Trouteholes Go Californian - Episode 4

We fell in love with the bounty of the farmlands surrounding Monterey Bay, making ourselves nearly sick on fruit-eating orgies while on the road -- and off. Jess and I were green (pardon the pun) with envy seeing the signs touting artichokes 10 for $10! As the only choke-loving members of the family, we gladly pay triple that at home.

 

 We spent a few hours inland in San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist -- I lived near here for years as a kids and never realized the English translation, duh), a small town built around a 300-year-old Spanish mission.

Love this place, it isn't all commercialized, in fact the church is still used regularly. They use an adjacent barn and stables and home as a living museum, filled with items from centuries ago. The mission sits on a slight hill, so from its rear you look out over a lovely valley.

San Juan Bautista mission
The oldest part of the mission, the adobe sanctuary and buildings, have been preserved the best they can and you can wander at will looking at the displays. We even wandered into the church and found a traditional Catholic wedding taking place; we were surprised they hadn't closed off the sanctuary to tourists but tried to be respectful and stand in the rear while we gawked at the church. 

The Trouteholes Go Californian-Episode 3

 Note to self: Avoid the Monterey Bay Aquarium on weekends during the summer. 

Our schedule seemed to point to a Sunday visit, and so we  went -- along with what felt like 500,000 more visitors and residents of central California. It was so crowded we had to stand in line just to view some tanks.

 None of that took away from the sheer wonderfulness of the place, however. We spent the better part of the day there -- and that was after a morning spent kayaking on the bay (also a great experience). Our morning was spent viewing seals, otters, jellyfish and seabirds in the wild, then in the afternoon we saw more of the same, up close and personal, if behind glass.

All of us fell madly in love with the magical jellyfish and seahorses. The exhibits were amazing. Frankly, it was worth it to fight the crowds even if that was all we ever saw. It was akin to going to another planet -- without the pesky rocketship ride.

 We stayed long enough to outlast the crowds, to the early evening when peace returned and we could contemplate the amazing ocean and its bounties.

The Trouteholes Go Californian -- Episode 2

 First stop after San Francisco: Monterey. 

What did we find there? Great Mexican food. 

Also,  our motel was ordinary and modest but was right on the beach to the extreme north end of Monterey -- which was great because we could watch the surfers, the boats and the seals, as well as hike for miles on isolated stretches of sand.

 The spot was popular with surfers, which was nice because it gave the kids something to study to get ready for their first lesson later in the week.

 We could see the lights of Monterey each night across the water and hear the pounding surf, even with our door closed. It was the best kind of beach vacation. Brian got some great runs in along the long beaches outside our door, getting ready for his big triathlon.

 We discovered, quite by accident, that we were staying on one of the best beaches in California for finding beach glass, something that's rare to find on Oregon beaches anymore. 

Jess and I got up early several mornings to go treasure hunting and ran into a smattering of other beachcombers looking for the same thing. I was also in it for the seaweed, something I used to collect in jars of seawater when I was a kid living on the bay.

Teeny crab

Huge amount of sea glass at the beach in Seaside

sea lion/seal flipper bones

The sound outside our door, every night. 

The Trouteholes go Californian- Episode 1

We were tired our first night in San Francisco but we were eager to sight-see -- and eat. So we hopped a cable car to Chinatown for dinner. The cars are much less crowded at night (Brian and Josh rode outside, not because they had to but because they wanted to), which was great. 

The rides are crazy expensive ($10 per person one way) but NOT riding them when in San Francisco is like going to New York without going to see the Empire State Building. 

By default (late in making our vacation plans) we ended up booking a hotel in San Francisco's core, near the infamous Tenderloin district. Just a few blocks to the west, neighborhoods were dicey but where we were wasn't bad. The hotel was bizarre -- it had been  a typical mid-century motor hotel, then, when the neighborhood turned into a Little Saigon in the 70s, a Vietnamese restaurant/hotel. More recently, a boutique chain bought it --it's called The Phoenix --and redid it all eclectic retro early 60s. It was actually pretty fun, and most importantly, the teens thought it was 'cool', which makes us cool parents by default.

Chinatown turned out to be more interesting --and dirtier-- than expected. We had a fun, and expensive (the Trouteholes love tea) visit to a tea shop, a bizarre episode in a fortune cookie factory and great sightseeing. We dined a a hole-in-the-wall cafe where Jess ate a steamed bun that looked like a dead jellyfish (but she loved it) and my trip to the bathroom took me into the kitchen and up three flights of stairs.

Funniest moment -- the reaction of the kids when they finally noticed all the shops with explicit sexual figurines in their display windows. 

A little culture never hurt anyone,

Fisherman's Wharf was not really how I remembered it. It's still very much about food, mostly seafood, but it's turned WAY more touristy, like Atlantic City or something, We ate great seafood and sourdough (now wish I had room in my luggage for 10 more loaves), people-watched like crazy and bought cheesy souvenirs. 

It was foggy when we went to see the Golden Gate, then cleared as we toured the surrounding area, so we were able to see it at its best -- both ways. We walked to the center, which I highly recommend. It gets you past the all the wimpy tourists and has wonderful views. We had considered renting bikes to do the same but were glad we didn't. There were so many tourists on the walkway it would have been more trouble than it was worth. 

 One of the last things we did in the City was visit Japantown, a decidedly understated visit compared to Chinatown. But it was interesting in terms of history and culture -- and consumerism. An amazing mall filled with items Japanese buyers are likely to want captivated for quite a while, along with some great ramen.