The 1100+ Mile California Adventure
Went out to CA Memorial Day Weekend for a week-long odyssey. We flew into LAX Saturday, hung out with my bro in the O.C. for a couple days; saw David Alan Grier perform at a comedy club. Monday morning (8:00 am!) picked up the rental car (a red Chevy something or other) and headed up the Pacific Coast.
Here's an overall map of the time spent sitting on my ass in a car. Thank god the rental got a pretty decent 30-35 mpg rating highway. The PCH is a really beautiful drive.
Day 1: SNA up to Limekiln campsite just south of Big Sur (9am-4 pm). Highlights include Target in the Thousand Oaks area (?) for an iPod input and some ice for the cooler; In 'N Out in Goleta for "breakfast"; and the Hearst Castle, which we just looked at, not wanting to take the time or pay the money to take the bus up to the castle itself. Also saw lots of RVs with surfers catching a last day of waves before heading home. The campsite was really cool - we stayed in the forest camp area and hiked up to see the lime kilns, but couldn't figure out what they were for; walked down to the beach, but saw no whales.
Day 2: Limekiln up to the Skyline Wilderness Park campsite just southeast of downtown Napa (7:30 am-12:30 pm). Found a lovely little coffeeshop in the Prunedale area in a plaza off of the 101 where the coffee is good and the baked goodies are really good and homemade (even the biscotti). I saw a big jug of Nielsen-Massey vanilla on the baker's rack and knew things would be yummy. We got an apricot cheese danish and an olallieberry muffin with a great soft texture and light granola topping. I don't know what olallieberries are, but they make a tasty muffin. Also got artichokes and strawberries at a farmstand 20 min outside of Gilroy and learned that the entire town of Gilroy has the essence of garlic wafting over it.
We then found the campsite, pitched the tent, worried a little about rattlesnakes and went to do some wine tasting. Went to included Cosentino, V. Santtui and Charles Krug. The former and latter were great, the middle has a great deli and cheese section. The Cosentino wines are all good, lots of different types and made well. The rose I tasted was really nice - smelled and tasted like strawberries before you bite into them and wasn't cloyingly sweet. All the Krug wines were full of big fruity flavors, but not too much of the oaky tannin thing that I don't like. I wonder if wineries get more sales of whites in the a.m., reds in the early p.m. and ports and other dessert wines towards the end of the day.
There was a disc golf course in the park so we tried to play a couple "holes." It was too technical for me (the baskets were on really tall hills) and the thought of rattlers in the grass and wild boars freaked me out a little. There were also some turkeys roaming around. So we went back and grilled some artichokes for dinner to go along with the burritos from the Michoacan taco truck near 1st and Soscol. Also MacGyvered a marshmallow toasting stick using a tent stake and tin foil...pretty simple actually once you account for stability and diameter. There were some deer at the campsite that were way too used to getting food from campers. The juveniles weren't that big, but then the momma deer came and we put all the food back into the car.
Day 3: Napa to San Francisco (11:30 am-1:00pm). Dying for a shower! Woke up at the crack of dawn (Chris did first!) and packed up and headed to downtown Napa. The nice thing about coffeeshops is that they are always open early. The Napa Valley Roasting Company seems to be the local equivalent of Intelligentsia with special blends for area restaurants including Bouchon and French Laundry. Hung out for a bit, then went to Target at 9 to kill some time until Copia opened at 10:30. Tasted some free wine, had some free chocolate, went to a seminar on cheese and learned about the history of food and the history of the wineries in the Napa area. Also saw the original installment done by the Hungry Planet people. It's striking to see the differences between the weekly groceries for different cultures. but shocking to see what people survive on in areas like the Sudan etc. Walked around the gardens outside; my favorites are still the two wine gardens where they plant the different fruits, herbs and plants that you taste in various wine varieties. Stopped at Ton Kiang for a late dim sum before checking into the hotel in Japantown. After the best shower I've had in ages, we went out to explore the town before dinner. Went to Chinatown, visited the fortune cookie factory in Ross alley (mmm!), went past the Coit tower, up to Pier 39, saw the sea walruses, went to Ghiradelli, then up to Pacific Heights area where we went to a bar to catch the end of the Stanley Cup game and then to dinner at Betelnut. Had some delicious papaya salad, mongolian beef dish, and Indonesian fish curry among other things as well as a sake flight. Then lugged up a giant hill back to the hotel. Here is the route...the elevation chart is pretty cool. All those miles help to make up for the sitting in the car.
