Tall tree and tall tales

We woke up to a more traditional Pacific Northwest weather pattern of being cool and foggy this particular morning. This was a sign to get a hot breakfast at Golden Harvest Cafe. I got an insanely delicious Crispy Caspary Benedict. Just picture it: fresh spinach, tomato, and double battered fried chicken, bacon and poached eggs on a homemade biscuit and garlic cream sauce. I will be making this at home sometime in the future. With full bellies, it was time to go find some tall tall trees.

Bre had to work, but the evening prior, she had given Triina the scoop on where we should hike in the Redwoods National Park. The plan was to hike to the small grove of the very tallest trees. It required a special permit, a 45-min drive deep into the park, gate access code, and a hike in. We went to the particular visitor center that was the only one that issued the permits sadly to find that the sequester had hit this National Park. Due to the NP getting cut of all that “unnecessary and wasteful” funding it had received years prior, it could no longer maintain the road that led into the park and hence, we could not drive to the trailhead. Technically, we could still hike into the park and after miles and miles, we could link up to the trailhead using other trails, but that would be over 32+ miles to do roundtrip and it was already past noon. No tall tree trail for us. We had to settle on a different 7.5 mile RT called Berry Glen Trail that took us into some other old growth tree groves and linked up to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail loop.

Now trees have such a special place in my heart, I just love being with them in nature. They make the forest smell so good and clean the air, they make shade, they protect smaller plants that grow at their roots, they make homes for animals and other plants, they give so many things to so many others! Walking amongst them in the woods, you feel so small and that they are so big and wise from all the things they have bore witness to. The idea from Lord of the Rings, of trees being Ents, tall slow patient creatures who protect the forest resonates with me so. I like to think they are there to watch over and protect everyone, people, animals, and plants alike. Triina also loves the Ents. In the magical redwood forest, you definitely felt like they could come alive at any moment and you just want to run up and hug them and thank them for being so wonderful. We had a glorious afternoon ramble through the trees talking and laughing together as we hiked amongst the giants. We took some time to take tree-hugging photos with our favorite ones.

On the way up, we had spotted a sign for a winery called Moonstone Crossing and made a mental note so not to miss it on the way back to Bre’s. This was a bit different of a place than all the other wineries we had gone to. They grow no grapes of their own but buy all their grapes from other vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Amador areas and then just focus on the wine making part. Their tasting room was in the small town of Trinidad, CA right near the Trinidad Lighthouse and beach. They were hosting a special extended hours for their wine club and we got to enjoy hanging out for as long as we wanted, which was awesome, because they had a 12 wine tasting flight of mini pours. Evaluating 12 wines given in mini samples is a tough job, but Niina and I were up to it. Triina went with the regular pour size of just 6 wines. This place had pretty nice wine. My pick was Dark as Night 2008 California Red. 46% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Franc, 12% Cab Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot.

Afterwards, of course we got ice cream then headed back to Bre’s since she was getting off work and we promised we’d make dinner since she was letting us crash on her floor. I made two pastas, one gluten free rice noodle and the other regular linguini both with a pesto-cream sauce with sautéed heirloom tomatoes and zucchini topped off with parmesan and pine nuts. We also had garlic bread and caprese salad finishing up the napa valley freshies we had. Bre’s boyfriend made a homemade potato salad from scratch and we opened a bottle of wine we had gotten from the Moonstone winery. It was a luscious savory spread shared with new and old friends. Bre and Triina reminisced and shared fun stories about all their naturalist adventures while they were working together mixed in with the new adventures Bre and her boyfriend had experienced while at Burning Man this year (Seriously, it was like everyone and their brother had been there!) We finished the night singing and laughing at songs as Triina and Bre strummed their dueling ukuleles. The song of the night was, “I’m not fat, I’m fluffy” in honor of the quite rotund tubby cat who lived in Bre’s house. It was an entertaining and lighthearted finish to an enchanting day.

Day at car

The next day was a mileage day. We needed to get some highway under the tires if we were ever going to make it to Seattle. Our objective was getting to the redwoods and staying with Bre, a fellow naturalist and ex-coworker of Triina’s in Arcata, CA. Just south of the Redwoods National Park. Where we planned to take the day off and see the tall tall trees, we just had to get there first.

It was a beautiful drive, with the road winding along, up and down the cliffs and headlands of the northern California coast. We did power stops at interesting overlooks and took pics. Power stops are when you get out of the car and run around the area with an almost Chinese fire-drill style frenzy until you got all the pictures you wanted and had seen everything. Then you raced back to the car and waited till we did it again. I love power stops, it allows for short sprints to wake your sleepy legs and lets you see everything without it turning into a half-hour to hour long stop.

