We are camping at Patrick’s Point State Park in August. Any thoughts on what we “must see and do” while in the area? Hiking’s no problem and we love exploring.

Don’t want to drive too far but I already know we want to visit Humboldt State Park and I want to drive thru the tree in Leggett (it’s a tourist thing I guess).

Any ideas on what to expect for weather/temperature, and what kind or clothes to pack? Anything worth seeing in Eureka or Crescent City?

Places to eat, tourist spots, little know areas, best views….etc…..all advice and ideas welcome!

Thanks,
Al

Moving to Oakland California

Oakland, California is located on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. To the west it offers 19 miles of coastline and to the east you can view splendid rolling hills. You will be pleased if you find your new relocation in a place that has some of the most beautiful views in the world, such as the clear Crystal Bay, the Oakland Bay and Golden Gate bridges, and the magnificent Pacific Ocean. Oakland’s landscape is a mix of charming hillside neighborhoods; exciting and diverse architecture; a bustling waterfront; two lakes; and more parks and open space per capita than any other city in the Bay Area. This is primo real estate and a great place for relocation.

If you are moving to or finding relocation in Oakland California — you will find the year-round vacation weather, with its temperatures in the mild 50’s and 60’s in the winter and spring and 70’s throughout summer and fall, easy to live with.

If you are moving or relocating to Oakland, California – you will find that it has a metropolis and a small-town feel in all of its real estate. The community is sophisticated with a neighborly feel. If you are relocating to Oakland because you are looking for real estate with value you will be pleased with what you find in the Oakland, California real estate market. The real estate market offers a wide variety such as established residential neighborhoods, prosperous commercial districts, first-rate sports teams, and noteworthy architectural landmarks that will help make your relocation to Oakland a success.

If you are moving to Oakland — which is in Alameda County, you’ll find the community is rich with history, beauty, shopping, and many cultural events.

History of Oakland — Founded in 1852, Oakland, California has a rich and deep history that goes back further than its 155 years. Native Americans lived in the region for more than 5,000 years. The Spanish found relocation in the area in the 1770s, and settled about 50 years later. Then, the Gold Rush brought in a great diversity of people from Asians to African Americans, and many with Northern European extraction, who moved to the area and put down their roots in this pioneer real estate.

Real Estate and Neighborhoods Oakland — is a network of communities, and the real estate is rich with old-fashioned neighborhood shopping districts. If you are considering moving or finding new relocation to this area you may want to check out Oakland’s many commercial districts. And, Oakland’s real estate is full of appealing neighborhoods.

Old Oakland Located between Clay and Broadway – from Seventh to 10th Streets, historic Old Oakland is full of stylishly restored Victorian buildings that date back to the 1870s. This is truly beautiful real estate. Old Oakland boasts new house shops, galleries, and restaurants. On Fridays, youll find the Friday Farmer’s Market. This area is also has a revival of the historic 1870’s downtown with a carefully restored main street. This real estate is alive again with shops, restaurants, spas, and offices. They are all in a Victorian setting that evokes the era of the Railroad.

Chinatown — Chinatown is a 25-block commercial and cultural district, and it reflects Oakland’s diverse Asian community. The Chinatown Street Fest attracts 100,000 visitors annually, and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center is one of the largest Pan-Asian cultural centers in the United States. Many Asians have found relocation in this great real estate community and continue to see relatives moving here. Also, the neighborhood has many specialty shops, restaurants, markets, bakeries and attractions. In addition, visitors to the downtown neighborhood will find fascinating stores that carry fresh produce, live seafood, healing herbs, and everything from chopsticks and to porcelain. You’ll find many of these things at Pacific Renaissance Plaza. Who wouldnt want to find relocation here in Oakland?

Jack London Square This neighborhood and real estate market offers dining, lodging, shopping and top-notch jazz, along the water’s border. In addition, if you are moving here you might enjoy raising a mug at Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon. The waterfront boasts dozens of stores and just by moving a few streets east, youll run into the warehouse district. This nine-block area has a wholesale produce market, coffeehouses, restaurants, and residential and commercial lofts.

