Category Archives: Uncategorized

21/7: Los Olivos is a small town in the middle of the rolling vineyard hills in the Santa Ynes Valley, just north of Santa Barbara. The main street is lined with wine tasting rooms, art galleries and exclusive restaurants. In mom’s fancy guidebook, they recommended one of the restaurants there. So, we tried it out.Continue reading “Chapter 297: Los Olivos”

21/7: When we woke up in San Luis Obispo, the sun was shining, so mom wanted to go to the beach. But, when we arrivied in Pismo Beach, the mist had rolled in form the ocean and only the crazy surfers dared venture into the water.   So we continued on our way, into theContinue reading “Chapter 296: Pismo Beach & Gaudalupe”

At several hostels that we stayed at in California, they had signs urging us to use as little water as possible. At the hostel in Moterrey, they had special coins that you fed into the shower, each coin worth one minute of water. When checking in, every person got four coins. It was not thatContinue reading “Chapter 295: For the aspiring hydrologist”

20/7: Highway 1 starts north of San Francisco and runs past Los Angeles, but what people usually mean when they talk about Highway 1 is the narrow stretch of road built on the high cliffs starting south of Monterey and ending north of San Luis Obispo. Big Sur. It’s famous. And now I really understandContinue reading “Chapter 294: Driving down Highway 1”

20/7: The historic center of Monterey was built by the Spannish – and it does look kind of like a Zorro movie. That is, the architecture reminds of the old Mexican style. I guess. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to neither Mexico nor southern Spain.   It was pretty, but also thick with touristsContinue reading “Chapter 293: Monterey”

20/7: Monterey used to be an industrial town, built around the fisheries and the fish canning factory. The cannery has been closed for a long time now, but in it’s place an aquarium has been built. The most impressive aquarium that I’ve ever visited.         They had a special exhibit with jellyfish.Continue reading “Chapter 292: Monterey Aquarium”

19/7: High up on a cliff in Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, looking out over the ocean, I had my last rainier cherries. These yellow and red berries that don’t look ripe, but are so sweet and refreshing and not at all as heavy as the other, deep red kind. We ate so many cherries,Continue reading “Chapter 291: My last rainier cherries”

19/7: At one end of the 17 Mile Drive lies the little beach community Carmel-By-The-Sea. Odd place. The houses are built so close to each other, it’s as if the huddle together to be safe from the winter storms – but the houses in themselves are big and shiny and the place reeks of money.Continue reading “Chapter 290: Carmel-By-The-Sea”

19/7: Just south of Monterey Bay a piece of land juts out into the Pacific. It’s rugged and the strong ocean winds make the trees grow low, but the dramatic scenery has made it the perfect spot for really rich people with a longing for the wild to build their architectually experimental houses. There isContinue reading “Chapter 289: 17 Mile Drive”

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”