West Coast 2016

I've spent the last couple of days at camp solo.  I realize I haven't written much in my blog since my retirement which was one of the things I was sure I'd do once I had time.  hmmm . . ..

On my kayak paddle today (September 22, 2016) - the first day of autumn - I noticed the swallows that usually nest under the Hallowell-Litchfield Road bridge had already left for warmer climes.  However, I did see a few, though very sparse, population of red-winged black birds in the northern marsh.  Most, I suspect have also headed south.  

What I call the cormorant tree on Cobbosseecontee Stream in West Gardiner

The cormorants are still around and seem to be using the old cormorant tree again this year.  Heard some loons last night.  

I have to say that I'm extremely grateful that the family that owns the rooster lives far enough away so that I can only barely hear him crow from 4 to 7 am.  If I hadn't been awake reading my book, I wouldn't have heard him.  My closest neighbor upstream used to have chickens but thankfully they never had a rooster.  

My first 10 months of retirement have been everything I expected and wanted.  I still wake up in the morning with a sense of wonder that the day is mine, to do with as I wish.  If I want to spend the whole day reading a book, I can do that. If I feel like spending time in my pottery studio, that's what I do.  I have started a routine of going to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so on those days that obligation is in place which is often not welcome.  But I feel stronger and have much more stamina and getting in and out of my kayak is much easier than it has been in years so the work is paying off.  I've lost 15 pounds as well so I'm happy about that.  

 We spent a couple of weeks on the West Coast in July.  We started off with a week with Jason, Adri, and Hugh in Claremont, CA, spending lots of time in their pool and playing with Hugh.  He just recently turned two and he's clearly got a mind of his own but is almost always happy, engaged, and delightful. 

"Again!" yells Hugh, until Jason's arms are like jelly.  :-)  

Rick, Hugh, and Jason walking to the park

 However, after a week of that we were ready for some adult time and rented a car and drove up to Big Sur.  We stayed a couple of nights at the Big Sur River Inn, hiked down to the Pacific Ocean at Andrew Molera State Park, had dinner at Nepenthe, and just admired the amazing views the area has to offer.  Two days after we left the area experienced some significant wildfires so I feel so fortunate that we were able to explore before that happened.  

Walking down to the beach at Molera State Park

Dipping my toes into the Pacific Ocean - it was cold and windy as heck!

Having drinks at Nepenthe

Our room at the Big Sur River Inn

We left Big Sur and drove up Route 1 to San Francisco to meet Jerry Nicosia for lunch.  Spent a couple hours with him at a nice little coffee shop in Mill Valley and then headed north again, on our way to visit Annie and Woody Woods just outside of Portland, OR.  We went inland to save time and stopped to visit some redwood forests along the way in the Avenue of the Giants.  

A magnificent redwood tree

We had decided to wing it in finding a room for the night and ended up in Eureka, CA at a sweet little hotel overlooking the rather industrial bay area. 

Our rather industrial view in Eureka, CA

 We talked to a gentleman at the Applebee's we ate at and asked about recommendations if we had just an hour or two to see the sights and he recommended an absolutely magical beach on our way about a half hour north called Houda Point in Trinadad CA and Luffenholtz Point.  Wow!  It was foggy and drizzly which really seemed to add to the magic of the place. 

Luffenholtz Point - the old man in the sea?

Houda Point, Trinadad, CA

 I could have spent days there but we were scheduled to reach Tualatin by 5 that night so we tore ourselves away and drove north, taking the James River road that took us from CA to OR.  Such beautiful, hilly, rugged country!  I really hope to come back in a camper and spend time in northern California - both the wine/ranch country north of San Francisco and the more rugged areas around Eureka. 

We arrive in Tualatin and had a wonderful visit with Annie and Woody Woods.  

Rick, Annie, Woody, and myself.  I may have had a little of that herb that's legal in Oregon.

At McMenamins on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington with our great friends Annie Courchesne Woods and Woody Woods.

The Columbia River Gorge - Oregon on the right and Washington on the left

At the Portland Saturday Market - great people watching

At McMinimans in Washington

Our last night in Oregon

Los Angeles - July 27 - 30

Sunday we left San Francisco about 9 a.m., getting stuck briefly by some of the 5,000 runners in a marathon taking place that day, and drove down Route 1 through Big Sur. This was the most beautiful part of California in my opinion. The ride through the mountains with the constant switchbacks and the cliffs going straight down into the ocean were just magnificent.