Lake Merritt – Another neighborhood with wonderful real estate is Lake Merritt. Here you might decide to join joggers for the best view of Lake Merritt. The lake is one of Americas most stunning urban saltwater lakes. In addition, it is the oldest national wildlife refuge. The real estate in the Lakeshore/Grand Avenue area is lined with restaurants and shops. Built in 1926, the Grand Lake Theater still shows the most up-to-date movies, and even features moving music, which is played on an antique Wurlitzer organ.

North Oakland In North Oakland — youll find Piedmont Avenue, where the real estate is an eclectic mix of vintage and antique shops, boutiques, bookstores, and jewelry stores. If you are thinking about moving to this area or finding relocation, please note it is full of side walk cafes and coffee houses and top-of-the-line restaurants that offer eclectic cuisine.

Rockridge – This real estate combines city sophistication with a hassle-free suburban/urban environment. The real estate extends more than two miles from Oakland to Berkeley. College Avenue is rich with restaurants, bars, specialty shops, gourmet foods, rare books, clothing, and antiques. Market Hall houses a bakery and sells produce, fish, flowers, and has wine markets. Many businesses have found this to be a great relocation. Favorite shops include: Pendragon Fine Books, Loot; Ildi & Co. a gift store; Poppy Fabric; and the Thelma Harris Art Gallery. Also, you might want to let the kids run free as they are moving about in Rockridge Kids, a popular toy store. If you are considering moving or finding relocation to this charming area with great real estate, you will certainly find a lot of real estate to choose from.

Montclair Village – This is at the bottom of the East Bay hills, making it a grand stop before or after a trip to Chabot Space & Science Center, or one of the nearby parks. The area features cafes, restaurants, and coffee houses (many with seating outdoors), and terrific shopping. Walk through this neighborhood’s quaint streets and youll be glad you are considering moving and finding relocation here. You might join the locals as you sip coffee, while whiling away your days on picturesque benches along the main thoroughfare.

The Fruitvale District – This neighborhood has become a flourishing multicultural commercial area with a strong Latino influence. It is recognized throughout the Bay Area. Its cultural events such as the annual Dia de los Muertos Festival attract thousands of people. And, the new Fruitvale Village real estate has added retail and office space, and housing. All this surrounds a pedestrian plaza at the Fruitvale BART Station. When you get hungry, stop in at one of the area’s many taquerias.

Downtown Oakland’s business district – is home to many shops and restaurants. Some are in historic buildings with landscaped plazas and placid courtyards. Also, check out the Oakland Museum Sculpture Garden or purchase your favorite international paper at De Lauer’s newsstand on Broadway. All thats left to do is sit back to enjoy a beautiful Oakland day.

Piedmont Avenue Like – its longer counterpart, College Avenue, this busy Neighborhood Street in the northern part of Oakland draws many shoppers. Particularly known for its vintage and antique shops, this small stretch of commercial buildings and real estate is also home to specialty boutiques, gourmet food stores, restaurants, caf? and bars. For a bite to eat after window-shopping, you might stop in at the ever-popular Piedmont Grocery, or treat the kids to a cone at Fenton’s Creamery and Restaurant. Its worth considering moving to of finding relocation in Oakland just for the ice cream.

Temescal – In the heart of Oakland’s northern residential district, this growing shopping real estate boasts a number of classic and historic buildings. Genova’s Delicatessen, a popular Italian deli, is one of the area’s top dining experiences. This is great real estate, and if you are considering moving to Oakland, you might consider this neighborhood for relocation. Oaklands Economy and Transportation Oakland’s economy historically was based on industries. One of the first big employers moving into Oakland was the Southern Pacific Railroads. For years it had an iron grip on Oaklands waterfront, because the railroad stopped on the Oakland side. Both San Francisco and Oakland are ports, but the Port of Oakland has become by far the prevailing port. The Port of Oakland is the nation’s fourth busiest container port in the Bay Area. The Oakland International Airport is served by 12 major domestic and international airlines, and Oakland has even whittled into San Francisco’s airport business.

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DESTINATION: MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

The kids and I planned a hooky day right before the Christmas holidays. Right before the East Coast contingent would arrive. We knew we would do our fair share of typical sightseeing – which is always a pleasure. Shopping in Union Square, a trip to Napa to see Coppola’s latest excesses manifest themselves at the old Inglenook winery, and good food and drink galore. But today it was destination Marin. The only question was where.

