After breakfast on Monday we drove downtown to the Napa Visitor’s Centre where we got some maps and information, and then hit the road on Highway 29/128.
We had been given a couple of names of wineries to visit for scenery and we had been warned that wineries charge for tastings in Napa Valley. The valley itself was remarkably green considering it was the middle of winter. The floor of the valley was continuous wineries with a carpet of yellow mustard flower on the ground level and the trellised bare vines above. On both sides of the narrow valley the green rolling hills rose up with vines often riding up the lower hills.
We started at the beautiful Domaine Chandon winery (tastings $18-$25!). We stopped at St Helena Olive Oil and tried numerous olive oils, vinegars, pasta sauces, mustards and a delicious Portuguese port (free tasting!) Across the road was the Rubicon Estate (tastings $30) owned by Francis Ford Copolla. It featured a restored mansion housing film memorabilia and a Tucker motor car. The mansion was like a museum with stained glass, antique carpets on the floor, and very old wine storage in the caves (cellars). We drove a little further to the turn off to the Newton winery which wandered a long way from the highway into the hills. It had a stunning location up high looking over the valley. We admired the sculptured cypress pines and the views but couldn’t find anyone around so we left.
After a picnic lunch, we went on to Beringer Estate, one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley. It also had an amazing old Rhine House, fully restored for reserve tastings ($30). They did give us a taste of their Cabernet Sauvignon which was very nice. We wandered around gawping at the stained glass wildlife scenes, parquetry floors, carved wood wall panels, and staircase. We paid a brief visit to the Castello di Amorosa, a winery set in an authentic looking reproduction of a 13th century stone Tuscan castle complete with moat and drawbridge.
Then we drove further and over the hills to exit the Napa Valley. The other side was gorgeous, with less traffic and we cruised into Healdsburg and had a walk around. It was a typical wine area town with expensive boutiques, French bakeries, gift shops etc but we walked to the Safeway supermarket where we bought a huge Tazo Earl Grey tea from a Starbucks kiosk inside. As the sun was setting we drove down the highway back to Napa with peak hour traffic in both directions bottling up the highways. We saw several large owls on the prowl in the half light.
We got back to the hotel and had a glass of wine before heading off to the Oxbow Public Market (a kind of gourmet food court) for dinner.
We woke up to another beautiful day on Tuesday, and after breakfast at the hotel we drove to Sonoma Valley to the BR Cohn Winery that Ted had recommended. The winery had been founded by Bruce Cohn and in addition to wines, sold olive oils, vinegars and other gourmet food products. We spent a good hour in the tasting room tasting several wines, chatting to Justin behind the counter, playing with the dogs, browsing through the wine related merchandise and admiring some Doobie Brothers memorabilia (Bruce Cohn used to manage the Doobie Brothers). We bought a bottle of 2008 Sonoma Valley Merlot (so that we didn’t have to pay the $10 per head tasting fee), and then went to the building next door where we tasted some olive oils and some vinegars, including a syrupy balsamic vinegar that had been aged for 25 years.
It was almost midday by the time we left the winery, so we decided to drive straight to Bodega Bay (where Alfred Hitchcock filmed “The Birds”) for a seafood lunch. As we drove towards the coast, the scenery changed and the few trees that remained were bent over from the force of the wind coming from the sea.
After lunch we saw some spectacular scenery as we drove up the coast to Russian River. Once we reached Jenner at the mouth of the river, we turned inland and drove through some redwood forests to the Hop Kiln Winery at Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley. The winery was housed in a triple kiln construction built by Italian stonemasons. Next to the winery was a dam with a cute stone duck house in the centre. The man behind the counter told us that otters had travelled up a stream into the dam to gorge on the catfish. We bought a bottle of 2008 Grenache and then headed back to Napa.
At Napa we went to Clemente’s to order some ravioli, malfatti (ricotta and spinach dumplings) and gnocchi with salad for dinner. Unfortunately, despite all the hype we didn’t really enjoy the pasta all that much!
We felt a bit bleary on Wednesday morning after too much wine yesterday. We had breakfast and headed down a different road to Muir Woods in bright sunshine. We said goodbye to the rolling green hills of Napa and crossed lowland marshes before reaching the peninsula above San Francisco. An exit took us off the highway into the wooded mountain.
We grabbed a map from the visitor’s centre and started walking beside a stream to the Cathedral Grove of California Redwoods – sequoia trees. They were very impressive, the large ones over one thousand years old. It was wonderful walking through the forest admiring giant stumps, burls, fallen over trunks and the towering trees above, blotting out the sun. We finished a loop walk and drove out of the forest and over the Golden Gate Bridge with breathtaking views over the bay, downtown San Francisco and Alcatraz Island.
We drove back to the Sunset District, parked the car and had a delicious lunch at Art’s Cafe. Then Keith drove back to Amoeba Music in search of some elusive DVDs and Suzie had a walk around the Sunset District. Suzie noticed a lot of supermarket trolleys full of homeless people’s possessions parked in the surrounding streets.
