I'm writing this entry in front of a big bay window that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, in a place called 'Seacliff on the Bluff', a hotel that is, as you might expect, on a bluff, in a little town called Gualala (whose residents have decided to pronounce the 'g' as a 'w', you know, just to spice things up), around 100 miles north of San Francisco. Our room comes equipped with a pair of binoculars for spotting wildlife; so far we've seen a cheeky seal lolling about in the shallows, and we're keeping our eyes peeled for grey whales, which are currently migrating past here back to Alaska. No sign of them yet though. I'm demanding my money back if we don't see any.
Driving up Highway 1 is truly exhilarating. The scenery is absolutely astonishing, as the road snakes up and down huge cliffs, in and out of thick forests, all the while with unforgettable views of the pounding surf below. Big Sur, a 90-mile stretch of coastline south of Santa Cruz, is particularly amazing. We stopped at a place called Point Lobos, which our guide book described as 'the greatest meeting of land and water on earth', or probably anywhere else for that matter. The picture is from there.
Of course, whoever's in the passenger seat has much better views than the driver, who has to keep his/her eyes fixed on the road, lest there be any lively detours onto the other side of the line. This can be a little frustrating, especially when Scarlett says something like, 'a whale! A whole pod of whales! They're waving to me! I've never seen anything like this...DON'T LOOK, for God's sake!'
The north coast is equally beautiful, but, shockingly, it's becoming decidedly cooler as we progress, which we weren't expecting. Fortunately next week we're gonna be heading to Arizona, where it should be scorching.
San Francisco was excellent too. It had a very laid-back feel, and is unique amongst the cities we've been to in this country in that it had hills (!), which made strolling around somewhat strenuous, but also frequently yielded good views (and photographs). We rode one of those iconic cable cars, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, caught a terrifying glimpse of Alcatraz, and met up with Andrew Vickers, who it was nice to see again.
We were persuaded by the catchy jingle on the TV commercial for hotwire.com ('H-O-T-W-I-R-E, hotwire.com!') to book a 4-star hotel room for very cheap in the middle of the city. It was nice, but barely any nicer than some of the other places we've stayed, and they tried to squeeze money out of us at every opportunity ($35 for an umbrella!). We also felt ever so slightly out of place. When we first walked in, fresh from sunny Santa Cruz and laden with bags, the dapper-looking concierge took one glance at our summery attire and said, in an unmistakably condescending tone, 'been enjoying the sun, have you?', which deflated us a bit.
In Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz I managed to swim in the Pacific, thereby achieving step two in my goal of swimming in every ocean. Some men climb mountains, some men run marathons...I figure I should be able to knock off the Indian at some point, but if anybody knows where I could swim in the Arctic or Southern, I'd be grateful if you'd let me know.
Just a (relatively) short entry from me today, which I'm sure will come as a relief to you. We're about to set off up the north coast again to go see the redwoods. Hopefully we'll spot some whales before we do.
- Adam
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