That night we stayed on Soledad Mountain<\/strong>, above north SD and La Jolla. I-5 snaked below us, it rained and blew all night. The signs showed that it was closed from 10PM to 7AM and sleeping was prohibited \u2013 so we tried to stay awake all night. We could see for miles in all directions, and the mountain is the location of a war memorial with a huge cross on top.<\/p>\n La Jolla and Del Mar<\/strong> are very high-end towns \u2013 big ritzy houses with security signs stating ARMED RESPONSE, Mercedes, BMWs, and designer stores. We stopped at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course (site of the PGA\u2019s Buick Open and the 2008 US Open and $163 green fees) and Torrey Pines State Reserve with great hikes along the cliffs above the beach.<\/p>\n Heading inland east of Escondido, we went to the San Diego Zoo\u2019s Wild Animal Park<\/strong>. We had free $30 tickets (given to us by the Balboa Park visitor centre) and saw many of the same animals as the Zoo. We especially enjoyed the Lion Camp (separated from the animals by a sheet of glass). There were triplets.<\/p>\n It seemed like a long drive to Los Angeles and arrived the day of the Academy Awards but decided to skip attending. We heard people had been lining up for two days to watch the stars arriving. Venice Beach<\/strong> was great fun with a wild boardwalk \u2013 hundreds of souvenir shops, basketball players, muscle men, flea markets, restaurants, street performers and people to watch. Some of the panhandlers had interesting angles \u2013 \u201cmoney for marijuana\u201d, \u201cwill work for marijuana\u201d, \u201cmoney to support a man\u2019s alcohol problem\u201d. Santa Monica<\/strong> has a famous pier with rides and a carnival, and the Third Street Promenade (shopping and street performers). The break dancers were very talented athletic young men \u2013 spins on their heads and bent arms, one-armed hand stands, tumbling and tons of great moves. Barbara didn\u2019t want to do much else in LA and I\u2019ve seen most everything before so we only spent Sunday there.<\/p>\n Santa Barbara<\/strong> is a very affluent, beautiful city of 250,000 people. Building codes require that all buildings be of Spanish Revival style \u2013 white (or occasionally beige) smooth plaster and red tile roofs. The courthouse is the showcase with lots of tile, a bell tower, and huge murals. We did a walking tour, many street performers, homeless and went to the mission. Named after St. Barbara, this had special meaning for you know who. In the 3rd century, Barbara was a 16-year-old who much to her father\u2019s chagrin, converted to Christianity. Refusing to revert, he cut her head off. Except for the murder (Barbara\u2019s dad is a much nicer guy), this all sounds very much like Barbara\u2019s rebellious teen years. The mission was the nicest we\u2019ve seen with many old paintings, beautifully painted walls, statures and a museum. The Museum of Art had many Impressionist painters \u2013 Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, and more recently Dali and Picasso.<\/p>\n Heading north we hiked an oak forest and out to Morro Rock<\/strong>, where we saw peregrine falcons through spotting scopes. San Simeon is the location of Hearst Castle<\/strong> where we did two of the 4 potential tours at $20 each. This is the most over the top place on earth \u2013 opulent, decadent, and wow, are useful descriptors. Built of reinforced concrete (earthquake-proof) and furnished with old European furniture, art, and the ceilings alone are worth the price of admission. Built on 250,000 acres fronted by 50 miles of ocean, the castle is surrounded by a cattle ranch with the most lovely green hills.<\/p>\n A few miles north is elephant seal<\/strong> country \u2013 throughout the night the bulls were bellowing. They are easy to see on the beach below 20 foot cliffs. The bulls weigh up to 5000 pounds, are 16 feet long, covered with battle scars and are not very cute. The much smaller females have their pups in December\/January, breed immediately again, nurse for a month and then leave. They can dive up to 5000 feet and feed 100\u2019s of miles out to sea.<\/p>\n Big Sur<\/strong> is a long section of coast where the twisty road snakes up steep cliffs that plummet to the rocky shore. Big Sur is the site of the famed Esalen Institute, the Cadillac of New Age retreats. In Julia Pfeiffer Burns St. Park<\/strong>, we photographed the only waterfall in California that lands on the beach, McWay falls, the most photographed spot in California, and did a 5 mile hike through the redwoods and oak forest. Point Lobos State Reserve<\/strong> is a spectacular coast trail with rocky shores, birds, seals, and the Monterey cypress, a rare tree seen only here.