Day 15: San Francisco and Chris

After a good nights rest, and crepes a la Cello we headed off from the redwood forest. Jay and Sunni had showed us a great time and we were sad to say good buy.

On the upside, it gets warmer as one drives south, and this was a good thing as our whole team was a bit frozen after a few days in the Eureka seaside cold. In a few hours we were shedding sweaters and were back to feeling summer again.

After crossing the Golden Gate through a thick bank of fog, we arrived at Chris' house in Noe Valley. I parked on the hilly end of Elizabeth Street, cranked on the emergency break, said a hail Mary and hoped to God that it would hold through the night.

For me, it could not be any more fitting to end this great adventure at the home of the guy I had my last great road trip adventure, twenty years ago, driving a thousand miles through South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland (in a blue VW Golf named 'Sisman').

Chris, along with his girls Addison and Taylor, was a great host. After putting the kids to bed we had a fine meal and three finer bottles of wine-a Burgundy and a South African Bouchard Finlayson Pinot and Diemeresvlei Pinotage. Not a bad liquor performance for a tired late arrival.





The company you keep is what really makes a bottle go down well and this good drinking company.






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Location:San Francisco

Day 12/13/14: Eureka with Jay and Sunni

Rolled into Jay and Sunni's driveway after another beautiful drive which included an hour or two in the Avenue of the Giants. We tried to drive through a redwood, but the Cello is too tall with all the gear stacked on the roof.

Jay and Sunni treated us to their famous pad tai at dinner and we finished off the night with a delicious bottle of Jordan Cab. 2004.



Rooster Quinn kicked into full vocals early in the AM, so we got an early start on the day.
Visited some good Eureka highlights including Sunni's yarn and antique shop where the Marvins invested in some vintage Mad Men cocktail glasses. Luan brought us to her stables and introduced us to her new White Arabian horse, Amir.
Other stops included ice-cream at the scoop and best of all a visit to Wesphailia Guru 'Outer buoy Bob' who walked us through is two VW campers which he was lovingly restoring. thanks Bob.

Humboldt County, dang, you can get a contact high just walking through Arcata Park. At 4:20 things get particularly lively.

Even sober as a judge, hiking through the redwoods is good for anyone's soul, but its particularly inspiring for a band of dragon slaying, fort building six, five and four year olds.

Had another Scrivner dinner extravaganza with fresh, fresh salmon and pea pods.















Congratulations on the new horse Jay. Remember, while you're sleeping, that horse is eating.














Luan and her boys.















Friday: set off for camping in the old growth Redwood forest with Jay and gang (minus Sunni who was off to Utah).

Camping was a blast. Jay Luan and August led the way south into the redwoods to The banks of the Van Duzen river and the campsite.

We hiked the virgin, first growth redwood grove which adjoined the camp and found all kinds of cool places to explore. Best of all was a giant redwood which had fallen across the river and made a perfect bridge, suspended ten feet over the water. Being in the company of five fearless woodsmen all under the age of 6, we thought it perfectly fine to do a off the path crossing for the fun of it. Luckily, everyone, including Quinn, made it safely across the span with only a few breathless bobbles along the way.

After the hike we went for a group swim and even got the boogie boards and an 8ft foam surfboard out into the rapids. Tasha led the charge on that endeavor.

We slept after smores and a good bonfire in the Cello for our last night camping. All of us were commenting on how we could do this for a very long time if given half a chance. We'll sorely miss our ride.

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Location:Humboldt County

Day 11:Salt creek to fort Bragg

Great campsite at Mackerricher State park north of Fort Bragg. While FB is no great shakes, the Mendicino coast is extraordinary and this campsite is beautiful.

















Fort Bragg-Last campsite
Eating left overs-arthur macs and cheese
Confidence cooking in the vanagon
Bottle of Kenwood Jack London Syrah 2006
Beautiful Mendocino County


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Location:fort Bragg

Day 10:Santa Cruz to Salt Creek

Did I forget to mention that last night I was witness to a Santa Cruz breaking and entering? Came out to the Cello to get some last things out after checking in to the hotel and I see this sketch guy looking in the Cello's back window. He was wearing black boardshorts, black sneaks, a black shirt and knee high white tube socks. I'm thinking... I realy don't want to deal with this right now... Please move on. And he did, right to the next car, a Toyota minivan with all it's doors unlocked. In he dove and started rooting around digging for stuff.
I gingerly scooted by him and his ongoing work and reported what was going on to the front office.
Within two minutes the cops were there.
I gave a description and within another ten minutes they had the guy and brought me into the station for ID. Not a major event, but kinda fun on fathers day.

