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Northern California Trip
Northern California Trip
We had a wonderful trip to northern California in late September. I had intentions of writing a proper
report for this forum and the TA forums that were so helpful in planning the trip, but I'm not getting to it, so I'll just bang something out. The seed of the trip was planted while watching the Ken Burns series on national parks. We've been to some, but these are spectacular national treasures that we felt we were neglecting. The seed was watered when my wife began to have a yearning to see the big trees.
Flew to San Francisco, drove to Yosemite. This is a really majestic place. Most waterfalls are dry by fall, but we'd never been there before, so didn't know what we were missing and were utterly awed by the area. I would like to get back in springtime some year to see the park with waterfalls and wildflowers. A trade-off was that there weren't nearly as many visitors as in spring or summer. September is an ideal time for a lot of destinations.
We spent three nights in the valley at Yosemite Lodge, then a last night at the Wawona Hotel in the southwest corner of the park. We were just ecstatic about everything. Took the shuttle up to Glacier Point then hiked back down into the valley (about a 3000 foot downhill), spent a day in Tuolumne Meadows (8-9000 feet). Prior to our trip, when I thought of Yosemite, my picture was of Half Dome and El Capitan. I wasn't even aware of Tuolumne Meadow. There's a peace there, a hush and a beauty that felt healing and restoring. I loved it there. It seemed a lot like I hope heaven is. Much of Yosemite is spectacular and dramatic but Tuolumne Meadows deeply peaceful and hushed. A lot of Yosemite blows your mind, but Tuolumne Meadows quiets the mind and soothes the soul. But I'd imagine that it's a very fierce place in winter. We also spent time exploring the valley. I've had the good fortune to visit some of our planet's most beautiful places and Yosemite ranks in the top tier. I always feel somewhat flooded when we travel in the western U.S. It's so vast and mythic, so overwhelming in size and scope.
Half Dome from Glacier Point
Ahwahnee Hotel
Tuolumne Meadows
We spent our final night in Wawona and woke early to be in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia before sunrise. These trees are very big and very old. Some of them have been named (like the Grizzly Giant and the Fallen Monarch) and really feel like majestic individual entities. And it seems that in some profound way we benefit from establishing some relationship with them spending time with them. Something seems to happen.
Giant Sequoia with average sized human
The next leg of the trip was the coast south of San Francisco. We based ourselves at a B&B in Carmel and explored the coast from there. We planned to see more than we ended up getting to, but this has been a developing theme in our vacations: we do less and take longer doing it. Carmel is a sweet little coastal village with lots of shops, restaurants and Hansel and Gretel fairytale architecture. The commercial area is packed into several square blocks and the rest of the village sprawls. It's a uniquely beautiful little town. We wandered the streets, ate well and strolled down to Carmel beach for the sunsets. On vacation we always schedule things around sunsets. When we're sitting on a beach watching the sun set, it seems so obvious that there is nowhere else that we should ever be when the sun is setting. Nothing else of that scope and beauty is going anywhere else at that moment. We're east coasters, so we don't often get the blessing of seeing the sun dip into the ocean. There's a lot we didn't do on this trip but we did do the really essential things: watched sunsets, spent time with the Giant Sequoias, sat quietly in Tuolumne Meadows, stood silently and watched deer at Point Lobos.
We spent much of a day in Point Lobos, just south of Carmel, which is a dramatically beautiful coastal reserve and spent a day driving (and stopping, then stopping again) through Big Sur. Route 1 through Big Sur is a really remarkable drive. It certainly ranks with the road to Hana on Maui in the most breathtaking category that we've traveled. We stopped a lot. We also gasped a lot or said "Wow!" or "Oh!" or "Oh my God!" frequently. We at Nepenthe for lunch and it was as splendid as we'd been promised it would be. Nothing on this trip fell short of what had been promised, most things far exceeded it. My wife has travelled in Italy and Big Sur reminded her of some of the Italian coastal areas except that in Italy they'd actually built villages on the slopes and cliffs.. We never got to Monterey or Pacific Grove. We would have liked to have gotten to the aquarium but there was nothing we would have given up to go there. We could have used another day or two in each of our stops. We didn't have time to see everything but what we saw was magnificent.
