I have just returned from a pleasant 10 days in California. For once I didn't send any postcards so I'm afraid that this will have to do instead.
We started off in San Francisco and covered much of the city including Haight Ashbury (crazy name even crazier people), the Coit Tower, Alcatraz and Fisherman's Wharf including the famous Sea Lions at pier 39.
It was then south to Monterey. The highlights were the incredible aquarium (a diver is needed to feed some of the fish and one of the tanks holds a million gallons), cute Sea Otters, whale watching trips (1 Sperm Whale, 12 Humpbacks, Risso's Dolphins and Daal's Porpoises etc), Pacific Grove with an impressive roost of thousands of Monarch butterflies and Point Lobos and its wind blown pines and cypresses. Nearby and further south was the Big Sur coast with dramatic views from a winding and apparently endless road.
Next was Ano Nuevo with more Sea Otters and a colony of Elephant Seals and nearby some large Redwood trees. Filling up with gas nearby I met my first conspiracy theorist posing as an attendant. Then it was back north beyond SF for a day in the Sonoma Valley and a look around the Benziger vineyard plus a sip or two.
Finally, we stayed at Walnut Creek, just east of SF, with some friends for a weekend. On the Saturday we went to a wildfowl refuge north of Sacramento and saw tens of thousands of Snow Geese and several hundred Sandhill Cranes - an incredible spectacle and then on the Sunday we headed to the coast and Point Reyes which sticks out in the Pacific.
On the Monday, there was just enough time for a brief visit to Muir Woods to see some even bigger Redwoods, another look at the Golden Gate Bridge, this time from the Marin Headlands, before dashing to the airport.
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