On the Road Again: Chronicle Part 8

Friday March 5th

Well, sad as it is to admit, today marked the final day of “Phase 2: Napa Valley” on our journey up and down the West Coast. It was definitely a bittersweet moment, as we had to say goodbye to The Lavender Inn and Napa but also looking ahead to an exciting trip down the coast with MUCH more to see! Checkout time was at noon, so we didn’t have to race around to get ready to go this morning, which was a relief. We slept in a little, rose for our last deliciously free breakfast, and thought about how the day would play out. After some discussion last night, we decided that we wouldn’t try to see any more wineries today, even though there were still two or three that we both really wanted to visit. It seemed like the right thing to just let go of Napa and enjoy the fact that we had a lot left to see in our last days of vacation. Packing more into today would have just been too much. Plus, we had a deadline – we wanted to be able to see as much of the coast before the sun set as possible. We had to get on the road soon to ensure that happened, especially if clouds rolled in and stole some of our light earlier than we anticipated.
After breakfast, we packed up pretty quickly. We took one last look around the room, waved goodbye to the amazing outdoor Jacuzzi, and sighed with regret as we loaded our suitcases into the car and put the key in the ignition. Although we were sad our right hand woman Marion wasn’t at the front this morning to say goodbye, it made leaving a little easier since we didn’t have an excuse to stand around and chat. We grabbed a soda from the fridge and rolled out of Napa.

I remembered that I never picked up any postcards during our time in Napa. So, before we exited the area, we agreed to stop and pick some up in town. I also needed to find the perfect magnet for Kelly, whose only request while I was away was to find her a cool magnet from somewhere on the journey. A wine related item seemed obviously appropriate for some reason. You would never imagine how difficult it is to find postcards in such a place. For a tourist town, I was shocked at how few places had them at all, and how expensive they were in the locations I’d seen them. Luckily, I stumbled upon a great deal in the third place we tried, and we got on our way.

We got as far as Oakland (just outside San Francisco) when we realized that we should probably stop for gas and lunch before we jumped on the 1. There’s no telling when your rest stops will be once you venture onto California’s Highway 1. Ryan spotted a Chevy’s from the highway, which, I have to admit, was not my first choice for food. But he seemed so excited about it and we needed something close and quick to stay on schedule, so I agreed. It turned out to be nice, as the restaurant’s bar and patio looked out over the bay toward San Francisco, so even though the food was less than mediocre, the view was nice. We fueled up and headed toward the 1 with Half Moon Bay as our first destination.

Before getting on the 1, I tried to shape what my expectations were for this part of the trip. I’d heard so many things about journeying up and down this famous stretch of highway and images of it are synonymous with ideas and movies about Californian life. Anytime a movie takes place in California, the director always finds a reason for a driving scene along the high and winding cliffs of the Pacific Coast. It does make for a dramatic effect and the images are part of what make California what it is. It was a little cloudy on this day, so I was worried that our views of the coast would be marred by the lack of sun. This was one of the very few times I ever found myself disappointed in a consistent cloud layer. When we finally reached the highway, though, it was more than I could have imagined. Describing the views and the way the road lays out so unexpectedly before you is futile compared to the real life experience. Shame on me for worrying about the clouds – our view wasn’t marred in the slightest. The first stretch of highway wasn’t as dramatic as I had imagined, but it was no less beautiful. I kept trying to capture it on my camera, but found my efforts impossible because every picture just looked so bland in comparison. There were so many hills and valleys in the road and around us, while off to the right the coast appeared so sharp and within arms reach. There was no gradual development of the view, either; it was very much a now you don’t see it, now you do kind of thing. Not until we reached the 1 did we see any of the coast, but once we breached the highway and got past the trees, it appeared like it had always been there on the right side of the car, just below the guardrails. It was calm here on this part of the higway; calm but expansive. It started where our car gripped the road and extended out to the right for as far as I could see. I kept having to remind Ryan to keep his eyes on the road, because each time I felt a jerk, I’d look up to see us swerving back onto our side of the road from somewhere else. I offered to drive, knowing his obsession with looking out at the waves, but of course was assured that he was fine and would learn to control his urges to stare out my window. I had to give it to him – it was hard for even me to not stare out the window, and my fascination with the sea is no where near the vast nature of my husband’s.