We took a longer break for sammies and a small hike around the headlands of Russian Gulch State Park. It’s a really sweet coastline that featured seacaves, tunnels, arches, and blowholes carved out of the sandstone rock. Triina and I had such a great time climbing over the rough rocks and doing a bit of exploring in the warm sunshine. Because it was such sunny and amazing day, it was hard to get back in the car, but we still had more miles to go.

Mid-afternoon, highway 1/101 turns away from the shoreline and heads deep into the forest, where you begin to see the start of the redwood protected state park areas and fun kitschy tourist stops. We didn’t have much time, but I convinced Triina and Niina that we needed for sure to stop at one of these old-school delights. The guides and reviews I had previously read, told us one of the best tourist stops was the Chandelier Tree. It’s a big redwood that they cut a gapping hole out of its base sometime in the 1930s and you get the novelty of driving your car through it for a mere $5/car. It also clearly had restrooms, a gift shop, and you could take hikes/picnic on their 250 acres of redwoods. As silly as it sounded, Triina (who was the all-powerful driver that day), humored my request and we got to drive through it. Yay! I was highly amused.

The brief divergence into kitsch over, we kept on truckin’ and followed highway 101 as it made its way back toward the coast out to Arcata. Bre was still at work and we had yet to fulfill the ice cream portion of our daily requirements (we had decided to take the day off drinking wine) so we headed for the best place in town for such things: the greasy-spoon truck stop known for burgers and shakes called Toni’s 24-hour Restaurant. With pre-ssert taken care of (dessert before dinner), we were invited to tasty vegetarian dishes prepared by Bre’s boyfriend while she was at work. Triina celebrated the well-prepared dinner by opening the sparkling rose she had got from the champagne house. It was a pretty sweet ending to a nice mileage day.

Champagne and Sonoma

The original plan was we were only going to go to one vineyard on our way out of town, just to be able to say we had tasted in Sonoma as well as Napa. But as road trips go, things never go quite as planned. We did our scheduled tasting at Nicholson Ranch vineyard. It was a typical movie-set worthy estate on the hill overlooking their vines. They specialized in delightful Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs and had a chatty wine-tender. We were the only ones in the tasting room for most of the time, so we got to pick the music for the place and hear about wine-tender life. 

Toward the end of the tasting I asked the guy, who was making the best champagne in the region? I figured I would store this info in my Evernote for a future trip (Hopefully an AST long-weekend!). The whole Sonoma/Napa region are a little spread out and on slow moving country roads so I assumed it was going to be far away and we would continue on with out drive right after this taste. To my delight it was the gorgeous chateau Domaine Carneros we had passed just 2 miles prior, that we had hemmed and hawed over whether to stop at, only to instantly regret it as we decided to drive on. We had pressed on because we wanted to "officially" be in Sonoma. When he mentioned that place, we were all on board to throw out the drive plans and go get some spontaneous sparkles. 

Once we got there we found out that they were about to do a proper wine tour of their whole on-site facilities with a combo of education interspersed between tastings. This is what I had really wanted to get to do while I was out there, something more than just a sample or two in the course of 30 min, but a real semi-in-depth look into what it was that they did out there. We booked ourselves and took the 30 min prior to do cheese tasting on their expansive tiered outdoor patio. 

Once the tour started we met the other people who were there visiting as well. We thought we had the far away award won, since Niina was from Finland, but there was another scandinavian kid from Sweden who was also on the tour. He had just gotten back from a week at Burning Man and was "recovering" by going wine tasting (what a way to recover, huh?).

The tour was super informative as the guide we over all their fields, how the weather between the two regions was perfect for champagne and sparkling types, how the sun facing a certain direction was better for certain grapes and in how they grew and ripened. Next we went on to the pressing, processing, aging, bottling, and then final fancy shiny foil capping. The cool part about the tour was that we got not only the local story of that vineyard, but also of how historically they had made champagne to how things had changed. And of course different wines were served through out the passing of knowledge. Since we were the final tour of the day we got to taste all the ones they had open and not just the usual 6 that they generally serve on the tour. It was excellent. Triina and I both loved the Rose, I also loved two other wines, the Blanc de Noir and the Late Disgorged vintage brut (both of which are not part of the usual package).

