Urban living

My former partner and good friend Tim, along with his wife Angie, live smack dab in the financial district of San Francisco, some 43 stories up in the air. The vast majority of their ultra-modern and comfortable 1,300 square foot living area has floor to ceiling windows gazing out on the harbor and the vibrant center of the city. While we always have enjoyed walking out our patio door into our yard and garden, we have to admit that this version of lifestyle is unbelievably compelling. They are in such a prestigious location that as we pulled into the valet parking Joe Montana was pulling out! Tim confirmed that Montana lived in the building.

After a tour of the condo and gawking at the spectacular views, we headed out to the streets. Even though it was a weekend, traffic in the financial district was intense. We walked to the San Francisco offices of RSM US on the 45^th floor, maybe about 4 blocks from where Tim and Angie live. I have no doubt that we arrived in maybe half the time it would have taken to drive. There is a grocery store and an urban Target store well within walking distance as well. I think I could get used to it.

The views from the RSM offices were even more spectacular than from their home, if possible. Tim was actually in charge of the build-out of the space, and made sure that the reception area, coupled with the main conference/reception room, have the most impressive view of the bay. When you first walk in you are stunned by a focused view of the Embarcadero, the Warf and the bay.

After the home and office tour we headed to historic Sausalito and grabbed a very nice lunch on the bay. One of Tim and Angie’s favorite locations is the Sausalito Crab House. It sits on the water, and has an open patio that has wonderful views of the bay and the San Francisco harbor.  The weather was perfect for an outdoor lunch and we took full advantage, taking in their crab chowder, a fresh crab cocktail, and some ginger martinis. Yummmmm!

After lunch our friends took us to some views in the Golden Gate Recreation Area that we had never been to before. The weather was Ideal, and despite intensive traffic, Tim was able to score a couple of places to park. So we were able to get some to die for views of the Golden Gate, the harbor and the bay.

On the way back to their home to bid adieu we got to experience a bit of what their next two weeks have in store. Their home is in the midst of the Superbowl Village that San Francisco is creating on the Warf. All traffic is closed in the blocks around their home, and they have to display a special resident pass even to get to their condo. Smartly they packed in some food and other supplies and don’t plan to take the car out until after the big event!

As long as we were in San Francisco proper we decided to take in a few sites we have not been to. The world headquarters of Lucas Films is in the Presidio, so we swung by just to see what the campus looked like. We just strolled around the area - Yoda says Hi by the way.

From Lucas HQ we spotted a building we were not familiar with. The Palace of Fine Arts was constructed as part of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition held in the Marina in San Francisco. This ornate structure was built to exhibit works of art during the Exposition. Today it is primarily used as a large event venue, and still holds the imaginations of all visiting in its shadows.

While here we visited the mission that was almost the farthest north that the Spanish influence extended in the 1800’s. The 6^th mission, San Francisco de Asis was founded by Fray Francisco Palou on June 26, 1776. While now embedded in the center of San Francisco, the mission was nicknamed “Delores” for the saint of birds and animals. The mission is the oldest structure in the city of San Francisco.

We drove Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. We have done that many times, but since we were so close, why not again! We hit the Wharf and the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. While we have visited this part of the Wharf long ago, it was before this collection of maritime history was gathered together under the management of the National Park System. Also at the suggestion of Tim and Angie we visited the nearby Jelly Belly Factory. Founded in the mid-1800’s in Illinois by the Goelitz family, the company faltered in the economic doldrums near the turn of the century, and re-emerged still holding to the Goelitz family name. During the roaring 20’s the 2^nd generation of the family moved the company to California and started making Jelly Beans.

The owners knew that at that time in America families were struggling to feed themselves, focusing a lot on various agricultural beans for their diet staples. Making a candy “bean” seemed like a good idea. Over time, they perfected their product making it the Cadillac of jelly beans. Other candy companies flavored only the hard coating of their bean. Jelly Belly introduced flavoring in the coating, but also infused the same flavor in the jelly center. They spent hours tirelessly testing their flavor formulations so that their customers could visualize the origin of the flavor just from the taste. In addition to more traditional flavors, their developers came up with beans that tasted like buttered popcorn, draft beer, dead fish and stinky socks. Some of their perfected flavors are obviously more popular than others.

