Pushing on!

Opening our room door this morning was akin to the closing scene in 'The Birds' when everything is suddenly back to normal ....... the unrelenting rain had stopped! We learned that in addition to our two (very short) power outages several hundred houses in the Coos Bay area had suffered worse and were still without power. We left the Red Lion Hotel and set off northward on the 101. The scenery was majestic in places. We soon left the 101 and hit I5, driving a further 150 miles to Portland. Stopping-off for lunch at  'The Original Breakfast' we experienced a traditional diner trapped in a 1950's time-warp, complete with a cast of odd people! Driving through Portland is always interesting, made no less so by having to run the gauntlet of the occasional torrential shower and four or five lanes of nose-to-tail fast moving traffic! They say that Portland has a very walkable Downtown ..... well maybe so, but its surrounded by a maze of bridges and spiraling freeways, in the centre of which is the odd drawbridge that is raised periodically to halt the motorway traffic. But, once having negotiated Portland, we were soon at the Best Western in Vancouver (Washington). The latter is perfectly situated next to a mall, which houses good eateries and a 'Cinatopia' cinema. ...... a cinema offering plush leather gallery seating (with Ottomans!) and cinema sitting rooms, complete with bookcases, settees, and reading lights! Cinema goers can also order anything from draught beer to fish'n chips from their seats too!! And finally a musical reminder of today's journey and one that I've used before ..... Walk don't run, by the Ventures:
   

Yes it pours!

It never rains in California ...... well it was bucketing down this morning in Eureka and everywhere from there to our next overnight stop, Coos Bay (Oregon). Normally, this drive is very scenic, as the 101 weaves in and out of giant redwood forests and passes-by fabulous coastal views of haystack rocks and white-crested rolling waves.

However, the journey was marred by the rain which gave it an air of driving through a car wash!

We gave the National Redwood Forest Visitor Center and the Trees of Mystery a miss! Along the way we passed several places which evoked fond memories of previous journeys .... Trinidad, Turtle Rocks, Patrick's Point etc.and stopped-off for a BLT at a small family diner by the sea, where it stopped raining, briefly.

We reached Coos Bay by mid-afternoon and located our motel 'The Red Lion' ...... very nice too! We went straight into exploration and laundry mode and decided revisit Benetti's for dinner, the local Italian where customers are give unlimited Minestrone Soup! A fitting track for today has to be Riders in the Storm, by the Doors!

Heading North on Highway 101!

Today we repacked our cases and headed north on Old Highway 101 towards Eureka, an interim stop-off on our way to the next phase of our adventure, Oregon. The weather was characteristically fine (actually, very fine!)up until the Southern entrance to 'The Avenue of Giants' (huge and ancient redwoods!) at Phillipsville.

There, the weather began to cloud over, it became noticeably cooler, and we were abruptly diverted away from the 'The Avenue', back onto the 101. (Fortunately we'd previously driven the very impressive Avenue and seen the magnificent giant trees on a previous trip ...... just as well, really!) The landscape changed dramatically as we moved from gentle rolling vineyards to progressively more densely forested upland areas and finally to the ocean again! (We spotted a neat wall-mounted 'Route 101' sign that someone had covered with Alien graffiti and added the message "Welcome to Area 101"! ..... we also spotted countless references to "Trees of Mystery" and "Big Foot"!) We drove through Mendicino County, recollecting having previously stayed in Mendicino, and stopped an old 'mom and pop' diner in Willets, for lunch. We'd stayed here too ...... and dined in its unique original Lumberjack-style eatery "Jacks".

Being a Saturday, we avoided encounters with logging trucks, en route! We bypassed the wonderfully quaint town of Ferndale this time round and we arrived in Humboldt's Bay at 3:00 pm with 230 miles under our belt and an opportunity to check-out Shamus T Bones for dinner! What can I say about the latter?! Its big, brash and fabulous ...... ribs as big as your arm, barbecue sauce to die for, a friendly atmosphere, and a Tesla machine that periodically sends lightening bolts across the ceiling area ..... I will return!!

As a musical aide memoir for today I've opted for a classic 'motoring' piece

Fruit of the vine!

With the assistance of a helpful lady at Santa Rosa's Visitor Centre we planned to start the day in Healdsburg, a small wine town not far from Santa Rosa.

