On the Road: Muir Woods National Monument
Post 6 of the roadtrip series.
Awe-inspiring. Peaceful. Beautiful. Words fail me. This astounding national monument of towering coastal redwoods was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s greatest gifts to the nation.
{ Monthly Archives }
May 2007
Adventures in San Francisco: Japanese Tea Gardens
Post 5 of the roadtrip series. Wonderfully relaxing for a quiet, peaceful walk. We made a note to come back and actually have tea in the cafe sometime.
Adventures in San Francisco: Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square
Post 4 of the roadtrip series. World famous for seafood, fantastic panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, and shopping. Ghirardelli of course, is chocolate land… So in summary, seafood and chocolate. Oh man.
In and around Fisherman’s Wharf.
Alcatraz Island.
Pier 39: Wholly owned and operated by… sea lions. Apparently.
To quote Homer Simpson: “The land of chocolate… (drool)”
Adventures in San Francisco: Chinatown
Post 3 of the roadtrip series. A huge district of colorful shops, delicious-smelling food, “interesting” meat markets, and tea parlors.
In retrospect I should have photographed more people.
On the Road: Up the California Coast
Day 2 of the roadtrip was climbing up the coast from Palmdale to San Francisco, taking CA-166 through the mountains of Los Padres National Forest to Santa Maria, and then north along the Pacific on CA-1, with brief stretches of US-101. Easily the the most beautiful drive I have ever taken. You will be hard pressed to convince me that there is any road so breathtaking anywhere else on the continent. Unfortunately due to the need to make time on the road, I wasn’t able to stop and take every picture I wanted to (this would have taken months).
CA-166 winds through the mountains to the coast.
The city of Morro Bay and Morro Rock National Monument are quite close to the college/resort town of San Luis Obispo, home of CalPoly.
The robber baron William Hearst built an enormous (and outrageously ostentatious) castle for himself in the hills near the central coast, and filled it with art from around the world. Upon his death, he donated the entire estate to California, and it is now a state historical monument. We didn’t have time to take the tour, but that is something definitely on the list for the next time.
Elephant seals bask on the central coast between San Simeon and Big Sur, north of the castle.
There is a lovely hike along the hilly coastline somewhere along the way… we don’t exactly remember where. Find it if you can, its fabulous.
The city of Monterey is located on Monterey Bay just north of Point Lobos State Reserve. It is also the site of the Naval Postgraduate School. Tough life, getting stationed there. This photo is from Carmel State Beach, looking south towards Point Lobos.
From the same location looking north, there is a splendid view of the Pebble Beach golf course.
Farms and vinyards dot the north-central coast.
Alas, we had a birthday bash to get to that night, and the afternoon was creeping into evening with 120 miles to go. We passed fantastically beautiful stretches of road cut into the coastal cliffs, and especially at the Bixby Bridge I wanted to stop to photograph so badly… no dice. Oh well, there will most certainly be a repeat of this one.
Adventures in LA: Near Union Station
As you may have read earlier, Emily and I just took a massive 5-day tour of the great state of California. Prepare for a flood of posts!
Day 1 was Los Angeles. Many of the places we went I have already shown in previous posts and have many photos of from previous trips down, so I didn’t take many photos. Here are three that I thought turned out well though.
My lovely girlfriend.
A bird-of-paradise near LA Union Station.
The plaza between Union Station and Olvera St., the oldest neighborhood in and birthplace of Los Angeles.
What’s on the plate.
Sorry no posts in awhile, but lots of photos are coming your way soon. Emily and I are on the last day of a 5-day California roadtrip encompassing Los Angeles, the coast road, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Napa Valley, Sacramento, and the central valley. Also, next weekend (Memorial Day), there is a 3-day, 100-mile trek through the San Gabriel mountain range coming up. Vengeance Baden-Powell!
On the Trail: Mt. Baden-Powell
Started off the hiking season with a bit of a doozy for me, especially since I hadn’t really done much physical activity for several months. Mt. Baden-Powell has a peak of 9,399 ft and is a somewhat rigorous climb over 4 miles of trail. Darin and Chris of course made it right to the top without much trouble, but Andrew and I only made it to 8,680 ft. Correction, *I* only made it to 8,680 ft and Andrew was kind enough to stick around. But it was a good break-in for the warm season and I plan on running some more and tackling it again in the next few months.
Beautiful views of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest, as well as some wildlife including reportedly bighorn sheep, though I didn’t see any. It’s still cold at altitude this time of year, and the winds can pick up no the ridges. Be prepared for 20-40 degF changes in perceived temperature, depending on the time of day, season, and current weather.
San Gabriels.
The Antelope Valley from about halfway up.
San Gabriels.
CA-2, The Angeles Crest Highway.
San Gabriels.
TRAIL STATS:
Mileage: 2.9 (4.0 to the top)
Elevation delta: ~2,100 ft (~2,800 ft to the top)
Time on trail: 4.5 hrs (including lunch and some water breaks)
Nearest highway: CA-2, mile marker 69.6, elevation 6,593 ft.
