San Francisco to Pismo Beach
Another early start. I get a coffee and egg sandwich from Starbucks next door and come upstairs to have it. The lid is not on the coffee properly and I pour a good quarter of it over me when I go to take a sip. So that's a good start. I smell of coffee still.
The fog is really heavy today.
We're off and out of San Fran and down through the Silicon Valley - which is also covered in fog. Past Stamford University.
Through the garlic capital of the world. Apparently they produce someone like 90% of the world's garlic. If they're harvesting, you can smell it.
Marilyn Monroe came from this part of the valley. They grow artichokes and she became the Artichoke Queen and that started her in her march to fame and fortune.
A lot of the highways have Adopt a Highway signs where you can 'adopt' a section of the road and keep it clean. If a section is not adopted, there's a phone number you can call to do so. It's very popular, apparently. And you get a bit of advertising out of it.
I had thought we were going down the coast road, but they don't let coaches do it. So I'll have to come back and do it another time.
Into Monterey, which was named after a Spanish king and was once the capital of California. Lots of farming - strawberries, artichokes, etc. Cannery Row is here. John Steinbeck lived and wrote around here. Later in life, he decided he needed to travel. His wife didn't want to go so he took his dog, Charlie, and wrote the book Travels with Charlie.
We have a stop on Monterey. Here's Cannery Row.
There's an aquarium by the water. As I'm walking past a tour group, I hear her mention the Open Sea section of the aquarium where they house the ocean animals. On the outside, it looks like this... Fabulous.
We drive around along the coast, past some more sea lions. Past Lover's Point where the Monarch butterflies come once a year to mate.
Monterey Bay is where John Denver crashed his plane and died.
A stop at the waterfront, it's quite rough and wild and beautiful. Lots of bird life. And it's not cold and winters - that's just fog still.
Next to Carmel-by-the-Sea, where Clint Eastwood was mayor in the '80s. He did a lot for the town, like banning fast food restaurants. It's a very expensive town. No sidewalks, not big hotels - only B&Bs. Doris Day has a B&B here.
We had our lunch stop here. I strolled down the main road towards the beach, past some gorgeous shops. Went past this lovely arcade and walked in a bit to take a photo, then spied another fabulous candle that I had to buy. Not sure why all I've bought is some candles, but there you go. It's lovely, though.
Kept walking down to the beach. It's a gorgeous beach too. I sat under this tree...
..to eat my sandwich, looking out on this...
Then down to the water to have a paddle. The water come up deceptively quickly and it was up to my knees, which was fabulous, it was cold and bracing.
I chatted with Lorna and Margaret and their husbands (who remain nameless at this point...whoops) for a while, then we paddled some more. I took their photo for them and they offered to take mine - for my mum. I couldn't refuse that.
Then back up the steeeeeeep hill. Stopped for coffee in a cute little laneway coffee shop.
Then back to the bus. Had a stilted chat with the Danes before we all boarded. And a chat with Adele and her son Ben, from England. She finds it amazing that I'm travelling alone.
Two San Francisco facts of interest - there are more dogs than children - which is the way I think it should be. I do wonder if it's because there's a large gay population - or whether it still HAS a large gay population.
And to park your car on the street you have to have one wheel touching the curb, so the car can't roll away down a hill.
Another stop at the Mission, pretty church. We are going to hear abut this tomorrow, apparently.
This is encouraging...
We pass lots of farmland on the next drive. Apparently there are about 350,000 illegal Mexicans who work on the farms and without them, the farming economy would be lost. You can see them in farms along the way, picking the crops.
They play a DVD on the bus, lots of picture of places visited with soft music - everyone is pretty much sleeping now...
We've had this native American pan pipe music for about an hour now and I'm ready to rip some speakers out...
Credits are rolling and it's out. Thank goodness.
Past the road where James Dean crashed and died.
There's a $1,000 fine for littering. On the coast road, it's a $10,000 fine.
We arrive at Pismo Beach and have a (quick) drive through the town. There's a 24-hour tattoo place where I could get a tattoo. Have to tell myself no, to be honest. Ride in a balloon, ride a segway, tattoo...
For some reason, when we get to the hotel and are given our rooms, I go to mine and it is like a deluxe suite complete with massive jacuzzi and seating area. No idea why I got it but I'm not complaining.
As you can see out the door there...
Now down the very steep,and rickety steps...
..to the amazing beach.
I take a walk along the water and contemplate walking into town but to be honest, I just want to go back to my room, get some takeaway and sit. I had looked to see what theatre might be happening. There's a vaudeville show that looked like fun but it doesn't play on Tuesdays, so that's out.
Let's face it, this is not a bad spot to sit and eat my dinner.
And I didn't get a tattoo.
No comments:
Post a Comment