Our twisted travels down the west coast of California continued on January 5th. It was raining as we left Fort Bragg and started wandering south via the Shoreline Highway, aka CA-1. By the time we got to our first destination for the day, the sun had come out.
The first stop was the Point Arena lighthouse where we saw the first of many whale spouts off in the distance – seemed the whales were heading south with us! From there we headed down to Bodega Bay. The twisted highway treated us with spectacular views, suicide cliffs, and single lane traffic where the road had fallen into the sea. Total travel distance for the day – less than 40 miles!
After checking into the hotel, we ventured to a local fish market/restaurant and picked up fish tacos take-out. The seafood quest continued.
From Bodega Bay we wandered down the coast and stopped at the Point Reyes lighthouse. We had good intentions of going down to the lighthouse until we were told it was 313 steps down. It was far too late in the date to take on such an undertaking. So, we added this to the ‘futures’ list – one that may require extensive training to ensure we can get back up the steep climb. Perhaps they will install a funicular in the meantime.
Inland Detour
Back in the car, we headed inland to visit friends. The first stop was in Alamo just east of San Francisco to visit our friend Shideh, who I worked with at the University of Minnesota. She is an amazing cook and treated us with an exquisite Persian dinner! And to make sure we got to experience all of the flavors, she made extra dishes – enough for at least four more people!
From Alamo, we continued east to Mt Aukem to visit a college friend of Dan’s, who he had not seen in 20 years! While Mike and Dan went off to catch up and explore the local wineries, I stayed behind and caught up on some work and napping.
Back to the Coast
The next morning, we headed back to the coast and cruised south on CA-1. There was a surfing competition going on in Santa Cruz and we spent the afternoon enjoying the sun and watching the surfers try to eek out every possible trick in the waves.
Our trek continued south through Monterey and along the Big Sur coast on roads that flat out scared the bejeesus out of me! Meanwhile, Dan at the wheel, just ignored my whimpering and kept cruising along. I’m sure he wished he was driving a little sports car rather than the SUV!
We arrived in Cambria after dark and spent an hour trying to find a hotel that wasn’t $300/night. The Pelican Inn felt sorry for us and gave us an ocean side room at a significant discount. We walked over to a wonderful seafood restaurant called the Sea Chest, which had been recommended by the hotel. After dinner we opened the windows in the room and spent the night listening to the waves crash against the shore – heavenly!
They are BIG and UGLY
On our way into Cambria, we had passed signs for the Elephant Seal beach. The hotel told us it was peak season so we drove a few miles north and joined the hundreds of people lined up along a boardwalk to watch the show. There were so many Elephant Seals, it is hard to describe the noise and of course, the smells! Perhaps this video will help a bit. Maybe not with the smell!
South to Laguna Beach
After the Seals, we cruised down to Morro Bay and stopped at Giovanni’s for their famous chowder. While enjoying our lunch and discussing ‘the plan’, we realized that with a bit of a detour we could pick up our wine order from Beckman Vineyards. We joined their wine club last year and Dan pointed out that we would need wine in Laguna.
We left the sea behind and headed inland. After we got our wine purchases squished into the vehicle we headed on southward. We debated stopping for the night be realized going around LA in the evening was much better than in the morning.
We arrived well after dark at our favorite place in Laguna – a quaint, funky cottage that is owned by my friend Diane from Portland, and her two sisters. It’s a rustic, no-frills place but it has a quirky charm that is wonderful and it is surrounded by tangled gardens that virtually hide the cottage from the street.
Annual Meeting of the Sisterhood
The next day, our friend Nancy, flew in from Minneapolis followed by Captain Sarah from the east coast, and Diane from Portland. Over the course of a couple of days, various friends who I’d met sailing with the Mahalo Sailing Women’s Rendezvous stopped by for cocktails and more than a few laughs.
Dan took our crazy behavior in stride and watched with amusement, usually with a beer in hand.