Their current success is mainly due to Ronald Regan. Regan had an affinity for jelly beans, and when in the Oval Office he required that bowls of Jelly Belly beans be present for all meetings. The beans became such a cult phenomenon that they spawned an art form. Artists began creating mosaic art made from Jelly Belly beans as they now come in nearly every color of the spectrum. In our tour of the factory we not only learned about how they are made, but also got an extensive review of bean art. If you are ever in Fairfield California near Oakland take in the free factory tour – it is fun.

Talk to you soon!

Bay area

While the park we are staying is not chockfull of amenities, it has the most important one – location. There is so many attractions nearby that we have never visited so we plan to hit them all.

Our first stop is Muir Woods National Monument. In the late 1800’s the land where the Monument sits was under consideration to be a supply of water to San Francisco by damming up Redwood Creek and filling Sequoia Canyon with water. The Canyon has an impressive grove of redwoods that caught the attention of William Kent and his wife Elizabeth. In 1905 they purchased the land in an attempt to preserve the grove. In a fortunate turn of events 1906 sees Congress passing the Antiquities Act, allowing sitting presidents the right to declare National Monuments by Presidential Proclamation.

I say fortunate because in 1907 a water company serving San Francisco takes the Kent’s to court attempting to get the land condemned under public domain statutes. The Kent’s proposed a deal with President Theodore Roosevelt and gifts the 295 acres to the federal government. In return, the President proclaims Muir Woods a National Monument, effectively stopping the water company’s condemnation efforts. The name was requested by the Kent’s and John Muir was humbled by the Monument being named for him.

Despite heavy rain on our drive to the Monument the intensity eased up as we arrived. Because the groves are so dense, we don’t really know if the rain fully eased up or if the dense foliage kept us mostly dry. Regardless of the reason, we truly enjoyed the break. The rain kept the visitor count down, but we were still able to hike all the main trails through the grove. As Muir would have said, it was glorious!

We also visited the John Muir National Historic Site. This home that he lived in with his wife Louie and daughters (Wanda and Helen) is really a contrast from what one might expect. Muir is best known for living for 4 years in Yosemite Valley in a cabin or other similar ventures. This mansion is actually an ultra-modern and opulent 10,000 square foot structure. It turns out that Muir actually inherited the estate from the parents of Louisa Strentzel, and loved working the 2,600 acre fruit orchard that surrounds it.

His office is where he mused and also where he wrote most of his published works. The actual desk at which he wrote, fondly called by Muir himself as his “scribble desk” is one of the many original pieces of furniture in the mansion. Despite no schooling after the age of 11 due to a strict father’s intolerance Muir became an amazingly eloquent author.

When Muir first began managing the orchard at his father in-law’s estate, he planted a cherished Sequoia seedling. 130 years later across from the mansions original carriage house stands the majestic tree that Muir planted himself and nurtured. I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute to this naturalist.

In nearby Richmond we visited the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park. When all able men in the country were called to serve in the armed forces, the shipyards in Richmond were still expected to manufacture the ships needed to defeat the forces of Japan. With not near enough men to build the ships, the call went out from the government asking women to fill the rolls of the missing men. At first the unions that accredited welders and boiler makers and such refused to accept women. But as the US government persisted, those organizations eventually admitted the “fairer sex”.

Henry Kaiser’s shipyard in Richmond built 747 ships for the war effort during WWII, a rate that has never been equaled. In a competition among shipyards in the area, the Richmond yard built the Liberty Ship SS Robert E Peary in 4 days, 15 hours. Because of the female welders and boiler makers, the yard generally needed no more than two weeks to produce a fully functioning Liberty Ship.

We got so lucky. The day we were there, 4 of the Rosie’s were at the park, actual welders and boiler makers who had worked at the Kaiser Richmond yards during WWII. The youngest at 88 and the oldest at 96, the 4 Rosie’s each told their story. They talked about their families, why they came to Richmond, and their experiences in the shipyard. To us, this was the best part of the experience.

