Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part IV

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part IV

Mendocino and Redwoods

Heading north from the SF Bay area we stayed on 101 until Cloverdale and then took the twisty/windy 128 up to the coast.  Yes, we know we mostly bypassed wine country - we did stop at a winery but it wasn't the focus of our trip.  

We explored the Russian Gulch State Park just north of Mendocino - another beautiful location.  

We stayed at another Airbnb - a small cabin in someone's yard.  It was a nice experience even though there was no room for our suitcases.  For dinner we went to The Ravens which is an upscale vegan restaurant associated with the Stanford Inn - a vegan resort.  The food was wonderful!  We returned the next day for a great breakfast.  Mendocino is a small town right on the ocean with lots of artists.  We walked along the beach, which is right near the main street.  

It was a morning with lots of fog/mist over the shore and this made for some nice photography on our drive.  

Next we turned inland and hit the Avenue of the Giants - Redwood country!  We stopped at various places to walk among and shoot these beautiful trees.

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part III

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part III

San Francisco and Berkeley

In our last post we didn't quite make it to San Francisco.  After we left Palo Alto we drove to an area where we thought we would be able to hike on the San Andreas fault.  After looking over the warning signs for rattlesnakes, mountain lions and ticks we decided to skip that portion of the program.  We drove towards SF along the fault on Skyline Blvd (but at no time in CA did we feel any shaking).

We stopped at a park to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge but it was fogged in.  We did see Alcatraz...  Later we had a fine meal at Herbivore in SF with Danny Brook and his family, with a stop at Dandelion Chocolate afterwards - yummy!  Our Airbnb was located in Berkeley and was a nice house with friendly people.  The next day we took the BART in to SF and walked around.  The first stop was at the Coit Memorial Tower which gave a nice view of the city and had great depression era murals painted downstairs.  

We also stopped at the cable car museum which is a fun,

SF favorite.

 The Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill was beautiful!

 We also took some time and explored the majestic SF City Hall.

 We had lunch in Chinatown at the Loving Hut and for dinner we went to Gracias Madre in the Mission District.  Gracias Madre was really outstanding - what a wonderful place!  I hear they will open in LA as well.

After a long day we wound up in Oakland because we got on the wrong BART train but made it back to our Airbnb OK.

On our way out of Berkeley heading towards Mendocino we had breakfast at the Berkeley location of Herbivore.

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part II

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part II

Big Sur, Monterey and San Francisco

We left SB and drove up the 101 towards Monterey, Big Sur and the coastal highway.  The coastal drive is slow but beautiful!

Our first major stop was the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, on the Big Sur coast.

As you can see from the photos, this is a magical place.  Here is a short video as well.

We capped off a beautiful day with a delicious dinner at Julia's in Pacific Grove and then a sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  Earlier this year we saw a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean in FL, what a nice companion experience.

The next day brought cloudy skies but our day was brightened by a 3 hour guided kayaking adventure in Monterey Bay.  We saw (and smelled) seals, saw and (heard) sea lions, and were treated to a playful otter.

After spending the morning paddling, we went back down the coast to another magical place - Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.  Again we were treated to stunning views of water, surf and rocky coast with lots of wildlife.  We decided to eat dinner at Julia's again because it was so good!

On Sunday we checked out the famous Pebble Beach 17 mile drive and then headed up to Palo Alto to visit Marcy, Levent and baby Derin.  Thanks to Levent we enjoyed a deliciously prepared lunch and spent some time catching up.

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part I

Randall & Debbie’s California Vacation, Part I

LA & Santa Barbara

We (along with Mr. Duck and the turtle) just came back from two glorious weeks out on the left coast.  We drove (well Randy did the driving) over 1600 miles up and down California coast.  We visited friends, ate lots of great vegan food, took many photographs of beautiful vistas and wildlife and had a wonderful time!

We started in LA with lunch at Sage Vegan Bistro and experienced our first AirBnB, a loft apt. right downtown. We were surprised at how vibrant downtown LA was on a holiday weekend but happy that there wasn't that much traffic.

We loved the art deco architecture and did a self guided tour.  One of our favorite spots was the Oviatt building. From there we explored the beautiful downtown library and the stunning Biltmore Hotel where we went for a nightcap on our 2nd evening in town.

The best part about LA was spending time with Judy.  We met for dinner at Crossroads an expensive but tasty all vegan restaurant on Melrose.

It was great to catch up!

Up early on a quiet Memorial Day morning in LA, we headed to the renovated Union Station.

With a few hours to kill before meeting Judy again for lunch, we decided to go to Hollywood and look at the stars.

The  we met with Judy in  Santa Monica and ate at our favorite, Native Foods Cafe.

We then went down to the famous Santa Monica Pier and had our first look at the Pacific in years.

The next day we hit the Getty Center Museum where we saw a photography exhibit and walked around the beautiful grounds.  Later we had lunch in the Westwood Native Foods before heading up the coast to Santa Barbara and our long awaited visit with Carol and Artie in their beautiful new home on the west coast.

Santa Barbara, the real life home of Sue Grafton and the setting for Kinsey Millhone's Santa Teresa.  

I had to do the alphabet series tour and with our hosts Artie and Carol we succeeded in seeing many of Kinsey's haunts.

Debbie also got to catch up with her high school friend Doris who lives nearby with her husband and three children.

To be continued...