Boise and beyond

I had a very emotional morning.  Boise has an Anne Frank Memorial, which is also dedicated to Human Rights.  Well, as soon as I saw the Memorial I started crying.  It just hit me in the gut and then I started reading all the quotes that were written on the walls that surrounded the main part of the Memorial.  I was a real wreck, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

After that I went on an Historical Tour of Boise.  It was really cute.  We took an old trolley around town and were shown great neighborhoods.  The neighborhoods were very eclectic in style and they had excellent examples of almost every architectural style up to the 40's.  They even had a Sears house, which was remarkably complex looking.  Hard to believe that you could order them out of a catalog.  We drove by the Capitol building and heard all about their corrupt politicians.  We also went through the Basque area of the city.  There is a very large and healthy Basque section of Basque restaurants and stores, even a historical museum and sports club.  There used to be a Chinatown but it was torn down many years ago and there is no trace of it left.

Next I moved on to Hagertown for the Fossil Beds.  The Fossil Beds are a National Monument only you can't see them because they are too fragile.  You can only get about a mile from them and look in the correct direction.  It is the silliest thing I have ever seen.  Oh, it is also along the Oregon Trail and you are supposed to be able to still see the ruts made by the wagons.  I'm not sure I saw anything but I decided I did so there trip wouldn't be a total loss.  It was a laugh if nothing else.  The Visitor Center did have fossils so I did actually see some.

All in all it was a very good day.

Totally Wasted Day

I drove from Moses Lake, where I slept last night, to Boise, Idaho today period.  That is all I accomplished.  I had hoped to take a trolley tour of Boise but they only do one tour a day at 11:00 AM, it was almost 4:00 PM and besides I had a bad address.  It seems AAA hadn't gotten a change of address in time to update the book.

Though I like Idaho already - the gas is under $3.80 after only being able to find the cheapest gas of $4.15 in California, Oregon or Washington.

Tomorrow should be more interesting.  Actually anything would be more interesting.

Museum of Glass

Today I went to Tacoma, which is the other half of Seattle, though they would be offended to hear it said.  I went to visit the Museum of Glass.  I had never heard of an entire art museum dedicated to one medium. It was an interesting building to start off,part of it is a cone, like an upside down waffle cone.  They have an amphitheater where they invite artists to give demonstrations on glass blowing or other glass creations. They have a fairly large display of early Dale Chihuly's.  These were done before he lost his eye in a car accident and started just designing.  The work is simpler and I found much more beautiful.  The museum has other collections some of which are quirky and some are very serious and others are just beautiful for beauty's sake.  It was an enchanting morning.

My afternoon consisted of driving across Oregon to the Grand Coulee Dam.  It was fascinating, as soon as I crossed the Cascades Oregon became a desert.  There were mesas and flat lands filled with scrub and boulders.  The mesas had a lot more green on them then Arizona or Utah desert mesas did.  All through the mesas runs the Columbia River.  The Grand Coulee Dam is so incredibly different from the Hoover Dam.  It is one mile long but not nearly as tall.  It doesn't have the physical presence of the Hoover Dam.  It started as a reclamation project and as way to put people back to work.  It was finished in 1942 and allows irrigation and power for the area.

Seattle revisited

Well I have revisited Seattle and re-evaluated the city.  I must say I certainly had a better time this visit.  The day started out rainy as I drove from the hotel to Seattle center but by the time I had parked my car the sun had come out.  That alone made a difference, in my last visit when I never saw the sun.  This morning I took a Duck tour of the city.  I learned that the last of the Ducks currently running in America was built in 1947.  It was certainly before the disposable generation.  We had the most boring group of people on the tour.  No one had purchased the duck quaker so it was a quiet tour.  The guide worked so hard to get them to participate.  One girl and I, sitting in the back, seemed to be the only ones trying.  It was a good orientation of the city and the harbor.  We even got to see the floating house from Sleepless in Seattle.  There were some beautiful house boats and yachts docked on this man made lake.  We passed this car wash wish washed Elvis' pink cadillac every day of his performance stay.  It was even used to was a presidential car.

