Sunday Drivers; Redwood Highway; Goading Gretchen; New (Old) Friends

Late reveille on Sunday morning gave Suzanne a chance to decompress a bit after her all-day S.O.A.R! Workshop, but it wasn't long before she was ready to drag her hubbbie out for a run. Then we got on the road heading north to the Redwoods. Before leaving the SF Bay area, though, we had to trudge through this SUNDAY traffic in Berkeley. It was slow going for about 20 minutes until it finally opened up to 50+ mph. Let's hope Morse Blvd. in The Villages doesn't look like this in a year or two!

Soon the terrain was changing to more rural and hilly. Ranches with cattle and vineyards in Marin and Sonoma counties gave way to big hills and rocky outcrops, and deer crossings morphed to elk crossing signs. The towns are getting smaller, the roads have gone from twelve lane to four lane, and the traffic has diminished by 90%. Sadly, we passed a terrible accident on this stretch of road where a car was t-boned on the passenger side, and the whole right side of the car was pushed in two feet. We prayed that the driver was alone in that car.

Finally, more Big Trees!  This sign proves we're entering Giant Redwood country. On the way into this small town, Suzanne looked at a couple of guys walking and said, those guys look like druggies. Sure enough, we found the town has a distinctive "flavor" to it; "head shops" selling drug paraphenalia, medical marijuana signs, beat-up cars, dopey-looking scruffy people, etc. I went online to look at the Willits, CA, on-line newspaper; the buttons included "Home", "Regional News", "Entertainment", "Opinion", "Marijuana News"...  again, "you can't make this stuff up..."  Turns out that dope is the biggest cash crop in this part of California. Not only sad, but also stupid.

We stopped in Leggett, a small town in the redwoods, for the night. This morning after breakfast I found Gretchen sitting like a statue, watching as a campground-based Siamese cat walked around our kayaks on top of our car just in front of The Bus. If that had been a dog, she would have barked, but she seemed mesmerized by that cat.  Good thing, because Suzanne was meditating at the time.

We arrived Monday afternoon in Eureka, California, a pleasant seaside town near Humboldt Bay, to visit our friends Linda and Matt Morehouse. Linda is a superb book editor and designer, and Matt runs Paradise Cay Publications, publishers of two of Suzanne's early books, Living a Dream and It's Your Boat Too. Suzanne had spoken by phone and worked with Linda for years, but we wanted to meet them in person. They have a beautiful house in Eureka, and graciously hosted us to a gourmet dinner of wild boar, with a delicious salad, home made bread and butter, and peach cobbler. Matt cooked the wild boar in a great smoker/BBQ called The Big Green Egg. The meat was amazingly tender and tasty, totally unlike pork. (And I seem to remember some fine local northern California wine... but that part is a bit hazy...). We hope they will one day visit us in The Villages, but they seem pretty attached to No. Cal. and Oregon... and we can see why; it's beautiful here. The high temp today was 73F, the low about 58F. The coast is beautiful, and the woods magnificent. This could be a bit of heaven!

Santana Row; S.O.A.R! in San Jose; An Authentic Italian Meal

We received a recommendation the other day: “do not miss Santana Row”. We had no idea what we’d find when we turned down the street and looked for parking. Turns out it is a very upscale shopping, dining, entertainment, and residential complex with a distinctive European atmosphere.

There was even an area set aside for chess, both on boards and the industrial size.  The clientele was definitely younger, with a good mix of Asian software types. After all, this is Silicon Valley. The clubs were busy and loud, even at 5 PM. We decided not to stop here; Rudy’s not fond of martinis.  

If you are looking for Gucci, Ferragamo, Diesel, or Burberry fashions, this is the place. Suzanne looked at a couple of Gucci bag price tags, but after hearing my comment that Wal-Mart had a much better selection, decided to wait. I’m always happy to help her with shopping...

Fortunately, Suzanne is not much of a power shopper, and I had cleverly waited until late in the day to take her to Santana Row, so she was now quite hungry. “How about Pizza Antica?” I suggested... We found a table for four on the sidewalk of this dog-friendly street; here are Rudy and Gretchen seated patiently waiting for their pizza bones after we finished our meal.  

 We had two small pizzas, one with fennel sausage, Portobello mushrooms and onions; the second with sweet corn, basil, bacon and a heap of arugula on top. Molto bene!

We were happy to see that romance is still alive and well here; this young man was presenting a set of earrings to his girlfriend... gee, they look like they’re in love!

