Monterey to Carmel-by-the-Sea
Good Friday

It's all full steam ahead with the Americans - there's no stopping for Good Friday or Easter, which is good for us - Thelma and I are off to have a manicure/pedicure shortly, while Louise is going to look for a leg massage.  Ooh! Newsflash ... I just heard on the telly they have Easter sales happening ... woo hoo!

We took to the road again this morning heading down Highway One to enjoy the sights of "17 Mile Drive" which links Pacific Grove and Carmel.  It meanders its way through the wealthy private resort of Pebble Beach, and it is a gorgeous drive showcasing some mighty spectacular scenery with magnificent homes and golf courses overlooking the ocean. The likes of Clint Eastwood and the rich and famous live here ... we simply drooled.  Neon signs, and billboards are forbidden, street signs are only on blocks of 4x4 timber with a pointy top, painted white with green writing that stick up out of the ground - no overhead street signs are to be seen, anywhere.  Payphones, vending machines, and newspaper vending boxes are all shingled ... very OTT and very precocious.

On the road from Monterey, heading south toward Pebble Beach

We had lunch at a little café in Carmel-by-the-Sea.  And check out our fellow diner - this beast was sitting at the table next to me and snarled as I sat in my seat.  I tell you, I cannot get used to the fact that dogs are allowed into restaurants and coffee shops - who knows if they have parvo or worms? Or Rabies?!

Back on the road heading a short distance south, we saw the Lone Cypress, a tree that stands alone on an outcrop of rock and has stood the test of time for than 250 years. (The pic doesn't do it justice as the top railing of the fence blocks the water surrounding the rock island. You'll just have to trust me!)

Braving the chilly breeze along Big Sur

John and I saw Janet Seidel at Hamer Hall last week in her show, "Doris and Me".  Janet mentioned that Doris Day lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea and part-owns the Cypress Inn there, so I just had to call by to see if she was in.  It turns out that she lives, "up in the Valley", but I was invited to take some photos by the gorgeous receptionist - a far cry from the cow who was managing our reception at the salubrious La Quinta Inn, our current 'home' for two nights.  When 'Louise' asked for some tea bags, she was told they only served coffee 24/7; Louise explained that we drink tea, and mine-host told her she could buy teabags at the local Safeway!

Warming myself by the fire in Doris Day's Cypress Inn

Doris Day's Cypress Inn "reception room"

Off for a meal at the famous "Monterey's Fish House" for dinner.  The LP guidebook says that "Hawaiian shirts seem to be de rigueur for men", not sure what it is for women, but we'll be in our jeans and jumpers - it is still quite cold here.  I think we'll have to wait till LA to get some warm weather.

Off to New York tomorrow evening, so this will be my last post till then probably.  Happy Easter all!

Sausalito to Monterey

Farewell San Francisco:

Yesterday we picked up the hire car and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and back into Sausalito to check out the little village of 400+ houseboats that occupy a vast area of Sausalito.  

The mailboxes for the floating homes in Sausalito.

(The name of Sausalito comes from the Spanish sauzalito, meaning "small willow grove", and I wonder if this is how my friend Willow got her name.)  The residents prefer "floating homes" and not houseboats apparently, a bit like splitting hairs, I reckon.

Some of the gorgeous floating homes (houseboats) in Sausalito.

From Sausalito we found our way back onto the main highway and turned off at Stinson Beach.  This is from all accounts a very beautiful and sought-after area by San Franciscans to escape the hurly burly of city life.  It is just a short distance from SF and affords a beautiful stretch of sandy coastline that sweeps north for several miles.  Unfortunately, on this day, the fog rolled in and a light drizzle was our welcome.  It certainly didn't stop many other tourists (or were they locals?) from engaging in some beach-type activities that we'd see on our beaches in the height of summer or at least warm and sunny weather.  Some very hardy or foolish types this lot.

