Part 2, Central & Northern California, West Coast Road Trip 2011

Solvang Danish village 

Yummy bakery and charming village much changed from  the very little spot I visited in the early 1960's.

Moonstone Beach in Cambria, great view of elephant seals frolicking on beach, . . .

well, not exactly frolicking on the beach. 

. . . lots of long and twisty cliff roads, picked up David at Monterey airport (slightly larger than a gas station, no stress), stayed with Rick and Mavis, 

On the way to dinner we stopped at this tee box.  Amazing views.

 . . . their daughter Jill and family [Dustin, twins Olivia and Lily, and 3-year old Henry, aka Hank]  came for dinner
Pebble Beach:  beautiful rocky beach--C & G loved driving us there in the golf cart from house, 

Squeezed three of us in the cart for a little excursion and play.

"Take that!"  "No, no, kind sir."

Polly and Mavis' African mask collection.

One of the many alligators/crocs.  Who's who?

Not only Griffin enjoyed a massage!  we all did.

Two of the several ornamental dogs in the large entry.  Love these guys!

Mavis hinted to Kershisnik that if he ever painted a red-head boy she'd buy it.

Mavis was a delightful hostess at the end of their regular 2-week stay at PB, then back to Orem for 2-weeks of work.  This time she was headed to Denver for Aerie's and Santosh's baby girl's birth--Asha.

Great conversations with Rick at dinner at Taste in Pacific Grove.  Great food and evening joined by Jill and family.  Cute family.  Jill and Dustin are terrific parents.  I love checking into her blog from time to time.  I think I can distinguish between the twins now. 

. . . watched sea otter doing somersaults in the kelp through spotting scope, Monterey Bay Aquarium (my favorites were the many varieties of beautiful jelly fish and sea horses),

A fav for me also was the sea horses.  Can you find them all?

Three light green, lacy shape--great camouflage.

Christopher witnessed a marriage proposal while waiting for us to all meet up [at the cafe].

Sonora:  drove through pretty farm country, sampled pistachios, cherries, strawberries, visited Yosemite (very distinctive rock faces like El Capitan, and amazing long waterfalls), more long twisty roads through mountains.

Abundance of water made for great views of Bridalveil Falls.

San Rafael:  drove David to Oakland airport, . . .

This very large wind farm went on forever and ever it seemed.  Very beautiful.

Great to have David with us for a long weekend at Pebble Beach, Monterey and Yosemite.

 . . . did San Francisco 49-mile drive (four-hour overview of city, great views of bridges, architecture, parks, wharf, ocean . . . ) with mists coming in at the end—we all loved the city

We loved the bridges throughout our trip. 

San Francisco City Hall, click on the photo to do justice to the gold trimmed dome.

Street vendor selling bubbles.  Again, click on the photo to get a better view.

Follow the signs for the 49-mile scenic drive.

Love art on the street.

It has been a long time since I've seen a downtown store window display.

This Clay St. sign was one of a number of family name street signs that we saw.  Griffin has one with Wells, plus others in the same picture. 

Chinatown

Chinatown park.

Lombard St.  Polly drove us very carefully down this extremely steep, twisting narrow street.  We wondered, "How do people get in and out of their garages with the solid line of tourists trying out their street."

Love street musicians.

Can you imagine walking along the harbor as part of your daily life.

The Exploratorium pond.  I remember visiting here with Jill when they lived in Palo Alto.

Presidio military cemetery.

Christopher and the Andy Goldsworthy, 2008,  installation. The reforestration project will eventually grow up around and surround it.

The mist starting to come in along the bay.

Twin peaks became more and more misty until we could see very little on top.

S.F. skyline.

Crescent City:  Redwood National Park, Avenue of Giants drive through the redwoods, and the drive-through Chandelier Tree (we didn’t fit with our cargo bin on top), lots of twisty forest roads with the occasional gorgeous ocean views.

Polly turned the car away and the rest of us walked through.  Curious inside there, looking up and around inside a living tree.

Caught these three hiding out inside the cavity of another giant.

Dumbin' around fam foto.

Never tire of the ocean--love it.

Occasionally we passed  a massive redwood trunk encroaching on the highway reminding of centuries past.

 Next stop Oregon! 

Beautiful Oregon, home of family and friends.