Santa Cruz

Today was my final day with Leilani and Fiorella so we headed down to Santa Cruz to wander around. Our first stop was the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History where they had a big toy train set with multiple tracks set up in the lobby for kids to play with. Fiorella enjoyed controlling the trains, particularly the Disney themed one.

Next we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which I haven’t been to in many years. It was such a beautiful winter day that we sat down on a bench by the beach to eat some lunch in the sunshine. Then we walked around the boardwalk to take in the sights and sounds of the games, roller coasters and food stalls. Fiorella really enjoyed watching people go by on the roller coaster cars. We stopped and had some sweet and savory crepes before calling it a day.

Roaring Camp Railroads Redwood Forest Steam Train

The Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton take you back in time with its recreated 1880s logging camp and steam engine trains. This morning Lei, Fiorella and I rode the Redwood Forest Steam Train up to Bear Mountain and back. The nearly 90 minutes trip in the open air passenger cars takes you on the narrow-gauge tracks that wind through the redwood groves to the summit. A conductor narrates the journey, telling everyone about the history of the railroad and the forest.

It was amazing to be so close to the redwoods as we wound up and down Bear Mountain. The steam from the train created some great shots as the sunlight shone through the forest. We were also very lucky to have chosen the 11am train as the wind picked up and when we returned to Roaring Camp they announced the subsequent trains were cancelled.

Afterwards we stopped at the Italian restaurant Casa Nostra in Ben Lomond for lunch. While the name and logo were slightly unfortunate, the food was delicious. I had a chicken parmigiana with roasted vegetables.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Last night I drove down with my cousin Leilani and her daughter Fiorella to their new home in Boulder Creek, which is located in between San Jose and Santa Cruz. It’s a cute little town surrounded by redwoods, so it was appropriate that today we ventured to the local tourist attraction, Big Basin Redwoods State Park (which thankfully was open and not impacted by the federal government shutdown).

The park was established in 1902 as the first ever state park in California. It features different trails going through ancient old-growth redwoods and other vegetation spread across over 18,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We wandered around the Redwood Loop Trail, which is a flat half mile trail that loops around some of the significant trees in the park, including the Mother and Father of the Forest. The trail has different sign posts along the way where you can read the trail brochure to learn about the forest environment and adaptation of the redwoods to survive. It's a great trail if you have small children or mobility issues.

Here are just a few of the many photos I took while we walked around the park:

 

 

Monterey Bay Aquarium

On our drive back to the Bay Area we stopped in Monterey so that I could visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was last there when I was in primary school, so it was exciting to go back and see the present day exhibitions. Our first stop was for the feeding of the sea otters, which happens three times a day and always attracts a big crowd. The sea otters were very playful with each other and fun to watch.

The mission of the aquarium is to educate people and inspire conservation of the ocean. There are hands on areas such as the touch pools as well as a variety of exhibitions that showcase the local ecosystems of the Monterey Bay and California coast.

My favorite exhibition was Jellies with all the different varieties of jellyfish. They looked so beautiful behind the safety of the glass as they gently floated through the water.

Viva Baja was also an interesting exhibition and featured the garden eel - which sticks out of the sand and looks like sea grass. It also has Pacific seahorses and some beautiful coral.

Hearst Castle

If you are traveling around the California central coast one stop you have to make is at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hurst worked with architect Julia Morgan to build this amazing hilltop estate from 1919 to 1947. Its style is Mediterranean Revival and the estate is filled with art and antiques that Hearst collected throughout the years.

The drive up the hill to Hearst Castle is an amazing sight in itself. It's hard to imagine how they put in the road, let alone brought up all the materials to build the estate. The views of the coast are fantastic, and there is a lot to see on the grounds.

There are two different pools on the grounds. The Neptune Pool is located outside, and is currently empty as it is undergoing repairs. This gives you a unique opportunity to see its white marble floor.

The other pool is the indoor Roman Pool, which was built using more than a million Murano glass tiles. It is beautiful and over the top in its design.

In order to see inside the buildings you need to book into tours, which are $25 each and last around an hour. Our first tour was the Grand Rooms Tour, which takes you through the main downstairs rooms of Casa Grande, including the Assembly Room, Refectory, Billiard Room and Theater. The rooms are quite dark and gothic with the wood ceilings, old church pews and tapestries hanging from the walls.

The second tour we did was the Upstairs Suites Tour, which allowed you to see the living and working quarters of Casa Grande, as well as bedrooms for guests and Mr. Hearst himself. This tour takes you up the winding staircases to the top levels of the house and the tour guide provides you with interesting stories about what it was like to actually be a guest of Hearst. It was quite fascinating and definitely the better of the two tours we went on.

