SF to Seattle (late February)

Back in SF, I decided to take advantage of my midweek freedom by going to see the mating sea lions at Ana Nuevo state park. They limit the number of people who have access so weekends sell-out months in advance. I had been warned that it was not a good activity if you don’t like seeing multi-ton animals fight to the near-death. I didn’t see any real fighting but, I did see lots of adorable baby sea lions. More pics coming soon. In the meantime, this is one of the park’s protected dunes.

After many weeks of sharing a rented car with a perpetually late colleague, I decided to fly to SF to get my car out of a parking garage then drive it up to Seattle. 800+ miles is a lot to cover alone in 2 days.

Here are some pretty roadside fruit trees already in bloom in February.

Back East for the Holidays (late December 2001)

Manhattan skyline from NJ at sunrise.

I flew East for Christmas and caught this view from River Road on my way from Hoboken, NJ to CT. My first view of the skyline post Sept. 11. The tall building is the Empire State Building.

Marcy’s neighbors in Old Lyme, CT have life-size fake Clydesdales in the yard. The fake horses accompany a helicopter.

Local CA trips (December 2001)

Stinson Beach, a 45-minute drive from my former apartment in San Francisco along a breathtakingly beautiful albeit edge-hugging curvy drive (car sickness prevention required).

Typical misty, cold winter day. People are on the beach nonetheless. Stinson's a wide, sandy beach that's reportedly home ground for sharks due to cold water and likelihood of seals.

Route 1 from Stinson Beach; beautiful Marin County diving into the Pacific Ocean.

The Bay Model is a little-known attraction just outside of San Francisco in Sausalito. It was originally built in the late ‘60s to model how a major landfill proposal, one which would have essentially transformed the Bay into no more than a wide river, would impact the vast water system. Folks in hippie-Berkley went bezerk at the proposal, they built the to-scale model, and the powers that be decided it wasn't such a good idea.

Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to huge-step around the model pretending you’re Godzilla.

The Monterey Aquarium's jellyfish; a 4-hour drive south of San Francisco via scenic route 1).

The aquarium is...OK. I know many will argue otherwise but, the Boston Aquarium is more entertaining and less expensive and it has seals. Monterey has sea otters and a great view. The sea otters are pretty damned cute and have an interesting recent history of recovery from the brink of extinction. Otter-cam.

Monterey Coast. Spectacular!

Many oil painters along the walkway--can't blame them. You can't drive around the Pebble Beach portion of the Monterey peninsula without paying a $18 drive-through fee. I think I should notify the Stamford, CT lawyer who succeeded in getting thoroughfare in Greenwich.

The Casa de Fruta is a roadside fruit stand on steroids. They have a Casa de Fruta, a Casa de Nuts, a Casa de Chocolate, a Casa de Coffee, a Casa de Liquor and more including a small amusement park. I would have ignored the 50 or so highway 152 signs if Nancy Olds hadn’t suggested in advance that I stop. I made many purchases at the Casa de Nuts.