After the Duck ride I took a walk to the Pike's Market.  It was much further than I had expected so it did me good and I got a close look at different parts of the city.  The Duck Tour was by the Space Needle and Pike's Market seems to be on the other side of the city.  The market is huge, it goes on for the equivalent of four or five blocks.  One side seems to be almost exclusively flowers.  They are absolutely gorgeous.  The colors dazzle your eyes, you get no scent because the other side is fish and meat stalls.  There is no bad fishy smell anywhere in the market.  Each of the stalls had a clean fresh fish smell, it was really a pleasure to walk through.  The crowds were bad but most people were basically polite.

Across the street, facing the market were more fruit and vegetable stands as well as a cheese maker and several bakeries.  On every street corner there was a street performer or group.  One corner had an R & B group that had great harmony.  They were the only ones I hung out for and threw money in for.

Sunday in Oregon

Amazingly I found a UU Fellowship in Astoria, Oregon.  There are only 21 members but they are warm and of varied ages, though they do tend to be on the older side.  They do have a youth program so there must be younger members that I didn't see.  They had a guest minister in the pulpit.  She spoke of prayer and how we do it all the time without even thinking about it.  Like when we say "Don't let me be lost."  The service itself was pretty much like ours which made it very comfortable.  As always the people made me feel so welcome.  We talked about the differences between the Southwest and the Northeast.  It was a very enjoyable morning.

The big draw in Astoria is the Astoria Column that mirrors the look of Trajan's Column in Rome.  It was erected in 1926 to commemorate the pioneer days, including Lewis and Clark.  It is covered in details of the history of Astoria, unfortunately the details are done in blacks and browns.  It was almost impossible to see the details, what I could see was well done.  Even if the column isn't spectacular the view from up there was.  Astoria is at the mouth of the Columbia River and you get lots of major shipping.  This doesn't seem to to affect the sea lions.  There was a rock jetty that the sea lions haul out on at night.  I could hear them most of the evening, even late into the night from my room.  In the morning there were two bald eagles sitting on piling near the jetty.

I then drove to Seattle in the hopes that I can find things to do even on Memorial Day.

The railroad that did

Today I took a railroad tour of the area around Hood River, Oregon.  It happens to be a very pretty part of the country.  There are tremendous numbers of orchards in the hills around the area.  They are pear and apple trees for the most part and you can still see smudge pots or heaters spread out among some of the trees.  Bee hives are also placed in strategic places as well as out in wooded areas along the tracks.  There has been the same problem with hive die off out here as there was out East.  As we traveled along we did get some good looks at Mt. Hood.  Unfortunately the clouds had started to settle  so you couldn't see the top but it was still a beautiful sight.

I thought I was going on a two hour railroad tour because that is what the AAA book said the Saturday tour was.  It turns out it was four hours, not that it made any difference.  I booked first class so that I could sit upstairs in the domed part of a car.  I was seated at a table with a very pleasant couple and we talked all the way through the trip.  It made the trip go faster which helped, there are just so many trees that you can get excited about.  One orchard does look like the next one.  We stopped at one fruit distributor who also had a small retail shop.  As usual everyone went mad buying fruit and jams and things they didn't need.  I was very disciplined and bought nothing.  I am getting very good at this.

The end of the line was in Parkdale where everyone got off to have lunch.  There was also a small eclectic museum in town that we could visit for free because we were on the train.  They had walrus tusks and odd coins, old tools, but the most interesting things were tiles inset with arrowheads in artistic patterns.  Some of the patterns were pictures: a Conestoga wagon, insects, star bursts and mountains with trees.

Really Nice Day

I had a very pleasant if confusing day.  I spent the whole morning wandering around Portland.  At first I would up in the Cultural Center of town which wasn't terribly interesting.  There were some interesting buildings but mostly it  ran into the usual financial and commercial center that looked like every other center of a big city.  I walked up and down hills looking in stores until I found a charming park called Pioneer Park.  It had a waterfall, statues, fancy gates and of course a Starbucks.  Whatever, it was really well done.  I walked around some more and discovered sign that pointed to the Old Town and Chinatown.  I tried walking for a while but didn't see another sign so I went back for my car.

