Date:                           August 30, 2007

Location:                    Watsonville, CA                   

1200:

The excitement of turning our home into a bus is filling our days as we count down the remaining time we have at the Santa Cruz KOA.  There is always a list of chores that must be accomplished before we are ready to venture forth and search out new adventures, but those chores are getting accomplished and Connie and I are getting fully in our roles of adventurers and travelers.

            One of the saddest chores is the necessity of bidding our good byes to the area that we love and have grown to love even more each and every day.  It is with this heavy burden and saddened heart that we traveled to Monterey and a plan to visit, for one last time, the Aquarium.  This is an establishment that we contributed to on first arriving in the Monterey Bay region and an organization that we may just continue supporting.  It is far more than just a tourist trap of fish caged in a glass container.  The designers of the exhibits here have actually brought the sea into the viewable area and allow us to actually experience the life and environment that they are struggling to save.

            As Connie and I were strolling along the Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey we decided to search out some little corners that we might have missed or evaded on our previous visits.  This led us to a small restaurant that looked somewhat appetizing, but we were not yet hungry.  It also led us to a few more postcard stands, but we were not yet in the need of more cards to mail to friends and family.  The weather was just this side of prefect and we were fully enjoying the very gentle breeze from the bay and glorious warmth of a noon day bright sun. Monterey is a beautiful example of heaven on a normal day, but the sea and the sun seem to join to make it glisten just a little brighter and feel just a little more perfect today.  The bejeweled, glistening water seem to draw us further and further out on the pier and toward the secured boats tied up along the older section of the wharf.  We were being captivated by a perfect afternoon along the diamond bright shimmering waves of a calm Pacific Beach as we listened to the halyard symphony being accompanied by the sea lion chorus of echoing barks.  It was a moment of which long memories are made and we were captivated by what we thought might be our last memory of Monterey.

            As we approached a large 65 foot sailing vessel we noticed a deck hand seemingly preparing to either take a sail or securing his lines from a just complete excursion into the brine fog that lay just off the shore.  Needless to say, he caught our attention and we slowly ventured closer to watch his labors.  We noticed a sign on the boat that eluded to a “Science Sail” sponsored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a phone number to contact for reservations.  We had also noticed another person that seemed to be taking as much interest in the duties as we were.  A short conversation later and we were informed that this other voyeur was awaiting a sail on this vessel and that he had made reservations some time earlier on the internet.  The sail was to take place at 2:00 pm and it was now 1:30.  Being as shy and unassuming as I could be I yelled over the railing at the deck hand and asked him if there was a way he could add 2 more passengers to his soon to be sailing school of lucky science participants.

            To make a long story shorter, as it should have been from beginning, Connie and I managed to join a small group of people as we ventured out on a 3 hour sail around the Monterey Bay on the 65 foot research vessel that had been designed specifically for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Derek Bayis, the Ketch-cat’s name, is a one of a kind sailing boat crossed with a lobster boat and fitted with 2 self supporting carbon fiber masts.  It was an awesome experience.  The sail was both a tourist excursion and a scientific exploration of Monterey Bay.  We gathered sea plankton and classified it by viewing it on a display microscope and we tested the salinity and temperatures of the bay water.  We also had, on board, 2 marine biologists, a naturalist, an aquarium volunteer and sea captain that a spent more than 33 years on sailing vessels, he was maybe 34 years old.  It was perfect group of people that had enormous amounts of knowledge and the enormous desire to share it with we interlopers into their world.  It was a three hour excursion of WOW.  We were sailing on the Pacific, doing research on sea creatures and life in Monterey Bay, and enjoying it all with people that live to enjoy their job and share their love with others.  It was really cool.  Connie and I had fallen into one of those serendipitous situations that come along all to infrequently, and today we managed to grab hold and fully enjoy the treasure that had been placed at our hands.  What a way to say good bye to my newest small city favorite place in the world.

            To add a final perfect cap to our day of farewell we walked the 2 miles along Cannery Row to the Fishhopper Restaurant for our evening repast.  If you can remember way back to our first to Monterey Bay and Cannery Row this was our newest favorite place to eat and a fitting place for us to bid our final adieu.  Again the food was wonderful, the scenery Monterey Bay and the wine a perfect touch.  It was also not cheap, but welcome to and a sad farewell to central California.