Before we left we headed to the dock. One of the Liberty Ships, the Red Oak, was still docked in the Richmond shipyards. It turns out that on a percentage basis, more men from Red Oak Iowa were killed in WWII than any other community in the US. Because of this the Kaiser shipyard christened one of their many Liberty ships the Red Oak. We concede if this monster was built in a week, that is an amazing accomplishment.

We were able to score a reservation for the tour of Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. Second only to Great Basin National Park, it is the least visited destination in the National Park Service managed facilities. That may be because of the little known story behind it.

In WWII the only focus was on getting men and war material into the Pacific. Richmond was doing its part with the Liberty Ship production. After the Liberty Ships left Richmond, they went to Port Chicago before heading to conflict in the Pacific. At Port Chicago they were loaded with all sort of ammunition, shells and other ordinance. At that time, the Navy did not allow black enlisted men to fight on the lines. So, Port Chicago was primarily a black facility – all the men loading ships were black, all the officers were white.

Despite warnings by the Coast Guard and others, the main objective at Port Chicago was to get the Liberty Ships loaded with armaments as quickly as possible so they could assist the war effort. On July 17, 1944 the two ships being loaded exploded, instantly killing 320 men, mostly black enlisted men, and injuring 390 others. Comrades of the killed men collected boots still holding parts of their feet, as they were searching for any sign of survivors. After extensive searching only enough remains to medically identify 7 of the 320 men were found. Those parts of the 7 men are buried in the National Cemetery in the Presidio in San Francisco.

The Navy readied another pier and within weeks ordered men of the base back to loading the Liberty Ships using the same methods as a week or so earlier. Some 250 enlisted men refused to return to loading the ships unless safety measures were strengthened. After dishonorable conduct citations were given those men, some 200 of them returned to the docks, but with this black mark on their military record. 50 of the men still refused and were jailed. The Navy eventually charged the 50 with mutiny and a Naval military court convicted them, giving each 8-15 years in prison. Being convicted of mutiny and dishonorably discharged the men lost all their military benefits for themselves and their heirs, all for asking for strengthened safety measures after the explosion turned out to be the largest domestic loss of life in WWII.

No explanation for the explosion was ever found as there were literally no remains. The largest piece of anything left after the explosion was a hamper sized piece of one of the two Liberty Ships’ inches thick solid steel hull. The pier, the ships, the men, everything simply disintegrated due to the intensity of the blast. It turns out that the Liberty Ship the Red Oak that we saw at the Richmond shipyards was one of the hundreds of ships that went from Richmond to Port Chicago to be loaded and sent to the forces in the Pacific.

The Navy did implement one safety measure after the blast. The town of Port Chicago abutted the base to the south. The Navy forced evacuation of the town and absorbed it into the boundaries of the base fearing that another explosion could occur and cause substantial civilian loss of life. The Navy bulldozed down all the homes and buildings in the town that previously supported a population estimated around a thousand. On our way out of the Memorial we drove Main Street Port Chicago. Eerily you can still see all the streets, where the shop, church and home lots likely were, the landscaped trees still standing where they likely flanked a porch or chapel entrance.

What a great day!

Talk to you soon!

Expect the unexpected

In our lifestyle, we plan out an itinerary so that we don’t get stranded without a place to stay, especially in nutsy busy places like California. Despite that planning one must be ready for the unexpected. Heading north on I-680 at 60 MPH with all lanes bumper to bumper I see a bar or something laying on the road as it appears from under the truck in front of me. Since I couldn’t lane change to avoid it and couldn’t stop in time I just straddled it as best I could and hoped for the best.

Several miles later the frantic beeping of a car as he passed me let me know I hadn’t received the best that I had hoped for. I pulled over, checked Colectiva, and then looked at the Equinox – the bar I had tried to straddle was sticking out the side, and the smell of gas was oppressive. While Colectiva seemed to have cleared the bar, the Equinox apparently had not. While I couldn’t see the actual puncture, I could see gasoline pouring down like rain underneath.