 Arriving at around 10:00 am, the place hadn't 'got going', so we decided to meander around the Historic Plaza area. This bears a striking resemblance to the square in Old Santa Fe, particularly with several art galleries on show. However, what is strikingly different is the presence of a myriad of wine tasting rooms that must account for sixty per-cent of the available retail space available ..... and they open early! With some searching we found the Flying Goat Coffee Lounge (one of the few establishments not selling alcohol!)and stayed there awhile until things had livened-up a little. Healdsburg is a must for the wine aficionado, of whom there are many about .... but to be fair, whilst there were plenty of well-healed folk around, few, if any, were pretentious. By way of background, Healsburg was founded an Italian who prospered by making wine but come 'Prohibition', all hell broke loose and the staple industry switched from wine-making to producing prunes! The latter turned out a great cash crop and even after Prohibition was over, it was many years before wine making began again. At midday, we drove north on the 101 to Francis Coppola's vineyard and winery. Its an amazing place!!

The vineyard and olive grove stretch-on forever and the reception centre is wonderful. Set on top of a hill, the two storey building houses movie memorabilia from some of Coppola's finest films (e.g. Don Corleone's desk from the Godfather!) and guests can wander around for free ..... unless they want take part in some very reasonably priced wine tasting!

 In addition, there is a classy restaurant with a lovely open terrace, an al fresco bar and light eatery, and a pool that visitors can use for free! (Incidentally, Francis makes several very palatable reds and whites ..... and I'll bet the rose is OK too!)

Leaving the winery, we drove through mile upon mile of similar settings until we reached the Ferrari-Carano estate. This winery would trick the unwary into believing they were in Italy ..... (it certainly tricked my GPS and those of several other fellow-travellers into thinking it was located on West rather than simply 'Canyon' Road!) The house and fountains are stunning here, as is its overall setting and the fabulous formal gardens that surround it.

So, all in all, its been a pleasant voyage of discovery in and around Santa Rosa and its surrounding wine counties. Given today's very pleasant visit to Mr Coppala's place and in tribute to his hospitable approach and his artistry as a film maker, the following is a musical tribute from The Godfather!

Strictly for the Birds!

We decided to explore some of Santa Rosa's outlying areas today and travelled north along Highway 1. Having passed Sebastapol we reached the tiny, but quaint, town of Bodega and stopped awhile. We parked on its Main Street and walked up to its church and one-time elementary school ..... which were key locations in Alfred Hitchcock's film 'The Birds!'

Later, over coffee, we were informed that we'd just missed-out on an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film, which Tippi Hedren had attended. A couple of miles further on is Bodega Bay, which also featured prominently in the movie ...... the bay itself and 'the restaurant'. Continuing up the coast we discovered the small coastal town of Jenna by the Russian Rive Estuary. The coastline here is equally stunning to that near Monterey and the Bodega View residential estate (complete with its golf course and guarded entry road) is both unique and desirable!

Heading back to Santa Rosa we stopped at the latter's Historic District and with assistance from a very helpful lady at the Visitor Centre, we put a plan together for tomorrow. The Historic part of Downtown Santa Rosa is well preserved and albeit 'touristy' its not tacky! It is also home to the Shultz Museum!

We called at several antique shops there and were taken by a particular window display that bore a striking resemblance to a scene in the film 'Baby Jane' ..... the shop assistant laughed when we told her and was pleased that we'd picked-up on the cinematic reference! It seems that this whole area is steeped in Hitchcock folk-lore, so maybe a fitting piece of sixties music is needed, from the Markets.

 

Grapes of Wrath!

We left Sacramento today on a blue-sky morning headed for Santa Rosa, close to Napa and Sonoma, at the heart of California's wine country. The relatively short drive took us by countless vineyards, reminiscent of Italy and John Steinbeck's stories of 'The Valley'. At midday, we turned off the 101 and immediately saw the sign for Sebastapol which we decided was worth exploring. Inevitably, on arrival we were drawn to Starbucks, but only after first drawing a blank at an peculiar place just inside the City Limits. What we mistook for a hole-in-the-wall coffee outlet was in fact a huge retro-clothes shop ...... the size of an aircraft hanger! The two girls running-it were very helpful, but we made a quick escape! The Starbucks shop was located in a small mall nearby and post-coffee we took a look around, stumbling on an interesting businesses producing specialist, bacteria -free, ionic, soft drinks.

  

We got chatting to its owner who showed us some neat micro-brewing kit and gave us samples of a range of products ranging from root beer to chai ...... Good Luck (We would have preferred to have some 'fizz' in the drinks!) With time on our hands we made our way to our hotel and checked-in early, enabling us to do a laundry run in the nearby 'coin-op'. A couple of the clientèle looked and behaved suspiciously like extras from 'Deliverance', but hey, its California ..... welcome to Earth! A fairly chilled day overall and as befits such, I pick the following 60's track by Stone Pony (Written by Mike Nesmith and sung by Linda Ronstadt)

Let Then Eat Cake!