It took a while but I finally located the Old Town and Chinatown.  It was a hoot.  It reminded me so much of New York that I had trouble not laughing too loudly out loud.  Old Town is on the verge of gentrification and of course it runs smack into Chinatown.  You see lots of young yuppie type people on the streets as well as derelicts.  It is so SOHO in the 80's.  There are lots of lofts as well as their equivalents of brownstones.  The bones are there it just will take a few years and more pioneers to make the change happen.  Chinatown is tiny.  It may have been 4 blocks but I didn't really investigate.

After lunch I headed off to Hood River which is North East of Portland.  It is on the Columbia River, which is very impressive.  It is quite wide and looks like it flows rapidly.  The banks are tree lined and taken all together makes a beautiful impression.  I checked into the hotel and then headed downtown.  Hood River is a charming town without being cloying and overly touristy.  There are real stores as well as  shops that cater to tourist types of goods.  None of it is in your face commercial, none of it looks fake.  The town only has one main street so  it is very compact and locals are stopping at cafes as well as the tourists.  All in all I had a very pleasant afternoon as opposed to Carmel and Monterey.  I saw the tackiest chandelier that I so wanted for my entry hall.  But I didn't even ask the price.  One I didn't think it would make it home without breaking and two this trip is costing enough as it is, so no tacky chandelier.

Portland, Oregon

Today I arrived in Portland in the rain, what a surprise.  But that's not really fair because by 1:00  the sun had come out and it was a glorious day.  It was so nice I decided to spend it outside.  I found a place called the Crystal Spring Gardens.  They specialized in azaleas and rhododendron, but they have ponds with wonderful ducks and grebes, redwing blackbirds and Western jays.  I walked the paths for several hours.  It felt so good to be out of the car and into the sunlight.  They had wonderful color variation in their rhododendrons, there were even yellows, which I had never seen before.  Portland is so wet that moss grows on everything that doesn't move.

After that I went searching and found a Grotto dedicated to the Sorrowful Mother.  The Grotto is rather shallow but is very interesting to look at.  They have an elevator that takes you to the top of the hill where'll the chapels, gardens and sculpture is located.  They have done a lovely job landscaping the area.  A lot of the sculpture are copies of famous works of art.  They have a labyrinth which I walked, always a good time to reflect on your life.  They even have a monastery on the premises.  The plant material absorbs all the sound so even though there were many people around I couldn't hear a thing.  It was pleasant to walk in the silence and just hear the song of the birds.

Tomorrow I will see what downtown Portland looks like though I did drive around today.  It looks quite nice.  Lots of people walking the streets and public transportation, buses and light rail.

Fish

Today was a fishy day.  I drove to Newport, Oregon to do a Marine Discovery tour.  SInce I got there early I went to the aquarium.  It was a small but pleasant place.  The seal and sea lion display was very nice.  They had some very nice displays and a lovely touch pool.  I could only kill so much time in the aquarium.  So I went to lunch and ate as slowly as I could.  Then I went to the hotel to see if they  had a room ready for me.  I was lucky and they could accommodate me.  I immediately took a nap.

I had to be at the Marine Discovery Tour office an hour before the time of cast off.  So I arrived at a little after 5:00 only to discover that I had left my money and credit cards at the hotel.  Luckily I have a stash of cash in the car for emergencies.  Of course I had no driver's license.  The tour was a terrible disappointment.  We saw almost no sea life.  It was too rough to go out into the ocean so no whales or dolphins.  We did see one sea otter, who seemed to have wandered far afield.  There were seals hauled out on some rocks and that was it.  We were shown an oyster farm which was interesting.  But mostly we were shown boats and told about fishing.  The people were very nice and very knowledgeable.  We threw out two crab pots and pulled them in on our way back in.  It was fun to see what types of crabs we caught, they were thrown back after being examined.

Medford,OR

I'll bet no one knows what Medford, Oregon is famous for - Harry & David's and the Fruit of the Month gift. They do a lot more than that but that is one of their most remembered gifts.  They are the largest employer in Medford.   Every step that can be done by hand is done by hand.  It is amazing to see the factories.  They have extra space all laid out for rush periods like Christmas.  They have thousands of acres of fruit trees so they can grow their own fruit during the season.  The rest of the year they use fruit from specific growers who have been supplying them for over 16 years.