B&B in Carmel
Point Lobos
Big Sur
We went on to San Francisco for the last leg of the trip, staying at a B&B in the Mission District close to Dolores Park. When we first reached the city we weren't too sure that we wanted to be there. We'd spent over a week in beautiful, natural places and as appealing as SF is, it's still an urban area. We were able to make the shift fairly quickly and painlessly, though, and thoroughly enjoyed our days in San Francisco. Mostly we walked---Mission, Castro, North Beach, Chinatown. We went to Berkeley to wander around and have lunch at Chez Panisse. I'd spent time in SF and Berkeley many years ago but it was long enough ago that it seemed I was visiting for the first time. It's a lovely, pleasant city filled with kind, helpful people. After we adjusted to an urban world, it really felt good being there. As cities go, it's a real good one.
This was one of our favorite vacations ever. It had three distinct parts---mountains, coast, city--that seemed almost like separate vacations. Yosemite and the coast are really magnificently beautiful, awe-inspiring areas. We were fortunate to be there during the nicest weather that northern California had seen all year. Beautiful warm sunny days. We were prepared for cool, overcast, drizzle. And we really appreciated Californians. Up here in the northeast U.S. folks are different. We're --oh, what are the words? Uptight, cold, neurotic, stressed, hurried, unfriendly? We had a real good experiences with people wherever we went. And we were also consistently impressed by how good the coffee was everywhere. Thanks California and Californians, for your good coffee and your kindness. This was a different sort of vacation than we''ve taken before. The variety of it made it very rich in addition to the spectacular places we visited. I'd like to return. There's much to be said for returning to a place to get a deeper appreciation of it after digesting the initial impressions. There's also much to be said for returning to a favorite, familiar place again and again over the years. But there's lots to be said for going to new places, unlike any we've visited before, where astonishing surprises may lie around any turn. This trip felt very full. It was enjoyable and satisfying on many levels. We felt deeply touched and, in some way, changed by it. Under discussion for out next major venture: southern Utah or an Alaskan cruise.
report for this forum and the TA forums that were so helpful in planning the trip, but I'm not getting to it, so I'll just bang something out. The seed of the trip was planted while watching the Ken Burns series on national parks. We've been to some, but these are spectacular national treasures that we felt we were neglecting. The seed was watered when my wife began to have a yearning to see the big trees.
Flew to San Francisco, drove to Yosemite. This is a really majestic place. Most waterfalls are dry by fall, but we'd never been there before, so didn't know what we were missing and were utterly awed by the area. I would like to get back in springtime some year to see the park with waterfalls and wildflowers. A trade-off was that there weren't nearly as many visitors as in spring or summer. September is an ideal time for a lot of destinations.
We spent three nights in the valley at Yosemite Lodge, then a last night at the Wawona Hotel in the southwest corner of the park. We were just ecstatic about everything. Took the shuttle up to Glacier Point then hiked back down into the valley (about a 3000 foot downhill), spent a day in Tuolumne Meadows (8-9000 feet). Prior to our trip, when I thought of Yosemite, my picture was of Half Dome and El Capitan. I wasn't even aware of Tuolumne Meadow. There's a peace there, a hush and a beauty that felt healing and restoring. I loved it there. It seemed a lot like I hope heaven is. Much of Yosemite is spectacular and dramatic but Tuolumne Meadows deeply peaceful and hushed. A lot of Yosemite blows your mind, but Tuolumne Meadows quiets the mind and soothes the soul. But I'd imagine that it's a very fierce place in winter. We also spent time exploring the valley. I've had the good fortune to visit some of our planet's most beautiful places and Yosemite ranks in the top tier. I always feel somewhat flooded when we travel in the western U.S. It's so vast and mythic, so overwhelming in size and scope.
Half Dome from Glacier Point
Ahwahnee Hotel
Tuolumne Meadows
We spent our final night in Wawona and woke early to be in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia before sunrise. These trees are very big and very old. Some of them have been named (like the Grizzly Giant and the Fallen Monarch) and really feel like majestic individual entities. And it seems that in some profound way we benefit from establishing some relationship with them spending time with them. Something seems to happen.
Giant Sequoia with average sized human
The next leg of the trip was the coast south of San Francisco. We based ourselves at a B&B in Carmel and explored the coast from there. We planned to see more than we ended up getting to, but this has been a developing theme in our vacations: we do less and take longer doing it. Carmel is a sweet little coastal village with lots of shops, restaurants and Hansel and Gretel fairytale architecture. The commercial area is packed into several square blocks and the rest of the village sprawls. It's a uniquely beautiful little town. We wandered the streets, ate well and strolled down to Carmel beach for the sunsets. On vacation we always schedule things around sunsets. When we're sitting on a beach watching the sun set, it seems so obvious that there is nowhere else that we should ever be when the sun is setting. Nothing else of that scope and beauty is going anywhere else at that moment. We're east coasters, so we don't often get the blessing of seeing the sun dip into the ocean. There's a lot we didn't do on this trip but we did do the really essential things: watched sunsets, spent time with the Giant Sequoias, sat quietly in Tuolumne Meadows, stood silently and watched deer at Point Lobos.