On Saturday, Suzanne presented her S.O.A.R! Workshop to an enthusiastic group of participants from the Center for Spiritual Living, San Jose. While Suzanne was SOARing, I was able to get a mobile carpet cleaner to The Bus for some mid-tour freshening up. Because the carpets were still damp, we went out to dinner (what a good excuse!) at Vin Santo in Willow Glen. Owner/Head Chef Umberto is a neat guy from Italy who worked in restaurants in Southern California for 10 years before opening Vin Santo five years ago here in San Jose. His Assagio selection of four hand-made pastas was fabulous (the best we have ever had); the Ossobucco was “melt-in-your-mouth; I bent Suzanne’s arm to try the special Italian bread pudding. It was a delightful evening.

Last night was not particularly restful. We’re staying at the San Jose Elks’ Club RV lot, which is located only 3 minutes from the Center for Spiritual Living, the venue for the Messages of Hope documentary and the S.O.A.R! Workshop. This location could not have been more convenient for those events. Less desirable about our location was the late night pool-side party at the lodge with a Beach Boys-style band playing until early this morning, with their speakers only 70 feet from The Bus...

Today we are off on the next leg of our journey; we will be driving up the Redwood Highway to Eureka, in northern California, to visit friends.

Crazy Signs; Her Inner Child; Messages of Hope Viewing; A Talented Muralist

On our last day at the Coast Guard base in Petaluma, Suzanne decided to lift weights at the gym while I ran. I have been having some lower back pain, so skipped weights for a more relaxing 4 miler. She enjoyed the workout, but was taken aback by this sign on the basketball court wall.

Suzanne needed some unwinding, so she took a chance to let her "Inner Child" out. 

Fortunately, there were no signs reading “Adults, please act your age.” Or “Adults using kids’ facilities will be sent to detention.”

We are now half-way through our 2012 US and Canada Tour, and have arrived back in San Jose after our too-brief stop in Marin/Sonoma Counties. Last night we held the Messages of Hope documentary private viewing to a packed house for sixty-two very enthusiastic members of the Center for Spiritual Living, San Jose.

There were more questions after the viewing, and lots of interest in Suzanne’s S.O.A.R! Workshop (it will be presented on Saturday 28 July at CSLSJ, 9 AM to 5 PM). The book signing after the film also went very well.

This morning we got out for a waffle and a veggie omelet at a San Jose institution, Bill’s Café on Willow Street. It’s in a neighborhood called Willow Glen, with modest, but beautifully kept houses, and lots of small businesses along its central Lincoln Street. (Note: “modest” here in Silicon Valley means $600,000 to $800,000 for a 50 year old, 1,600 sq ft ranch). The food was great, but the walk along Lincoln was even more fun. We enjoy meeting new people, and we stopped to talk to Rene Guyot, an artist who was putting the finishing touches on this beautiful mural outside a soon-to-be-opening yoghurt shop. Rene recently completed a 21 foot long mural of pirates for a kid’s bedroom wall in a ritzy area of San Jose. He will also be displaying a 120 foot canvas in a museum here in the near future. Rene’s father was an artist, and he reminisced about using his French father’s paints and brushes when he was only 6 or 7. He obviously learned his art very proficiently...

A Slow Day; Pt. Reyes National Seashore; Thistles and Tule Elk; Coast Highway 1

Tuesday was what runners call “a recovery day”. We used it to recover from the long day of running (and wine tasting) that we had Monday. The only problem was that Suzanne had an early reading scheduled, so Reveille came at 0630, about 45 minutes before my usually lazy start to the day. No matter, we were going sightseeing anyway. After a rewarding reading for Suzanne, we loaded the car and drove about an hour to the town of Pt. Reyes Station, where we stopped for coffee and pain au chocolat at The Bovine Bakery. (They don't really bake bovines here...) Laugh you may, but the coffee and pastry were excellent, so we also bought their pesto and chicken croissants for lunch. The town is small (pop. 350) and populated by assorted older hippies, organic farmers, weavers, and handmade jewelry craftsmen. The epicenter for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a few miles south of town, but fortunately we missed a recurrence today.

Pt. Reyes National Seashore is an amazing place. It sits just north of San Francisco in Marin County, and it reminds you of Scotland or Cornwall; the wind and fog whip in over the hills from the Pacific, the trees are stunted and bowed from the wind, or have been blown away completely, leaving the hillsides covered with grass, rocks, and thistle. By the way, thistle was thought to be a cure for baldness in the Middle Ages. I’m not sure how it was supposed to be used, since the flowers are often protected by sharp thorns.

