Skyekat

Early to bed, early to rise. No one should have to get up at 4:30 am. It’s just a nasty time of day. After shuffling to the station in the dark, we boarded the train to Santa Barbara and settled into our seats. As the train started chugging along in the thin light, making our way through large iron overpasses and near deserted streets, Sacramento looked melancholy. The feeling didn’t dissipate as the dawn started to break over marshlands scattered with deserted buildings in various states of decay. The fact I was lapsing in and out of consciousness at this part of the journey probably didn’t help. Soon we got to Oakland (where a private car was put on! Ooh, mysterious) and then the inferstructure of the cities gave way to countryside and farmland. I much preferred watching cows get riled up and run alongside the train.

Lunch was “by reservation only”, and we had not yet figured out that there was a snack bar in the Lounge where we could get food, as well as the dining car, so we made a reservation. Train food is marginally better than plane food, but we were going to be on the thing for 12 hours, so we did have to eat something. It’s communal seating, so we eat across from a very nice, elderly woman who was going home to LA from visiting her grandson in prison. She told us how lovely the scenery is along the coastline, but warned us that it probably would be dark when we got there. But our trip from Santa Barbara to San Diego, which was in the morning, should be spectacular.

We then went back to our seats and settled in for the duration. The train went through mountains and over more farm country. The train came to a huge, looping switchback, which provided sweeping views-of the St. Louis Obispo men’s prison :P Then we climbed up, through dense fog banks. The world was turned grey, and you couldn’t see more than a quarter mile to the side. There didn’t seem to be much to see but low scrub brush. And then we rose above the cloud bank as the sun started its descent, lighting up the tops of the clouds. It was terribly pretty. Now we could see again, and while there were few farm animals around this time, I did spot a lone deer in a pasture near the tracks. Then the clouds dropped away and you could see that over the edge of the cliffs, the ocean lay below. It was a very dramatic shoreline, painted gold by the setting sun. Our friend from lunch came back to see us and comment on how the sun held out just long enough for us to get a glimpse of the sea below.

We arrived safe and sound in Santa Barbara and headed to the hotel. After a bit of confusion on the part of our cabbie, who seemed new to the area, we got settled into the Inn at East Beach, which was a lovely change from the night before. It was just a block away from the ocean, but just far enough away from the main drag that we decided to lay low that night and eat at the restaurant in the hotel across the street. The next day we checked out the bus service to the waterfront. Which cost a quarter! Seriously. And the same shuttle bus would go down State Street (the main street) for the same quarter. Instead we got off and wandered down the pier, taking in the sun while watching people surf. Crazy people and their surfing in January! We decided to take a bus tour to get aquatinted with the city (yes, again).

The tour was great, and Santa Barbara is incredibly scenic. After disembarking, we poked around State Street, having a great meal and exploring shops. We found a fun yarn store and a couple of clothing stores. But as we walked further towards the waterfront, the cool local shops gave way to row of upscale chains. Just as we were getting slightly discouraged, we saw the next couple of blocks were closed down for a farmers’ market. While we didn’t get any goodies this time, it was so nice just to walk through and take a look at everything. California does have good produce!

Our waitress let us know that everything shuts down pretty early in the off-season, so after dinner we caught up on some sleep before hopping on the train again for our trip to San Diego in the morn.

Knowing we had a long-ish drive to Sacramento ahead of us, we took a bit of a leisurely morning, not hitting the road until close to 11. We weren’t in any rush, so when I was that the GPS was going to lead us through Sonoma and Napa, instead of taking further south but staying on all highways as Google Maps advised us, I decided to go wiht the GPS and take the scenic route. It really was a gorgeous drive. We went through winding hills and lush countryside. For quite a bit of the drive we were flanked by farmlands, generally populated by cows or sheep, rather than the ever-present vineyards of the day before. We did drive past a number of vineyards as well, especially as the elevation rose and we found ourselves in the mountains. Instad of drving below the visable cloudbelt, as we did the day before, we found ourselves smack in the middle of it!

Then it was back on the freeway, and up to Sacramento. It was a fairly uneventful ride the rest of the way. It was less congested and the freeway took less dramatic rises, falls, twists and turns than when we went through San Francisco. It was also Sunday mid-day rather than Friday night, so that could have helped the ride be less harrowing. People whizzing by you on the Golden Gate Bridge can make you feel a bit… closterphobic.

