Author Archives: Katja

19/7: Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is a small, slightly odd but beautiful park just south of Monterey.   The trees in this rugged piece of coastline is an endemic species, the Monterey cypress.   There is something with the wind in these trees, how it is a part of them.     Some ofContinue reading “Chapter 288: Point Lobos State Natural Reserve”

19/7: The name Moss Landing written on the map made me think of King’s Landing in Game of Thrones. We stopped to eat lunch there, and I’m sorry to say, but Moss Landing didn’t seem at all as magical as the King’s Landing of the TV show and books. But the name is pretty, allContinue reading “Chapter 287: Moss Landing”

19/7: Understandably, mom wanted to see some coastal redwoods. So we drove up into the mountains north of Santa Cruz to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. An incredible chronology. This tree was older than Christianity, before it was felled in the middle of the 20th centry. Mom was amazed. I thought: Wait til you seeContinue reading “Chapter 286: Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park”

18-19/7: The night we spent at the Pigeon Point Hostel, just by the lighthouse. We arrived just as the sun was going down, and when the girl who checked us in heard that we were from Sweden, she told us that we just had to try the hot tub next to the lighthouse. As itContinue reading “Chapter 285: Pigeon Point Lighthouse”

18/7: By afternoon, we arrived in Santa Cruz. I had heard so much nice about Santa Cruz. It was supposed to be this really cozy little town. And sure, it was cute. But not the amazing place everyone had tried to make it out as. Maybe we just got there on the wrong afternoon, andContinue reading “Chapter 284: Santa Cruz”

18/7: I arrived in San Francisco at the 10th street Hertz office, returning Hanna’s and my silver Toyota Camry. This was also the location of my departure, in mom’s and my yellow Chevrolet Aveo. Not a very inspiring part of San Francisco. Maybe that made it slightly easier sitting down behind the wheel and gettingContinue reading “Chapter 283: So starts the second roadtrip”

Now, in the end of August: I keep on writing these posts, as if I have to live up to someones expectations. I feel like I made a commitment, and now I want to see it through. But, to be honest, I think the only one who will notice if I stop the retelling here,Continue reading “Chapter 282: Interlude – as time goes by”

Leaving San Francisco might be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a traveler. And I don’t really know why. It’s not as if I haven’t liked other places I’ve been to. La Paz will always have a special place in my heart. So will the Namib Desert, Iceland, Vancouver Island and Seattle.Continue reading “Chapter 281: Don’t you know you’ll never want to turn back”

July: For most of us, the only things that remains after we’re gone are the memories that we’ve left behind. Whatever we left with the people we met in our lives. The memories are our legacies. This was a thought that grew big in me during my last days in San Francisco. Leaving a placeContinue reading “Chapter 280: Legacies”

18/7: One of the most touristy things you can do in San Francisco is to ride on the cable car. They are the old, mechanical trolleys that ran up and down the hills of San Francisco back in the day – but now there are only two lines still active. And only tourists ride onContinue reading “Chapter 279: A ride on the cable car”