As we continued on, the scenery grew more and more beautiful for each of us, with Ryan’s waves to the right and my beautiful rolling hills of green and wildflowers ahead and to the left. The land became far less populated as we drove, which was reflected in the radio stations being few and far between. We found a really great oldies station, a perfect soundtrack to this part of the journey, turned it on low, and continued to enjoy the surroundings. Ryan started to worry about the time, fretting that we wouldn’t have enough time to see much of Half Moon Bay, but I assured him that everything would work out as it was supposed to and we would see everything we could fit into daylight – no worries.

We got to Half Moon Bay around 4:30 and were surprised at how little there was of the town when we first entered. Our very first stop, and the one Ryan had been excited about the most, was Maverick’s. This is a world famous surfing spot and is a mecca for anyone even mildly interested in the sport. Basically, this spot is at the end of a beach that you can only get to after following this long and windy walking path from a pot hole filled dirt parking lot. Once you get to the other end of the beach, marked by large boulders and jagged rocks, you have to paddle out into the water about a half mile to even get to the spot. The spot itself is marked by these enormous rock cliffs that jut out of the sea and are the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of the rocks that exist below the water’s surface. These underwater rock formations cause an interesting break that promotes enormous waves at least 4-6 times overhead; basically Hawaii sized waves in northern California – previously unheard of and hence why this is a mecca for big wave surfers. There is this guy named Jeff Clark who has lived in Half Moon Bay all his life; he actually has a surf shop just a quarter mile away from the beach at Mavericks. Jeff Clark watched these waves from the shore for years before one day deciding to paddle out to them in an attempt to surf without getting smashed up against the rocks. He surfed these immense waves for years before anyone figured it out, after which point he became a surfing icon and the spot became a place of worship for big wave surfers worldwide. Needless to say, it’s a pretty intense place to see firsthand and something Ryan was dying to witness for himself.

We strolled down the walkway and across the beach, which was surprisingly full of people for how late in the day it was and how chilly it had gotten with the clouds that had rolled in and the winds that brought them. We wandered down as far as we could go safely and I watched Ryan gaze in awe at the historic sight. Sadly, the waves weren’t nearly as massive as they tend to be, but even for an off day the scenery was still very impressive. We took some pictures and hung out for a little while, playing with a couple of dogs that belonged to a few girls who were sitting nearby on the rocks, passing around a joint. When Ryan had seen enough, we started to head back in an effort to get to the car and see some more of the coast before dark. On our way back to the car, we stumbled across some pretty Californian behavior, watching a man who’d brought his gong to the beach and was doing yoga and praying with a few of his friends.

We continued on our way, watching as the cliffs along the road got more dramatic before our eyes. As this happened, Ryan couldn’t help himself but to pull over at every available vista point to snap pictures of the rocks, the waves, and the sights as they never ceased to be impressive. We also stopped to investigate Pigeon Point Lighthouse, as it was just south of Half Moon Bay. This landmark was very eerie from the highway and definitely seemed like the perfect setting for some kind of scary sea themed film – Ryan wanted to check it out immediately. As we found out when we got closer, the lighthouse also serves as a popular hostel – even more perfect. We continued on our way to Monterey.

The next major town along the road was Santa Cruz. I had marked this on the map as an interesting place to stop, unfortunately we just didn’t have the time. We rolled into Santa Cruz around 6 or 6:30, while we still had a fair bit of daylight left, which offered us just enough time to poke around for a few minutes. There was a surfing museum and boardwalk that I was interesting in checking out, but both of which we closed by the time we arrived anyway. We drove down to the boardwalk, watched it from the car, and continued driving in an effort to get to our resting place in Monterey at a decent hour. I longed to hang out on the boardwalk as it has been an embarrassing amount of time since I’ve been on a rollercoaster or fair ride. I dare not tell my brother, who is my theme park partner, how long it’s been; he’d certainly shake a disapproving finger and scold me appropriately. Nevertheless, the boardwalk was closed and moving on was the right thing to do. Monterey, here we come.