I wound up in Medford because it was a midpoint between other destinations and it had Harry & David's. I have to find places with something of interest to stop at otherwise I'll just drive though a state without getting a feel for it.  So far I've found the people of Oregon very kind and warm, there weather on the other hand stinks.  After a nice day or two I've had nothing but on again off again rain and it looks like it will continue this way for a while.

I didn't blog last night because they were having trouble with their internet at the hotel otherwise the place was incredible to me.  I had a real suite, a separate bedroom.  You could get lonely in the room.  The sitting room had a couch and two arm chairs and a flat screen TV and the bedroom had a flat screen TV.  I did feel like it was wasteful to give all that space to just one person but I still enjoyed it.

Two for One Treat

I got in so late last night there just wasn't time to blog.  So I am going to put two days together.  Don't worry I didn't fall off a mountain though I must say I have had my fill of mountains and pine trees.

I went to a UU Fellowship yesterday morning and I got all choked up.  It was the first time I have been homesick since I left.  II miss all of you and I got the blues.  They were lovely people with a very nice building.  They had just gotten their first settled minister a year ago and now he is leaving for family reasons.  They are going to go through the process all over again.  The service was their RE Children's Bridging Ceremony.  It was so interesting.  Each class was recognized and presented what they had learned during this school year.  The class teacher, they have only one for the whole year, explained the programs for each of the grades.  At the end those children who were moving up to the next class walked over a wooden step to signify their moving onward.  The congregation was much more tolerant of the children then our congregation ever is.  Anyway it was good to be among UUs.

In the afternoon I went to the Redwood National Park thinking that these redwoods were different from the ones at Muir Woods.  I was disappointed to learn that they all are coastal redwood and the really huge ones are in the South at Sequoia National Park at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  I'm not going back to Southern California, so I guess I missed that chance.  These redwoods seem to be older and larger than the ones in Muir Wood so I did enjoy walking around in the woods.  Before I left near the Visitors Center there is a meadow and right in the middle were about 6 elk just lying around.  It was too to take a picture but I got a great look with my binoculars.

On my way out of the Park the eclipse started.  I had purchased a little pair of viewing glasses.  I could see the moon move over the sun and then the full halo.  It had been iffy whether people would be able to see it.  It was really cloudy in the morning.  During the eclipse it didn't get really dark but got to a deep dusk.  It was very exciting.  I never saw a full eclipse before and this was a very unusual one.

I decided to go see Crater Lake today so I had to get to the other side of the mountains.  I made a reservation in Klamath Falls, little knowing that it would take until 9:30 to get there.  I collapsed when I finally got in.  It was a shame because I am now a Diamond Elite member of Choice hotels, I get free upgrades.  I had a jet tub but all I wanted to do was sleep after the strain of driving.

When I got up and looked up Crater Lake in the AAA book it said that every part of the park opened in the middle of July.  There it was again my lack of planning.  I was all ready to give up and called some place to make reservation and the woman suggested that I call because it had been a mild winter and arts might be open. Sure enough my vacation karma kicked in again.  The southern entrance, Rim Village and view were open.  It was fantastic.  They have huge banks of snow along the sides of the road so you get the idea of how much they have had through the winter.  The higher I went up the volcanos side the colder it got.  Eventually it got down to 48 degrees with a wicked wind.  Crater Lake was formed after the magma was released and the volcano crust collapsed.  It is the deepest lake in America at 19,000 feet deep.  It is frozen solid surrounded by snow.  On my way out I saw 3 deer in two different events.  It was fun and scary.  One ran right across the road in front of my car.

I have crossed the mountains again because there are more interesting things on the Pacific side of the Cascades.