In the 26 years I have lived in Marin County, I have taken hundreds of day trips around the county with my husband and kids. With all due respect to the Philadelphia suburbs I hail from, I could only muster a few in all the years I lived there. One could only visit Valley Forge so many times and even the Amish country and quaint New Hope got stale after a score of repeat trips – and these meant a trip outside my county. County actually didn’t mean much back there.

In Marin, it’s everything. It’s the bond that holds this incredibly diverse band of municipalities and unincorporated areas together. It’s a very tangible feeling of membership into an extraordinary piece of land bounded by the ocean and the bay and infused with hundreds of miles of meandering open space that is of paramount importance to all of its residents.

Today we opt for a trip to Mount Tamalpais, the imposing mountain that hosts hundreds of trails, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife. It is cold and clear as I make my left turn at the “2 AM” Club in Mill Valley to head uphill. It’s the only way I know to get there, and I don’t know how I know this way, but it always gets me there. We are treated to a unobstructed climb – in warm weather the narrow road holds competing traffic and bicyclists. We plan to eat lunch at the Mountain Home Inn, a mainstay for fantastic food and views year-round.  We refuse to be daunted when my son locks the keys in the car, so we eat slowly while waiting for AAA to come. Oversized hamburgers and mesquite grilled chicken sandwiches are extra delicious, as is the tomato soup I am still trying to replicate. We agree as we always do, that we should spend the night here sometime and ask the hostess about the rooms. She gives us a few keys and we explore a few of the one-of-a-kind cozy rooms until she rings us that our car rescuer is here. The inn and the rooms are as friendly as she is. We agree on Room #1 for a future date.

Back in business, we drive to the top parking lot and hike our way to the peak in record time. It dawns on me that Marin County is the best place in the world if you like to eat great food and then hope to work it off.  I remember doing the same thing in the Austrian Alps – after a trip into one of the many magical towns like Kitzbuhel and St. Anton, we would head back up the mountain to our lodge, making a stop halfway up for a beer and a mouthwatering sausage sandwich. A mere snack before dinner. I lost about 5 pounds after a two-week vacation. My kind of diet. My kind of vacation. Very Marin, too.

From the top of Mt. Tam you can really comprehend the amazing topography of Marin County – a sliver of green hills and valleys between two majestic bodies of water. We pick out Tam’s smaller sister, Mount Burdell in Novato, some 15 miles or so away and our home town, then look for more well known landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, The Transamerica Tower in The City and the rolling Marin Headlands. Westward we look down on Stinson Beach and we decide that’s our next destination.

It’s a quick, breathtaking drive down the mountain as we land at Marin’s largest strip of southern-California-like beach. It’s a mecca in the summer but today there are just a few dozen beachcombers. We run for a mile in the crystal clear air, chasing sea gulls. We run past a sign advertising “Shakespeare on the Beach” and we plan to attend a performance next summer. Our friend is the Director of the Marin Shakespeare Company, and we frequent his talented performance closer to home at a fern-covered amphitheater on the campus of an old college – but a production on this beach sounds like great fun.

We decide to head back to Novato, Marin’s most northern city via the water, up Highway 1, which ultimately can wind you up and down the coast to Oregon if you are so daring. But first, we follow a security truck marked “Sea Drift” – we have always wondered how one enters this toney enclave that sits between the ocean and a scenic spit. We find all sorts of quaint beach cottages as we make our way to the gatehouse, and we make great plans to lease one for a week this summer.

We pass the Bolinas Lagoon with seals sunning themselves at every turn, pass the rolling horse ranches, through miniscule Dogtown and into the town of Olema. Another one of our favorite places to eat near the beach is the Olema Inn and we talk about stopping for some oysters – but we are still full. I tell the kids about shooting a commercial for the Inn – and how each room is decorated with comfortable European charm to complement the tasty food. Another place we will spend the night some day.

