Let’s go to San Francisco
Where the flowers grow
So very high.
Sunshine in San Francisco
Makes your mind grow up to the sky.The Flower Pot Men, 1967
What a great day we had today. So much to see and do.
It was another early start this morning, as we left El Capitan hotel and Merced and set off towards San Francisco, our ultimate destination for today (and ultimate destination of this trip). But Frank and Tomi had lots of things planned for us today, so we also had the joy of the journey. 🙂
It was 7.45am when we set off, and Frank said we’d be stopping for a break after about an hour and a half. One thing we did notice was that the air-con had been turned right down, so there was no need for the yellow towels to stuff into the vents. I think Frank must have had enough complaints to have taken action. 🙂
We spent the time pleasantly, looking out of the window, chatting, singing (yes, when someone mentioned San Francisco, Tomi obliged by putting on Tony Bennett’s famous I Left My Heart in San Francisco), reading and (in my case) checking social media.
For quite a long part of the journey, we drove alongside a huge lake, which glittered and coruscated under the flawless sky. Google Maps told me was called San Luis Reservoir. Depending on water levels, the reservoir is approximately nine miles long from north to south at its longest point, and five miles wide. Wow!
Soon we arrived at our rest stop, and Frank told us we had 40 minutes to spend here. It was in a place called Hollister, CA and was quite unusual. Outside it had a carriage from an old train, advertising the “Casa de Fruta”. It also had a big wooden waterwheel that was slowly turning around.
It was billed as a fruit market and indeed it had an amazing selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it also had canned fruit and massive packs of dried fruit as well as nuts. It also sold its own home-made fruit pies and pomegranate wine and bags of sweets.
After using the restrooms, we went into the shop and purchased a huge bag of roasted and salted mixed nuts. It contained Brazils, hazel nuts, cashews, macadamia, pecans and almonds – a fantastic selection and something for us to nibble on on our journey.
Around 11.00am, we arrived at Monterey, and Frank asked us to be back for 12.30pm. What an amazing place! I immediately loved its colourful buildings, full of character, as well as the town’s proximity to the rugged coastline and I could smell the evocative scents of ocean, seaweed and fresh fish.
We could see a huge, guano-streaked rock which contained lots of seabirds, mainly shags and cormorants, but also ‘ordinary’ seagulls, many of which wheeled and screeched overhead.
Monterey was most famous for its canned sardine industry during the 1920s through the early 1940s. At its peak, the city produced over a million cases of tinned fish annually and was famously dubbed the “Sardine Capital of the World”. The old cannery buildings still exist, but have been converted into hotels and restaurants, with the Monterey Aquarium housed at the former site of the Hovden Cannery.
Of Mice and Men author John Steinbeck wrote a “faction” book called Cannery Row (1945) which was based on the canneries and the lives of their employees and other key characters. The book helped to put Monterey on the world map.
In fact, the waterfront street in which the old cannery buildings is situated used to be called Ocean View Avenue, but it was renamed to Cannery Row in 1958 as an homage to Steinbeck’s book. After learning this, I downloaded the book into my Kindle; I will have to read it now! 🙂
We saw an Italian delicatessen that sold sandwiches, and we remembered something else that Monterey is famous for – of course, it’s Monterey Jack cheese! An appetising aroma of cooked and cured meats was enough to tempt us into the shop, where the deli counter made up fresh sandwiches for you as you waited. Trevor ordered a fresh tuna sandwich, and I absolutely had to go for a pastrami, pickle and Monterey Jack sandwich. 🙂
We took our sandwiches to eat at the sea front and sat on some benches to enjoy them in the sunshine and fresh sea air. We could hear the sound of the surf washing onto the rocky shoreline as well as the cries of the sea birds. On a wooden pier we saw a seafood restaurant called Fish Hopper which we would have liked to visit if we had had the time. What a fabulous place – it’s safe to say I really liked Monterey.
As we walked around, we saw an interesting sculpture which featured a life-size group of men apparently relaxing and having a conversation. I wondered if it was a monument to lost seafarers, but it turned out to be a dedication to the former cannery employees. (see above).
All too soon we had to make our way back to the coach, and we set off along the “17 Mile Drive”. This is an incredibly scenic stretch of the California coastline that consists of rugged outcrops, roaring surf and large rocks with many seabirds and lots and lots of seals. It also contains the famous “Lone Cypress”, one of the most photographed trees in North America.
The ‘Lone Cypress’ stands atop a granite headland overlooking Carmel Bay, and is believed to have been seeded circa 1750 in what was then the Spanish colony of New Spain. However, its precise age is unknown. Over the centuries the tree has been weathered by the wind and salt spray coming off the Pacific Ocean, gradually altering its appearance. We had to negotiate a series of steps to see it, and I only had my flip-flops on so I didn’t go down there; Trevor took the photo below:
Meanwhile, I was marvelling at the antics of the seals. We could see the large rock, which is known as “Bird Rock Vista Point” and we could hear the lively chorus of “ohuh ohuh ohuh ohuh” made by the many seals, which gathered at the waterline of the rock as well as frolicking in the sea. There were loads of them! A couple of times I saw a large black ‘fin’ and wondered if there were dolphins out there as well, but then I realised they were actually flippers of the seals, where they rolled and frisked, only their flippers and tails showing! Combined with the cries of the birds and the exhilarating rush of the surf, this place was absolutely fantastic.