We drove early in the AM knowing we had a lot of ground to cover. Just outside of Santa Cruz we picked up some delicious, impossibly ripe strawberries at a farm stall. Just past the market, I saw the sign for my favorite winery and home to my wine idol Randall Graham and Bonny Doon. We didn't stop, but it is good to know where he is when I need to find him.

Lots of great little beaches along the way all of which looked inviting if it went for the fact that we















Drove through SanFrancisco and played in golden gate park with the boys. Took the obligatory photo at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.















The drive through Marin County was beautiful (I know I'm sounding like a broken record).

The luckiest cow in Sonoma County:












The long drive was soundly punctuated with a whole family screaming contest while driving up the coast. While I think i took it in terms of volume, Hayes was certainly the most enthusiastic screamer. Attaboy.


Night














Camper Crepes are served to an appreciative audience:














Haight Ashbury
Strawberry stand
MamaTash driving the bus
Muir point lookout. Spotting pill boxes. Egret in flight.
Beautiful drive
Light at dusk
Long drive 9:00-7:00. Moral was high
Screaming in Sonoma
The happiest cows in Sonoma County
Organic farms
Tomales bay
Stinson Beach
Bodega Bay
Beautiful campsite. Bottle of Spanish rose and a couple of beers.
Tide pools. Seals, sand fleas, mussels, snails dead crab
Westphalia culture. Charlie the river guide.






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Location:Salt Creek State Park

Day 8&9: Big Sur-Santa Cruz

Took a beautiful drive up from Jalama to Big Sur traveling just as fast as the Mello Cello would carry us. Ave speed 20 uphill/faster downhill. Actually speeds are relative since the odometer and seedometer have taken a rest since Huntington Beach. Relax, take the bus...

Drove San Louis Obispo and felt the deep Ridder vibe.

Highway one is truelly stunning from San Simeon to Big Sur. Twisty, turny and hundreds (a thousand?) feet above the rocky Wild shore. Moro Bay and Cayucos were beautiful, cambria looked good too.

The drive to Big Sur really is beautiful.















Big Sur itself is so written about, painted, extolled, rumored, fantasized and poetic... so much hype it is something that initially turned me off from the place. We stayed only one night at the Big Sur Lodge because of my little humbug.













I was wrong, the hype was right. There is definitely deep magic in the place. Tasha felt it too. The size of the redwoods, the pounding of the ocean, the ancient smell of the place combines into a beat of unimaginable intentionality.
































It is good that we stayed only long enough to feel the depth of the place. It is good to know there are places like this. We walked under the redwoods and climbed all over the rocky shore of the river running through camp. Amazing place and definitely warrants much more time if for no other reason but to participate in the midnight mineral bath pagan rituals at the Esalen Institute.

After Big Sur we ventured on and into Carmel and Monterey. Tasha read a little blurb describing the evolution of the town of Carmel and it stuck in my mind. The military moves in first, the bohemians move in after that and the rich run them out of town. Carmel is beautiful, picture card perfect and definitely cute.

The Aquarium at Monterey was amazing. The kids could have spent the whole day the looking at fish.




























Carmel Point
by Robinson Jeffers

The extraordinary patience of things!
This beautiful place defaced with a crop of suburban houses-
How beautiful when we first beheld it,
Unbroken field of poppy and lupin walled with clean cliffs;
No intrusion but two or three horses pasturing,
Or a few milch cows rubbing their flanks on the outcrop rockheads-
Now the spoiler has come: does it care?
Not faintly. It has all time. It knows the people are a tide
That swells and in time will ebb, and all
Their works dissolve. Meanwhile the image of the pristine beauty
Lives in the very grain of the granite,
Safe as the endless ocean that climbs our cliff.-As for us:
We must uncenter our minds from ourselves;
We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from.

Santa Cruz is great, if not a bit like the West Coast's answer to Atlantic City.
I'll look for a quick surf tomorrow AM before we leave.

As for suburban fathers day bliss:
Hoola hooping on fathers day on the green of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.















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Location:Big Sur, CA

Day 7: Jalama

A beautiful site to camp and dang if that wind don't blow. All day the wind was cranking up against the shore. Even the big boy surfers were quickly dowsed against the sand. Crack. For all the turmoil the wind caused the surfs the kite boarders and wind surfers were loving it-coming in and out of the surf like rockets- some boarders catching ten or more seconds of air over the break. Fun to watch.


