<\/p>\n Clint Eastwood used to be mayor of Carmel<\/strong>, another very affluent town. We drove around looking at all the high-end real estate ending up in Monterey. The Monterey peninsula is home to 17 mile drive ($9 to do the drive which we decided to pass on), the home of Pebble Beach Golf Links and Cypress Point. The Monterey Aquarium<\/strong> is touted as the best aquarium in the world. The sea otter, eel, kelp forest, and tuna exhibits were highlights. It is an incredible place.<\/p>\n We detoured inland to Salinas<\/strong>, John Steinbeck\u2019s hometown, where I had an emergency root canal and Barb visited the National John Steinbeck Center<\/strong>, a museum of all his books. A highlight was Rocinante, the green truck and camper used in the book \u201cTravels with Charlie\u201d (which Barbara has been reading to me) where Steinbeck travels around the US with his pet poodle, Charlie in the late 60\u2019s. Compared with our camper, his was much smaller, rustic and quite quaint.<\/p>\n We continued the detour SE to Pinnacles National Monument<\/strong>, where we did the High Peaks Trail, which winds through spectacular basaltic domes and spires, and then descends through a neat cave.\u00a0 Entering San Francisco<\/strong> from the SW, the views from the top of Portola St were fantastic with the entire downtown and the bay spread out below us. Driving and parking in SF is a nightmare so we didn\u2019t and our only cost is a lot for $14 per day. We obtained the City Guides free walking tour guide with over 30 tours available on different days. Market St<\/strong> is the main street downtown. On the tour we learned how SF is trying to make it\u2019s downtown people friendly \u2013 skyscrapers lean back, have low sections, broken roof lines and must provide green areas to prevent that closed in feeling. The street levels are devoted to stores and shops and attempts are made to include living spaces so that cars can be avoided. It is a great walking town very much like downtown Vancouver. We went up to the 52nd floor of the Bank of America<\/strong> building, had tea and tremendous views of all of the Bay from the Golden Gate Bridge around to the Bay Bridge, downtown, and the Trans America Pyramid \u2013 the most recognizable building in SF. We have developed a strong sense of SF history with tours like Gold Rush City. Nob Hill has many great hotels and the Grace Cathedral<\/strong>, a huge EpiscopalIan (Anglican) church like many of the cathedrals in Europe. The City Hall<\/strong> is more fantastic that any state legislature with a huge dome and a solid 24 carat gold statue on top. The Palace hotel<\/strong>, originally built-in 1875, destroyed in the 4 days of fire that followed the 1906 earthquake, rebuilt by 1909, and totally refurbished in 1989 at a cost of $150 million is San Francisco\u2019s finest. We went on several self guided tours like Telegraph Hill<\/strong> with its famous Coit Tower and murals, Italian neighborhood, beatnik area from the 50\u2019s and wild parrots, Union Square<\/strong> (the shopping mecca with all the large American department stores – a blue diamond ring at Tiffany\u2019s was worth $437,000), the Bank of California<\/strong> with its large gold display, Pacific Heights<\/strong> with many mansions and Victorian houses, Chinatown<\/strong>, and Fisherman\u2019s Wharf (little more than multiple t-shirt shops and tourist traps \u2013 our least favorite place). In Pacific Heights, we went into an Inuit store. They had many carvings by the same artists that I have collected from my trips to the Canadian Arctic and could not resist buying a wonderful whale carved from a musk ox horn. SF is clearly our favorite US city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" San Diego is a very pretty city with a moderate climate. We visited the Hotel del Coronado, built-in 1888, it is quite majestic, and expensive. In San Diego, Balboa Park is the home of 13 museums, theatres and the world-famous … Continue reading ![\"Image](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/9\/96\/Pinnacles_National_Park_PINN3708.jpg\")
\nCalifornia condors (largest NA bird at 20 lbs and a 9 1\/2 ft wingspan) circled overhead. From a low of 20 birds, there are now over 200. We\u2019ve seen them before at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The coast north of Monterey to San Francisco is rugged with high cliffs and pretty beaches.<\/p>\n