Now on to Point Reyes Station, the tiny West Marin town that we stop at on every return trip from any one of our favorite beaches. Today there isn’t much produce at Toby’s Feed Barn – in summer you can stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other locally produced goodies. The Station House Café provides top notch dining here, and in summer, if you make it up the road through the Point Reyes National Seashore, you’ll get to Drakes’ Beach Café where the fish and chips are shouting fresh inside, and barbecued oysters and corn-on-the-cob are simmering outside on the grill. Today however, we happily settle for huge chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate and expresso at Café Reyes, tucked in behind our favorite antique shop where we find a few small Christmas gifts. We have been looking for red chili pepper lights that I want to hang in my kitchen and one small shop has them hanging in the window. We are disappointed to learn that they only have green ones left and we all concede this just won’t do: we buy more gifts instead.

We feel as though we have been to several different worlds today and it’s only four o’clock: mountains and beaches and numerous small towns, and as usual, we’ve just hit a few of the spots Marin County offers us.

I think of our other exploits just in Sausalito alone. The nefarious Sam Z, a colorful character, who often held court at the still-hopping No Name Bar and owned quite a bit of the town, was once our landlord when we owned an athletic shoe and apparel store across from his famous waterfront eatery, “Zack’s,” now the Paradise Cafe. Sam let me shoot some commercials on Richardson Bay in front of his establishment for an East Coast client, and the kudos were impressive – but what seemed like the Riviera to them was just a few clever angles, easy to find in Sausalito.

My friend Tony is another unlikely Sausalito scion  – a transplanted Chicago musician, he operates an enormously successful women’s sportswear business from his Sausalito base while also buying and restoring a mammoth waterfront design complex, a movie theatre, an office building and a restaurant. Locals keep an eye out for his “sample sales “along with those of a few other manufacturers headquartered nearby. It’s always a treat too, when scores of local artisans, some his tenants, open their doors and show off their unusual works.

But that’s for another day. We head back over the Nicasio hills where movie mogul George Lucas has his environmentally low-key, technologically high-octane compound. It’s said he is illusive, but I’ve been behind him in line at the Taco Bell drive-through in Novato, and ate lunch a few tables away at the Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur. My neighbor Harlan, fitted him and his then girlfriend, Linda Ronstadt for glasses at his optical shop in San Rafael. His understated image precisely mirrors Marin County.

We make one final stop as we head into Novato, to the Marin French Cheese Company, also known as Rouge et Noir. Made on-site, you can’t find better brie anywhere.  The absolute truth. Also camembert and schloss. We buy six flavored rounds ripe for eating and head to our town. This super family-oriented city of close to 50,000 is home to numerous leading high technology companies, yet maintains a small-town feel that is reflected in its “old town” shops, excellent schools and active park and recreation department and more. In summer, Novato hosts the annual Festival of Art, Wine and Music. Once a small, local affair, it now brings in huge crowds from all over. I don’t know how he does it but an insurance agent and amateur musician in town, has managed to consistently book great acts to satisfy every musical taste.  I think Novato is an incredible place to raise a family, to work, to shop and to dine. It has a flavor, as uniquely it’s own as any of the places we visited today.

Once again, “destination Marin” is a great success. I wonder what our next escapade will be. I know it will involve great food, beautiful vistas and some outdoor activity – on a hill, at a beach or a festival, on one of the bays – on bike or foot or boat, with a tennis racquet, a golf club or even an umbrella.

Copyright January, 2010

Christine Scioli

All Rights Reserved

The ending of this part 2 of 3 introduces part 3, the final installment.
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My husband and I are traveling from Vegas to the Redwood Forest. We are looking for suggestions on pet friendly accommodations. I cant find many reviews for hotels/motels/cabins in the area. Thank you!

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Changing Hotel Locations Can Help You Save

Don Nadeau, the president of BidonTravel.com, often discusses how to bid on Priceline hotels, but here he talks about location as another powerful way to save on hotel rooms.

When you’re planning to spend some time in or near a place like Boston, Zurich, London, or San Francisco, you can save by not staying in the same hotel every night.

And, even if you’re just spending a couple of nights, you can sometimes save as much as 50 — 70% by choosing the right hotel location, as explained below.

Let’s say you’re a couple planning a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for a special occasion.

You would like to spend the week: visiting wineries, hiking in Point Reyes National Seashore and Muir Woods, exploring Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey, and experiencing the highlights of San Francisco. It would be simple for you to book seven nights in a San Francisco hotel. After all, you would be within an easy day’s drive of everything you want to see.

