San Francisco & Walnut Creek - Cannery Row & Point Lobos along the way

Here we are in Walnut Creek, CA again, briefly visiting with Steve's cousin's husband on our way back home.

Yesterday, we drove through Monterey, CA.  Steve wanted to see Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck.  It was a bit of a letdown; very commercialized and no real canneries, I'm sure those have moved on.

But, Point Lobos State Reserve (a place our daughter Meghan and her boyfriend Aram recommended) was just gorgeous!  This was south of Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea.  There were sea lions on the long island in the photos, flocks of pelicans and other birds flying low over the water.  Watching the scene, with the sound of sea lion barks in the air and 5 pelicans cruising 3 feet off the water, it felt like Jurassic Park.  As you can see, I really like the contrasts of the foliage on the hillsides, too.  In that overcast light, the greens and grays speckled with flowers just jumped out at me.

This island is covered, COVERED, with sea lions barking their heads off.

Look closely - 5 or 6 sea lions are lazing on that peninsula. 

Different angle, but the same 5 or 6 sea lions.

I couldn't "capture" the pelicans, but this is either a hawk or an eagle (and it had a mate  dancing around it).

Cousin Nancy and Bud graciously offered to put us up for a night or two.  So, today, we ventured into San Francisco with Bud as our guide.  We rode BART from Walnut Creek to Embarcadaro in San Francisco.  It was fun!

The clock tower at the Port that had tolling bells every hour!

The Port of San Francisco - great Mexican food on the other side!

Ferry Building at the Port

Statue of Ghandi on the ferry docks.

The Oakland Ferry

Bay Bridge and Cupid's Span sculpture in Rincon Park on the Embarcadero.  See the big bow and arrow in the background?

Bay Bridge

Trolley leaving the Port area.

Solar panels shading parked cars in our Park n Ride.  Brilliant!

Tomorrow, we visit with Steve's other cousin, Kerry and his wife Lynn, and then hit the road for Northern California, the Redwoods again, and maybe another couple beaches.  Tacoma, we will see you soon!

The California wasteland punctuated by Los Gatos and Santa Cruz

After meandering along the Pacific Coast Highway from Newport down to San Francisco, the sheen has definitely dulled for the "road trip", although it is proving to be an invaluable learning experience.  It has been frustrating to deal with a broken and slashed toe because how long can one be satisfied with watching the beach, the waves, and watching other people walking on the beach and playing in the water?  I believe that I have proven that period is not long.  I want to frolic in the waves, damn it! But, this stupid bandage will get wet and sandy.

Steve and I have agreed to cut to the chase.  He has enjoyed his share of beaches for this leg of the trip and we agreed to cut over to the direct route to Phoenix, AZ.  So, today...  we left Walnut Creek after our early morning breakfast with the cousins and we struck out for I-5.

There was a blur of heavy traffic, wrong turns, and mistakes that we have mental blocked and never intend to mention again.  We drove around the little town of Los Gatos, where I lived for one year, and found that the old saying is true "you can't go home again", in fact, you may never figure out where that home was.  We drove and drove and nothing looked familiar in any way.  I even stopped to use one of my "life lines" and called my father to find out what street we used to live on, or even what the name was of my elementary school that one year we lived in Los Gatos.  Neither of my parents could remember and I realized - the universe is telling me to "Let it Go, Donnie, Los Gatos no longer exists for you".

So... we ventured down to Santa Cruz, the site of some happy memories - the boardwalk, the amusement park, and the Concrete ship.  The boardwalk and amusement park are still there, better than ever!  My toe didn't want to walk around and check out the rides and games, but it was there.  (We, of course, forgot to take any pictures.  We were enjoying the moment.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)  The huge Concrete Ship, a merchant freighter, was no longer docked (sunk) at the Santa Cruz pier, though.  It was fascinating to that little 5th grade girl that something that large, made of concrete, could actually float.  I think it was my first real musing in the physics arena and my Dad came through with the explanation - air.  A ship made of just about anything will float because it has air inside the hull, cabins, rooms, holds, etc.

Central California, we agreed, looked an awful lot like the terrain of the Moon - all one color and sort of sculptured.  After an untold number of miles of that, we rolled into a little town called Buttonwillow, CA after dark to find a motel.  It was literally a truck stop town and the Super 8 was the best available.  [No photos.  It was a very long, rather trying day.]