Once the sun went down, the scenery became less interesting. We did open the windows for a little while, though, to listen to the waves crashing on the shores nearby. After another hour and a half or so, we breached a hill over which the lights of Monterey could be seen in the distance. We found our exit around 8:30 and drove toward our resting place at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. I was definitely excited to see our digs for the night, after having spent the last week in the same place. I think that’s one of the most exciting parts about traveling on a vacation like this one – experiencing all of the different kinds of lodgings and restaurants out there. Ryan and I really love seeing different, unique places to stay. We’d never be happy staying in a Holiday Inn every single night of a trip. The Naval Postgraduate School definitely fit into our need for a unique experience. In case you didn’t already know, most military bases not only have housing for officers that work on the base full time, but they also often rent rooms to those who are visiting. A lot of times these lodging options are called VOQ’s (Visiting Officers’ Quarters) or something similar. We have definitely taken full advantage of our ability to stay at any and all VOQ’s along the way, both on this trip and during other trips we’ve taken around the country. Because these rooms tend to only cost between $25-$35 per night, we have been able to see a lot of really interesting places by staying in them. The Naval Postgraduate School was definitely an interesting place. Driving up, the building had a very Colonial Spanish feel to it. The inside lobby, however, felt much more like the lobby of a university – grand spaces, marble floors and walls full of military décor. Down the corridor, out the back door, and up to the tower where our room was located felt like a much more historic building, again in the Spanish Colonial style. The rooms, though, were those of standard VOQ’s. Large living areas with a small kitchenette, walk in closet and bathroom. It was kind of dreary in the room, although we were glad for all of the room as well as the kitchenette to store the leftovers we’d accumulated over the last few days.

Once we got our bags up to the room, we plugged the computer in and tried to find a place to eat. It had been many hours since our last meal, way back in Oakland, and after all of the driving, sightseeing, and picture taking, we were famished. I had a strong craving for Greek, so I set out to find a fun spot. We picked out a little place called Petra Cafe that seemed to have some great reviews. We jumped back in the car and headed in that direction. Turns out the place was quite literally little, just a counter with a see through cooler and a few small tables with chairs. I ordered the gyro special while Ryan ordered the falafel special. Let me tell you, this place did not disappoint and it kept my average for choosing the best spots really high! Especially for food that arrived on Styrofoam, it absolutely hit the spot and was some of the best gyro I’ve ever eaten. We stuffed our faces, then proceeded to order three different flavors of baklava. Ryan seemed to think it would be excessive to get all three but realized the necessity of judging the flavors against each other after we started trying them all. We both loved the pistachio, but I thought the original was amazing as well.

On our way back to the car, Ryan and I decided that we hadn’t had enough relaxing nights with cocktails on this trip. We noticed a liquor store just outside the gate to base, so before we pulled in for the night we stopped in for a bottle of Captain Morgan and a 2 liter of Diet Coke. We settled in to our room nice and early, Ryan played bartender, and I sat down to write in the journal and plan our day. We didn’t plan out this part of the trip in as much detail as the first two thirds, mostly because driving on the 1 can be so unpredictable. In the spirit of this idea, we also didn’t book a hotel for tomorrow until today, so I needed a drink to help me make it through the search for a hotel that wouldn’t drive our budget off the cliffs. Luckily, I was able to find a deal online for a place called The Castle Inn in Cambria, a suitable stopping place after a nice day of driving the coast. We booked the hotel for the next two nights with the understanding that we would drive up and down that part of the coast doing as many of the things on our list as possible. With that accomplished, Ryan and I continued to finish the bottle of rum and laughed ourselves silly watching ridiculous t.v. on our small hotel television screen. A perfect nightcap to the first leg of this part of the journey.