However, seven nights in a San Francisco hotel would be expensive—and even more so as you probably want an especially nice place for this trip. And, on top of that, you would have to pay about — 45 a day for parking in a safe area.

Instead, why not spend the first three nights closer to the Wine Country and the national seashore?

You could book a very nice resort-style hotel in or near Santa Rosa for a fraction of the cost of a similar hotel in San Francisco.

You would end up really close to many of the finest Napa Valley wineries, the Calistoga hot springs spas, and even the exceptional restaurant of the Culinary Institute of America. Moreover, you’d be just a few minutes from beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore.

Then, after your last night in Santa Rosa, you could enjoy a scenic drive along the Marin County coastline toward San Francisco, with stops in charming Sausalito and the redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument before heading over the Golden Gate Bridge.

That night, you could even end up dining at one of the many fabulous San Francisco restaurants using money you’d saved on hotels! You’d be staying in San Francisco two nights.

After your last night in San Francisco, you wouldn’t need to head out right away. You could still spend most of the day exploring the city.

Then, timing your drive before or after any rush hour traffic, you could take scenic southbound Interstate 280, which runs in a greenbelt along a ridge, giving you views of San Francisco Bay. Near San Jose, you’d switch to State Highway 85 and then U.S. 101, and continue toward Carmel and Monterey.

In the Carmel and Monterey area, you would have a choice: You could either use some of your hotel savings to stay in a fantastically romantic place, such as the Tickle Pink Inn along the shore, or continue to save by booking a quality place inland. For the latter, the ultimate hotel money saver in the Carmel and Monterey area is the nearby town of Salinas.

The Grapes of Wrath no longer haunt John Steinbeck’s Salinas. It’s become a pleasant working-class town with a center city that people enjoy in the evening.

Salinas puts you a mere 25 minutes from Carmel, but in a different price range altogether.

So, what have you done here? You’ve had three nights in Santa Rosa, two in San Francisco, and two in the Monterey area.

Not only have you saved a lot on hotels—even if you splurged in Carmel—you’ve also saved a lot of time commuting from a San Francisco hotel. This is time you’ve been able to use visiting fun and memorable places, rather than on the road.

When saving money helps you have a better vacation, you have travel savings at its finest.

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Since this is where they basically spent their honeymoon–straight there from the wedding, Dad is real nostalgic about San Diego, particularly Old Town. He wants to visit next month but Mom is afraid it won’t be how he remembers. Anyone know how it was then versus now? The plan–from State of Washington to Northern California (were we live) and one or two days in San Diego. Dad also thinks prices should be the same as they were in 1970.

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Using Art to Enhance Your Travels

There’s a certain kind of traveler that loves art and beauty. She seeks it out and spends hours trolling through museums, wandering around cathedrals and looking, seeing so much that she may develop a sore neck, or worse, Stendhal’s Syndrome. Stendhal, a 19th century French novelist, was so overcome with the beauty of Florence that he developed symptoms of disorientation – dizziness, sweating, and overwhelm. Over the years, others have reported similar symptoms when faced with so much beauty. The lover of art and beauty is forced to take refuge in café breaks and deep naps at the hotel. Art, however, can provide the solution for too much beauty. Not viewing it, but doing it.

Simple art exercises provide a way for a traveler to absorb the splendors of travel in a deep, meaningful, and lasting way. Quick sketches done as a drawing or a brief writing of details offer an opportunity to slow down and really soak up a setting. Artist Frederick Franck, in his book The Zen of Seeing, encourages drawing as a way to turn overwhelm into depth an intimate way. “Atmospheres build themselves up out of a million imperceptible micro details, elements often too minute, too fleeting for the conscious mind to pick up. The eye-heart-hand reflexes notes down, so that the buildings, and even the faces that form themselves on the paper become unmistakably Roman, Indian, Parisian, or Japanese.”

By pausing to capture impressions, a traveler becomes more than a sponge, absorbing paintings, sculptures, and dramatic buildings. When you pause to create something in the moment, you are able to connect from the deep well of yourself to the thing you are drawing. A Provencal place, an array of vegetables from the local market, and a crumbling pile of Roman ruins come alive under the gaze of an artist. The world becomes more vivid when you look to see what you can draw or capture in a paragraph. Everything can be interesting, when you are willing to truly see it.