Date:                           August 22, 2007

Location:                    Watsonville, CA                   

1030:

            As I contemplate my verbal meandering this morning I am being reminded of the constant struggle in nature between the warm land and the cool moisture of the sea.  I am trying to find a way to say that the “Marine Layer” is winning the weather battle as I set in Santa Cruz.  To put that in a language that a normal person, not from California, might understand, “It is quite foggy this morning.”  If someone told me that there was an ocean over the horizon, I would have to believe them, but I sure can’t prove it. The sky is grey, the visibility is minimal and the morning is close to depressing.  It does, however, allow me time to catch up on my blogging.  The weather has been so fantastic here of late that any spare time not spent at the KOA reservation desk has been spent on the beach, or exploring the area.  There are few places more beautiful than the California coast line, especially when you can see it and the “Marine Layer” is off shore and just visible on the horizon of the ocean’s edge.

            On our last lazy day at the beach my lovely wife seemed to be experimenting with the practice of impersonating a roast in an oven.  I think that she was cooked to a medium rare, or at least to a very bright red and extremely tender to the touch.  A person would think that an adult educator would know better than expose herself to the extreme heat of a strong sun on the bright shore of the ocean with just enough cool breezes to allow you to forget that you are setting in the sun’s outdoor oven.  I was lucky enough to remember the pain of too much sun on my tummy and kept my tender skin covered, but I did manage darken my exposed suntanned extremities.  We even managed to do some reading and long over due catching up on our laziness.  It was pretty much a perfect day, albeit a warm and subtle cooking day.

            We even managed to watch some harbor seals frolic in the surf just off shore and observed the flying maneuvers of the large squadron of pelicans that are based just off the pier at Capitola.  In a very lazy way, it was a quite a full day.  We even got a chance to watch a pod of dolphins swim just off shore as they made their feeding excursion through the fertile Monterey Bay.  We all think that the dolphins are such cute and loving mammals that are so pleasurable and perfect. I wonder if the school of fish that were being devoured by this family of ravenous food consumers are of the same mind as we humans are in relation to our opinions of these cute sea creatures.  I am guessing that the sardines do not have a “Flipper” setting on their shelf, nor do they scramble to get close enough to watch a family member of Flipper’s frolic in the open sea.  If I were a sardine or any other small aquatic creature I would be promoting the tuna that is not dolphin safe.

            On another of our days free, Connie and I ventured south to my new favorite small city Monterey and the Monterey Aquarium.  If you were to close your eyes and imagine the movie version of a small sea village on the California coast of the Pacific Ocean, you are visualizing Monterey.  This is the town that has a 17 mile drive that people pay money to just drive along and be awe struck by the beauty and pure pleasure of its existence.  This is where Pebble Beach is and all of the picturesque golf courses that you only read about and few ever have the ability to actually enjoy.  This is the place where they did not construct an aquarium to look like the sea, but instead brought the sea up close enough for you to actually experience the real life wonder of coastal sea life and beauty of Mother Nature as she exist in the salty brine of an ocean.  Monterey is just that special and that picturesque and has become one of our favorite spots on the Bay coast line.  The beauty is not beyond description, because it is just as you would imagine a perfect sea coast town to be.  It is beyond appreciation, unless you are there, because it is just as perfect as you might dream it could be, yet it is real.  There are lots along Cannery Row that are not pristine and perfect, yet they still have the million dollar view that Carmel or the 17 Mile Drive enjoy.  Monterey is the place, near us, that reality and imaginary perfection collides and lives.  It is real enough to make you feel at home and perfect enough to make you think that you have found heaven.  The scent of sea breezes, the sound of harbor seals barking their dissatisfaction with neighboring seals and the pure beauty of a California Coast Line view and it is all punctuated with the classic small sea village atmosphere of small shops and many, many restaurants.  It is Monterey and everywhere else is just a comparison.

            Being in Monterey one tends to get hungry for seafood.  It might be the aromas that emanate form nearly every building, or just the atmosphere, but it is a reality and it hit us as we walked along Cannery Row listening to the music of a halyard symphony accompanying the chorus of sea lions barking in the distance.  We have sampled many offerings from Monterey, but we had not ventured into Bubba Gump’s, until this visit.  Monterey is the home of the original Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant and everyone must visit it at least once.  Forrest was not there on the day we visited, but the atmosphere was filled with his naivety.  To get our waiters attention we had a license plate to flip up that either said “Run Forrest Run” or “Stop Forrest Stop.”  It actually worked very well.  One flip of the plate and Forrest’s emissary immediately appeared at our table to satisfy our wishes.  By the way, the food was very good and I now have a large beer stein that has the Bubba Gump symbol on it, and the Monterey name below the symbol; which now has a bouquet of hot pink carnations in it.  We may not go to Bubba’s every time we go to Monterey; there are too many good places to eat.  But, we had to go once and we were not disappointed.

            It is time to go and do chores and explore Santa Cruz.  I am sure that many more adventures await our exploration.  Some may even be to the west of us, but that is for a much later blog.