I couldn’t get the bar un-wedged. I disconnected her from Colectiva and let her roll back a bit which was enough to allow me to pull the bar out from underneath. Fortunately there was enough fuel in the fuel line that I could start the Equinox to get her reconnected to Colectiva. I spent the next hour or so on the phone trying to make arrangements for assessment and repair. I figured we would probably have to have her towed to the repair facility from the RV Park. However, I got the final call from the body shop as we were getting off the freeway and we were only about 4 miles from their facility. I drove right there, unhooked the Equinox, and there was still enough fuel in the line to allow me to park it where they wanted it.

And if Murphy hadn’t dozed off long enough to allow me to avoid the tow charge, there was an Enterprise car rental facility maybe two blocks from the body shop. Our insurance carrier has a flat rate contract with Enterprise that allowed me to rent a car for the duration of the repair at $40 a day. We walked over, picked out a Kia SUV, drove back to Colectiva, and then drove the 4 miles to the RV Park.

We don’t know how long it will take yet to mend the Equinox so our progress on our mission might be impacted. But we are sure happy Murphy dozed off apparently, and that we got a bit of the luck of the Irish.

Talk to you soon!

San Jose

We ended up with a couple days of cushion, so we wandered up to San Jose. We had never been here, and now with our interest generated in the California collection of Spanish missions it was a great stopping point.

We visited the home of Sarah L. Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester, son and heir to the company that manufactured the Winchester repeating rifle. Her infant daughter who died in 1866 followed by her husbands, mothers and fathers deaths 15 years later, Sarah felt estranged in her New Haven Connecticut home. She decided to move west on the advice of a spiritualist and bought a quaint family farm in San Jose.

Sarah bought a ranch and home and began to build. She had been told that her multiple family tragedies were the result of the dead souls from the effects of the Winchester repeating rifle reaching back from the beyond. She was told that if she moved west and built a home, and never completed it, that she could escape these demons. So apparently, that is what she set out to do.

The home is bizarre. Doors in the home may exit to no balcony or anything but space. Staircases often lead up just to end at a ceiling with no way out. While it is immense, there is no feel of “home” here, just a lot of rooms patched together.

From the day she arrived she had a construction crew on site working 7 days a week so that the home was continuously under construction as she had been advised by her mediums. Before she died 38 years later, her construction fanaticism managed to turn the quaint 1,200 foot farm home into a bizarre 24,000 square foot mansion. Because construction was the goal, not functionality or design, the results were often strange, unexpected. For example, there were 7 commercial scale kitchens in the mansion and we toured them all. We visited the séance room and many of the bedrooms that Sarah slept in. It was said that she slept in a different one of the 40 bedrooms every night in order to hopefully confuse the demons that may be after her.

At the height of its construction the mansion towered to 7 stories. However, being adjacent to the San Andreas Fault, it was the lucky recipient of many earthquakes, one of which was successful in lowering it to 4 stories by placing its famed tower into one of its two basements. It was during that particular earthquake that staff indicated that Sarah was actually trapped in one of the bedrooms. Since the staff never knew where she would chose to sleep it took them several hours to locate her and free her from her potential tomb.

We visited Mission San Juan Bautista. The 15^th of the 21 California missions it was founded by Father Fermin Francisco de Lausen on June 24, 1797.

Named for Saint John the Baptist, baptizer of Jesus and patron saint of monks, the mission is the largest of the 21 Spanish missions along the Camino Real. The extent of the scale of the mission was such that it took the local Native Americans over 15 years just to build the 4 foot thick walls of this mission.

This must be the closest mission to the San Andreas Fault. The Fault literally runs within 20 or 30 feet along the length of the main chapel. Also, remains of the original Camino Real also run atop the Fault alongside the chapel.

Across the street from the mission is the historic Plaza Hotel. Several buildings from the 1800’s in the town of San Juan Bautista have been salvaged and restored by the State of California as a historical park. Again, economic failure of this small town is what resulted in these old buildings not being remodeled or removed for newer development. Once we finished with the mission and thought about touring the State Historic Park many hundreds of screaming grade school kids had descended. The ranger told us that was the routine during the week – dozens of school buses show at opening time. She suggested we might want to return after lunch – we decided to take a pass.

