Moving Uptown!

Another sunny start in Palm Springs and following a lazy beginning, breakfasting and Skyping Jenny from our cool Spanish courtyard, we set off on another journey of discovery. This time we drove onto Highway 111 via Palm Canyon Drives, to another city in the Palm Springs area (Palm Desert, passing street scenes with a retro feel.

Only twenty minutes away, Palm Desert has a classy feel and we soon spotted swanky malls and car dealerships (Bentley, Porsche, Maserati. etc.) before arriving at our goal, The Art Museum in Palm Desert. We were its only visitors and fortunately a wealthy local benefactor had paid-up all admission charges for five years, so we got in free! The collection, set in a cool white space surrounded by a desert sculpture garden, was very appealing and our first spot was a piece by Lichtenstein. Not a huge collection, but enough to make the visit an enjoyable, particularly as the desert garden was an added bonus. We also thought that the adjacent Civic Centre was pretty neat!A nice stop!

It was now midday as we pulled into the nearby Riverside Mall, a series of shops, great movie theatre, and several restaurants st by a lake.

We headed for Starbucks and then retreated to the air-conditioned cinema, to see 'Everest'? The film was very watchable and the ambient atmosphere of the cinema provided a welcome break fro the oven, outside! By late afternoon, we were on our way back to Palm Springs, to bag the laundry, before setting off for another al fresco, early-bird, dinner at Kaisers, surrounded by a fine artificial mist, to keep things cool!. We like Palm Springs a lot! And finally a piece of music and I've chosen the piece that I almost went for yesterday: The Moody Blues "Tuesday Afternoon" (Its a good listen when driving in the desert!)

Staying cool in Palm Springs!

One might think that being in Palm Springs is cool in itself, a city with a laid-back feel and many retro examples of 50's and 60's architecture (some buildings having that Jetson's look about them!) In practice, the wise work hard to seek shelter from the heat when the sun gets going. Today, for instance, the thermometer hit one-hundred and seven degrees, at one point! Anyway, early doors, I went for reasonable walk along Indian and Palm Canyon Drives and took in some of the neat shops and buildings. I was particularly struck by McCormick's Exotic Car Auction, which had some timeless motors on display. Back at Las Brias, we ate breakfast in the Breakfast Room. Fortunately, the hotel was not fully occupied, as the densely packed concentration of tables in the room made the breakfast experience feel like a hybrid of 'musical chairs' and a 'ladies excuse me'! (More First-world problems!) Next, we headed for the Visitor Centre, situated near the Jerome Mountain Tramway. Needless to say, they plugged this attraction, but we resisted the sales pitch and decided instead, to drive to the Joshua Tree National Park; a journey of around one hour on I10 East. We were told that the Park covers an area of eight-hundred-thousand square metres, equivalent to a small State. It was already hot and it felt good to drive through the spectacular desert scenery of rocks and Joshua Tree forests, in our air-conditioned capsule.

Two hours later we exited the Park and headed for Cathedral City and its historic Mary Pickford Movie Theatre.

Arriving there, we were pleasantly surprised to discover free undercover parking and an imminent showing of  'The Intern'. Pat ordered 'spicy dogs', a bucket of Coke, and enough popcorn to render our house! We sat through the (pleasantly funny) film accompanied by our junk food bonanza, supported on an ingenious, cantilevered, junk food holder! It was still hot late into the afternoon, as we arrived back at the hotel. To round off the day, we went for an early bird special dinner at Kaisers ..... very nice!! A couple of tracks remind me of today's drive, the first by the Moody Blues, 'Tuesday Afternoon'; the second, which finally won out, 'Bo Diddley', by the man himself:

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Starbucks everywhere ...... or so we thought!

Having witnessed the Super-Lunar Eclipse, last night, I slept easy and come morning was ready to tackle the Fitness and Breakfast. rooms. Reinvigorated and with an abundance of sunshine to look forward to, I was ready to check-out and face the bill! We loaded-up our goods and chattels before calling on the local Vons Supermarket (part of Safeway's and I could use my Club Card!) and then at a nearby gas station, where I was asked to enter my credit card PIN number ..... first time, so far! Then it was time to pull out of San Diego and head for Palm Springs. The Interstate had seven lanes of traffic flowing in both directions, but as we moved further East things became a little more sensible. Hitting the desert and seeing the first hints of the Southwest's characteristics emerging, we decided to break our journey, to Skype Jenny, from a Starbucks. So, stopping at the first sizeable mall, we searched around, bu to no avail. Accordingly, we brought-up 'Points of Interest' on the GPS and followed its instructions to another mall, nearby. Alas, the Starbucks was no more (a first in my experience!). A third attempt was also thwarted!! By now, the moment for coffee had passed and we resumed our journey ...... for approximately one minute, when we encountered a Starbucks! Skyping done, we drove on, passing what must be the biggest wind-farm in the world and arrived in Palm Springs at around 2:00 pm.