We stopped by Muir Woods on our way out from Stinson Beach, however, we didn't leave the car, just had a quick look at some of the magnificent trees leading into the entrance gate.  It is the spring break here and there are thousands of Americans on "vacation" from various parts of the country all enjoying the west coast it seems.

Being our last night in SF, Sandy and I planned a night out at the local Thai restaurant (we haven't helped the American economy at all in this respect), however I was knackered and fell asleep in the comfy leather armchair, and Mary ended up cooking up eggs, spinach, and a little bacon and some leftover bolognaise sauce from the night before and we had another early night. 

We left a very cool San Francisco this morning; we were cleaned up, packed up and out and on the road by 9.30 am.  San Francisco was a lovely stay - 'our home' was quite cold, and although we did have central heating - we found it a bit of a challenge getting just the right temperature, with three pre or post-menopausal women "enjoying" various stages of the heat/cold spectrum!

Leaving SF, Sandy drove and I navigated - all done brilliantly till NavMan told us to go one way - the wrong way - and caused a little confusion, but not to worry, we ended up seeing some absolutely gorgeous San Franciscan homes, high on the hill around the avenues.  The Avenues are bordered on the north by Lincoln Park and the Presidio, Golden Gate Park on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west.  The homes are on individual allotments and surrounded by beautiful green lawns - manicured to within an inch of their lives.  The area is often covered in fog due to its proximity to the cold Pacific Ocean, but today it was pretty clear - it is a charming neighbourhood to drive through.

We stopped at Rockaway Beach for a coffee at Nick's.  This is the restaurant where John bussed and waited tables during his late teenage years earning sufficient money to put himself through university and enabling him to buy his home in Pacifica, so it has very special memories for us and it's a place we always visit when we are in SF, and today was no exception.

Rockaway Beach, near Pacifica, looking south.

Lorraine with Thelma and Louise at Rockaway Beach

We stopped at a (Lonely Planet recommendation) café for lunch in Santa Cruz for a bowl (for me anyway), of minestrone soup - nobody does soup like they do here.  With our tummies satisfied we headed back on the road towards Monterey.  Mr NavMan wouldn't accept the street number, and of course the street goes for miles and miles and of course, we ended up at the far end.  It turns out that the military has a base here and, "often the data from the satellites gets scrambled", according to the frontdesk man.

Thelma and Louise have gone out for a walk into town while I catch up on the blog and Skyp-ing - lovely to hear from you Pat, and JB, and Melanie, Mike and the kids.  Sorry I couldn't play cricket with you, Connor - I just couldn't get hold of that ball through the computer. How gorgeous is that?!!! Gosh, I miss them!

Happy Easter to everyone back home in Australia!

Well, here we are and it's Tuesday and we've shopped ourselves silly already - well two out of three of us have just about single-handedly fixed the US economy.  Shoes; jackets; shoes; coats; 'Not Your Daughter's Jeans'; did I mention shoes?!  There's nothing quite like a bit of retail therapy.

We walked and walked and walked yesterday, somewhere between 10-13 km we reckon trying to find the Josef Seibel boots I've been after since before we left Australia - no success either :( It turns out we could have taken our #71 bus and got there in about ten minutes.  Nevertheless, we did work our way through several areas we were keen to 'walk' like Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Japantown, and Chinatown and thankfully we found a lovely café and had a yummy lunch of salads and paella - a bonus and well deserved!

Mary found details of a coat shop online and we navigated our way there to make a trolley-load of purchases - down and feather jackets and more shoes! We struggled home with our packages; it was a bigger struggle for some!

Today we took things at a slower pace - we caught our #71 into town and with some advice and quick driving from our bus driver (in order that we could get in front of the streetcar we needed to catch), we made a quick skip over on to a streetcar (not named 'Desire') to the Embarcadero and the ferry terminal to take a ferry to Sausalito.  And what a gorgeous little town it is, nestled into the side of a mountain across the bay ... and guess what ... it's full of gorgeous little boutiques ... and we helped the economy there too with cashmere jumper purchases, ready for the cold of New York next weekend.