We stumbled on one last interesting thing about Mission San Juan Bautista. All the missions have an attached museum, usually in the buildings where the padres lived, ate and worshipped. At the far back of this mission museum we found Alfred Hitchcock’s death mask on display, with no real explanation anywhere of why it was there. We sought out a docent and learned that much of the Hitchcock thriller Vertigo had actually been filmed on site in the 1950’s. Maybe they were here filming when the Woman and I were being born!

We discovered another agricultural capital of the world in Gilroy California. While at the Rose Parade we met a couple who lived in Gilroy and told us about its unique place in the world. While I can’t figure out how to verify this, Gilroy is the self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the World. I have not been able to find stats like I did for the Castroville area to prove the claim, but we did ogle some garlic farms and sampled some garlic delicacies, including the garlic wine. We drew the line, however, at the garlic ice cream. Maybe we should have drawn the line before we sampled the garlic wine as well.

We visited Mission Santa Clara de Asis. The 8^th mission founded by Padre Serra on January 12, 1977, the mission is now in the center of the campus of the University of Santa Clara. As we had to park on the periphery – as on many large campuses there is limited vehicle traffic allowed inside – we asked a group of students if they could point us in the direction of the mission. It was funny - they had to think about it a bit, but then they said “Oh, you mean the church?” and then they were able to get us headed the right way.

Being surrounded by a university campus with hundreds of folk walking around, this mission did not have the same kind of remote, historic feel of many we had seen so far. However, once we got inside where it was peaceful and quiet, the beauty revealed itself to us. Named for Saint Clare of Assisi, founder of the Order of Poor Clares, this mission was located near the Guadalupe River and the largest population of Natives in all California.

We couldn’t help ourselves when we were this close to the action. Because of the massive preparations for the Superbowl, Levis Stadium tours have unfortunately been suspended. But that didn’t stop us from stopping by just to take in the sight. We couldn’t have guessed just how many scaffolds and temporary buildings we would see – the entire area surrounding the stadium was littered with them. The money that must be involved here is unimaginable!
 

Before moving on we visited Mission San Jose, the 14^th mission founded June 11, 1797. This mission was another founded by Fray Fermin Francisco de Lausen, and still incorporates some of the original chapel buttresses in its construction.

Talk to you soon!

Monterey coast

Although we have been in the area before we discovered so many things we hadn’t stumbled on before that we almost felt rushed. After paying a routine visit to the Carmel Hat Company so the Woman could get her hat fix, we were off to the Carmel Mission.

San Carlos Borremo de Carmelo Mission was founded June 3 1770, again by Padre Junipero Serra. The mission was named for Saint Charles Borremo of Arona (the Bishop of Milan Italy and patron saint of Bishops) and the Carmel River that flowed nearby. This was only the 2^nd mission to be founded by Serra and the 2^nd Spanish mission in California, established about 6 months after the first mission was founded in San Diego.

Of the 9 missions that Padre Serra founded Carmel was always his favorite. His Spartan living quarters were adjacent to the church, containing only a small writing desk and chair, a cot, his chest and a candle. Apparently he lived the same values that he taught.

The church is magnificent, certainly the most ornate of any of the missions we have recently visited. Apparently before settling on this location Serra had picked a spot on the Monterey peninsula, but the lack of fertile soil and abundant water caused him to reconsider, and he relocated his efforts to the Carmel River valley. Seeing the magnificent mission we can tell it was a good choice.

After reaching out and establishing the 9 missions on his watch, Serra returned to Carmel to live out his short remaining life. In accordance with his wishes, his tomb sits on the grounds of San Carlos Borremo de Carmelo Mission.

As you drive around these California seaside communities, even though they are very densely populated (can’t stand all the traffic!) there is a constant interaction with nature. In the middle of a dense residential neighborhood in Carmel this cute guy was taking a stroll warm afternoon. He seemed completely unfazed.