We can go for days in Laguna without moving the car. It is the perfect place for walking, whether it was to the beach, tide pools, or the grocery store. On one of the last days before Sarah departed, we joined Captain Patsee Ober, who lives in Laguna on a personal tour of Newport Beach. Patsee grew up there and we rented one of the iconic electric boats for the afternoon. We toodled around from one inlet to the next. It was great fun listening to Patsee share stories of growing up on one of the small islands that are now covered with million-dollar mansions. It certainly helped me understand why Patsee is addicted to the ocean and how she became a fabulous tide-pool photographer.
Heading North
Our next housesit started on January 31st and was in Santa Barbara, a repeat sit from last year. Susan, the homeowner, who happens to be the sister of my Portland sailing buddy, has a lovely home just outside of Santa Barbara. Her high-energy pooch took us on lengthy walks every day, most frequently to Hendry’s beach where we could walk for miles on the white sand beach. And there was always a tennis ball left behind by someone else for Chica to fetch.
Besides going on long walks with Chica, we spent our days watching the colorful parasailers fly off the hill across the way. And unlike the prior year where we had lots of rain, we had virtually none the entire month we were there. Susan’s yard is filled with flowers and fruit trees. And we actually got to enjoy avocados and oranges picked right from the trees!
Half-way through our extended housesit, I flew up to Portland to help Diane unpack after moving back into her newly-remodeled home. Unpack we did – but we also played with the dogs, went for walks, and experimented with funny, blue cocktails.
Trip to the Vineyard
I mentioned earlier that we had joined the Beckman Vineyards membership. With our friends, Mark and Jeanne from Minnesota, we did a day trip to the winery. We got an amazing tour; far more detailed and personal than any other winery tour we’d been on before. We got to chat with the owner and learned how he had made his money developing high-end equipment for the music industry and then bought the land where the winery is located. His son is the vintner and he stopped his work to share some of his knowledge about their process.
Swim, Power Lounge, Swim
With a lovely pool in the backyard we went swimming almost every day. I’m terrible at doing the American crawl and I was determined to master the stroke without choking on water. By the end of our stay I could do several laps without snorting a bucket full.
Back in the corner of the yard is a double-wide chaise lounge complete with fabric side panels to block the sun and wind. Last year, the winds were so strong, the entire thing blew over sending cushions flying. This year it became my refuge. I would sit and knit while enjoying the view of the hills across the way.
Five Weeks – Time to Head South, Again
The news about the coronavirus was just starting to break in early February. We had intentionally not booked a subsequent housesit which allowed Susan some flexibility in her return. Of course, we were more than happy to stay a few extra days with Chica and Smokey when her travel plans changed due to coronavirus. The latter had become my personal guard cat and Chica was doing exceptionally well playing fetch with Dan at the beach.
From California, we headed southeast towards Arizona to visit friends in Tucson and Sedona. We had just gotten settled in at Bob and Ilona’s new place when my sister called wanting to know how soon we were heading north. We had planned to spend a week in Arizona and dawdle our way back to Minnesota. It’s still cold in Minnesota in March – why would we want to rush back?
Well, my sister had been monitoring the situation with Covid and the border. She strongly advised us to drop everything and head north as fast as possible because there were rumors the border might close. With that, we said our goodbyes to Bob and Ilona and headed north at 6AM the next morning.
Racing for the border
We joined a full-fledged migration as the snowbirds from Canada headed home. Speed limits were completely ignored and if you didn’t keep pace, you’d have someone sitting on your rear bumper glaring as well as any Canadian can glare. With one overnight stop, we made it to Minneapolis – my driver’s license was going to expire and I needed to get it replaced before we headed into Canada.
With that task done, we headed back on the road after our very short 15 hour stay in Minnesota. And that included sleeping. We zoomed through Chicago at what should’ve been a busy rush-hour. Nope. Seems people were taking the stay-at-home orders quite seriously. Exhausted, we stopped in Port Huron overnight. The next morning headed for the Blue Water Bridge, a mere 12 hours before the border was scheduled to close! The end of our Twisted Travels!