This past weekend (Note: I actually wrote this back on July 26th), I traveled back to California to attend the wedding of two friends of mine. I'll have more on that later. This post will deal with more of what I did with my extra time in the area.
When I planned this trip out, I gave myself about 4 good days where I would have some manner of free time to “be a tourist”. Even though I had lived in San Jose, CA, for roughly 2 years, I didn't really take the time to go exploring the areas around where I lived to see what was out there. For example, living in San Jose I am a short distance away from San Francisco (about an hour, varying wildly depending on traffic). Yet, I had never really been to Golden Gate Park which houses all kinds of things for one to see. So I decided on this trip that I would try to (1) meet up with some friends and maybe my old boss, and (2) do the more touristy thing and go see places I didn't bother to go to when I lived in the area.
I flew out from Tampa this past Thursday, and landed in San Jose (via Houston) at about 11:15am PDT. I picked up my rental car and headed out to Santa Cruz, where I had worked while living in NorCal. It only took about 45 minutes to drive over the mountain on CA-17 to get to Santa Cruz, and after finding some parking I walked around the area that I had frequented for some many months. I tried to meet with my old boss, but unfortunately he was out of town and we could not get together for lunch like I had hoped. I still managed to have lunch at one of my favorite haunts, Jack's, and then I started the drive to my hotel in Monterey (the wedding was in Carmel, and Monterey is just north on CA-1 about 10 minutes). I took the Pacific Coast Highway, CA-1, the entire way there and it wasn't as adventurous as my trek back a while ago
but I was happy to find my hotel and crash for the rest of the night.
Friday, my plan was to head to San Francisco and hit up a couple of places in Golden Gate Park, take some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge itself, and meet up with my friend and old roommate Alex. It was about a 2-hour drive, so I got up early, found my local Starbucks and powered up, then drove off. I hit the Golden Gate Bridge first, and took shots from both the North and South sides. From there, I found my way to the Golden Gate Park so I could see the Japanese Tea Gardens and the California Academy of Sciences.
The Japanese Tea Garden was … well, actually it was kind of how I expected it to be and that is a good thing. It was very serene and picturesque. Of course, after a short walk-through I made my way to where the tea and snacks could be ordered. I had a mini-bento, and a pot of green tea with mochi cakes. The food was good, not too filling but just the right kind of snack, and the tea was flavorful and warm. Which was really nice, since it was probably in the mid-60s that day in San Francisco.
The California Academy of Sciences is a fairly new facility if I remember correctly. I believe it was being built during most of my time living in California, so this was my first chance to actually visit it. I wish that some of my friends from Florida had been with me, as they are bigger science buffs than I am. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Academy and I didn't even take in some of the demonstrations or ticketed attractions like the “Extreme Mammals” exhibit or the Planetarium (no laser Zeppelin, though). Unfortunately, although I tried to get a hold of my friend who lives in the area I was never able to contact him, and after finding a few other things to do I finally decided to head back to Monterey.
Saturday left me with only the morning for free time. The wedding was scheduled for 5:00pm, and I wanted to have extra time to get ready and find the location where the wedding and reception were being held. So, since I was in the area I decided I would visit Pebble Beach and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Pebble Beach is actually a part of a huge expanse of land that encompasses a bunch of housing, three golf courses and various other bits and pieces. Upon arriving into the area, you have the option of following “17-Mile Drive”, a self-guided tour of the entire area that also has you driving by famous landmarks before arriving at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. Since I have taken up being a golf hack, and I also watch the major PGA tournaments, it was cool to see places in real life that I had only seen on TV before. From Pebble Beach, I made an attempt to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I ended up going the wrong way in the downtown area and ended up at the pier instead. I walked around there and found a nice place for lunch, but then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. I figured I would make another attempt to get to the aquarium the next day.
Sunday I was transferring hotels, from Monterey back over to San Jose, so I figured I would make one last attempt at seeing the aquarium. I had been to there before years ago, but since I was in the area I decided I would go back and see what was new. I didn't screw up this time, and made it to the aquarium pretty easily. The exhibits were about how I remembered them, with a few new items here and there. I would definitely recommend it if you happen to be in the area.
I'll give my thoughts on the wedding next time, but for those who are interested you can see all of my pictures from these days here.