Chris and Carolyn drove in from Ojai for a visit and a Jalama burger.















Matson brought buzz lightyear.















Exploring by river




Hayes catching Sam the
stink beetle:














Thanks Chris and Carolyn, this bottle was really exceptional, mmmmmmmm
Road 31 Wine Co.
















Moon and a half Venus.













Pay phones
No power
Sand storms
Quarter showers
Tasha's slamming overhead.



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Location:Jalama Point, CA

Day 6: Jalama

Took down the tent on a very fun run on our first family camp at Malibu Creek Park. After a quick stop by Starbucks and Oliver Peoples where Tasha made a fine purchase, we went back on the road.



Using the force, great recommendations, a degree of serendipity and some good luck we scored a campsite at the full campground at Jalama Point about an hour north of Santa Barbara. Beautiful, remote and rugged coast with a cast of campers as hearty and intrepid as their location.





lego sensi-Jayden:




Earl immediately ran off with the gang of Longbeach fun folks from group camp site D, befriending their seven year old son Jaden. Mom and dad, Bradey and Jo, had a very Tierney setup with strings of lights (dimmers) and burning tiki lamps- a spread of tapas, grilled shrimp and tuna civiche set on the table, ska on the radio, red stripe at the bar and all the legos a boy could ever dream of. He resurfaced for bed around ten thirty.

Jalama burgers live up to the hype:









Tasha and I watched the sun set with Quinn and Hayes as the fellas stacked cairns along the dunes running up the outer shore. The coastline is powerful, roaring, raw and isolated. Waves smashing in multiple sets several hundred yards out from shore. A beautiful end to the day.














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Location:Jalama point

Day 4&5: Malibu

Rooster Quinn got us up at the crack of the crack- and when all five of you are camping up and down in a bus, there is really no place to hide...






So we were on the road and coffee shop bound at a quarter to seven. After coffee for the body, we set out looking for the best Malibu beach setup we could find. Point Dooms was the call and proved to be a perfect fit.







We climbed over volcanic rock out around the point and found an idyllic private stretch of beach flanked by cliffs on the shore and a pounding surf thumping into shore. We all found tidal pools filled with crabs, mussels and other unidentified sea creatures.












What started out as a foggy morning soon burned off to a gorgeous late morning and afternoon. I got on the board and got a thorough thrashing by the surf, but managed a few good rides. On the beach, the boys played and played... Intense kite fights were had, the victorious jolly roger dragon kite proudly flew above Lemon Cello for hours afterward, japanese and british army men squared off on the dunes, we found an assortment of small insect creatures to chase, and best of all we were joined by gobmom wobbin after lunch.

Wobbin checking in on the whereabouts of all her fancy neighbors:

























Other random events included a visit by a very old gentlemen accompanied by two very strange looking Vietnamese boys singing songs and voraciously text messaging from heir vintage 1983 golf cart. Not sure what was going on there, but it definitely added to the Malibu beach atmosphere.

Speaking of atmosphere, Malibu has a string of very excellent characters... For people watching i think it might be tough to beat... Especially if you are interested in the current plastic surgery plays and or you want to see underage drivers behind the wheel of hundred thousand dollar cars at every turn. The man in the golf cart singing with his Asian boy choir being a side note.






Wrapped up nine hours on the beach with great food in town and the kids playing at the Malibu Country Market playgrounds.



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Day 3 cont. Goodby to Mimi and hello Robbin

With bellies full of the most excellent burgers for lunch and after three big days of Connie time at Balboa and LaJolla, we said our good buys at Doheny beach after our surf session with Joe. The Marvins had covered a lot of territory with the big C and, as always E, H and Q were a bit choked up saying good bye (Mimi too). Good times.









We took our time getting up to Robbin's house going through Huntington, where Tash picked up her new Psycho 2 O'Neil wetsuit and booties from the HSS and through Seal beach for a stop by Harbour Surfboards (thanks for the recommendation Don).









Beautiful home and beautiful hostess. gobmom wobbin.
(and a hookin' front entry)













Can I just say that this sleeping angel really took the new off of Robbins spa shower, love shack, zen den with screams and crying as we tried to scrub the seaweed smell out of his hair. I did my best to get the water out of the track lighting...










Army men are a must.





















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Location:Crags Rd,Calabasas,United States