The external temperature was around one-hundred degrees, but our hotel (The Las Brias) is a well-situated oasis close to downtown! We ate dinner at Fisherman;s Market; a bit of a bizarre place patronised by locals and tourists, alike. But the food was good. We took a walk down Palm Springs Avenue and spotted a statue of Sonny Bono, once of Sonny and Cher, once the Mayor of Palm Springs!

Finally, if Palm Springs was good enough for Elvis's honeymoon, well its good enough for us and that's the giveaway for today's music ...... the man himself and 'Jailhouse Rock'

Balboa Park

A street cleaning waggon passed-by this morning, at 6:00 am.; the road was already pristine and it was Sunday! The early morning mist outside soon evaporated leaving the sky a bright blue and the temperature rising quickly. Our minds were set on visiting Balboa Park, San Diego's own take on Central Park and twice its size (sorry Keith!). Arriving at 10:00 am we parked at Inspiration Point and caught the free shuttle to the Visitor Centre, nestled in the central museum complex. One could easily be mistaken from the surrounding architecture for thinking that you were in Seville or Barcelona.

The intricacies of the Park having been explained to us, we set off to see some of the attractions ...... its a big park! We took in the Botanical House and walked round several museum buildings and reproduction of the Globe Theatre, passing the Japanese Garden and the enormous outdoor organ-recital amphitheatre, where a free concert is given on Sunday afternoons. (Of course the Park also boasts a world-class zoo,too!)

We visited the 'Houses of the World' exhibit ...... a series of cottages, reflecting an earlier age, in which the contents reflect the country they represent. 'England' was an interesting 'take' on our culture and we were offered a nice cup of Tetley tea, inside!

On the village green, the international theme continued in live weekend event, focused on Asian culture. Several Asian cultures were represented in dancing, music, and street food. We watched for a while and then driven by the heat, we walked to a nearby bar for lunch. A very cool place in every sense of the word! Refreshed, we watched and listened to the organ recital a while, before boarding the shuttle and heading for home. Balboa Park reflects the city as a whole ..... terrific! Later, we dined on the terrace by the Marina and then set watching the City skyline, as the rare supermoon eclipse developed. I was torn today between posting a piece of organ music, Springsteen's 'Balboa Park' or something from Holst. I went for Bach!!

Some like it hot!

And for those who do like it hot, San Diego won't disappoint, especially this year when average temperatures have been high. In fact, San Diego enjoys 300+ days of sunshine annually and has a normal average temperature of 72 degrees. Anyway, as today was one of the 300+ , we planned to see the sights, intending to drive downtown early. By good luck, however, we learned of the free shuttle running from the hotel to the Hop-on-hop-off Trolley stop at Seaport Village. So we took a chance! It was a good choice, as we saw all the major sights and made several 'hop-offs'! The drivers' commentaries were an added bonus, too .... being both entertaining and informative. (San Diego is stunning!).

 On our way to Horton Mall, we passed a barbecue food cafe that featured in a famous scene from the film 'Top Gun', before hopping off at the Gas Lamp Quarter.

It was already hot and walking down its blocks of bars and eateries (Wyatt Earp once owned a saloon there), we soon lost interest and hopped back onto the trolley. We next passed over the impressive Coronado Bridge which soars over the Bay and gives great views of the City skyline and the US warships (The City is home to the Pacific Fleet!). The US Midway, a redundant US aircraft carrier, is the focus for the City's Maritime Museum. We hopped-off again at the Hotel Del Coronado, an impressive piece of architecture set in an idyllic ocean setting and made famous by providing the location for the film 'Some Like it Hot'.

Back on the trolley and on to Old Town, the birthplace of the first Californian City. What can I say? Old Town is a colourful, vibrant, village packed with Mexican culture and food. (The tacos and beans were good!).

With time passing, we headed for the trolley again and onward to Little Italy (another vibrant area!) and then to the impressive Balboa Park with its gardens, museums and zoo. We arrived back in Seaport late in the afternoon, in time to link up with some great guys from Nashville, who we had met earlier, and to catch the shuttle back to our hotel.

