Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Twin Peaks Tour

On Monday we set out to do part of the '49 Mile Drive', a tour which includes many of SF's best places, this time Debra came with us, which was great. We started this tour with a look at the views of SF from Alamo Sq, which is famous for it's pretty Victorian houses, then is was time for lunch and we found The Cafe Flore, a very pleasant wayside restaurant on Market and 16th.
After lunch we moved about half a mile down 16th St to the Dolores Mission, the oldest building still standing in SF and one of the early Missions in California. It was a very beautiful oasis of tranquility in the middle of SF, with the old Mission and the much newer Basilica which was built when the old one was demolished after the 1906 earthquake. The cemetary is also famous as the location of Kim Novaks Grandmothers grave in Vertigo. It seems slightly bizarre that the main attraction of the cemetary is for a non-existant grave of a person who is not buried there. The film set headstone was actually left there, but removed many years ago.
We returned to Market St to find our last stop - Twin Peaks. Market St winds its way round the hills that are the backdrop to SF, but eventually we turned into Twin Peaks Blvd and reached the car park at the summit. It is from here that there is the most amazing 360 degree view of SF, from the ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Downtown SF, you can look straight down Market St right to the Ferry Terminal Clock Tower, the Bay Bridge, Oakland and south. Although it was slightly hazy we had an awesome view of the whole area. Although we had other things planned for the day it seemed about right to call a halt there and get ourselves back home again, through the drive time traffic. After Debra cooked a great meal of curried rice and pork we went out for another ice cream Sundae, how decadent but what fun.
Posted by fastrak at 7:44 AM

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