Summer Hols: California Part II

Here we have it – the conclusion of Californian adventure!

I left off last time having just left Santa Monica and was about to begin the drive north with the ultimate goal being to land in San Francisco by the Thursday or Friday, ready for my flight on Saturday afternoon back to Indianapolis.

The next stop on my drive was Malibu. Malibu is a beautiful stretch of the coastline with warm, sandy beaches and, naturally, plenty of palm trees. It’s also home to many celebrities of the LA area, although I didn’t see any around. I spent a few hours at Surfrider Beach here, and had fresh fish from a restaurant whilst sitting on the pier over looking the ocean. The view from the pier and the beach was postcard-esque and, just across the other side of the Pacific Coast Highway was the biggest KFC bucket I’ve ever seen!!

Moving up from Malibu I later arrived in Santa Barbara during the early evening. The sun was just going down but it was still incredibly warm, and the coast areas were full of young people just, well, hanging around. It was like a High School Musical version of some chavs hanging around a bus stop in the UK! I walked around the harbour for a bit, looking at some boats, before I started to wonder what the hell I was actually doing and headed into town. In the centre of the town area there was a market going on, I don’t know if it was a weekly or a nightly thing, but the main street through was closed off to traffic. This was great for people watching, as there was some strange, strange characters that walked past. I was making these observations from my seat inside a FISH AND CHIP SHOP! It claimed to be authentic and to be fair it was pretty close. The bigger surprise was the amount of British people in there! I only spent the one afternoon and night in Santa Barbara, and it also happened to be the one night where I had a really cool room at a pretty good price. It was at a Super8 motel – Google Maps you did me proud again!

The rest of the trip now gets a little bit hazy until I actually get to San Francisco. I don’t mean that in a ‘Hangover’ kind of way after I’d been roofied up by someone, just that I was stopping at so many places that I can’t really remember what order I did them in … although the photo album does kind of help the memory. Basically, the next few paragraphs are gonna be a bit choppy is what I’m trying to say.

On the drive up north I visited a vineyard. That was pretty much it; I turned up, walked around their small visitors centre (that extended to a some yards outside), and that was it. I even walked through the wine tasting area and was completely ignored by everyone – I would understand but I didn’t even have the ‘tache then. Still, around this area was probably some of the hottest weather I experienced out in California; it was absolutely baking – but in a nice way. There was hardly any humidity.

I then stopped at one place on the coast that looked very much like the set to the Disney film ‘Pete’s Dragon’. It was a very busy fishing harbour with lots of small boats and a real fishy smell in the air – you wouldn’t have though it really would you!? Echoing in the background was the barks from some seals/sea lions, so after a short stroll down the pier I was making my little sister jealous back home by emailing her camera phone pictures of the seals playing in the water.

Next up was the area of Monterey and Carmel. This is where I really started to notice that change in the scenery, landscape, and vegetation. The palm trees that had been everywhere in the south had now started to disperse and were replaced by ‘normal’ looking trees (David Attenborough eat your heart out). The coast now was also raising straight out of the ocean, compared to the gentle, flat sandy beaches that I had become used to. Some of the driving and the roads were absolutely breath-taking with very sharp drops into the ocean should you not be paying enough attention to the road. This scenery continued for pretty much the whole stretch of what is known as the Big Sur, and truthfully the views looked more and more European the further I travelled north. Especially when the mist coming off of the Pacific ocean meant that visibility was reduced to a medium fog, and of course the temperature dropped a lot – not great when you’re still wearing shorts. Walking around Carmel (the town where Clint Eastwood was once Mayor) this again had a very European feel; there were coffee shops and even a British tea and sweet shop – I think it was based on a Jane Austen theme. The view when I walked down to the beach was amazing – there were people sunbathing everywhere but there was NO SUN. Obviously it was there, as each time I took my sunglasses off to see properly I was then blinded by the glare. Oddly it was still really warm, it was just the amount of mist that was coming off the ocean.