A great day! We had dinner at the hotel, on the terrace overlooking the vast and picturesque marina. There are worse ways to spend an evening! I guess that today's musical reminder is an obvious one! ...... Marilyn Monroe and "I wanna be loved by you"

LA Freeway and washday!

Another warm, sunny, start and a new cruise ship had dropped anchor off-shore. Several people were milling around, getting ready (from 6:30 am) to receive the flotilla of tourist tender boats that would arrive, soon. We packed-up quickly and after breakfast ..... and Jenny-skyping, we hit the road. The aim was to negotiate LA before the afternoon rush (standstill!). Highway 101 South was busy, but LA and Highway 405 S was the usual nightmare; five lanes of fast, weaving, traffic!

Surprisingly, made good time with relatively few hold-ups. The GPS kicked us off '405' and onto California South (another Toll Road requiring the unwary .... me! ..... to pay retrospectively, by internet!) Soon after, we were on the I5 and sped on to San Diego, arriving at around 1:00 pm. We then located Shelter Island (passing Harbour Island where we stayed on our first trip to the US) Our hotel, the Island Palms, is a very nice place to say, as we are surrounded by water, yachts, and the US Pacific Fleet!.

It always escapes me how big San Diego is. It is California's oldest city and apparently now has in excess of 2M people living in it. Anyway, we currently enjoy an impressive view of its Downtown skyline and we managed to complete another laundry session!!. Experiencing Santa Barbara, LA, and San Diego in one day, sparked today's retro pop classic 'California Dreamin' by the Mammas and Pappas

A hot one!

The morning was was clear and warm from first light, as the sun rose over the mountains lighting-up the Ocean and picking out the Pier, in silhouette. People were already fishing, jogging, and swimming in the open-air pool. One enterprising (homeless) guy was hard at work producing huge sand sculptures, in the hope of getting financial patronage from passers-by, later! Another was still to begin assembling his amusingly themed toss-a-coin pitch. Back at the hotel we had breakfast and sat awhile its Spanish courtyard, before Skyping 'our Jen'. We then took off to find the Hop-on-Hop-off circular trolley bus, managing to catch the first tour of the day and being whisked off to Santa Barbara's main points of interest.

The tour lasted ninety minutes and our guide 'Richard' was really informative, taking us to the Old Spanish Mission, past the homes of the rich and famous, and several other points of interest.

Here, small condos close to the Ocean now retail at around $1M and full-size homes, anything up to (say) $25+M! (Below is an example of what $25M will get you!!)

One local 'Mr Real Estate' is Ty Warner, the inventor of Beanie Babies who now owns vast tracts of Santa Barbara property. Another guy who made his money from being in Santa Barbara property was Fess Parker, an apparently likable guy who also played the role of Davy Crockett in the 1950's  TV series. Tour over and we decided to visit the Ronald Reagan Ranch Centre, owned by the Young Americans Association (an educational foundation). This proved an interesting side-trip and the staff were both very informative and genuinely friendly. The late Ronald Reagan's presidential and 'off-duty' life at his Santa Barbara mountain ranch provide the focus for the Centre.

Having visited it, we felt that we had gained a much better understanding of the man and why he is still so admired, here. Emerging into the heat of State Street, we headed for Joe's Cafe, for a drink and some air conditioning!

This followed by a stroll through the downtown shopping area and then back-to-base, to cool down again! What could be more appropriate to remind usof today than the Lovin Spoonful's 'Summer in the City'!

A mixed day!

Our second visit to the Bay View Inn (Morro Bay) proved less satisfactory than our previous stay. First, the ceiling fan was less than adequate, as a substitute for air-con (a 'first world' problem!); and second, at 5:00 am we were awakened to the sound of a dripping noise ...... from water coming through the ceiling! Since no-one appeared to be around, I walked to the haystack rock in the early sunshine and witnessed hundreds of pelicans and terns feeding in the harbour. (The terns dive-bomb the water to catch their prey!) Of course there was also the odd harbour seal and otter, too.

Pat and I ate breakfast at the Bakery and returned to the Bay View, to Skype Jenny and then desert the sinking ship! We headed South on the freeway, making an interim stop in San Louis Obispo, the  lovely old Spanish town, in which there is a Mission dating back to 1772. We meandered the downtown area, calling in shops and having a coffee in Peets, before resuming our journey.

