USA 2006: Las Vegas & California
(continued)
June 13th: located to the southeast of Monterey, it is immediately obvious how Pinnacles National Monument got its name. The
spires, crags, and bizarre rock formations of the park bear no resemblance to the surrounding smooth, round hills of the Gabilan Range.
These pinnacle rock formations are the remains of an ancient volcano, and for the background to many hiking trails through the park
The 1791 Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad is located about a dozen miles from the west entrance of Pinnacles National Monument.
The thirteenth Spanish mission in the California chain, it lay neglected for over a hundred years until it was little more than a
pile of mud. Never a great success (perhaps because of its name, which translates as 'most sorrowful mystery of the solitude'), the
mission suffered through a history of epidemics, floods, and crop failures. Parts have been beautifully restored, but the adjacent
ruins are the most evocative section
After three nights at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Seaside on the Monterey Peninsula, we stay for one night (June 13th) at the Hampton
Inn in Santa Cruz.
June 14th: Highway 1, follows the Californian coast between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and provides many
spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, including near the town of Swanton (right).
Fifty miles south of the Golden Gate
Bridge, the beginning of the San Francisco Peninsula is marked by the Pigeon Point Lighthouse (right). Pigeon Point took its name
from the clipper ship Carrier Pigeon that broke up on the rocks off the point - one of many shipwrecks that led to the construction
of the lighthouse in the late nineteenth century
Probably the most photographed bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge has a span of 4,200-feet. After parking on the Marin County
side, we walk across the bridge from north to south admiring the views that include the island of Alcatraz, before walking back to
the car
(left)
Lombard Street, part of the Russian Hill area of San Francisco
(right)
TheRosie the Riveter Memorial, in Richmond, California, commemorates the shipyards that built
The small town of Agua Caliente in the Sonoma wine valley reminds us of our attempts to get hot water at cafes and hotels in
Spain.
We spend the night of June 14th at the Best Western Sonoma Valley Inn where there is a complimentary bottle of wine in
our room;
in nearby downtown Sonoma, we find the 1823 Mission Francisco Solona
June 15th:
The Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen, Sonoma Valley consists of the 140-acres of ranchland that Jack London (author
of The Call of the Wild) owned with his wife Charmian.
A museum in their House of Happy Walls (above left) contains an interesting
collection of souvenirs picked up in their world travels, plus many of Jack London's manuscripts.
Also in the state park are
the ruins of Wolf House (above right) which was to be the London ancestral home, but it was destroyed by fire in 1913 - a month before
the Londons were due to move in