There are also oysters here, as this delightful sign proves. However, the oysters are much smaller than the Gulf oysters I'm accustomed to back in New Orleans, so I passed on these for lunch.

But there are also a few hundred Tule Elk here, and now is the rutting season. We were hoping to hear bugling and perhaps see some elk combat (the bulls fight over the cows and the stronger bulls collect harems). However, after hiking for a long way, we had seen about 40-50 elk, and none of them were bugling, rutting, fighting, or mating. In fact, it was as if they were all on strike; they were just lying around, being lazy. (Maybe they had just come from a wine tasting...)

This area is so windy that farmers in the 1800s planted cedar and eucalyptus windbreaks to cut down on erosion and to protect their homes. These windbreak trees are over 100 years old, and are upwind of a ranch that is now closed and marks the start of one of the trails.

There are also Elephant Seals on some of the beaches. These guys run to about 5,000 lbs (blubbery males) and 2,000 lbs (svelte females). They dive to 2,000 ft depths and beyond, and can stay underwater for up to an hour or more. Like elk, they fight over females and build harems. Males can be very aggressive if approached, especially if they think you’re after a member of his harem. (Full disclosure: I didn't really take this photo... I didn't want to get one of these beasts jealous).

After our hike, we headed back home via California Highway 1 (also called The Coast Highway or Pacific Coast Highway, PCH), which winds like a snake along most of the California coast from Mendicino County to Orange County. The road is narrow, and perfect for sports cars and motorcycles; we were glad we hadn’t brought The Bus. These motorcyclists from Switzerland had rented their bikes and leathers in San Francisco, and were enjoying the scenery. They chose these particular bikes (two BMWs and a Suzuki) because they had the exact same bikes back in Switzerland. They looked pretty cool, and I thought that maybe I should reconsider that Harley... and a tattoo? Naaaahhhhhh.....

These photos give you an idea how narrow and winding the Coast Highway is for much of its length; it’s not a very safe road, to say the least. We wondered about the sanity of two bicyclists we passed. The husband was pulling a small trailer with a toddler and his wife had a 4 year old on a seat on the back of her bike.

Back at home on the Coast Guard base, we took Rudy and Gretchen for a walk. We passed the warning signs about cougars, and then saw these two additional warnings. In this case, “Range” means “Rifle and Pistol Range”... “Lead” implies just what you think it does...and is much faster acting than the kind in paint.

Omelets? Petaluma; Sonoma Wine Tasting; A $4.55 Dinner

Today we thought we might get up early to enjoy breakfast at the Coast Guard galley, where their culinary students serve up made-to-order omelets. The only problem was that the galley’s hours of operation were 0615-0700, to fit a military work day. That meant a 0530 reveille so I could walk the puppies while Suzanne meditated. Option B was to be lazy and get up when we felt like it. You guessed it, Option B won out. At 0730, we “rolled out of the rack” and started our day. Omelets would have to be prepared by Chef Ty, who is actually quite adept in creating gastronomic delicacies when the occasion warrants. The smell of bacon and strong coffee got Suzanne going as I prepared omelets with feta, onions, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and salsa. Then a 5 mile run on the Coasties’ PT trail and we were ready for a tough day of sightseeing. 


On the way, we passed through old Petaluma; this town was settled by the Spanish in the 1770s, and later became known as the egg capital of the world (the egg incubator was invented here by Lyman Byce in 1879), and was called "Chickaluma". It also had several brothels on its main street, one of which is now a pizzeria. Petaluma is known for its many adobe buildings in excellent condition for their age, and many of which survived the San Francisco Earthquake without significant damage.This is the old Petaluma train station; Suzanne, being a train engineer’s daughter, couldn’t resist taking a photo. 

Neither Suzanne nor I have been to Sonoma before; we were anxious to see the vineyards and the wineries, so off we went to see if all the hype about California wines was accurate. Being very conservative, we were only going to visit two vintners, Chateau St. Jean and Ty Caton’s. (Unfortunately, he’s not a distant cousin; that would really have been Good Fortune!)  It was a 40 minute drive from the Coast Guard base to Kenwood, north of Sonoma, where both wine tasting rooms were located. This signboard shows only some of the wineries in the area.

The first stop, Chateau St Jean, was easy to find, because it was a very elegant former private estate, but surrounded by acres of vines heavy with grapes. 

The weather, again today, was perfect; sunny and warm. It must rain here, but we haven't seen but a trace or two during our time in California.

