California Dreaming

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We left San Fransisco in early afternoon and headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and up twisty Highway One. With eucalyptus trees scenting the air like a big cough lozenge, we stopped for views at the first place where the road found the edge of the cliff.    The point had a complete view back to the city and north to Point Reyes.  We were joined by two  ladies who were still using film in their cameras, and three giggling chicas taking pictures with their I-Phones, who were from Dominican University, only about ten miles away.  Of course we all  traded cameras to take pictures of each other.

Heading north, past Stinson Beach, at the visitor center for the Point Reyes National Seashore we got a permit for a hike-in campsite.  We then went to the trailhead and packed our backpacks for the two mile, one night expedition.  This was ultralight backpacking!


We hiked through the grassy, sandy hills to the campsites close to the beach, throwing our backpacks into the metal boxes provided for raccoon protection, and headed down to the water for the sunset that was fast approaching.  What a beautiful scene, with crowds of sandpipers and dowitchers on the shore and no houses as far as the eye could see.

The few other campers all came down to watch the sun sink into an pumpkin puddle.

We went back to the campsite and set up the tent and cooked dinner by headlamp.  The air was still warm and the moon was up.  It was easy to sleep well in our flyless tent, looking through the screened roof at the stars.


The next morning we caffeinated and went back to the beach.  I ducked into the water which was cold but nothing like Oregon cold.  Robert waded and thought about getting all the way in but never quite made it.   We sunbathed in various states of undress, and I tried to capture the scene with colored pencils.   Then late in the morning we went back to pack up and head out.  Getting back to the campsite, where I had left my backpack on the table, I found that my wallet had been rifled and my money was on the ground.  A five dollar bill had two corners chewed off.  The dread raccoons had struck!  We hiked back to the car, meeting several locals coming in take advantage of the rare October sun and heat.  Then we headed for Sonoma and Harbin Hot Springs.




Reading about Point Reyes in the giveaway newspapers in the local stores, I learned that this place was saved for my public use as a result of a familiar struggle.  First, a developer declares that he wants to build hundreds of houses and a small brave band of citizens tries to stop him.  Locals are divided between those who can't understand why anyone would want this land and those who love it.  The National Seashore designation came in 1962.  We spent less than twenty-four hours there, but could have easily stayed a week.

On the Road Again

I’ve just been traveling by car through the top half of California for the last two weeks and have seen enough beautiful interesting places to talk about for weeks to come.  But given that we are in election time, I feel the need to speechify against the nabobs of negativism that seem to have gained the rhetorical upper hand.

What a great place we have!  I haven’t done the carbon footprint math yet, but I have to say the USA has great roads.  Maybe we don’t always appreciate how you can get from here to there, mostly on cruise control, but it keeps us tied together in ways the internet can never do.  And wherever I went, there were road construction projects financed by — Stimulus Money, that’s what.  Just look for the ARRA sign, indicating the funding and realize the a whole lot of people are working on the one thing we Americans really depend on, giving our vehicles a smooth ride.

Yosemite was the first place on our itinerary, and because the weather was rainy and cold for the first few days, I had more reason than usual to use all the amenities of this great National Park.  There are a lot of people employed in that park, gladly warning you of bear hazards, and patiently entertaining all manner of anxious questions about the weather, road closures, bus routes and camping reservations.  Although when we came back the fifth time to the wilderness permit office to return the bear cannister we has thought we needed but then realized we wouldn’t need, the ranger banned us from returning for at least a day.  If this is government excess, then we are all a lot better off for it. And by the way, Yosemite is beautiful and spectacular, even in the rain and more so in the brilliant sun that finally appeared.

Next we went to San Fransisco, where every block seems to have ten restaurants and tourists from all over the world were spending freely.  We happened to tour Alcatraz Island on Columbus Day and were nonplussed by how the welcoming presentation glossed over the Indian occupation of the island in 1969 and 1970 as a necessary prerequisite for the better economic opportunities now offered to Native Americans through casinos.  However, the audio tour of the island, actually paints a fair picture of the misery of the prison, or at least as much as the average person can stand to hear about.  It is one of the many chapters of our history that we have belatedly started to come to terms with.  Overhearing comments of several visitors talking about the hard time they had done elsewhere and how Alcatraz compared, I thought how education is valuable in so many different ways.

The next day we went to Golden Gate park, to visit the serene Japanese Tea Garden and the impressive de Young museum.  Although admission prices everywhere started to add up, I accepted this as part the American “you get what you pay for” mentality.   We were kinda ripped off by one cab ride but entranced by another, who gave us a short history of the city from 1968 to the present day as he experienced it, and then said we were his last fare of the day (at one in the afternoon) and he was going home for a beer.  Isn’t this the way travel is supposed to be?  Disappointment around one corner sets up amazement for the next turn of the road.

There are more places to tell about, but the real story of this trip for me is that despite the impression you get from the media, every part of this country has its own unique geography and history.  The fact that this is true proves that we are doing something very right.   I was also very glad to see that Robert’s “smart phone” didn’t work very many places, and for the most part we were at the mercy of the place we were at.  Which always turned out better than we expected.