There were also lots of sailing yachts and what I found interesting was that instead of the usual angular white sails, these ones all had black sails. They seemed to blend in with the scenery more. I could smell the salt air in my lungs and the wind in my hair and I felt so glad to be alive. Look towards the base of the rocks – can you see all the seals? 🙂
Our next stop en route to San Francisco was to the charming little seaside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Once again, it looked to be a town from a bygone era, with its stone-built chocolate box dwellings and quirky little things like no street lights and no postal addresses; residents call at the town’s one post office to collect their mail. There were no fast-food restaurants or chain-store shops, rather the little cafés were individual and featured home-baked goods, and the shops were little boutiques selling unique souvenirs.
Trevor and I decided to go into one of the cafés and enjoy a large white Americano each and share a giant cookie between us. We selected a table by the window so we could people-watch.
Afterwards we browsed around the shops and then decided to go for a beer. We found a traditional pub called “Alvarado Street Brewery & Bistro” and went inside. It wasn’t crowded, and we each perched on a bar stool and ordered a pint of the local beer each, which went down a treat. 🙂
We had to be back on the coach for 3.30pm, because we still had a drive of about 120 miles (about three hours) before we reached our hotel in San Francisco. The journey gave us time to relax and look over our photos and chat with our fellow travellers as to what we’d seen and done.
San Fran would be our final destination on this trip, as we were now down to our final two nights. 🙁 What a lot we had seen, done and experienced, but it was far from over.
I was just so, so excited to be going to ‘Frisco. Our visit there would allow me to “complete the song”. If you’re wondering what I mean by that, all will be clear in my next blog entry. 🙂
Soon we arrived at the outskirts of the city, and Frank gave us a running commentary and restaurant recommendations as we passed Union Square, then turned into Geary Street, where our hotel, the Clift Royal Sonesta, was situated. We had had a personal recommendation from some friends to visit “Tommy’s Joynt”, which was also on Geary Street – it came highly rated.
The coach pulled up and we all alighted, unkinked our backs and legs and made our way into the hotel foyer to collect our key cards. We were in room 703 on the seventh floor; it overlooked the main street so we had a good view from up there. We dumped our bags and decided to settle down for a power nap.
At 7.15pm, I got up and took a shower and blow dried my hair, changing into clean, dry clothes. We left the hotel and decided to walk up to Tommy’s Joynt. You might think that, because it’s on the same street, it would be quite near, but we walked for several ‘blocks’ from number 495 Geary Street to 1101.
As we continued up the street, the area seemed to become less salubrious, with many homeless people hanging around shop doorways amid the strong smells of cannabis and urine. There was more litter here, too. As we stood out as obvious foreigners, several times we were accosted for food or money, and we explained we never carried cash. I think that, if I had not had Trevor with me, I wouldn’t have felt particularly safe here.
We passed several bars and those little late-night shops that sell absolutely everything. Soon we spotted Tommy’s and headed eagerly towards it. It was 8.10pm and, as we approached the doorway, the proprietor said “Sorry, we closed at eight o’clock!” WHAT?! He apologetically explained that they normally stay open until 9.30pm on a Monday, but because of the holiday they were closing early.
As we crossed the road, we spotted a cheerful-looking place called “Mel’s Kitchen” and decided to go in there. We each ordered a bowl of chilli and a pint of beer, and settled down to eat. The chilli was delicious, as were the side-dishes of coleslaw and potato salad we had also ordered.
Once we’d finished, we set off back down the road again, intending to visit a bar. But none of them looked particularly inviting, so we went into one of the little shops that was also an off-licence. A tall unkempt guy hanging around outside the shop asked us for money and we shook our heads, hoping he’d be gone by the time we emerged from the shop.
We chose a carton each of peanut butter whisky (we have had this before, and it is absolutely delicious) and made our way to the till to pay. As we left and walked down the street, the guy who’d been hanging around outside fell into step close behind us. I kept looking over my shoulder with trepidation, but thankfully he turned off into the next street.
We kept walking down the street to the “posher” end, where there were no homeless people, dubious characters or wee-smelling shop doorways. As we approached our hotel, we saw some people from our party coming out and they said they were going to the pub over the road, which was called “The European Bar & Lounge”. We decided to join them, as it was now 9.20pm
We all went to the bar and ordered our drinks, only for the barman to tell us that he would serve us, but it was “last call” at 9.30pm! We took our drinks into the ‘lounge’ area, where they had large sofas and coffee tables, but we couldn’t really get comfortable when we knew we had to bolt our drinks down within the next 20 minutes or so!
Afterwards, we all trooped across to the hotel, where the bar was also closed. It seemed that public holidays in the States really were holidays, in that many places were closed altogether or close early. In Britain, shops and restaurants and pubs are more often than not open for their usual hours.
Back up in our room, we opened our cartons of peanut butter whisky, and enjoyed them while we watched TV, read and relaxed. Trevor decided to hand-launder the t-shirt he had borrowed and hung it up on a coat hanger in the bathroom, so it would dry overnight and he could return it to its owner in the morning. 🙂
Before turning in, we set the alarm for 7.00am, ready for our day exploring San Francisco tomorrow. We slept well, looking forward to whatever the day would bring. 🙂