It was a hazy day and there were times when we couldn't even see all the way down the cliffs to the sea.

Unfortunately my pictures can't begin to capture the beauty of this area. I'd definitely like to return and spend some time around Big Sur.

We veered off Route 1 long enough to drive through Carmel by the Sea, and then spent the night at a seedy little beach town called Pismo Beach. We found an inexpensive room at the seediest motel – The Dolphin Cove Motel. We walked the beach and pier and then went to a little Italian Restaurant called The Grub Zone. Very friendly owner who ended up comping us two of our six Margaritas. Thanks, Beau!

We woke up early Monday morning, discovering that it doesn't get light on the west coast until about 6 a.m., and drove down Route 101 and then Route 1. This is such beautiful country. Huge farms and ranches that go on forever, right next to the ocean, that just make you want to jump on a horse and ride.

We checked out Malibu, looked for but couldn't find Latigo Beach, but drove past many other beaches along the way, and arrived in Sierra Madre at about 1:00 pm. After settling into Jason's

Here's a pic of Jason's house:

This picture taken from Jason's doorstep.

and meeting his landlord, we drove down to Venice Beach, had lunch, and walked the strip for a couple of hours,

stopped and had a beer at one of the bars and drove back to Jason's. For dinner we had ice cream at a little place in town and had a beer at a so-so local Irish Bar. We went to the grocery store to get some picnic makings for the next day and then went back to Jason's and watched Weeds and crashed.

On Tuesday we hung at Jason's for a while, playing with Marlie, his big lovable cat that is expert at catching balls, before packing up our picnic and heading out to Joshua Tree. A beautiful drive out with views of mountains all the way and an amazing windmill farm. We discovered that the Beatnik Cafe that Rick had talked about for the past three years had closed down so we went right out to the park. It's a mystical and magical place that makes you feel like you're on another planet.

We scampered around a while found some shade and had our picnic


and found this little guy enjoying some shade as well

and took photos and went back into town for a beer at The JT Saloon. Very unique place that looks like something out of the gold rush days.

We got back to Sierra Madre around 5 and freshened up a bit and went to dinner at a nice Mexican Restaurant in Sierra Madre, then went to another place down the street where they were having trivia night. We thought we'd done pretty well but were a couple of points shy of placing in the top three. After that we headed into Pasadena to a bar called Barney's that Jason recommended. Nice place with a good crowd but we were pretty beat by then so stayed for just one beer and then back to Jason's. Watched an episode of Hung, played with Marlie, and then crashed. Well one of us crashed a little harder and earlier than others. : )

On Wednesday I had come down with a pretty nasty cold but we had one more day of fun left so we headed into Hollywood. We'd just gotten there and were walking down Hollywood Boulevard when Jason recognized Diamond Dallas Page, a wrestler that he and Rick had followed in his hey day. They were really pleased to meet him and I took pics of them together doing DDP's signature sign of the diamond.

DDP had the guys with him take a picture also, saying that he'd put it up on his Facebook page. We haven't seen it there yet but he did respond to both Rick and Jason with personal emails via Facebook. Seems like a pretty cool dude. He's done some acting since retiring from wrestling and has some exercise videos called Yoga for Real Guys or something like that.

We walked the boulevard, took pictures of the Hollywood sign and some of the stars along the boulevard. When we got to Michael Jackson's star, there was an assortment of souvenirs people had left at his star, so Rick left a copy of his book there.

I had my picture taken with a Gene Simmons look a like – tongue and all. We stopped for a drink at The Pig 'n Whistle, then drove back to Pasadena for an excellent dinner at Maria's Italian Restaurant and called it an early night. We got up at five the next morning and were out the door headed to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana to return our car and catch our return flight.

The flights were all fairly uneventful, with a short delay leaving Las Vegas causing us to have to run to catch our flight to Portland out of Philly. But we got home, luggage and all, about 1:00 am Friday morning and Jared had a spaghetti dinner waiting for us cause we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

I was feeling really run down with my cold and all the traveling so I took some Nyquil and slept until noon on Friday and then napped off and on for the rest of the day.

It was a wonderful trip for my first time in California and it was really nice to spend some time with Jason. He is a fantastic LA driver, never once getting us stuck in a traffic jam and not once did I feel nervous about his driving. It was only the drive in and the drive out that we had to maneuver on our own that caused some stress, but even that, with Jason's direction, was pretty easy.