Sausalito, a little town on the water

I drove through San Fransisco this morning on my way to Sausalito.  I was on a whole street of painted ladies.  They were beautifully restored and done in luscious colors.  Then I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I went to Sausalito, which was a disappointment.  It had less charm then Monterey or Carmel.  It really wasn't bad.  It had a charming historic downtown, as do all the seaside towns in Northern California.  They have an enormous marina with what looks like hundreds of boats, all very large, even a smattering of house boats.  Here it was a Saturday and only a few boats seemed to be in use.  Most of the boats are of obscene size and they don't get any use, what a waste.  Sausalito is a thin strip of land backed by hills.  There are lovely homes built on the hills that of course have marvelous views of the ocean.

I stopped at a nice cafe for lunch.  There is common seating and I was joined by a nice man and his 5 year old daughter.  He and his partner had lived their adult lives in New York City until he was offered a job in Sausalito.  We had a lovely talk about New York and travel and the usual nonsense but it made for a lovely time.  All in all I had a very enjoyable time in Sausalito.

My next visit was to Muir Woods.  I had been there before but I forgot how awe inspiring the massive trees can be.  But it isn't only the trees, it's the whole atmosphere.  There are an abundance of ferns and plants that cover the floor of the woods.  Occasionally you can come upon a flower but they are few and far between.  This is really a very primitive forest.  Thick layers of moss has grown on some of the dead fallen branches or stumps, it is really very beautiful when it fully encases the wood.  I found myself almost tiptoeing through the woods, it asks you to show respect and reverence.  All the plant material absorbs sound except for 5 screaming children.  I was really lucky to find a parking space in the parking lot because when I was leaving people were parked for almost 2 miles along the side of the road.

Monterey and Carmel

I made it to Monterey at a reasonable hour and toured around for a couple of hours.  It is a charming city center, the rest is a regular city.  The tourist area is a riot of flowers and trees, cute boutiques, galleries and cafes.  It is hard to tell the tourists from the natives, everyone seems to be strolling along looking in windows or sitting in cafes.  Also there are tremendous numbers of dogs.  If you aren't pushing a baby, you are walking a dog or both.  It is very interesting.  I didn't see one dog have a problem with another dog.  All the stores looked very expensive though elegant.  Most of the stores were unique as opposed to chain stores.  Fisherman's Wharf seems very touristy and wasn't very impressive.  It had a carnival atmosphere.

The next thing I did was take the 17 mile drive.  You don't really drive the whole 17 miles, because everyone gets off at Carmel.  The part you do drive is gorgeous.  It runs along the coast, which is just magnificent.  The water is almost turquoise and aqua and crashes dramatically against the rocks.  At one of the viewing points there were several very large rock formations, the largest of which was called Bird Rock.  On the rock were cormorants and pelicans and on the other smaller rock were sea lions.  Luckily I had my binoculars with me so I could see everything.  Further on was the Lone Cypress.  This poor tree sits out on a peninsular all by itself, though there is another not that far away.  It is very famous and one of the things that you look for on the 17 mile drive.  Oh, the drive costs money to take.  It must be so annoying for the residents of the magnificent homes along the drive.

I got out at Carmel to tour the town.  Carmel is smaller than Monterey and has a lot less to see.  There really is only one street to see.  It certainly didn't take long.  Since I am not a shopper these towns like Monterey and Carmel don't hold a lot of interest for me.

I'm going to be going to Big Sur tomorrow, I think.  I know that I am going to skip San Francisco.  I have been there a number of times and I didn't like it the last time I was there.  It's like New Orleans, I really don't understand what everybody sees in the city.  I guess I'm not really a city girl.

Tufa rhymes with Loofah

Well the worst has finally occurred - I got a speeding ticket.  Never in my 48 years of driving have I had a moving violation of any sort until this vacation.  I was so careful in every little town I went through up until today.  I had pulled into a gas station and was horrified that the gas was $4.99 a gallon and didn't pay attention to the speed limit when I pulled out.  Sure enough I got nailed.  And it was at the end of the day as I was finally leaving the woods.