Date:                           August 12, 2007

Location:                    Watsonville, CA                   

0900:

            The winds of time are still blowing and the world is still turning and Connie and I are still in California.  As you might have discerned by the length of time between my entries, we have been very busy and other wise occupied. I have not had nor chosen to spend the time it takes to pontificate endlessly on my web blog page.  I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It is just a real thing.

            We have been spending a lot of time working at our KOA positions at the Santa Cruz campground.  I am sad to report that, due to facts and circumstances of which I will not bore you, it has been a lot closer to work than it should have been.  Connie and I are still trying to find ways to make the efforts we put forth to be more play than work, but reality and differing management styles has added just a bit too much salt to the mixture for our taste at times. But, as with time, this too will pass.  Being busy and putting a lot of effort forth does not bother us, playing can be a lot of work.  It is when you have to work to find the fun that the spoiled brat in me arises and rears it’s ugly head.

            The weather here has been in the mid to near upper 70’s every day.  On most days, the “marine layer” burns off by noon and we are pampered with the most beautiful deep blue sky filled with the lush green of eucalyptus tress and all of this enjoyed in the surrounding comfort of cool ocean breezes.  It is very difficult to not find perfection in that scene.  It can make most any discomfort with personnel seem so very insignificant.  I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  We know that we are in reality and not heaven, because sometimes we are less happy than other times, but the feeling of pleasure and pure happiness is seldom further away than a drive to the beach or a look at the beauty of a west coast sunset.

            On our days off, Connie and I are quite good at finding new and exciting places to play, even if we have played there before.  Our last full effort excursion was to our new favorite city, San Francisco.  We stayed a block away from Fisherman’s Wharf and within walking distance of China Town.  In that one declarative sentence I pretty much summed up our week-end.  Which was a Tuesday and Wednesday actually being retired you can get your days confused quite often.

            While at Fisherman’s Wharf we spent a lot of money eating, but it provided a lot of very big smiles and satisfied pallets.  Our first dinner was at Scoma’s Restaurant which is on the old section of Fisherman’s Wharf and is one of the most successful food establishments west of the Mississippi.  We showed up on their door step without a reservation on a slow Monday and, luckily, only had to wait 45 minutes for a table.  We were pleased to find out that they have a very nice bar and a very friendly and talkative bartender that makes a pretty good Manhattan, for a west-coaster.  Our meal was truly an epicurean delight.  The fish was so fresh I think it still had sea water in some of it. The restaurant has a reputation for having some of the freshest seafood in San Francisco and we have no argument to that fact.  They do charge for the pleasure of enjoying their efforts, but seldom does a satisfied full tummy leave the establishment with anything less than glowing reviews.  Connie and I left to walk to our Hotel with very satisfied tummies, a smile on our face and a dent in our wallet.

            The next morning we ventured into Pergaminos, a 1960’s style coffee house, for a true home cooked breakfast.  If I had not been there I would have guesses that the establishment was a movie set and too typical hippie to be real.  There was a young “shill” standing on the street dragging in patrons to an already over filled small dining area.  The décor was right out of an Alice B. Toklas movie and none of the table service matched.  The spoons were not a match to the forks; the dishes were from a collection of garage sales, and we had to get our own coffee in real ceramic cups that were left over from the last Salvation Army dish sale.  If the wait staff was not a throw back to the 60’s they played the part with aplomb.  They were very friendly, gregarious, and seemingly just coming home from some psychedelic trip.  Of course the coffee was wonderful, the food awesome and the experience one we will keep in our memories for a long time.

            We then ventured the short distance to China Town.  It was a mere mile through the streets of San Francisco to the Gate to China Town and a trip into another world.  The largest Chinese population in the world, outside of Asia, lives here and we fully enjoyed the excursion into their “homeland.”  We even had lunch at the Empress China Restaurant, which sets atop one of the tallest buildings in China Town. It is the place to visit and the definite place to eat if you visit this area.  There are pictures of movie stars, presidents and other dignitaries on every wall and lining the hall way entrance.  I offered to have my picture take for posting, but I guess no one had a camera. 

            As I mentioned at the onset of my blog offering, we spend a lot of time “working at play” or is it “playing at work?”  With the time that is spare we do find many adventures to fill our memories.  There are times when we find it difficult to understand how we were so fortunate to find this opportunity, and then there are other times.  There is little doubt that as the days unfold in our very near future we will have many more adventures and pleasures to regale in our blog.  It may even be about the fun we are having at the Santa Cruz KOA.  The future is always a mystery and full of portending adventures. 

            Today is another day with crystal clear blue sky, the temperature at 11:30 is 72 and will not go much higher and there is a gentle breeze spinning my windsock.  In short “It is great day at the Santa Cruz KOA.”