Day 4: More exploration of San Francisco. Moseyed around the Japantown Mall, went over to Union Square and then to Yank Sing where I wanted some of their delicious chili sauce to take home. Then went back for sushi at Isobune (sushi boat!) before heading out. Drove past Golden Gate Park, up through the Presidio and strolled over to the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. That is a fun museum: they have a water fountain where when you drink, you complete a musical circuit. I wish the gym had one of those. And this display that can track where you look on a picture. And other cool things. Then we headed out a little north of the city to stay with Chris' sister and brother-in-law and played some frisbee in a park.
Day 5: Back in the car. Boo! San Raphael down to Irvine, but via Route 5 this time (7:30 am-3:30 pm). Faster, but more dusty, less scenery and lots of desert with highly irrigated farms interspersed. Highlights include the stinky meat processing plant, the In 'N Out in Kettleman City with 4 busloads of high schoolers going home from Anaheim/Disneyland, the farmstand next to the fast food places with delicious apricot-plum hybrids and the first batch of good cherries this year, and all the cars overheating in the hills on the way into LA. Oh yes, do not forget about the AWFUL traffic in LA.
That basically is how 1100+ miles was covered in the span of 5 days. The best part? Walking around in San Francisco. Also, for those not in the know, here is the secret menu to In 'N Out. I cannot imagine eating a 4x4 animal style. But you have to like any burger that is cooked in mustard. Unfortunately, the only pictures I took on this trip were of the J-pop hotel room in San Francisco. I'll post those later.
Here's an overall map of the time spent sitting on my ass in a car. Thank god the rental got a pretty decent 30-35 mpg rating highway. The PCH is a really beautiful drive.
Day 1: SNA up to Limekiln campsite just south of Big Sur (9am-4 pm). Highlights include Target in the Thousand Oaks area (?) for an iPod input and some ice for the cooler; In 'N Out in Goleta for "breakfast"; and the Hearst Castle, which we just looked at, not wanting to take the time or pay the money to take the bus up to the castle itself. Also saw lots of RVs with surfers catching a last day of waves before heading home. The campsite was really cool - we stayed in the forest camp area and hiked up to see the lime kilns, but couldn't figure out what they were for; walked down to the beach, but saw no whales.
Day 2: Limekiln up to the Skyline Wilderness Park campsite just southeast of downtown Napa (7:30 am-12:30 pm). Found a lovely little coffeeshop in the Prunedale area in a plaza off of the 101 where the coffee is good and the baked goodies are really good and homemade (even the biscotti). I saw a big jug of Nielsen-Massey vanilla on the baker's rack and knew things would be yummy. We got an apricot cheese danish and an olallieberry muffin with a great soft texture and light granola topping. I don't know what olallieberries are, but they make a tasty muffin. Also got artichokes and strawberries at a farmstand 20 min outside of Gilroy and learned that the entire town of Gilroy has the essence of garlic wafting over it.
We then found the campsite, pitched the tent, worried a little about rattlesnakes and went to do some wine tasting. Went to included Cosentino, V. Santtui and Charles Krug. The former and latter were great, the middle has a great deli and cheese section. The Cosentino wines are all good, lots of different types and made well. The rose I tasted was really nice - smelled and tasted like strawberries before you bite into them and wasn't cloyingly sweet. All the Krug wines were full of big fruity flavors, but not too much of the oaky tannin thing that I don't like. I wonder if wineries get more sales of whites in the a.m., reds in the early p.m. and ports and other dessert wines towards the end of the day.