We travelled through some beautiful scenery, passing wine and olive groves and rolling hills, arriving in Santa Barbara at 1:00 pm, to check-in at the Casa Del Mar Inn ...... a neat Spanish-style motel where the rooms face a neat inner courtyard. (We also managed to bag one of the limited free undercover parking spaces!) With time on our hands we took a stroll along the nearby beach front which with its pier, pristine sandy beach,  and palm trees, invokes images of how we'd imagined Santa Monica Beach (LA) to be. We then took-in State Street, calling for a drink at the famous Joe's Cafe ....... a really cool place! Having had enough heat for one day, we headed back to the hotel where I struggled (successfully!) to encourage my notebook to talk to the hotel's wifi network! (We are staying close to the Brewhouse, where craft beers and great food are apparently to be found, and odd people! ...... reminds me of  Santa Fe!) Mr Chuck Berry provides today's number with his rendition of ; 'Mabeline':

Morro Bay

After another memorable stay in Monterey, we pulled out of town on a misty morning, grateful for having gone whale watching on the previous day! The GPS tricked us initially, setting us onto a course to Morro Bay that involved the San Simeon Highway, rather than the more scenic Route 1 coast road. Course corrected and we were soon in Big Sur country, the road twisting and turning tightly, alongside the ocean.

The ongoing roadworks didn't hold us up and we made good time, taking in the spectacular views. We stopped at Ragged Point Inn to eat our (enormous!) Wholefoods sandwich, which had far more filling than bread. (Sandwich makers in the UK, take note!!) Then it was time to correct a technical hitch .... another temporary loss of Sirius XM ..... before moving on. (Thanks Victor for helping us 'resume normal service'!)

Off again and we were soon at San Simeon, stopping-off awhile to see the Elephant Seal colony. Yet another amazing natural history encounter, made better with the aid of Ron who knew his seal-stuff.

Driving past Hearst Castle and through Cambria, where we'd stayed on a previous family holiday (and where Dave and I had a log-fire-lighting competition!)we soon spotted the haystack, in Morro Bay. Its hard to imagine that this coastal town has a population of ten-thousand, as once down by the water, at the Bay View Inn, the place seems small and tranquil. Anyway, time for today's musical interlude, brought to you courtesey of  Dave "Baby" Cortez and his 'The happy organ' (Now that's road music!)

Fisherman's tale!

Today required us to be out of the traps quickly, as we had a place booked on the 9:00am 'Black Fin' whale watch tour and were expected to sign-in at the marina, no later than 8:30am. The roads were quiet and we arrived at the harbour on time. The weather could not have been better and the Monterey Bay was flat-calm. It was a full trip, on the large catamaran and braved open deck throughout the four-hour sail. We selected 'Black Fin' because of its reputation and its having a marine biologist (Greg) on board. A good choice since Greg was an excellent guide and both he and the Captain knew where to find whales!

After an hour we sailed beyond the edge of the deep submarine trench and there we encountered Humpbacks and Dolphins. We stayed around an hour, watching approximately forty whales and over a thousand dolphin. Amazing and good to see how successful the efforts have been, to re-establish Monterey's marine life!!

Arriving back in port, we saw a Harbour Porpoise and a Sea Otter, too. A great morning out and definitely recommended to others! Back on dry land again and it was time for a light lunch by the dock and to hide our coats in the car. It was another hot afternoon, which we spent taking in the Downtown sights, before heading back to the Comfort Inn. Today's music track is 'Chains' by the Cookies!

Hitting the hot spots!

Sunday morning and an ideal day to visit the local sights. First, we drove over to Carmel, the up-market town by the ocean with its close Clint Eastwood connections.

We managed to park on Ocean Avenue and took a hike on the beach, where the waves were rolling in. Back on Ocean Avenue we called in the local coffee shop and met another nice couple from the UK, who were also touring. Anyway, the time passed and it was soon time to take off to the Carmel Gate entrance to the Seventeen-Mile Drive. Its a fabulous journey past Pebble Beach Golf Course, a collection of mega houses and splendid ocean views.

We spent some time at the Ocean stop-offs and had a picnic whilst we soaked in the sun and the views. To finish off the day's touring, we drove on to Point Lobos State Reserve and walked the path alongside its rugged ocean scenery.

Pretty soon, we'd had enough heat and so retreated back to base, to cool off.and Skype Jenny in the UK! During today's tour, I heard the following upbeat track 'Reveillie Rock' by Johnny and the Hurricanes, which I haven't borrowed, previously: