Our California Adventure - Disney to Carmel

After three days and two nights on the road (captured in my previous post New Road), we rolled into Disneyland on the 7th day of our trip. This experience was somewhat different from our journey through the desert. I felt like Brigham Young must have felt after months on the trail as he crested the rim of Salt Lake Valley - hallelujah, we're here! Not that I minded the desert. I mean rocks, scruffy ground cover, lizards, motels Butch Cassidy stayed in - it's all great. But we were ready for a little pampering which we certainly got at Disney's Grand California Resort. Here's some shots of our digs. First the day planner area, where the grand plan is reviewed, documented, and as needed refreshed.

And the rehab area, where we rest, tidy up and administer our meds.

And of course, the post-trauma cocktail area, where we kill off as many brain cells as needed to make doing the same thing again tomorrow fresh and interesting.

Then there's the pool.

Actually, I should say one of the pool areas. In typical Disney form, there were multiple pools and hot tubs to choose from. Unfortunately, all we did was look as the temps were cool and our bones were creaky.

The first night's entertainment was a cruise around the Disney Marketplace.

The crowds were animated and enjoying themselves (like the tribe shown above), and there were three or four live music groups performing on the promenade, all very talented and entertaining. After stretching our legs and taking in the music for a bit, we had a light supper in the open air and hit the hay. We knew we had a big day coming up.

The next morning we explored the California Adventure, the last Disney theme park on our dance card. Here's a selfie of me admiring my outfit for the day.

Now when I say explore, that's what I mean. Over the years as we made repeated visits to Disney World theme parks, we began to look past the rides and shows (which are consistently interesting on their own) to the overall design, structure and support systems that make the parks work. Pretty nerdy, but as career managers, Nancy and I have always been interested in how things get done. And Disney is a Mecca of process integration. So we cruised the park thoroughly, which was not difficult as compared to Disney World, the Disneyland parks are quite compact (owing no doubt to the difference in price between choice real estate in the Golden State and Florida swamp land). 

The California Adventure was fun and typically well organized, but sort of built on top of itself to conserve space. We also noted that the percentage of space dedicated to young children (the 5-10 year old crowd) was larger than we were used to. There were a few attractions similar to items at Disney World, but for the most part we found the park unique which makes up in part for its relatively small size. Here are a few highlights. First, the map, just to give the general layout. 

 

The busiest attraction is the roller coaster called California Screamin'. It's sort of a cross between Hollywood Studios' Rockin' Roller Coaster (with its accelerated, flat-rail start) and Space Mountain without the dome.

Not being a roller coaster fan (retired from that in my 20s), I can't really give it a personal rating. But it looked like the riders were having a great time.

This next ride, called the Golden Zephyr, is more my speed. Actually, it's my top speed. 

 

The large silver cars swing out a few degrees as the ride rotates, giving one the sense of fright about the same as aggressive porch swinging. Just my style.

However, in my defense, I do like the fast rides that don't involve much altitude (and therefore don't offend my acrophobia). Here are my Bride and I zooming around the Radiator Springs racetrack from the movie Cars, a California version of EPCOT's Test Track. Notice, as instructed, I have all body parts tucked firmly inside the vehicle. 

But mainly, our day was an extended stroll through the unique fantasy that is a Disney theme park, taking in the sights, appreciating the sense of charm and creativity engineered into every corner, and observing the wide diversity (in all ways) of our fellow theme park goers. Disney parks are always great people-watching venues. Here's a final shot of one of the 10 year olds (at least at heart) with his trading-pin adorned backpack and water bottle clip, just  letting the fun of the moment flow over him. I realize that this isn't everyone's cup of tea. But it should be.

On Friday, the 9th day of the trip, we loaded up and headed for Cathy and Matt's place in Fremont. L.A. traffic being what it is, this was about a six hour trip, plus stops. Once we cleared the city, it was mostly wide open farm land accented by periodic, overpriced gas and food establishments. Here are a few of the sites from the drive.

This first one we believe is of an almond tree orchard (or some kind of nut). These trees went on for 100 miles.

We also saw a lot of this - bees set out in portable hives at frequent intervals, to make the nut trees, well, nutty.

These orchards were quite striking in full blossom with white to light pink blooms.  And were often interspersed with new orchards in the making. 

 In contrast, we saw quite a few of these as well.

Not only was the site of these cattle herded together so closely to restrict movement a little unsettling, their aroma was overwhelming. I'd like to add beefsteak to sausage and laws as items one shouldn't observe being made.

There were quite a few of these signs along the way which we believe were held over from the drought of 2009-10. However, they seem to still be appropriate with the recent dry spell California has been experiencing.

 

Of course, over the last couple of weeks going from one extreme to another, California has been hammered by rain storms threatening flooding and mud slides. A nice even keel just isn't their way, I'm guessing.

Toward the end of the drive the northern California landscape shifted from fairly flat farm land to rolling hills, somewhat reminiscent of western Texas.

Just about happy hour, we pulled into Cathy and Matt's apartment complex in Fremont and settled in for a few days stay.

They have a comfortable two-bedroom place with a lot of storage and a generous balcony, with this view overlooking the pool area.

Once we had cleared the road dust from our palates, we began the process of unloading the cargo we had trucked across the country - one cello in carrying case and about 25 cubic feet of wedding presents. The process actually continued on for several days before all the goods were unpacked, inspected and placed in their new storage areas (occasionally resulting in some lesser-valued, temporary appliance, dish or linen being displaced and queued up for relocation to Goodwill).

On Saturday, we had a fun outing to help Cathy buy her first set of golf clubs. Then on Sunday, she tried them out at the range. First here's the old man demonstrating proper form (lifted directly out of my double-bogey plus game these days).

 
Then Cathy, following suit.

Then over to the putting green for a few pointers on lag putts.

And finally, the most important pointer - how to retrieve your ball from the cup without throwing your back out.

After golf, we stopped by a local watering hole named The Vine that Cathy refers to as "Dominick's West", in reference to the similar, mostly outdoor, legendary gathering place on the south side of U of M's main campus. Here's Matt modeling a Mason jar of a favorite brew.

And a wider shot of the charming setting.

Here's the three U of M grad's sufficiently mellowed out from their apres golf.

 

On Monday, we took our big outing to see redwoods and some of San Francisco. Here are a few shots from Muir Woods National Park. I mean, these trees are big.

Here's an exhibit of the cross section of one of these behemoths about the same size as the living trees we saw that day. The date on the innermost ring is in the 900s AD. Wow.

After marveling at these natural wonders, we drove back to the city. Here's a shot of the happy riders, content to lounge in the back seat of Cathy's G6 while Matt does the driving.

We stopped at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch and a stroll around the pier.

Here's a shot of the tourists. Yes, that's "The Rock" in the background.

We also stumbled across this community of sea lions barking up a storm for the onlookers and doing their best to push each other into the harbor. Brought back memories of chaperoning birthday parties for certain 10 year old girls.

I also noticed this unusual cable car. Unusual because it reads D.C. Transit.

Turns out San Francisco buys old cable cars from defunct systems and refurbs them for their own use. Must be less expensive than building them from scratch.

These pictures don't really do it justice, but here's a couple shots of our narrow and windy path down the famous Lombard Street.

And most of the residential streets we went through on our way out of the city looked like this. Can you say parking brake?

On Tuesday, the 12th day of the trip, Cathy and Matt returned to work after the three day weekend. Nancy and I took a final side trip down the coast a ways to Carmel, which is a quaint seaside town, home to Pebble Beach Golf Club and Clint Eastwood, who owns a popular restaurant on the main drag. Here's a shot of the Pacific from the downtown Carmel beach.

And a shot on the beach looking north to the golf course.

  I found this bunny exploring the beach. 

And this guy, hunting for errant golf balls. Hey, it never hurts to look.

We met this crowd of fellow beach walkers, but couldn't keep up with their pace so I'm not sure where they're from.

On the way home we stopped off in Monterey, which is just north of Carmel. Here's a shot of the touristy but charming harbor area.

While walking around the pier shops we found these guys, sunning themselves on a floating deck. Feeling a bit steamy myself, I shed my duds and joined in. Can you tell which one is me?

Yes, I'm the one just a cut above. More watching than actually mingling.

On our last day in Fremont, we took it easy, resting up for the return to the road. But we did take a long walk through the city park across the avenue from the apartment. And what a park. Huge, with lots of sports facilities, a variety of wildlife and a lake. Here's a couple of shots of some of the locals we ran into.

There were so many of these guys, squirrels as it turns out, popping up from holes all over the park, following us on our walk, and standing on their hind legs staring at us, that at first we thought they were prairie dogs. Cute. We also ran across this flock of as yet unidentified birds hard at work uh....just being birds.

Here's a final shot of the park taken on our walk around the lake. A truly beautiful spot.

We closed out our visit to Fremont with a final happy hour, where I mixed and presented this jug to Cathy. She and Matt are ready to carry on the tradition.

That brings the California portion of our trip to a close. Watch for the fifth and final chapter, The Return Home - An Unexpected Journey. Should be posted in a week or so.