Next we drove out of San Francisco in peak hour traffic towards San Jose. The traffic wasn’t too bad and it was interesting travelling through Silicon Valley with its many technology companies and a lot of office space for lease. We reached the Great Mall of Milpitas and did some shopping before dinner. We checked into a motel down the road and did some domestics and repacking before bed.
We headed downstairs on Thursday morning to find that there was only coffee and pastries in plastic packaging for breakfast. We gave the pastries a miss and just had the coffee. Then we checked out and drove to Oakland to have brunch at a restaurant that Ted had recommended.
Oakland is one of California’s larger cities and has some significant challenges, including high unemployment, widespread poverty, and a high rate of violent crime. As we drove in to Oakland, we noticed large numbers of Mexicans standing on street corners waiting for work and the city certainly had a grittier, edgier feel to it. We drove to the Shan Dong Mandarin, a cheap hole-in-the wall restaurant in Oakland’s Chinatown. At the front of the restaurant was a lady laboriously rolling out pastry and making dumplings. When we sat down we were given a pot of Chinese tea and a bowl of hot and sour soup (white pepper and vinegar). We ordered some spicy chicken hand-made noodles and some special Shan Dong boiled pork dumplings eaten with a soy, vinegar and garlic dipping sauce. The food was really delicious and we enjoyed every mouthful.
After lunch, we drove to the university city of Berkeley (famous for anti-Vietnam war protests in the 1960s). We spent a couple of hours walking the streets surrounding the university and enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
We had a mango smoothie from the psychedelic caravan housing the Brazil Cafe and then we drove to the rugged, windswept Marin Headlands. We stopped at a lookout to take in the panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Then we drove towards the Point Bonita Lighthouse, surprising a coyote on the way. We walked along a trail past some disused concrete bunkers to the lighthouse, only to find that the tunnel leading to the lighthouse was closed. The walk along the cliffs was spectacular - we saw harbour seals perched on rocks far below us, and deer grazing on the hillsides.
Then we drove to Muir Beach and stopped at the Pelican Inn, a charming Tudor style inn complete with low wooden beams, antiques, horse brasses and a roaring fire. Unfortunately, the rooms were too expensive ($207 after 25% discount), so we reluctantly headed off. We had a quick walk at Muir Beach to enjoy the sunset and then drove towards the highway where we found a room (at one third of the price) at America’s Best Value Inn.
On Friday morning we checked out and drove into Mill Valley. We went to Peet’s Coffee where we had a cup each of their Garuda and Sumatra Blue Batak. Their “small” cups were actually quite large and the coffee was “full-bodied” (strong), so by the time we finished the coffee we were wired!
After a quick look at the leafy suburb, we drove to San Anselmo to meet Ted at Hilda’s Coffee. We spent over an hour chatting with Ted over breakfast and then headed off to have a look at the Marin County Civic Centre that had been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was an enormous salmon coloured stucco building with an arcaded facade and a pale blue roof. We really didn’t like it.
After that we drove south across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mountain House, a restaurant and bar in the middle of a redwood forest. Ted had told us that this was a hangout for Neil Young and we planned to have lunch there. Unfortunately, we arrived there to find that it only opened at 5.00 pm!
Thankfully it was only a short drive back to the coast and to Half Moon Bay where we managed to pick up some lunch from a couple of bakeries. We paid a quick visit to the beach and then started our drive south along the Pacific Coast Highway towards Los Angeles.
The scenery was really spectacular. The urban sprawl was replaced by wide, sandy beaches with rocky outcrops on our right, and yellow mustard-filled fields on our left. As the sun began to set, the famous San Francisco fog cast a haze over the coast. We drove into the resort town of Santa Cruz just as it became dark and found a room at the Santa Cruz Beach Inn. Suzie had picked up a hotel coupon book from a petrol station a couple of days ago, and with one of the coupons we managed to get the room for $50 plus tax!
We had a short rest and then with the help of yelp.com decided to go to Betty Burgers for dinner. We shared a delicious burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion, sautéed mushrooms, blue cheese and bacon, sweet potato fries, a bowl of chilli and a chocolate milkshake (our first milkshake in the USA).
After breakfast on Saturday, we drove to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was an early 1900’s vintage boardwalk and housed an amusement park with giant rollercoaster, carousel and bright purple and yellow games arcade. We walked along the beachfront to the jetty at the end of the boardwalk. The jetty was lined with seafood restaurants and weekend fishermen. We heard some grunting sounds and when we looked over the edge and through strategically placed viewing holes in the jetty we could see large groups of sea lions resting on the jetty supports and frolicking in the water.