Franck’s books on the subject of seeing more through drawing are delightful. His drawings are expressive and well wrought. The sketches leap off the page and bring the viewer into the scene. It may be intimidating to the novice artist to see such craft. People often claim that they ‘can’t draw a straight line’, meaning that their artistic talents are nil. The same is true for writing. Postcards home often don’t stray from the formulaic recitation of events. Franck insists that ‘seeing’ rather than ‘looking at’ is the key not only to better art, but richer life experience. Capturing the essence of a place or a moment doesn’t require great artistic talent or extensive polishing. Simply slowing down, paying attention, and releasing expectations of ‘good’ drawing or writing is the recipe for expressing something that months later will recall a special experience from a trip.

Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, applies similar concepts to writing. Her technique, ‘free writing’, invites the writer to choose an object or a subject and write without stopping. No editing, pausing, crossing out or judgment is allowed in the process. When using this as a travel tool, you are able to engage with the details of a place. Your verbal snapshot of the bartender at the local café, or of the taxi driver who zoomed you through the streets of Paris become vivid reminders of a moment. Rather than write about a day in which you took in a thousand new impressions, you can zero in on one or two experiences and chronicle them in a deeper way. Like Franck, Goldberg insists that the work be allowed to unfold without judging it. The point is not to produce ‘art’ or ‘writing’ but to engage in the world through art and writing. The process, not the product, is what is valuable here.

What’s the result of all this paying attention? When we slow down, connect to our creative core and really see, we are more present. The whirl of impressions doesn’t tug at our senses, clamoring for attention. A reflective peace settles us deep in the scene, allowing us to become part of the landscape, rather than skimming over or passing through. It is no coincidence that both Franck and Goldberg are Zen practitioners. And while we don’t need to become Zen masters to experience the world deeply, adopting the method of slowing down and seeing can enrich our travels and our lives at home.

Using art as a means to engage with a place empowers you, not just as a witness, but as someone who is involved in the creative act. Journey of the Senses, an American tour operator, leads tours that focus not on a stream of sights, but on engaging profoundly with a few experiences. The trip to Provence includes a visit to a goat cheese farm, an olive oil tasting and a wine tasting. In California, participants are invited to connect with the landscape. Redwood forests, beach coves and grassy hills become the guides for slowing down and seeing. Alongside the visits are lessons in gesture drawing and free writing. Using these creative tools, participants get closer to the experience and take home not only a guidebook of their own design, but a memory that holds them more deeply. Drawings and free writes provide a more personal chronicle than photos. Looking over a notebook from the trip that includes your art and words is a visceral reminder of place and atmosphere.

Cooking instruction is another branch of art that can deepen a traveler’s experience. Dozens of cooking abroad programs can attest to the power of food as a way to explore a region. The palette of a region is a reflection of its unique history, art and heritage. The French call this ‘gout de terroir’ or taste of the earth. A participant in Arles bemoaned the fact that her bakery in California couldn’t make baguette with the same crunchy texture. The gout de terroir, which includes the method of growing, cultivating and cooking foods, provides a unique and regional flavor. Through market tours and a gradual building of palette of flavors, techniques and local ingredients, travelers literally take in the sense of a region.

A fun art exercise is to have participants wander a city’s streets, choosing one detail to draw. In a Journey of the Senses tour in Arles, participants sketched the doors found on one street. This allowed them to gain a deeper understanding not only of the architecture of the city, but of themselves. “When I stopped to draw the doors, I saw so much more. I thought I had a perceptive eye, but it was only when I slowed down to draw did I realize that I could see more detail, and get closer to what was around me,” said Sherell, a 2005 participant.

In a world that constantly calls for more, more, more, using art as a travel tool is an invitation for deeper, deeper, deeper. We travel to escape our normal routine. We refresh our spirits in the face of great beauty and achievement. By bringing ourselves into the creative dance, we give ourselves a richness that surpasses the photos we take and the treasures we buy and bring home. A renewed sense of confidence, a more sharply honed eye and an appreciation for the simple things are treasures that we can use again and again in our own town and on other trips.