Once I had set off driving again, I went to find the Bixby Creek Bridge. This is the big bridge that is featured in the Visit California video on my last post, and it’s a beautiful construction. I won’t turn this into a nerd-a-thon, so no facts I’m afraid (although it was very important in the linking of north and south California!). The photographs that I took aren’t great I’m afraid, as the mist was rolling in thick and I was worried about falling over the very steep edges. I also did the 17 Mile Drive which is renowned for it’s scenery around the Pebble Beach area, but I couldn’t really see much as the light was fading and, surprise surprise, there was fog and mist galore. It was a strange feeling though, and highlighted even more clearly the varying climates and environments in California – this area could have been Scotland. There was also a great salty aroma and taste to the air, which reminded me of home and Old Hunstanton beach during the winter (that’s a good thing, by the way).

Next up was a stop in Santa Cruz. This was a nice town, I didn’t see much of it other that the pier and the board walk as I only stayed overnight and then moved on by late morning. I also liked it because the palm trees were back again (although only temporarily). The main thing I remember from Santa Cruz was a sign on one of the food stands offering Deep Fried Cheesecake … I mean, I love cheesecake, but DEEP FRIED?!

This now begin my final drive up to San Francisco. Now, I’m going to put it out there straight away, but I wasn’t a big fan of the place. Most people I’ve told that to are generally a little shocked by it (ok, shocked may be a over exaggeration) but for me it just felt a little too much like the UK/Europe for it be American (I guess that’s actually a huge compliment to San Francisco, heh). I don’t mean that I hated it, far from it, it just will not be somewhere that I’ll rush back to. I did most of the touristy bits: walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Pier 39, and also drive down the windy Lombard street so many times that I lost count. The hotel that I stayed in here for one night was also on the dodgy side. For starters they offered valet parking. I HATE valet parking – I think it stems from the fact that I don’t like other people driving my car. Even though this wasn’t my car, I still didn’t want to let the Mustang go, but I did. The hotel room just made things even worse. The door didn’t shut properly and, of the two beds, one of them looked like the last occupant was probably murdered on top of the sheets. Or maybe just really messy with the wine, I don’t know. The most important thing was that it was right in the middle of the city though, so was a great base for exploring.

I was amazed at the inclines of the roads, the angles of which made me want to drive everywhere. Even then it’s a very strange feeling as the bonnet/hood of the car stops you getting a good view of traffic at an intersection as it’s just pointing directly up into air. I felt like I was in a movie most of the time, driving up and down the roads – I just wish I could have made a few jumps. I left San Francisco one afternoon and headed over to Walnut Creek to the San Francisco Creamery http://www.sanfranciscocreameryco.com/. This place was featured on Man Vs. Food for their giant ice cream – it’s called the Kitchen Sink and I attempted it. Well, I failed miserably at it. It was some awesome ice cream though, however it did some bad stuff to my body. On reflection, and with the benefit of hindsight, I probably should have went to the bathroom before leaving this place. Maybe it was the brain freeze or the insane sugar rush, but I didn’t go and just headed back to the car. This was bad, because as soon as I got onto the freeway I needed to pee very badly. Still, the feeling was manageable. That is until I reached what I think was the Bay Bridge. The traffic here was terrible, bumper to bumper, and my bladder felt like it was expanding to a size that could possibly cure world drought in one sweep. I readied a water bottle as a last resort, but in a country where everyone drives a Pick Up or some other giant vehicle, you have to be wary of people watching in. The pain was then getting pretty bad, as 4lbs of ice cream is digesting inside of me and thankfully the traffic started moving. I finally got my movie sequence as I rushed through the traffic and off the bridge, now just looking for a fast food restaurant or gas station. By now my jeans are undone to relieve some of the pressure around my waist, when I finally spotted a gas station! I pulled in, parked up, and did quite possibly one of the most ridiculous walks/runs of my laugh into the kiosk all the time sweating like Dr Conrad Murray at MJ’s funeral. I found the bathroom, but it was locked. I then become all un-British-like and went straight to the front of the queue to get the key … and that was the end of that: relief!

That was also pretty much the end of my trip too, as the next day I flew back to Indianapolis with plenty of photographs, souvenirs and memories. As a bonus I was also able to drop the Mustang off without having to explain an odd urine coloured stain on the leather. Phew.

I’ll be uploading the photos to my Flickr tomorrow evening, writing this just took so much longer than I thought …