Anyway I changed my plans for the day.  I have always wanted to see the Tufa at Mono Lake since I read a mystery series  in which the detectives boyfriend owns a ranch near the lake.  It sounded so fascinating that I figured I would see it while I was in the area.  I programmed my Garmin and lo and behold I got to Glacier Point.  As I was driving along I saw the sign, which I obviously missed yesterday, to Glacier Point.  Well the Garmin went nuts but I went anyway.  I thought that I would see a Glacier but what was actually there was the result of two glaciers moving rocks and land together until they crashed into each other.  It was a very dramatic area.  A graceful double waterfall is at one end of the valley, a huge rock rises above the valley and is called Half Dome and at the other end is where the mountains came together.  It's all something to see.  After that I calmed the Garmin down and let it get back on track to Mono Lake.

Of course I got to the Visitors Center to discover that I had to drive another 20 minutes to get to the interesting parts.  Meanwhile I have been driving up and over the Sierra Nevada mountains for hours, there was still snow under the trees, that's how high I was.  You didn't even get a view because of all the trees.  It was very closed in and quite dark at times.  As a line of cars was driving along everyone suddenly slowed down and we had to switch lanes.  Standing in our lane was a coyote just watching us go by.  He would turn his head as each car went by as though he were counting cars.  It was very funny.

I finally got to the Lake.  It was worth the trouble.  The Tufa is calcium carbonate made up of calcium from some of the spring water and alkali from other water that comes into the lake.  the two create the conditions for the Tufa.  As the level of the lake has gone down the lake has become more saline and now only one species of brine shrimp can survive there and one alkali fly.  Many birds and ducks are dependent on these two.  Also as the lake level receded Tufa were stranded on what became dry land and now are almost hidden by grasses and other plants.  Tufas grow like volcanos, water is pushed up through the center and material is deposited on the outside, so they grow from the lake floor.

I couldn't stand trees anymore so I made a reservation at a Comfort Inn in Sacramento.  I really will head to the coast tomorrow.

Yosemite National Park

Well today was a great disappointment.  I was all excited about going to Yosemite and it took hours to get there.  Once in the park you are on your own.  The signage is so bad that I was lost the entire time I was in the park.  I would follow what signs I could find and then the next sign I would find indicated that I missed the view by 34 miles.  I skipped a number of things because I simply couldn't find them.  A lot of the roads are one way and there aren't ways to turn around if you think you've missed your turn.  I was not a happy tourist.  I'm not sure I missed that much or maybe I'm making excuses.

The river rushing through the park is beautiful.  Great boulders create wild roiling water that is very dramatic.  Everywhere you look are huge fir trees and mature oaks and trees I can't name.  It is so strange after all the desert parks I have been seeing up until now.  The trees are so thick that I didn't see any flowers.  It was different, I'm sure they were there and that i just couldn't get deep enough into the forest.

I did find Bridal Veil Falls.  It is probably the most famous view of Yosemite.  It truly is inspiring.  Funny but it more attractive from the non-official viewing points.  It's a long schlepp up to the official viewing spot where you fight with every other tourist and the spray from the falls.  The whole thing is very funny. All the older women are complaining about getting wet.  I even saw a school group wearing plastic bags on their way up.  It was quite warm and I could just think of them sweating in the plastic.

The last thing I actually saw was the Tunnel View.  This is a long view of the Yosemite Valley.  It is very nice to see.  I tried to see Glacier Point but it wasn't meant to be.  Such is life.  Tomorrow I am going back to the coast to continue my pilgrimage.

Hearst Castle

Yesterday was a day of vacation karma.  When I got to Hearst Castle the next tour was 1:40 and it was currently 11:20.  The tours have now been broken down into little pieces.  You have to buy multiple tours to see the whole house, it never used to be like this but budget cuts have driven them to this.  Any way I went to buy tickets to see the grand rooms and the upstairs rooms.  Well because I was a single she got me onto the 12:00 tour so I could take the 1:30 tour as my other tour.  When I went to the bus to take me up to the castle itself they put me on the 11:40 tour again because I was a single.