We walked back to our car and moved it to a parking lot at one edge of the downtown area. Then we walked along Pacific Avenue, the town’s main street enjoying the sunshine and admiring some of the cool galleries. After lunch we got into the car and headed south down Highway 1. This time the road was not directly on the coast and we drove past fallow fields and fields of artichokes.
We arrived at Monterey after 2.00 pm, parked our car in front of City Hall and then went for a walk. We walked through town and made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf housed on a large pier full of tourist related shops and seafood restaurants. The competition between the restaurants was fierce. As we walked along the wharf each restaurant was offering tasters of their clam chowder. We tried at least half a dozen samples and each one tasted slightly different. The water was exceptionally clear and we saw sea grebes, common murre, cormorants, and herons around the jetty. We left the wharf and walked along the waterfront to the historic Cannery Row, once the site of several sardine canning factories. The sardine canning factories were now replaced with expensive hotels and more tourist trap shops.
We continued walking along the waterfront enjoying the afternoon sunshine and spotting seals on rocks until we reached the aquarium. After finding out the opening times and ticket prices, we had a long walk back to pick up our car and start looking for accommodation. After checking into a room at the El Castell Motel on the edge town, we had a short rest before going out to dinner.
We had a look at yelp.com and decided to go to the Crown & Anchor Pub because someone had recommended the fish and chips. The Crown & Anchor turned out to be a British Pub with a strong nautical theme. It had low black wooden beams, horse brasses, plates with pictures of ships, coronation regalia and other English photos. We had fish and chips, Cajun prawn pasta with corn and bacon and salad followed by sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was really much more delicious than we expected.
On Sunday morning we drove to the Monterey Aquarium, where we managed to find some free parking in a residential side street off Cannery Row. We arrived at the aquarium just in time to see the feeding show at the sea otter exhibit. We spent quite some time watching three very cute otters swimming and diving in a tall two storey tank. Then we wandered around a vast three storey tank housing the kelp forest exhibit. This tank was filled with towering kelp plants and a large variety of fish ranging from the large leopard sharks and giant sea bass to a shimmering shoal of tiny sardines. There was a feeding here while we were watching with the sardines gobbling the krill. We saw a feeding at a tank of larger fish and the highly entertaining common murre which Keith had thought was a sea duck. These small birds moved extremely fast underwater like penguins. There were some touch pools where we were able to touch starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and rays/skates. We saw rescued beachside birds running around freely in another section. These were many curlews, oystercatchers, dotterels, waders etc which you rarely get close to.
At lunch time, we got a pass out stamp and walked outside into the bright sunshine to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. This was a chain restaurant that we had seen in other US cities, with a theme based on the movie Forrest Gump. It had been recommended by Tom & Nicole at dinner last night. Inside the restaurant were lots of memorabilia from the movie, vintage posters and brightly coloured car licence plates. We ordered popcorn shrimp, chimi churri shrimp with rice and Louisiana shrimp with rice. It was very delicious. After lunch we walked back to the aquarium stopping at the Nestle Cafe for a famous Tollhouse cookie and ice cream on the way.
We spent another hour at the aquarium admiring the remaining exhibits including two giant octopi with ever changing skin colour and texture, beautiful backlit jellyfish floating gracefully, sea horses ranging from large to tiny and sea dragons cleverly disguised to look like seaweeds, turtles, moray eels, flamingos, penguins and other waterbirds.
Then we collected our car and drove along the scenic 17 mile drive at Pebble Beach stopping for numerous photos at the marked scenic lookouts. The highlights included deer on the golf course, Carmel Bay view at Lone Cypress, fat squirrels at Seal Rock and ocean views of beach, rock and kelp gardens all the way along. We turned off 17 mile drive at the Carmel Gate and drove through Carmel at Sea with upmarket houses and cypress lined streets all the way along the beach. There was serious money along here. Then we ran into the impressive restored Spanish Mission which only warranted a photo as we didn’t have time to stop.
Soon we were back on Highway 1 and heading down the coast with the sun sinking into the sea again. We stopped several times on this leg to Big Sur because the scenery became wilder and more stunning. Big Sur lighthouse crowned a lump of earth linked to the mainland by a thin strip of sand, Bixby Bridge built in 1932 spanned a small valley like an old aqueduct. The views up and down the coast were dotted with huge rocks in the sea or flat green fields covered in cows leading to cliffs, which reminded us of Scotland or Ireland.
We reached Big Sur after dark and settled on The River Inn with cabins next to the highway. Prices were more expensive here for food, petrol and accommodation but we had been forewarned by the Lonely Planet. We went to the River Inn restaurant where we had an amazing dinner of seared ahi tuna salad and fettucine with pesto sauce, chicken and artichoke. We wanted to try the artichoke as we had seen it growing and it didn’t disappoint, slightly bitter but a delicious foil to the bland chicken breast and creamy pesto sauce. We had a slice of home-made apple pie with ice cream for dessert and stayed in the restaurant for some time using the WiFi.
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