When we returned back down to the Visitor Center we went to the Hearst Castle Theater to watch the 40 minute movie Hearst Castle - Building The Dream about the Hearst family and the building of the estate. The film is a mixture of reenactments with actors and some original film footage that paints Hearst in a very favorable light (aka no mention of the mistress who lived across the hall from him at Hearst Castle). If you plan to visit do give yourself most of the day to explore the grounds and take in the different tours.

California Central Coast

There are many small towns that dot the coast of California as you drive along Highway 1. While we were in the central coast we stopped at a few of them during this trip. We based ourselves in Cambria at the Fogcatcher Inn, which is located just across the street from Moonstone Beach. There you can stroll along the 1.5 mile boardwalk that gives you great views of Moonstone Beach and the ocean, as well as some encounters with ground squirrels that may pop up along the boardwalk.

The coastal town of Cayucos is where my cousin had her wedding. Its downtown area is quite cute and you can get some fresh cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company. Their original brown butter sea salt cookie is one of the best I have ever tasted. You can hit the beach or walk out along the pier for a great view of the town and any surfers trying to catch a wave.

Further south along Highway 1 is Morro Bay, where you can get up close to Morro Rock via Coleman Park. The rock dominates the coast line so it was nice to be able to walk around part of its base for a different perspective.

Finally, if you head north to San Simeon you can visit not only Hearst Castle, but also the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. We were able to see hundreds of elephant seals lying on the beach as it is currently molting season. It was such an amazing sight and one of the highlights of the trip.

Yosemite National Park

It's always good to get the chance to visit somewhere new, so I managed to convince my cousin Leilani that we should do a mini two day trip to Yosemite National Park while I am home. It takes around 4 hours to drive to Yosemite from the Bay Area. Since it is winter time and other roads are currently closed for the season, we entered the park at the Highway 140 entrance along the Merced River. Despite the sunny weather it was very cold outside, especially in the shade. You could see ice on the rocks and in parts of the creeks and rivers throughout the park. As we drove around the Yosemite Valley yesterday afternoon we caught so many iconic sights, starting with El Capitan.

The best views of the day were when we stopped and walked around Swinging Bridge, which allowed us to get some great shots in the afternoon sunlight.

 Next we stopped at Sentinel Bridge and got our first good look at Half Dome.

After a quick stop at the Yosemite Village store for some souvenirs we hit the road and headed south to the Wawona Hotel, our accommodation for the evening. Along the way we discovered the famous Tunnel View, which was especially beautiful with the nearly full moon rising at dusk. The Wawona Hotel is a Victorian era lodge that normally closes during winter, but they were open for a few weeks over the holidays. We ate some cheese and wine in our room at Clark Cottage before heading into the main building for dinner. We passed time while waiting for a table in the dining room by sitting in the guest lounge and listening to piano player Tom Bopp. It was quite enjoyable as we played some competitive games of Uno and drank our hot cocktails. Dinner was very filling and I regretted eating all that wine and cheese beforehand as we went back to our room for the night.

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast before checking out of the hotel and heading down to the Mariposa Grove to see the giant sequoia trees. Normally at this time of year the Mariposa Grove Road would be closed, but since the first major snowfall hasn't happened yet we were able to venture in. As we entered the parking area it quickly became apparent that we were going to have trouble finding somewhere to park, We did three laps of the parking lot, but had no luck finding a space. Considering the amount of snow along the roadside and ice on the trails that may have been a good thing from a safety standpoint, but it was disappointing not to be able to stop and explore.

We headed back toward the Yosemite Valley and were able to enjoy the sights of the forest from Wawona Road in the daylight. We stopped once again at the Tunnel View with its amazing vantage point of the Yosemite Valley that includes El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome.

We did a quick drive through parts of the valley we didn't cover yesterday, including the Curry Village and Upper and Lower Pines campground areas before heading back to Yosemite Village to park and walk around. We explored the Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Museum and Indian Village before grabbing a late lunch from the deli. Next we stopped at the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, which had great views of both the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls at its entrance. As we walked up to the viewpoint for the Lower Yosemite Fall I was somewhat shocked to see the number of people who were climbing up the large boulders in the creek to get closer to the fall, especially as it was starting to get dark and there was a lot of ice on the rocks and in the creek. I really hope no one fell in!

Our last stop before leaving the park was catching sunset at El Capitan. It was quite beautiful and peaceful as people stood in the meadow and watched the sunlight fade on the granite rocks. I couldn't think of a better way to end our two day Yosemite adventure.