We made our purchases and it was agreed we definitely needed something to eat. At this point we had made friends with the Swedish kid and invited him to hang with us at our car as we made sandwiches before we headed back for the coast (we definitely got hungry since we had only had pre-tour cheese for lunch). It was now late afternoon we had yet to make it back to Highway 1. The new plan was to setup camp at an ocean view state park before it got dark and to hopefully catch the sunset on the beach.

An hour later we had made it out of wine country and back to the rolling seaside landscape and got a campsite right on the beach in Sonoma Coast State Park. We got the tent up and caught the last glimpses of the sun sliver just as it slipped beneath the waves. We took some playful shots in front of the haystacks.

Back at camp, we made a delicious fresh-made pasta meal of zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, and basil in a tomato sauce. A Caprese salad with local mozzarella, a french baguette, and napa valley olive oil to dip in. Triina strummed the Uke as I cooked and Niina stirred. A bottle of red was opened and we enjoyed a feast of the valley's spoils. Spontaneous days are sometimes the best.

Biking and Sipping

The next day we were off again, this time to California Wine Country: Napa Valley. After a leisurely breakfast of delightful crepes in the city, it was only an hour and a half drive over the Golden Gate bridge and we were transported to a totally different place. The steep city building blocks turned into beautiful rolling hills with straight orderly rows and rows of vines. Pointing various sun facing directions as far as the eye could see and with grand estate homes watching over the fields. These italian and provence-style homes were dwarfed by the surrounding Mayacamas and Vaca mountains that encircled and created Napa Valley. 

We went to the visitor center to get some info about where to go bike and taste wine. For those of you who have not been on vacation with me, it is a well known fact, at some point on our trip, I will make you do something really strenuous, something physical to the point that it isn't *that* fun while you are doing it, but turns out afterwards to being really fun (or a good laugh or a good memory afterwards). Note: these things are always fun to me for some reason. So on this adventure occasion I decided we should bike to all the vineyards instead of driving. It was sunny, there was a great breeze and after texas, mid-to-upper 80s seems ideal to do just about anything (plus its a dry heat!). My sister and cousin swear the idea of doing this was fun sounding to them as well, but apparently it was my cycling pace that was not quite what they called, "Leisurely". I don't know about this, I totally felt like this was leisurely-ish, I kept turning around to see if they were still close behind me and they were, so I figured I was maybe going a bit too slow, so I may have picked up the pace here and there to take advantage of a hill to coast down. . . . . but I digress.  

We went to two vineyards in 10 miles, so no long bike tour. I made sure we did the bulk of the ride first so that the remaining 1/3 of the ride would be an easy shot back to the rental bike place ($10-$20 fine anytime back after 5pm sharp!) 

The winery I liked best, was PlumpJack. This place was no low end boonesfarm. It was $20 tasting and they were pouring the good stuff.  Their specialty was: . My pick (and the one I plan to order and have shipped) was: CADE 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain.Our next stop, unfortunately, was up a large hill and then a bit of a coast to the next place. We just made it into the place before it stopped taking new tasters at 4pm. Cliff Lede Vineyards. We had a blast out here. We had very chatty neighbors who were on the more senior side who chatted up Triina and noted that the wine-tender(?) perked up the moment us three girls arrived. This was another great place. Since we were the last ones out there, they let us taste anything they had open, bonus! The pick at this place: 2012 Sauvignon Blanc. I liked their red despite the fact that their specialty was actually Cabernet Sauvignon. 

10 minutes prior to 5pm, we knew we had to book it the last mile to get back to the Napa Valley Bike Tours rental shop in time. Despite the heat and all the wine we'd had, we made it back with 4 minutes to spare! We returned our bikes then decided it was best for all of us to get some good food in our bellies before we even thought about finding a campsite for the night. PSI: there is great camping in Napa Valley. Its at the Bothe-Napa State Park. A cute, small park with a nice picnic and day use area and maybe 30 campsites, about half next to a small creek that ran through the park. Since it was Labor Day monday and just about everyone had left to go home earlier that morning, we had the pick of the place. We pitched our tents, light a fire and just relaxed to Triina playing my Uke, and then headed off to bed early. It was a warm night, no long johns or hats required for me. I could get used to warm-weather camping! 

Post Ride Pic: See, we didn't even breaking a sweat!

Our San Francisco Treat

Our day in San Francisco started off the same as the weather, some clouds, but it cleared up quickly. We had an excellent breakfast  despite the 1 hr wait for Taylor St Coffee Shop, where we had the Millionaire's bacon (a full 1/5 inch thicker than normal bacon and is slowed cooked all night with maple and cinnamon). Niina and I had this perfect light Breakfast salad with  poached egg, bacon, strawberries, blueberries, and a homemade balsamic dressing. So delicious! 

