Landscape Painting – The Grand Canyon

river and canyon sAbout 20 years ago, my family trekked down into the Grand Canyon, carrying sleeping bags and pitching our tent near Phantom Ranch at the bottom. We treated ourselves to dinner at the ranch so we would have less to carry down – and up! The rule here is that anything you transport down that isn’t consumed (garbage included) must be carried out.

On this trip, Ed and I chatted with one park warden who told us that water bottles comprise nearly 30% of the waste stream throughout the park. Unbelievably, a significant number of people simply toss empty water bottles into the canyon! It’s hard to imagine the stupidity of someone who might consider this appropriate. They have staff who climb down to collect more than a ton of these each year! Continue reading

Life by the Rock – Morro Bay

Life by the Rock - Morro Rock at sunset

Sunset on the rock at Morro Bay is spectacular.

California can be uber-sophisticated. Smart boutiques, fabulous restaurants and a very walkable main street make towns like Carmel elegantly approachable. But a couple of hours down the coast along the incredibly scenic Highway 1 (the distance is short but the twists and turns of the road make it a long drive), you come to two small towns. Both are dominated by the rock, a crouching giant in Morro Bay’s harbour and both seem anchored in a time long gone.

Morro Bay and Caycos remind me of beach towns decades back. I don’t mean that they are simply old fashioned. But they have a nostalgic approach to being beach towns – comfortable, relatively inexpensive and with a line in the kind of kitsch everyone took home when I was a kid. Continue reading

Whatta Choke!

castroville-artichoke-ranch-980x360We were looking for the Artichoke Center of the World. So we drove into Watsonville  – where nobody knew what we were talking about.

Ed recalled visiting Watsonville, California many years ago and learning that it held this title. But alas! No longer. Castroville is the current Artichoke Center. In fact, Half Moon Bay should probably hold the title, since it was the first place in America to grow artichokes. These were brought to the New World by Spanish settlers. Continue reading

Surf’s Up

Often called the Castle by the Sea, the magnificent Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay hangs over the cliffs with almost every room enjoying spectacular sea views.

Often called the Castle by the Sea, the magnificent Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay hangs over the cliffs with almost every room enjoying spectacular sea views.

The sound of bagpipes draws us to the window. We have just returned from a long walk along a beautiful stretch of beach but the lament of the pipes draws us back outside. On the back lawn, a lone piper stands, playing the sun to bed.

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As the dying rays of a glorious sunset sink into the sea, the last strains of Amazing Grace drift to silence. It’s a perfect moment. Continue reading

San Francisco – Music, Madness and Maltese Falcons

downtown lights sI’m with Sam Spade when it comes to dinner – lamb chops, perfectly grilled, with a baked potato would be my choice too. Spade’s addition of sliced tomatoes doesn’t work for me, but to each his own.

lamb chops s

Like his creator, Dashiell Hammett’s detective liked to grab a bite at John’s Grill, one of San Francisco’s oldest and most venerable restaurants. He even mentions it by name in The Maltese Falcon and there’s some who say he actually conceived and wrote part of the book in here. Continue reading