My first tour was for the grand rooms.  This included the Grand Salon, Dining Room and Game Rooms.  Hearst was a compulsive collector but he bought most of his collection through the auction houses of New York.  He didn't steal the items from Europe, they were stolen by other people.  Each of his four homes were decorated in a different style, the Castle, which he referred to as a ranch, is done in a Mediterranean style.  It is a very heavy style and makes the rooms very dark during the day but the docents say at night the lights create a lovely golden glow.  The dining room could seat what looks like a million but the funniest part is the ketchup and mustard bottles and paper napkins on the table among all the elegant table settings.

I killed time until my next tour by taking pictures of the grounds and the outdoor pool.  They had lounge chairs around the pool for you to lounge on so you could feel like a guest at the Castle.  It was wonderful.

The second tour was the top two floors where all the bedrooms are.  There are 42 bathrooms in the house so some rooms have 2 bathrooms.  The second floor is mostly guest rooms and the guest library.  The third floor has Hearst's room as well as Marion's room with Hearst's private library between them.  It turns out that Marion was very talented as a comedian and a producer.  Hearst wanted her to be a dramatic actress but her expertise was in comedy.  She wound up as a millionaire.

We even saw a home movie of them entertaining some of their "friends".  Cary Grant took most of them.

San Juan Capistrano

It took a while but I managed to find the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, where the swallows return every March.  My GPS didn't recognize San Juan Capistrano at all and the town doesn't believe in signage until you almost stumble upon the Mission.  But it is wonderful once you find it.  They have done a marvelous job preserving what is left.  The Historical Society and others have researched and uncovered real treasures everywhere within the grounds.  To enhance the ruins they have planted gardens everywhere.  Huge profusions of color and scents.  If you look carefully you can see a swallow nest under the eaves or two hummingbirds fighting over a patch of flowers.  If you lived in the area it would be worth be a member, you could come in and just enjoy the garden.

The weather was perfect today, the temperature was 73 degrees and sunny.  What more can I ask for.  I have begun my drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (US 1).  It was fun to drive along and see views of the Pacific.  There were lots of beautiful homes with fences covered with flowers.  Then I would drive through funky little beachside towns Redondo, Long Beach, Newport.  After a while I got closer to L.A. and the road moved inland a bit.  The road started to go through real towns.  I even came across a Costco.  Oh Joy!  Gas in California is over $4 a gallon, up to $4.79.  I actually passed all the regular stores which I hadn't seen anywhere else.  But it was better when you caught the views of the Pacific.  The ocean was so calm that there were no surfers out.

I was going to visit the Channel Islands and forgot all about them and left the L.A. area.  I'm not very organized.  But the more I look at the information on them I'm not sure if I missed much.

I also see I'm losing readership.  Sorry if I'm not doing exciting things.

The Getty Museum

Well I finally made it to the Getty Museum and the Getty Center and all I can say is ho hum.  The buildings are fascinating.  Each one is so different and yet they all work together.  It is because they are all the same color of stone, some are smoother than others but they are consistent in color.  There don't appear to be any squares, curves and sharp points but not many if any right angles.  Lovely fountains and gardens break up the monotony of the ecru color of the walls.  Even some of the fountains are unusual, one creates a tunnel of water.  There is a floral maze, and large swaths of jasmine and lavender.

The parking is way down at the bottom of the hill that the museum is built at the top of.  They have a tram that takes people to the top, but they also have a sidewalk.  So when one of the museum guards who was organizing the people for the tram suggested people could walk I decided to do it.  It was steeper than I expected it to be but I made it.

Most of the art that I could find was Renaissance or older.  I did find a couple of rooms of pre-Impressionists and Impressionists.  If there were 20 paintings there were a lot.  It was in the European Painting Gallery.  I saw no signs anywhere for American paintings, I know they must have been around somewhere.  Signage was terrible.  Stairs were placed oddly and you were never sure where they went.  Elevators were tucked into odd corners behind doors in little corridors on the way to other places.  You got great views from terraces which you found at other odd places.  You don't really know what the point of the Museum is, to hold art or be art?  I think it is perfect of L.A.  Appearance is very important, content not so much.

The funny thing is I wasn't planning on going to the Getty at all today.  I was originally heading to San Juan Capistrano but when I was almost there I realized that the Getty would be closed on Monday.  So quickly I changed my plans and direction.  I doubt that they close an old Mission on Monday.