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!