After dropping off the car, we grabbed a cab to head to the hotel. We enter from the marshy brown fields into the city. As we made our way to our hotel, the bustling downtown gives way to residential streets, which confused both us and the driver considerably. We both checked the address twice when we arrived to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake. But there we were. The hotel most definitely catered to the weddings and receptions that seem to be their bread an butter. It’s a good thing we’re fairly abled bodied individuals because we had to lug our stuff up 2 flights of stairs just to get to the door to ring a bell to be let in. Once inside the old victorian, us and our bags went up another bendy flight to our room. Even though we seemed to be the only guests, we were stuck in a room with one bed. Because that’s all they have! It was an interesting place to say the least. Very old fashioned, with lace curtains and plumbing that had to at least been from the 50s. But there was free wi-fi, so I have to give them points for that.

We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was now 2, so we asked if they could recommend a place to eat. They said there was a place just 2 blocks away, but when we got there they had closed & wouldn’t reopen until 5. They said there was a bar further down the street, but it looked like a real dive, so we headed back to the hotel to munch on a few snacks and wait until the restaurant re-opened. Although much as the afternoon put a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, the evening’s meal certainly was a welcome change. I had a scruptuous pizza, and my mother had hand-made pasta in a light sauce. I still don’t think Sacramento’s really my city, but at least dinner made it more berable.

We had one full day in wine country, Sonoma county to be specific. Having combed through our Lonely Planet guide, we had a list of a few vineyards and other points of interest along the way. Most of them were just north of where we were staying on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.

That morning we poked through the literature in the room and saw that Santa Rosa had a farmers market on Saturday. It was 10:30 and the market closed at noon, so we grabbed our gps and guide and hopped in the car. We made it with plenty of time, as the market wasn’t huge in the off season, but there was still plenty of good stuff. We ended up with a loaf of bread & a wedge of yummy goat cheese.

It was a grey day as we drove through the valley. You could see the clouds hanging on the tops of mountains or cutting in swaths through valleys. It was certainly pretty, but you could see how gorgeous it would be with the sun shining down.

Our first stop was Preston Vineyards. We picked because it was an organic vineyard, and the homebaked bread the owners make was highly recommended. As we drove down the half-mile driveway, we noticed a fair bit of the plants seemed fenced in. and there were… big, white rocks? Suddenly we realized there were chickens! The lumps we mistook as rocks were really sheep, and there were 3 pigs as well. On our way into the tasting room we were greeted by some charming kitties. Inside we poked through their books, grabbed a fun tshirt & a bottle of wine & chatted with them about the vineyard animals. The chickens scratch the ground & eat bugs, the lambs mow the lawn, when they bother getting up that is. They had just introduced the pigs that day. They’re hoping they rototill the soil, although there’s a danger that they’ll dig up the roots of the grapes. The roots go fairly deep though, so they’re hoping they’ll do far more good than harm.

After walking around the grounds and communing with the critters we thought we’d get some food. Our guidebook talked about a vineyard where you could enjoy your wine with one of their wood-fired pizzas, but when we got there they looked at us like we were crazy, and the restaurant they recommended in Geyserville was closed. Thankfully there was another, really good place just a few doors down. Then we took another scenic drive back to the hotel. We skipped dinner and cracked open the yummy goodies we picked up along the way.

I may not have blogged each day, but I tried to put up 5 pictures on Flickr for each day of the trip. I’ll post more when I get back, but it seemed like a reasonable goal, and I seem to be hitting it most days. Sometimes I haven’t had internet, so there’s been a bit of a lag, but more or less I’ve been successful. So click here for a slideshow of San Francisco.

San Francisco came and went, then we picked up a car to head south. We spent the night in Monterey, and oh did I love it! A bunch of people recommended Carmel beach. It was just so nice to be able to walk down a beach in January. It was very pretty, right near pebble beach, but man am I glad that we didn’t come during the summer. You can tell how congested it must get when the crowds are there. The high point was Point Lobos though, where we saw sea lions, seals and… OTTERS!!! Love otters, just love them. Short little slideshow of Monterey here. I would love to come back and spend a ton of more time there. The next day was mostly spent in the Monterey Bay Aquarium (slideshow) and then the drive up north.

Oh, my, am I ever glad we decided to take the train to San Diego. I could barely handle driving the freeway from Monterey to Santa Rosa, I really would have died going through LA! I know it was a Friday night, so that could have contributed to it all, but the twists and turns, drops and climbs, all at highway speed made me really nervous. I have driven on the “wrong” side of the road during a hurricane & braved the Road to Hanna, but man do Cali Freeways freak me out. I got better as the week progressed, but San Francisco was daunting.

More to come on the next few days, but I thought it would be good to start getting things down.

Dead End

09:14 AM Sep. 13, 2004 PT Although it was never socially acceptable, even in California, it is now officially a crime in the Golden State to have sex with a corpse. On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing necrophilia, ending a two-year effort to ban the practice. Anyone caught in flagrante delicto with a stiff now faces up to eight years in prison.
– Tony Long

from wired.com/news/furthermore