Okay, it’s been 4 hours since breakfast, so we’d better have something to eat before the wine starts flowing. Suzanne is a “Grazer”; she found several displays of grape seed oil, olive oil, tapenade, and jellies with bread for tasting. They were all delicious, but we decided to get a substantial sandwich and a glass of wine to keep us going. Eating lunch on the Chateau’s patio was a real treat. The wine, their house Chardonnay, was very good, but nothing like we were about to experience...

Before signing in for the tasting, Suzanne decided that I needed a new cycling jersey to match one of the vintages we were about to sample. I’m not ready to sign up for next year’s Tour de France, but at least I’ll look pretty good biking around The Villages. Brian, our wine tasting host, was very knowledgeable in explaining the vineyard’s selection; a flight of five wines was only $15, and we had a two for one ticket, so the damage to the wallet wasn’t too bad... unless you add in the wine we bought... well, we won’t go there. Let’s just say that the wine you get at these tastings is an order of magnitude better than the wine we usually buy at the grocery store.

Our next stop, at Ty Caton’s, was even better. Caton’s is a boutique vineyard, meaning that their wines are produced in lots of only a few hundred cases, rather than the thousands that the big guys produce. Their wine tasting rep, George Delano, is a distant cousin of FDR’s. He is also a winemaker, and a real wine expert. He gave us more time and advice than we could have expected, and we were glad that we had arrived on a Monday and not a Saturday, when they are much busier.

Neither Suzanne nor I normally care much about shopping, but this afternoon we seemed more inclined to check out the displays. This one, a cookbook for guys, caught my eye... 

George was posing for this photo with his girlfriend; she looked more than a little familiar... she is advertising the winery's Stimulus Package. Maybe more businesses should follow this marketing technique...

On the ride home, after some Starbucks coffee, I drove while Suzanne reflected on the afternoon’s activities. She seemed to be having some difficulty remaining awake; it must have been that long run this morning... 

After our wine tastings of some more than excellent fine wines, we arrived back at the Coast Guard Training Center in time for dinner at the galley. We were anticipating some gourmet creations by the culinary students, perhaps veal scallopini, filet mignon, something really special; here is the menu we found posted for today’s dinner. (Philly cheese steak sandwiches, onion rings, mixed veggies, salad, fruit, and dessert.) 

As it turns out, there are many more students who show up for lunch rather than for dinner. (I’m not sure whether that’s a cause or an effect...) In any case, for $4.55 per person, we couldn’t complain. I think the wine affected Suzanne’s taste buds, because she didn’t find the onion rings as appetizing as did I. You certainly couldn’t complain about portion size; the servers put more food on our plates than we needed. And the patio dining was a treat. The simple meal certainly didn't diminish Suzanne's "enSuzyasm"!  All in all, it was a fun day. Tomorrow, though, No Wine!

Center for Spiritual Living, San Jose; Rosie the Riveter; Solyndra; A Coast Guard Campground Where? A Cougar...

Today was a great day! It started with driving from Gilroy (Garlic Capital of the World, in case you missed that post - you really can smell it all over town) to attend services at the Center for Spiritual Living in San Jose. What a wonderful experience... it started with lively music and a skit with spiritual lessons. The skit was based on the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. (It was one of Suzanne’s favorite movies as a kid; Ty was at sea, and didn’t see it).

Reverend David Bruner, the minister at CSLSJ, was an engaging, eloquent speaker, and had much to say about the recent tragic events in Aurora, Colorado. Suzanne and I were introduced and welcomed, and the Messages of Hope documentary showing on Thursday evening and S.O.A.R! Workshop on Saturday were announced. We look forward to meeting more of the CSLSJ community later this week at these events.

We then drove north to our next campground. But on the way, a couple of sights of interest caught my attention. Just north of San Jose is the now-closed Solyndra solar panel plant; Solyndra, controlled in large part by a major Obama fundraiser, was the first company approved for a loan under the Obama administration in 2009, even after an Energy Department panel recommended unanimously that the loan not be approved because of high risk. It is unlikely that the $527 million dollar loan funded by taxpayers will ever be seen again. It was a depressing sight.

The more positive encounter was passing the Rosie the Riveter Memorial in Richmond, CA, at a former WWII shipyard. This poster made everyone aware of women’s contributions to the war effort. The memorial sculpture, made of stainless steel, evokes a ship’s hull being built, and honors the estimated 18 million women who worked in US defense and support industries between 1941 and 1945. For more information about the memorial and women’s efforts in WWII, see http://www.rosietheriveter.org

Driving around San Francisco Bay, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge looming out of the fog. Suzanne’s step-grandfather worked as an engineer designing the bridge in the 1920’s/30’s. We hope to make a visit to Golden Gate Park later this trip.

