Soul Cal

So much for 'I left my heart in San Francisco', I think I left little bits of mine dotted all the way down the west coast. On leaving Shell Beach, we broke from Highway 1 for the first time since Santa Cruz and cut across to the 101; a very different, but equally beautiful road. In place of the continuous coastline are miles of undulating fields; growing everything from corn to strawberries. We stopped briefly in the lovely little village of Los Olivos, where we mooched through the sleepy and roastingly-hot streets, pottered around beautiful shops and drank iced tea in the shade. That night we stayed in a canvas, safari tent near a canyon. It was magical. We spent the evening barbequeing over a fire pit (expertly built and lit by the Ginge) and chatting away as darkness fell over the camp. It was a welcome return to nature and wildness, which I had missed earlier in the trip and gave me a great opportunity to teach the Ginge how to make smores. Needless to say, he is now a total convert! 

I love Shell Beach

It's not often that I fall in love with somewhere so entirely, so quickly, but Shell Beach is pretty special. We actually only stayed there for one night, albeit on the vehement recommendation of some friends, but I did in fact cry on leaving. What a loser! We stayed in the most perfect little hotel, run by the loveliest people who made us feel as though we were at home (so welcome after nearly two weeks on the road) and did nothing but swim in the pool, walk along the coast in the sunset and then have dinner at the most beautiful restaurant that was pretty much all window, overlooking the ocean. It was a dream. It also introduced me to an amazing flavour combination - homemade tortillas with cinnamon butter. Oh my, so good. One day, we will go back and stay longer. We will, we will. 

The Rugged Coast of Big Sur

I'm a bit of a sucker for getting emotional over beauty (the Ginge will laugh when he reads that as he'd say I get emotional over pretty much anything and he'd be right). The natural beauty of the outdoors just does something to me. Open fields cry out to be run through, cliffs to be scrambled on, mountains to be climbed, seas to be swum in. The coast of big sur is one big heart-swelling sweet-shop of beauty. All along route 1, the road drops down on one side to the bluest of seas, cut by cliffs tumbling with bright flowers and succulents. I wish we had had time to go exploring around one of the little coves, but it was enough just to breathe it all in from the top. As they say in Local Hero 'You can't eat scenery', but it definitely makes it more delicious, so we stopped at Nepenthe - without question the most picturesque burger I have ever eaten and utterly scrumptious.

On the Boardwalk

California is not new to me. In fact, it is a very beautiful part of the way I grew up. Thanks to a chance meeting of like-minded people on a train to Florence, almost thirty years ago, we have friends as good as family in the Golden State. Many of my childhood summers were spent road-tripping around and falling deeply in love with the wonderful country, so this summer was all about finding my California again and showing it to my boy. The warmth of the ground, the cool dampness of the pacific breeze, the smell of warm pine needles and that fragrant sweetness, which I can't quite put my finger on, the taste of cinnamon; all making me feel at home in my memories. This is Santa Cruz: home of the Beach Boardwalk, where you can half imagine you're a giggly girl of the 1950s, wearing a starched swing dress and peering nonchalantly at your strapping young date from behind a puff of candyfloss. Here we did things properly. We stayed at a Super 8 motel, rode the 1925 rollercoaster, strolled on the beach, dipped our toes in the pacific, caught the old train up to the redwoods,  went to the bowling alley, saw Berlin performing 'Take my Breath Away', walked along the coast to Natural Bridges, ate corndogs and churros and chilled out with a coffee and a book at Mr Toot's Coffee House in colourful Capitola. Definitely a place to lose yourself in imagination, which I feel we did to great effect. 

Over the Bridge

Something that you may or may not know about me is that I love bikes! I've already said that I think the best way to explore a city is on foot, but I also think it's pretty awesome on a bike. Whizzing along with the wind cooling your face whilst beautiful views arise and undulate in front of your eyes isn't half bad for a day-out. Plus, you get a nice bit of free exercise (and a sore bottom, but we'll ignore that for now). On our penultimate day in the city, we cycled all the way along the Embarcadero, along the San Francisco Bay Trail, across the Golden Gate Bridge and down to a little town called Sausalito. It was a beautiful and varied ride with wonderful views and was a lovely way to escape the bustle of the city for a change of pace. It was pretty hectic on the bridge itself, but once we arrived on the other side, things calmed down again. Aside from the cycling, a particular highlight was catching the ferry back to the city. Its slow speed allowed us to savour the glorious low evening light as we headed towards the city skyline. We packed a delicious lunch of local produce from the Ferry Building and its farmers' market, ate ice creams as big as a man's fist at Lappert's and rounded off the day with a tasty burger back at the Ferry Building. We definitely replaced any calories we burned, but it was so worth it. 

San Francisco On Foot

Right then, here we go! My favourite way to get to know a city is by exploring it on foot. In a city like San Francisco, that is sort of a requisite. Its manic drivers, its hills which would daunt even the most hardcore of cyclists and its criss-cross of streets perfectly designed for spontaneous exploration, make walking by far the best option. Well, we got a bit carried away and walked approximately forty miles over three days; twenty one of which we did in one day. It was wonderful. Each day, we set out with a starting point and a vague idea of the areas we wished to explore, but mostly relished the fact that, with a total lack of time pressure, we could simply pick and choose our direction and pace. We based ourselves at a lovely eco hotel in the 'south-of-market' or 'SOMA' area, which was a great base from which to set out each day. We wandered through the well-trodden streets of Chinatown, Haight, Russian & Telegraph Hills and stumbled upon the little gem of North Beach and its annual festival. Each day began in a haze of fog and ended in glorious evening sunshine. Whilst some days were colder than others; even requiring the need for a stop for hot jasmine tea at the Japanese gardens in Golden Gate Park (no great sorrow in that), but we simply took each hour at a time; enjoying the days as they happened. The Ginge experienced his first ever Diner-breakfast and we watched baseball whilst drinking local ales and eating pizza by the slice. We boogied to the music of soul singers in unknown parking-lots and hiked up outrageously steep hills, just to see what was on the other side - usually an incredible and unexpected view. Everywhere we walked, our paths were flanked by beautiful views of houses painted in soft hues, the ocean with its rolling bay mist and clunking cable car tracks. I could have happily ambled along there for the whole four weeks, but we just so happened to have other places to visit - more on that soon...     

Home James

I'm here, I made it! Crikey, it's been a long time. We have just got back from the States after a pretty lusho time in California and I've got so much to tell and show you. I promise to do so sparingly, to save you from an onslaught of holiday snaps and will get to it asap. Right now though, I'm still a bit jet-lagged, so will leave you with some lovely lanterns from Chinatown in San Francisco. It's just as well I love England so much, otherwise I might hitch myself straight back onto the next flight to that wonderful city, but truth be told, I am very happy to be home! 

In the spirit of that, here are some links to things which have made me smile today:

1. Tiger face paint over at Dear Olive. 

2. Breathtaking new prints from At Home with Red.

3. A stunning new wedding from Tori - she's just so good! 

4. A lovely new song from Mumford & Sons, from the film Brave - go and see it when it opens in the UK, it really is amazing!