After a quick jaunt to my favorite jean store, we headed off to our main objective of the day: to Chinatown. The San Francisco Chinatown is the largest and oldest continually lived in chinatown in the USA. We were entertained by the novelty and prices of all the imports appealed to our frugal budgets. 

We passed a tea house that offered tea tastings, Triina the tea connoisseur, was all about learning the sacred art of Chinese tea making. We learned all the differences between the different ages of green tea and how it differentiates into the different types of tea. What exactly is the difference between jasmine and regular green tea.  What is Oolong tea, what is herbal tea? which teas a re good for different parts of the day. The whole time, the guide was pouring us different teas to try from. My favorite was a high elevation mountain tea that grows in the Himalayan mountains in Tibet. That stuff ran about $200/4oz. We did not get that one. We had to settle for a mountain goddess green tea and a ginseng oolong. It was a really cool and educational experience. 

So what else do you do when in Chinatown than a snack of dim sum. The waitress was clearly annoyed with us when we only got 5 items to try and no entrees. Our breakfast had been so big that we were only peckish and just wanted a snack. We were planning on going on a boat tour and didn't want anyone to get sick. At the end we were pretty surprised it came with free green tea ice cream, Score! The city pass we had gotten for the aquarium was also good for a harbor boat tour. Since we only had a day out there, we decided since it took us under the Golden Gate bridge and past Alcatraz (which is  a whole day instead to visit), 

The harbor boat tour was nice. It was a simple 1 hour tour that talked about the history of the city as we pasted landmarks on the shore and gave tidbits about building the bridge and cool facts about the prison. As a person who usually hates tours, I like these short 1 hour, git-er-done style rides that give me enough entertainment and informative facts before my fuse of being around a ton of people packed into a small place and being annoyed by being told what to do kicks in. They have a similar tour in Seattle that I also recommend. Post tour, we did a little window shopping and went to go see the sea lions that hang out permanently at Pier 39. Once again, so cute! After we had gotten our fill of oogling the seals, our stomachs were making us aware of dinner being required soon and our daily requirements only half fulfilled, we had to find a combo solution to our wine obligation and being hungry. A quick Yelp search had us at an intimate neighborhood wine bar and fondue place that had live jazz playing called Melt Cafe. We got the traditional swiss gruyere fondu, salads, and some tasty wine. 

After that we decided to go about the town. Nothing too fancy since we didn't want to go home and change and weren't particularly dressed up to go clubbing or to anywhere fancy. As we walked back to Union Square area from Russian Hill, we hit up a honkey-tonk dive bar for a drink and decided this was the night we did some karaoke. 

Karaoke is a tradition among Triina, Niina, and myself. When we had gone to visit her family in Finland, the whole family got together to meet us for an afternoon party at their family farm where we ate, played games in the id-summer twilight, and then sang Karaoke together till the sun finally went down. It had been so much fun! We knew this karaoke fun had to be repeated at some point on the trip. Since it was sunday, we had no problem finding a real karaoke club that had an open couch and an un-busy bar. We sang and enjoyed beverages all the way to closing time. We made friends with the other couches, everyone cheering each other one with their song picks, it was a very friendly evening of karaoke. A bit drowsy and worn out from our non-stop day, we eventually found our way to our comfy beds in Union Square. 

Los peces (and other animals)

Once again, we woke up to the sun shining, the skies blue, and a hot breakfast awaiting us! Our hotel had a free one, so we actually had a respectable start to our morning (as the breakfast was over by 9:30am, we had to be up). Plus we wanted an earlier start than the day before because today was very exciting, today we were planning on going to one of the best aquariums in the world, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The MB Aquarium, is a wonderful facility that specializes in the unique eco-system that is the Monterey Bay and its super deep canyon. (Its twice the size of the grand canyon!). Our two favorite exhibits were the seahorses and the "Psychedelic Jellies" - aka jellyfish under black lights with shag-tastic '70s tunes that would make Austin Powers proud. We did our best dance grooves while keeping in spirit of the theme.

The seahorses were great because they are so freakin' cute and adorable and shy and you just want to eat them up. Both exhibits had great soundtracks to them that seems to really enhance the mood. Such a far cry from childhood museums and exhibits! I took about a hundred pics of them.

Also, the sea otters were also a big hit, once again: I want to love them and hug them and squeeze them and keep them for my very own. Perhaps name them George.