We spent much of a day in Point Lobos, just south of Carmel, which is a dramatically beautiful coastal reserve and spent a day driving (and stopping, then stopping again) through Big Sur. Route 1 through Big Sur is a really remarkable drive. It certainly ranks with the road to Hana on Maui in the most breathtaking category that we've traveled. We stopped a lot. We also gasped a lot or said "Wow!" or "Oh!" or "Oh my God!" frequently. We at Nepenthe for lunch and it was as splendid as we'd been promised it would be. Nothing on this trip fell short of what had been promised, most things far exceeded it. My wife has travelled in Italy and Big Sur reminded her of some of the Italian coastal areas except that in Italy they'd actually built villages on the slopes and cliffs.. We never got to Monterey or Pacific Grove. We would have liked to have gotten to the aquarium but there was nothing we would have given up to go there. We could have used another day or two in each of our stops. We didn't have time to see everything but what we saw was magnificent.
B&B in Carmel
Point Lobos
Big Sur
We went on to San Francisco for the last leg of the trip, staying at a B&B in the Mission District close to Dolores Park. When we first reached the city we weren't too sure that we wanted to be there. We'd spent over a week in beautiful, natural places and as appealing as SF is, it's still an urban area. We were able to make the shift fairly quickly and painlessly, though, and thoroughly enjoyed our days in San Francisco. Mostly we walked---Mission, Castro, North Beach, Chinatown. We went to Berkeley to wander around and have lunch at Chez Panisse. I'd spent time in SF and Berkeley many years ago but it was long enough ago that it seemed I was visiting for the first time. It's a lovely, pleasant city filled with kind, helpful people. After we adjusted to an urban world, it really felt good being there. As cities go, it's a real good one.
This was one of our favorite vacations ever. It had three distinct parts---mountains, coast, city--that seemed almost like separate vacations. Yosemite and the coast are really magnificently beautiful, awe-inspiring areas. We were fortunate to be there during the nicest weather that northern California had seen all year. Beautiful warm sunny days. We were prepared for cool, overcast, drizzle. And we really appreciated Californians. Up here in the northeast U.S. folks are different. We're --oh, what are the words? Uptight, cold, neurotic, stressed, hurried, unfriendly? We had a real good experiences with people wherever we went. And we were also consistently impressed by how good the coffee was everywhere. Thanks California and Californians, for your good coffee and your kindness. This was a different sort of vacation than we''ve taken before. The variety of it made it very rich in addition to the spectacular places we visited. I'd like to return. There's much to be said for returning to a place to get a deeper appreciation of it after digesting the initial impressions. There's also much to be said for returning to a favorite, familiar place again and again over the years. But there's lots to be said for going to new places, unlike any we've visited before, where astonishing surprises may lie around any turn. This trip felt very full. It was enjoyable and satisfying on many levels. We felt deeply touched and, in some way, changed by it. Under discussion for out next major venture: southern Utah or an Alaskan cruise.
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ready4paradise
- Posts: 140
- Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:11 pm
- Location: Napa, CA
Except for San Francisco, all the places were new to me, and your descriptions and photos certainly entice me into desiring the experience of a visit. Thank you for sharing your three part vacation... very glad that it was so wonderful.
Last edited by lprof on Sun Oct 31, 2010 1:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
... no longer a stranger to paradise
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California Girl
Thanks Lex
Ah... Northern California. I was born in the SF bay area and called it home for most of my formative years. It really is a special place. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip.
Five more days and I'll be flying in to SFO and driving down to Carmel Valley to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. You've got me excited for my trip "home".
Lovermont
Five more days and I'll be flying in to SFO and driving down to Carmel Valley to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. You've got me excited for my trip "home".
Lovermont
I have to completely agree with you about this area of California. It's been awhile since we've been back there and makes me want to plan a return trip. I encourage you to make your next trip to the southern Utah/northern Arizona area. We return again and again and never grow tired of it's awesome beauty.
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