There was a disc golf course in the park so we tried to play a couple "holes." It was too technical for me (the baskets were on really tall hills) and the thought of rattlers in the grass and wild boars freaked me out a little. There were also some turkeys roaming around. So we went back and grilled some artichokes for dinner to go along with the burritos from the Michoacan taco truck near 1st and Soscol. Also MacGyvered a marshmallow toasting stick using a tent stake and tin foil...pretty simple actually once you account for stability and diameter. There were some deer at the campsite that were way too used to getting food from campers. The juveniles weren't that big, but then the momma deer came and we put all the food back into the car.
Day 3: Napa to San Francisco (11:30 am-1:00pm). Dying for a shower! Woke up at the crack of dawn (Chris did first!) and packed up and headed to downtown Napa. The nice thing about coffeeshops is that they are always open early. The Napa Valley Roasting Company seems to be the local equivalent of Intelligentsia with special blends for area restaurants including Bouchon and French Laundry. Hung out for a bit, then went to Target at 9 to kill some time until Copia opened at 10:30. Tasted some free wine, had some free chocolate, went to a seminar on cheese and learned about the history of food and the history of the wineries in the Napa area. Also saw the original installment done by the Hungry Planet people. It's striking to see the differences between the weekly groceries for different cultures. but shocking to see what people survive on in areas like the Sudan etc. Walked around the gardens outside; my favorites are still the two wine gardens where they plant the different fruits, herbs and plants that you taste in various wine varieties. Stopped at Ton Kiang for a late dim sum before checking into the hotel in Japantown. After the best shower I've had in ages, we went out to explore the town before dinner. Went to Chinatown, visited the fortune cookie factory in Ross alley (mmm!), went past the Coit tower, up to Pier 39, saw the sea walruses, went to Ghiradelli, then up to Pacific Heights area where we went to a bar to catch the end of the Stanley Cup game and then to dinner at Betelnut. Had some delicious papaya salad, mongolian beef dish, and Indonesian fish curry among other things as well as a sake flight. Then lugged up a giant hill back to the hotel. Here is the route...the elevation chart is pretty cool. All those miles help to make up for the sitting in the car.
Day 4: More exploration of San Francisco. Moseyed around the Japantown Mall, went over to Union Square and then to Yank Sing where I wanted some of their delicious chili sauce to take home. Then went back for sushi at Isobune (sushi boat!) before heading out. Drove past Golden Gate Park, up through the Presidio and strolled over to the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. That is a fun museum: they have a water fountain where when you drink, you complete a musical circuit. I wish the gym had one of those. And this display that can track where you look on a picture. And other cool things. Then we headed out a little north of the city to stay with Chris' sister and brother-in-law and played some frisbee in a park.
Day 5: Back in the car. Boo! San Raphael down to Irvine, but via Route 5 this time (7:30 am-3:30 pm). Faster, but more dusty, less scenery and lots of desert with highly irrigated farms interspersed. Highlights include the stinky meat processing plant, the In 'N Out in Kettleman City with 4 busloads of high schoolers going home from Anaheim/Disneyland, the farmstand next to the fast food places with delicious apricot-plum hybrids and the first batch of good cherries this year, and all the cars overheating in the hills on the way into LA. Oh yes, do not forget about the AWFUL traffic in LA.
That basically is how 1100+ miles was covered in the span of 5 days. The best part? Walking around in San Francisco. Also, for those not in the know, here is the secret menu to In 'N Out. I cannot imagine eating a 4x4 animal style. But you have to like any burger that is cooked in mustard. Unfortunately, the only pictures I took on this trip were of the J-pop hotel room in San Francisco. I'll post those later.
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