We arrived at our new campground this afternoon. It consists of only six sites, the smallest RV campground we have ever seen. It is located on a small lake at the US Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma, in the middle of a ranching and farming area. You can’t see the Pacific Ocean from here, but I guess it’s a good place to learn (the Coast Guard has EMT, medical, culinary, operations specialist and electronics training here). We have seen more deer here in two hours than anywhere else on our trip. Here are views from The Bus and on the lake shore. 

“Cougar?”  Even though we don’t watch TV, we have heard the term “cougar” in the pop culture vernacular. No, Suzanne has not told me that she’s replacing me with a young Chippendale guy. This warning sign in the campground gave me pause to reflect. Guess I’ll be carrying my knife when I walk Rudy and Gretchen. 

Meeting Madonna and Steinbeck; A Near Disaster; Happy Cowboys; Art and Coffee

Up early again to beat the crowds... not shopping, not golfing, but another forced march, otherwise known as a two hour strenuous hike up and down trails on Mount Madonna, a Santa Clara County Park just 10 minutes from where we are camping. It’s also the site of California Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), a cousin of the Giant sequoias we visited in that National Park. Coastal redwoods are the tallest trees on earth, some reaching over 375 feet in height. These were not that tall, but it was a beautiful experience hiking in the groves and later on the sunny slopes through Manzanita and oak. We saw as many Mule deer as we saw hikers, since we were out early and the terrain was challenging, to say the least. There was also an archery range, but not the traditional line of targets. Spaced among the trees and in the brush were many “shooting” positions, marked off in range (some were 65-75 yards to the targets), with uphill and downhill, narrow lines of fire, and low tree branches set up to challenge the most avid bowman.

Trails varied from steep to not quite so steep; the only flat spot was on the crest where in the 1880’s Henry Miller (a German immigrant named Heinrich Alfred Kreiser) built his summer estate. Miller had arrived in San Francisco with $6.00 in his pockets, and after a lot of hard work controlled 14 million acres of land in California, Oregon and Nevada, and grazed a million head of cattle and one hundred thousand sheep. His estate is now in ruins, but he preserved the redwoods and a herd of Tule elk that became the stock that kept that species from becoming extinct. There are now 3,500 Tule elk, thanks to Henry Miller.

After the hike, Suzanne decided to find a salon for a trim. She knows that many of you will understand the difficulty of finding the right stylist when you’re traveling. She selected the best looking salon in town, and sat down for..... a near disaster!!!! She called me to say it was “Amateur Hour at the Salon”! The name of the salon shall go unnamed, but she became worried when she asked the stylist about the tattoo on her arm, and the girl said, “Oh, that’s just the first... they are addictive; don’t you have any?” Things went downhill when the stylist grabbed a handful of hair and went chop, chop.... fortunately, Suzanne took charge and got the near-disaster under control, and she looks almost normal now.  ;-)

I realized we weren’t back East when I had to go get some parts to repair our water pump; on the way, I passed a liquor store in San Martin that had two cowboys on horses outside enjoying a quick cerveza. They were very friendly, worked on a nearby farm, and were out for a relaxing ride and just needed to hydrate... it was very warm riding in the July sun.

We decided to go to Monterey, an hour’s drive, for brief sightseeing and dinner. I had forgotten how much the temperature changes here. It was 95 when we left The Bus, and 62 when we got to Cannery Row. A quck stop in a tourist shop and two new fleece jackets later (only $13.99 each!) and we were set for the fog that laced through the Monterey peninsula.

Cannery Row is the main street in New Monterey, and is the setting for Steinbeck’s great novel of the same name. The sardine industry started collapsing in the 1950’s due to overfishing. The last cannery here closed in 1973, but it only lasted that long because it changed over to canning squid. Now Cannery Row is a bustling tourist area.

We enjoyed walking along the shore, with great views across Monterey Bay, where hundreds of California sea lions live. The Monterey Aquarium is world-renowned, but we didn’t have time to visit. We did pop into the newly-opened Studio 1 Art Café, where owner Richard Ahart (a professional art agent) decided to combine his vocation with his love for fine Italian Illy coffee. His son and daughter were both working last night, and the coffee and pastries were fantastic as were the art and the ambiance.  This is a winning combination. Richard plans to open more Studio 1 Art Cafes around the country, and we wish him all the best. Watch out, Starbucks!