Not far from Monterey is Fort Ord National Monument. An active Army base from 1917 until 1994, Fort Ord was apparently instrumental in all major US military conflicts of the 20^th century. Apparently Fort Ord was the Army’s primary troop training facility during the Vietnam War. We are learning that as the needs of our armed forces change the need for massive land space has dwindled. So, not unlike the abandoned Naval base we saw near Point Sur which is now (except for the secret concrete bunker) part of the California Park System, large abandoned military facilities are often turned over to the BLM for management.

Obama designated Fort Ord a National Monument in 2012. There are no facilities in the Monument other than 86 miles of multiuse trails. While we didn’t see any equine use the day we hiked all over the area, we frequently bumped into other hikers, a lot of runners and even more mountain bikers. Apparently equine use is considerable here as Fort Ord had a significant cavalry presence, so we were constantly seeing watering troughs and graves of horses with valor. Being as close as it is to major population areas, we can see why it gets all the traffic.

We learned that nearby Castroville is the self-proclaimed Artichoke Center of the World. We also learned that the Globe Artichoke, the main species because of its size, is actually a thistle. The fuzzy purple starburst flowers we all know as thistle sit atop this delicacy – at least it is considered such by many. While 99.9% of all artichokes in the US are produced in California, and 75% of all artichokes produced in California come from the fields around Castroville.

While I may never chose to do this again, I decided I needed to try some locally grown artichokes as long as we were here. We found the Giant Artichoke family restaurant which surprisingly had a menu focused on the thistle. I ended up getting both the signature artichoke dishes – the steamed artichoke au natural, and the grilled artichoke served with chipotle ranch dressing, loaded with chunks of pepper. While the steamed artichoke was far more edible (not nearly as fibrous as the grilled), the grilled was so much more flavorful due to the chipotle ranch garnish.

The Woman found us a gem walking distance from Colectiva. Literally off the end of Moss Landing is the Monterey Canyon, a subterranean canyon that is even bigger than the Grand Canyon – it is just under the ocean. This canyon causes very cold ocean water from its depths to come very close to the shore. Apparently this results scientifically in an abundance of natural plant and animal life not seen in very many places.

I don’t know if it is the abundance of food that makes the local sea lion residents a bit on the hostile side. I assume that maybe they just don’t like all the people and the traffic any more than I do.

What is now known as the Elkhorn Slough used to be where the Salinas River emptied into the Pacific. Over the centuries the river found a different pathway to the ocean, but the old river delta remained, being filled instead with Pacific Ocean salt water. We went on a two hour boat tour of the Slough, seeing uncountable numbers of California sea lions, California seals (there is a difference), sea otters and migratory birds galore.

We learned that while not as variable as the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Elkhorn Slough has quite a tidal extreme. The variation from low to high tide is over 8 feet. So, while we had no problem navigating under the California Highway 1 bridge today at low tide, you can see that at high tide there would be no Slough tour running.

The Woman fondly remembered how in the Alaskan bays we saw mama sea otters floating on their backs with their babies laying above the water surface on their mama’s bellies. Apparently it doesn’t matter whether you are in Alaska or California, otter behavior is consistent.

This is the time of year when birds who summer elsewhere winter in Elkhorn Slough. We saw great blue Heron, King Fishers, Loons, multiple kinds of Egrets and lots of other species that we don’t normally get to see. My favorite was the Surf Scoter. This duck with a very interesting array of coloring on its face breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, but winters along the California Pacific coast. Captain Joe indicated that it is unusual to see so many of these gorgeous birds on a single tour.

A combination of a late lunch before watching Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl and geocaching to kill some time resulted in us stumbling on Colton Hall. In old Monterey, Colton Hall was the site of the 1849 Constitutional Convention where the California constitution was finalized and signed. In advance of statehood in 1850, it remains one of the longest collections of laws in the world.

 

Finally, we are finding that there are historic FOX theaters in most good sized California towns that date back to the Depression era. Salinas is no exception. While in some of the towns when 1,500 seat theaters were no longer in vogue, the theaters fell into ruin and many were demolished. Luckily in Salinas, like in Bakersfield, this one has survived. And like Bakersfield, it is now a live performance venue. Unlike Bakersfield, there was nothing playing here during our brief stay.

Talk to you soon!