After an alright meal with an amazing view, we headed off to a vineyard. Once again, the day had sort of gotten away from us and we were nervous we weren't going to get to wine taste before all the tasting rooms closed for the day. We made it up to Ventana Vineyards and winery just outside of Monterey. These people specialized in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir This was an estate vineyard, only using the grapes they grew themselves for their wines. I'm not personally a big Chardonnay person, so I wasn't the best person to make an impression of the place, but Niina was quite taken with their blended red table wine and got one to take home to her mum.

After that it was time to head to Santa Cruz to fulfill our second rule of the day: ice cream for dinner or as I like to call it "Dice-inner" and little thrift shopping. After our ice creams and lattes, it was time to call it a day and head to today's final destination and one heck of a charming city: San Francisco. Parc55 is our basecamp, and I finagled us free internet. a bit of SNL and then it was off to sleep for us weary travelers.

Just three girls, a car, and the open road

The sun shone bright through the blinds as we all woke up in Ventura. We had a big day ahead of us! We had to run some logistic errands like getting snacks and buying a cooler and dropping my sister's car off and most importantly getting a good breakfast. One of the things I miss about my days in the south is quality mexican/tex-mex food. I thought perhaps here in Cali I could get a real breakfast taco. It turns out while I can get an amazing plate of huevos rancheros, a breakfast taco is only a Texas thing. I had to settle for instead a mega-sized breakfast burrito of huevos, chorizo (the real stuff!), papas, and fresh salsa verde.  So delicioso!

Next was our quest for a cooler to replace the crap one I had at home and intended to get rid. I was taking this opportunity of needing one for our trip to do so. We shopped around and got a great deal on exactly what I was looking for: had wheels, a drain, and was of medium size. A quick stop at the Trader Joe's for snacks, and then it was time to drop the other car off.

My sister has been working for a naturalist company leading kids into the wilderness for the past 5 years and they would be holding on to Triina's car, so it would be waiting for her when she flew back. I got to see the logistics headquarters of her workplace. So many organized boxes and tents in the grand warehouse and office space, it was really cool to see where she has been working so hard in between trips!

All these pre-trip projects as always takes longer than anticipated, so we got a later start than we anticipated. But it was ok, we were on vacation and just needed to end up in Monterey by the end of the day.

We cruised down the road, playing roadtrip standards such as "On the Road Again"and "Going back to Cali" and some crazy band named, "We are from Barcelona". We decided to start a Spotify track so we could always have the playlist of this trip. This is when we decided to start making rules/guidelines for the trip. What should be our goals? We quickly decided that ice cream everyday was a must! As well as going wine tasting each day since we were going through some of the best wine country in the world.

Our first vineyard of the trip was right outside Arroyo Grande, a place called Laetitia Vineyard and Winery. This place was started by a Frenchmen who brought grape clippings with him from France. He was from the Champagne region, so that is what he made his specialty in his new vineyard, named after his daughter. This stop turned out to be Niina's first wine tasting ever, so it was a special occasion and totally matched their specialty of sparkling wines, which were exquisite! I bought myself a nice little bottle that I think save for a special occasion (or keep to myself! It was so good!_

Wine tasting is hard work, so we needed a break not too long afterwards and had a great lunch/dinner in San Luis Obispo at a great little organic farm to table place called, Big Sky Cafe. I had a very summery sweet pea risotto with scallops with sautéed pea vines. Everyone's meal was really the best of Cali produce and seafood, fresh, local, and expertly prepared.

By the time we were done wine-ing and dining, we kinda knew we were running out of daylight. So we tried to hurry to the beach Triina knew to check out one of the few elephant seal colonies in existence. There were huge! And while most were cute normal seal looking, occasionally a bull with his elephant like snout would get all ornery and make all the cows and pups move around. I could have watched them for longer, but we had to get going. The sun was close to setting and we still hadn't passed Big Sur on the highway and it was going to get dark half an hour afterwards.

We stopped on an unknown ledge to enjoy the moment of sunset before continuing on our journey. We literally stopped just in time, because just as I snapped my picture, the sun was gone.

Since Triina was familiar with the area, she drove the remainder to Monterey and gave commentary as to what we would be seeing if it was still light. Due to the darkness and the winding roads, it was just short of 2 hours before we finally crashed in our room at out hotel. It was a leisurely day but we were tired and ready for a restful night. I was bummed we had missed the famous Bixeby bridge area to the darkness, but its nice to know it will be waiting for me on another trip.