The title for today's posting owes to an odd coincidence. Briefly, having patronised and unimpressive restaurant on Sunday evening, where the chef came over to apologise for not being able to 'get the consistency of the mashed potato right' and explaining why I had a side of Macaroni Cheese instead, we went to a swankier place to dine yesterday evening. Having scrutinised the menu at the swankier place we went for fish'n chips. Soon after taking our order, our server, Delaney, was back-at-the-table to explain that Chef had run out of potatoes ..... Oh to be in Idaho!! (Actually, we were offered a choice of crisps or sweet potato fries as an alternative ..... we chose the latter and they were fine!) We spent our final day in Sacramento by first visiting the Governor's Mansion (which was closed!) and then walking the City's street-grid to the Automobile Museum.

 It was a lovely day to walk and this place is very walk-able and we noticed that State employees are encouraged to leave their workplace during breaks and just walk about through the parks surrounding the Capital Building. Whilst on foot, its easy to see why Sacramento is referred to as the City of Trees, as different varieties from orange to palm trees line every street.

 Reaching the museum we were taken aback to see a long queue of people at its entrance. A young lady asked if we were there to see the 'secret show' (of the Kentucky rock band Cage the Elephant) I explained that we were there for the museum and that music-wise we were somewhat rooted in the past .... that got us to the front of the line! The museum is a must and coincidentally it had been owned by the same guy who owned the car museum in Montana which we stumbled-on during a previous trip. The display of classic cars, currently themed on 'Elegance', is a must for anyone visiting Sacramento. We were given a personal tour by 'John', an ex-colonel and fighter pilot in the US Air Force and a Vietnam vet. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and in his company the time soon passed. (John owns a couple of Maseratis of his own and his fellow guide showed us his immaculate 1940's Jaguar K120 ..... complete with Chevy engine and minus 'Lucas electrics'.)

We emerged from the museum mid-afternoon and zigzagged our way back to the hotel, in the sunshine. Being here and seeing a fair few brown leaves hitting the pavement today, I had to select the following (pretty obvious) track to remind us of Sacramento.

Another State Capital Building!

Anyone following our blog will know that we have a thing for ticking-off state capital buildings on our travels and being in Sacramento turned-up for the 9:00 am tour ..... the only ones!

We got the full personal tour and it is a fine building, having a magnificent dome, a series of beautiful rooms refurbished with the theme of "Post 1906 San Francisco Earthquake", and several quirky secrets in its infrastructure! It also has a great view of Tower Bridge.

 The building also houses a unique and insightful exhibit telling the storey of the Great American Dust-bowl and the subsequent migration of people from the central states affected, to California. Both John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie featured prominently. Leaving the capital building we walked through the surrounding park which has many different and impressive trees from all over the world. Moving down towards Tower Bridge, we took a right turn and entered Sacramento Old Town, on the river-front. This area comprises many of the original buildings established to support the California Gold-rush and is now home to tourist shops, eateries and museums.

We ate lunch in a cool saloon-like restaurant before heading for the Hardware Store Museum. The latter is a living museum and exhibits many items that would have been sold to the original miners. It is the original store building whose founder went on to help finance the Union Pacific Railroad and did pretty well as a result!

Sacramento is a very pleasant city which is clean, walk-able, and steeped in California's history. Stretching my mind to think of a musical link to Sacramento, the best I could come up with was the following from Neil Young;s 'After the Gold Rush' album!

Breaking New Ground!

It was heartening walk into sunshine again this Sunday morning, as we made our way to breakfast before moving from Monterey to Sacramento, a three-hour drive away. We set off mid-morning to join Highway 1 North and then the 101N/156 East. The GPS instructed me to "take the right-hand lane for Route 101 North" and I did or at least I thought I'd obeyed! Unfortunately, taking the first right-hand option put me on the 101 South, resulting in a fifteen-minute detour back to "Square One!" The route is a busy one, traffic-wise, but we achieved a good time and arrived in Sacramento around 2:30pm. We'd taken-in and admired the scenery en route, as it transformed from ocean to rolling golden hills with lakes and fields of grazing cattle. We also passed untold acres of agricultural land on which everything from pumpkins to peaches flourished. Before joining the 'I5' for the final push of the journey we stopped off for the first burger of the current trip. In fact we called-in at an 'In&Out' joint, part of a fast food chain not dissimilar to Johnny Rockets, but focussing on high volume / quick turnover. Man that place was busy, but when I said so to the cashier she looked around and said with a deadpan expression "Kinda!" Despite the speed of service, the food and 1950's ambiance were on the money. We're now staying at the Sutter House in Downtown Sacramento and a quick turn around some of the grid-based streets suggests that Sacramento is a nice place and we're close to the attractions.

(Like Washington, in one direction the streets are numbered, and in the cross-direction they are lettered!) During our journey the following song played several times and it suggested itself to round-off today's posting:

The 39+ Steps!

