California and Las Vegas part one
As we were spending 2 nights in San Francisco we decided not to collect the hire car at the airport. Previously we had driven from the airport and parked at the hotel and this had been quite expensive.
We took a taxi into the centre, they are plentiful and have a fixed charge. We were staying in the Union Square area. The hotel had recently been refurbished.
I had some tickets to enter the California Academy of Sciences in the Golden Gate Park, reputed to be the world’s greenest museum. We went by local bus and were offered advice from various passengers on the bus. This was an interesting place to visit. Standing in its own grounds, it is a large glass faced building housing several different exhibitions. There is a Rainforest, which we could look down from the main concourse, although it was closed that day for maintenance.
What stands out in my mind is the white crocodile lying so still in a pool, I didn’t believe was real at first. But it was definitely alive, as it had been rescued. As it was white it would probably not have survived in the wild.
The next morning we woke to rain. We went to the carhire office to collect our car around ten o’clock. There was a queue, it was a small site. At first we were given a smaller car than we had booked, but eventually this was sorted. Should we go to San Francisco again, we would elect to pick up a car from the airport as there is much more choice of vehicles and no long queues.
Our aim with this holiday visit the Coast Road, taking our time (as usually our holidays are spent rushing from one place to another to make the most of it). With this in mind we decided to spend 2 nights in Monterey, one night at Pismo Beach, 2 nights in Oxnard and 2 in San Diego.
I liked Monterey, as we arrived the sun came out. John Steinbeck came from the Monterey area and he is honoured with a statue in the Canning Row, which featured in his stories. We spent the next day walking along the Cycle Path to the Fisherman’s Wharf, taking photographs of the seals basking on the rocks, going in and out of the water, communicating with each other very loudly. During the afternoon we went out in a glass bottom boat, hoping to see sea otters, but all we could see was the kelp that grows very well at this time of the year. We did see sea otters from the shore, when we returned to our hotel, playing in the kelp.
On one occasion we passed a gallery which was devoted to the paintings of Thomas Kinkade. He is known as the Painter of Light I liked some of the paintings, which very cleverly changed when light was projected on to them.
We went down the beautiful coast road, stopped several times to take photographs. At one point we could see fog rolling along over the sea, although on the shore it was sunny and breezy.
Next stop was Pismo Beach. I am afraid it didn’t impress me, as it seemed to be full of RV parks. There were shops there but they mainly catered for the seaside trade.
The sun shone there when we arrived, but the next day, it was all different. California has what is known locally as the ‘June Gloom’ and this remained with us, until we went inland.
I found Oxnard a nicer place. It was full of boats of all different types and sizes, a paradise for people who love sailing. We went to a restaurant in Oxnard which had two jazz singers, though they sang everything from sixties to modern pop songs, created a very nice atmosphere whilst waiting for our meal.
We decided to drive up into the hills, to the Los Padres National Forest, although it was June, it looked like spring had only just arrived. The flowers were there in profusion and the broom smelt lovely, which with the sunshine, was well worth the drive.