we went the wrong way a couple of times, so it was probably more like nine. It seemed quite hard work, anyway, but it was quite lovely, taking in views across the dunes and bluffs to the ocean, as well as back to the steep hillsides. We hadn’t seen any fire damage from the recent violent forest fires until this point (which surprised me, since several trails were closed in the State Park where we camped), but now, with the aid of binoculars, we were able to spot a few blackened trees high in the hills.

Lazy weekends

The lovely weather that we returned to from Yellowstone continued – at least for a while. Friday night was really balmy – we went to a party just a few blocks up, at our friends’ place on Green Street, and took in their views from the roof. Last Saturday was gorgeous and, even though I had chores to do, I still managed to take full advantage. This included a stroll down to the little beach less than a ten minute walk away, with its views of the Golden Gate Bridge and historic ships, followed by ice cream enjoyed in sunny Washington Square Park. I also had a dip in our pool and a sunbathe on the terrace. On Sunday, we went on our customary run along the waterfront to Crissy Field and back, then had a pretty lazy day, topped off by a visit to the cinema. We went to see “Bottleshock”, which is about the competition in 1976 involving a blind tasting of select French and Californian wines, in which the Californian wines won all categories, putting Napa on the map. It starred Alan Rickman as the wine merchant who organized it all, and was good fun. I longed for Napa to be as it was then, however, with free tastings and wine at $5 a bottle. Those days are long gone!

I had my final Italian class on Wednesday this week. Then, on Thursday, we had the good fortune to have tickets for Robin Williams (yes, THE Robin Williams of Mrs Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting etc. fame) do stand-up comedy at a cute little venue just a stone’s throw from our apartment. We can – literally – see it from the window. Robin Williams lives in San Francisco – over in the posh Seacliff area – and he was doing this gig to raise money for charity. I have to say that it wasn’t all my type of humour, but the guy is such a legend, that it was great to see him anyway. We only found out about the event on the grapevine – Jon heard it from someone at work, who in turn had heard about it from her dentist. I told everyone at my work, and we ended up with quite a gang from the office, including the big boss! Afterwards, most of us went on to the Belgian beer cellar on our block, which was a perfect way to end the evening.

This weekend, it’s been cooler, but still quite sunny. Jon had to work yesterday, so I took myself off to Golden Gate Park, in the hope of getting into the Chihuly exhibition at the De Young museum. Chihuly is a famous glass sculpture artist who makes some amazing pieces. Anyway, the place was so busy that I gave up without waiting in line (they had a timed ticket system, so I was pretty sure I’d be out of luck), but I had a little stroll around some of the park nonetheless, taking in Stow Lake and the gorgeous rose garden. I then took a bus back to the Marina and had a very cold smoothie in a nice café there before heading home. In the evening, we had an invitation to go to my colleague and friend, Molly’s place for dinner. She lives quite near work, in the Pacific Heights area. Well, I must say that I loved her place! It didn’t have the views that we enjoy, but what a lovely characterful building! She lives in a 1930’s Spanish-style mansion in an apartment on the fifth storey, with wooden floors and lots of built-in closets! We had a really pleasant evening.

Today, we did our run again, then headed out over the Golden Gate to Marin in the afternoon. We’d planned to spend a few hours on Tennessee Beach, but we ended up walking from the sunshine straight into the fog, so the beach was rather chilly, to say the least, with a stuff wind blowing. We lasted it out for a little while, stoic Brits as we are, trained in the art of sitting on freezing cold beaches pretending you’re enjoying yourself, but then decided to give up and go somewhere sunny. We went over to Tiburon, on the other side of the Bay from here, and enjoyed some absolutely amazing ice cream at a café there, before taking in the sun from a spot with amazing views across to Angel Island and beyond back towards the city.