Another night in tonight with our Mare doing the cooking - Sandy and I are the quality control supervisors - sometimes referred to at "the kitchen bi#ches".  LOL!

We'll pick up the hire car in the morning, and possibly head north to the Sonoma Valley and check out some of the Californian wines and maybe go via Stinson's Beach and Muir Woods.  More to come!

Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, and of course do no evil!

Two bag ladies returning from a big day of shopping!



More SF compliments!

I forgot to mention ... they're so full of compliments here ...

Walking up through Haight Ashbury yesterday afternoon, through the cold wind ... my eyes watering ... trying to wipe away the tears ... I guess my gaze was not where it would normally be ...

And there, walking towards me - three trannies - one wearing such tiny, weeny, short fluorescent pink shorts and his artichokes were being somewhat squeezed ... nearly squeezed out of those short shorts in fact.

Truly, I wasn't staring ... but after we'd passed each other, I heard:

"Nice hair - love the pink hair .... ... ... WENCH"!!!!! 

Hmmm ... actually, I'm not so sure he was paying me a compliment.  LOL!

Our Victorian house - it very comfortable and we're enjoying playing at being "locals"; we've worked out the right trolleys and buses to catch to get into town and where to catch them, and shopping for supplies at Safeway - not much changes!  Here's our "home" at Waller Street, SF. (Sorry I can't get it up the right way.)



747 Waller Street, San Francisco - our "home"

Off now to explore Fisherman's Wharf and do a little bit of shopping!

 

Safe and Sound in San Francisco

What a long, long, long haul that flight is from Melbourne to Los Angeles. Departing at 11.15 am meant for a strange flight for me - normally we leave around that time at the other end of the day - nearly midnight, which means a drink, light snack, and sleep - and everyone sleeps.  This flight sleep was battled with adults speaking loudly, kids doing what kids do, and older kids playing movies and video games until it was nearly time to land.

Anyway, we made it in to LAX, got through immigration and customs without any dramas, and found our way to the terminal to bring us to San Francisco.  We've made our way to 747 Waller Street - a gorgeous little Victorian terrace house - Louise (aka Mary) has organised us in our rooms, and Thelma (aka Sandy), organised some coffee (well, a few dribbles anyway into the percolator that got nuked in the microwave!)  It's always a challenge finding out how things work in a new house, but we'll have fun doing so.

We're heading out for some supplies that will no doubt include a couple of bottles of wine ... and to explore our immediate surroundings.

Till next time!  Have a nice day!!!!!

I've just created this blog ... not too sure where I am in the process, but here we go!



Well, it's two weeks today until we (Sandy, Mary and I) leave on our, "F*&# Chadstone! I'd Rather Go Somewhere Exciting ... Like New York!" Tour.  All our planning and scheduling have taken place, now it's just packing and finger-crossing for a great trip. 

Briefly, our itinerary:

23-26 March - We've booked a sweet three-bedroom Victorian house in San Francisco, from where we'll explore this wonderful city for four days. 

Then we'll hire a car on the Wednesday and drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to visit Sausalito, Muir Woods, Mt Tamalpais ...

On 27th we'll start our little road trip, heading south along Highway One to Big Sur, passing through Pacifica!, Half Moon Bay, Big Basin Redwoods and Santa Cruz down to Monterey and we'll stay at Carmel by the Sea for two nights. 

Then 'up the guts' to SFO and take an overnight flight to New York where we'll spend a whole week.  We've booked a gorgeous loft apartment in Nolita (north of Little Italy), and tickets to a couple of Broadway shows: "The Book of Mormon" and "The Madrid", starring Edi Falco ... then ... way too many things on the 'to do list' to list!

After the week in the Big Apple, it's back to the west coast to LA.  Hmmmmm! Not sure what we'll be doing here, but we've got a house in Santa Monica and we'll explore from there.


This is my first attempt at a blog, so anything could happen.  If all else fails, I'll revert to emails! Hope you enjoy my posts along the way.  :)