A grey wet beginning to today was actually a pleasant change! Following breakfast we hosted a semi-successful Skye session with Jenny ..... and David played a cameo role too ..... but it was good to catch-up! Then, still in the swing of things, we booked accommodation in Santa Rosa where we plan to go after spending some time in Sacramento. Being Saturday, it only seemed right to visit the local Wholefoods and do some shopping for essentials: beer, nuts, etc! The weather improved some, as we made our way to Point Lobos State Park, another favourite haunt of ours, and very popular!

Our strategy was to park-up in the first available pull-off and the hike the largely coastal circular trail. We got off to a good start, braving the bracing sea breeze, and the rocky coastal contours yielded incredible scenes .... as giant ocean waves crashed onto the rocks!

All continued well until two-thirds of the way round when a 30% chance of a shower rose to 100%. and we got wet! But everyone seemed to get on with it and we did too, and when we finally made it back to the car via lots of stone stairways (both ascending and descending!) we headed-out to Big Sur for one last reminder!! As a reminder of a day when we walked far more than we drove I've gone for the following track golde oldie.

The Thieving Magpie!

The West Coast is famed for its ocean mists and today we got one, leastwise for the best part of the morning when the sun obligingly dispersed it! We'd already decided to visit Carmel and parking-up by the Beach we walked-up Ocean Drive to the business district.and its fairytale-styled shops, which would grace a Hobbit film!

There's no shortage of art galleries here and parts of Carmel resemble Santa Fe. Much of the art work is very palatable, but you can only absorb so much culture and by midday we retraced our steps to the car via a neat deli! Before pulling-out we met a really nice Aussie guy who was having severe GPS problems, to the point that he needed to confirm that San Francisco is in fact in California!! Having verified this, we accompanied him back to his car, a Mustang, where his girlfriend was waiting. Between the car seats lay what appeared to be a ski ...... but we soon discovered it was anything but. Whilst in LA they'd driven up to Hollywood Hills and whilst performing a three-point-turn had strayed onto a dirt track, at which point they'd heard a strange and unexplained noise. Anyway, next day, whilst at Venice Beach they noticed that the sill panel of their vehicle had 'gone'!! Yes, the origin of the previous day's unexplained noise became clear. Accordingly, they promptly headed-back to the Hills and found the missing sill panel, on the dirt track! Since then, they'd been driving around with the panel wedged between them, lodged against their car radio, roof-up to stop the panel being 'taken by the wind'! Well, after hearing this tale we moved on and rediscovered the nearby Seventeen-mile Drive, with its scenic ocean vistas and views of Pebble Beach Golf Course ..... Aghhhh, the smell of all that money!!.

Houses here are unique, expensive, and desirable! With the sun now blazing through a blue sky, it was perfect to spend several hours making our way along this route, taking the pull-offs and walking along the beaches.

During our lunchtime picnic pull-out we first buzzed by a low-flying seagull, which then returned after its initial sortie, to snatch the remnants of Pat's sandwich from her fingers, a first!

And a musical memory of the day? ...... the Lemon Pipers!

                     

Cannery Row!

Monterey is one place that I could easily live in and if the National Lottery should ever facilitate this, so be it! Accordingly, spending a few days here touring the local attractions is no hardship and faced with a warm spring-like day, we decided to take-in Fisherman's Wharf , Cannery Row, and the Old Town.

Walking by Monterey Bay, watching the seals, sea birds and floating kelp forests, is a must-do (the sea otters were far too cunning to be spotted today!).

We walked the Pier, but fish'n chips and clam chouder held no appeal at eleven in the morning. In fact the latter has no appeal, full-stop! We therefore exited stage-left for Cannery Row, first stopping-off for coffee at a favourite haunt. I always feel blessed being in Cannery Row having been a life-long fan of John Steinbeck and although the original function of the buildings has long since become redundant ..... now a mix of souvenir shops, hotels, and eateries (ranging from Bubbba  Gumps to Johnny Rockets) ..... the spirit of Steinbeck's magical stories and characters survives and its strange to see  the infamous Marine Biology Lab of Ed Rickets (The Doc!) still intact.

The day slipped by effortlessly and we were soon retracing our steps to the Old Town's historic buildings and retail outlets.

What's not to like about this place? Nothing!..... and to quote (or misquote) one of Steinbeck's colourful characters from Cannery Row's yesteryear "If all the dew were diamonds, we could be rich and drunk all our lives"! Well its a thought!!  This weekend Monterey hosts its annual Jazz Festival, but as I don't like Jazz, today's musical memory is a cheesy 60's rendition of an old pop classic, which played on XM today!